When it comes to bass fishing, there are thousands of lures to choose from that can be very overwhelming for those just getting into the sport. We put together this list of the top 10 best bass lures for beginners as a quick guide for those looking for our recommendations on what to buy that can help you land more bass quickly!
How we chose the Best Bass Lures for Beginners
To make this list of the best bass lures for beginners, we are looking for lures that fit the following criteria:
- Easy to learn and use for kids to adults
- Versatile enough to use year round and in the most bodies of water
- Best “bang for your buck” and efficient on budget
- Can be used on any setup and don’t require expensive gear, specific rod/reel requirements, etc.
- Require minimum sensitivity and experience in knowing when a fish is on and when to set the hook
Essentially we eliminated lures that in our opinion can have a steeper learning curve when it comes to the bite sensitivity or retrieve style, require specific or special equipment to fish effectively, or are higher end on budget.
With those in mind, below are the top 10 recommended bass lures we recommend to help you catch more fish without requiring much if any experience!
Our Choices for the 10 Best Bass Lures for Beginners
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1) Dark Sleeper
The Dark Sleeper swimbait is a fantastic lure that comes ready to go right out of the box with no rigging required, is easy to throw, weedless, is very durable, and comes in tons of color options, making it my pick for the overall best bass lure for beginners.
I still enjoy throwing a dark sleeper occasionally due to its’ simplicity. You can slow reel it or burn it, let it sink and bounce across the bottom or through the top of the water column equally. You can throw it around docks or rocks, into vegitation or in open water.
The real benefit to me is for kids, being that it’s extremely easy for them to cast and reel over and over in almost any environment and can catch any type of fish depending on the size you choose big to small.
2) Chatterbait
The chatterbait is becoming one of the most popular bass lures out there and for good reason. While not entirely weedless, it does a great job coming through grass with minimal issues, can be fished high or low in the water column, and is simple but fun to reel in with the vibrating blade on the other end.
Aside from that, chatterbaits flat out catch fish too, and can be fun mixing and matching the different color lures and types of trailers to match your situations. It tends to draw the fish to it with the vibrating blade, so you don’t have to know exactly where they are or use fancy electronics to catch a ton of fish.
3) Spinnerbait
The spinnerbait has been famous for catching bass anywhere in the country for a very long time and is still a staple for beginners to pros alike. Typically fished higher in the water column, just toss it as far as you can and immediately reel it in, keeping it just under the surface where bass love to ambush it for its’ strong resemblance to schooling baitfish.
There are a ton of different spinnerbait lures on the market with different types of blades, color options, and a wide variety of trailers you can hook on to give it different presentations. In general, you can’t really go wrong with white during the day and black at night, and be prepared to catch all sizes of bass!
4) Crankbait
The crankbait is a tremendous open water lure that’s easy to throw on and reel in steady or toss in some pauses to trigger the ambush instincts in finicky bass. While I would avoid using this lure in ponds or lakes with a lot of vegetation due to the treble hooks constantly catching weeds and grass, it’s a killer baitfish imitator in open water and will catch all species of bass and other types of fish as well like larger crappie.
One of the oldest and most common lures on the market, there are limitless options for different manufacturers, colors and types. The lipped crankbaits come in a variety of sizes to fish different depths if you know where the fish are hiding, or throw on a lipless crankbait to search and burn large areas quickly!
5) Soft Swimbait
Soft swimbaits are one of the most popular lures at all levels, from beginners just learning to throw a lure to tournament fishermen as their go-to lunker hunter. One of the best bass lures known to catch everything from the 10+ lbers to the smallest bass, yet simple in technique and able to be thrown on any style rod and reel.
Soft swimbaits come in either a pre-rigged hook with soft plastic body all in one, or in two parts, a swim or jighead, and then the soft plastic trailer that imitates the native baitfish (match the hatch). Both the head and the trailer come in all kinds of shapes, styles and colors from a wide variety of quality manufacturers so there are plenty of options to choose from!
6) Whopper Plopper
The whopper plopper is an extremely effective topwater lure that is great at drawing in fish in open water or anything without surface level vegatation, especially in low light conditions like dawn and dusk. This wake bait utilizes a propeller like tail to cause a small commotion upon your retrieve (bigger the faster you ree) that draws the bass to it, mimicking a struggling baitfish. Simply toss it out there and reel it in as fast as you think makes sense!
The whopper plopper is a specific branded lure that’s known to catch fish mostly during the warmer months when topwater is more effective. They come in a variety of sizes and color options and worth having in your arsenal most of the year!
7) Arkie Jig
The arkie jig is one of several different skirted jig types that is generally the most applicable for any situation we’d recommend. Widely regarded as one of the most versatile lures of any kind, the arkie jig is extremely weedless and can be fished anywhere in the water column with almost any retrieve style depending on your experience and situation.
Known for catching the biggest bass out there when fished slow across the bottom, this jig comes in a variety of colors and skirt options and is typically outfitted with craw, creature or swim trailers to match. If your goal is to catch quality not quantity, then jigs are some of the best bass lures you should learn to master ASAP.
8) Texas Rig
A Texas Rigged worm, fluke or creature bait is a must-know style we recommend mastering right away as it can be used year round in all kinds of setups. A Texas rig at it’s root is simply the way you thread what is typically an EWG hook through the soft plastic lure that creates a weedless presentation.
A Texas rig can be setup weightless, but for beginners I’d recommend throwing on a tungsten screw weight prior to tying on the hook to get it down in the water faster where the fish tend to be more plentiful and the bite is easier to detect. Just rig it up, toss it out there and reel in as slow as you can force yourself to and catch all size bass year round in all conditions and types of cover. The bigger the worm, the bigger the bite!
9) Spoon
Spoon fishing has caught more fish than any other lure in existence, partly because it’s been around the longest dating back hundreds of years, but also because it catches virtually all fish worldwide. Generally very simple in design with base colors of gold or silver, spoons can be fished in any type of water, vegetation or cover depending on the hook type on each.
The biggest downside to spoons for bass fishing is they catch everything, so you may end up catching everything but bass in a crowded fishery, but that could also be a plus depending on your goals!
10) Topwater Frog
Last but not least on our list of the best bass lures for beginners is the topwater frog. The frog makes the list despite having a slightly lower than average hookup ratio for beginners and a more difficult retrieve method simply because even if done wrong, you can still catch a good amount of fish due to it’s weedless nature and typical high quantity of blowups. I’ll even tie frogs on for my kids occasionally in high vegetation ponds because they’re easy to rig up and cast and when a blowup does happen they absolutely love it and I don’t have to worry about picking out grass constantly.
Frogs come in all kinds of different styles, colors and presentations from tons of manufacturers and are a great option for beginners to professionals. Their effectiveness goes up as you get better at the walking technique and use specialized equipment like a longer, heavy rod or custom hooks but it’s a great lure to throw even for beginners!
We hope this list of the 10 best bass lures for beginners is a good jumping off point for those overwhelmed with all the options out there, and would love to hear from you if there’s any we missed or should consider adding in the future!
