How to Choose the Right Flipping Bait for Every Season: Expert Tips from John Crews

Key Takeaways

• Learn how to choose the right flipping bait for different seasons and conditions
• Discover expert insights on bait profiles, colors, and action for maximum effectiveness
• Understand the importance of adapting your bait selection to fish behavior throughout the year

Bait Types and When to Use Them

Creature Baits with High Action

• Best for: Dirty water, heavy grass, low light conditions
• Examples: Missile Baits Destroyer
• Why: Attracts bass attention in challenging environments

Streamlined, Bulky Baits

• Best for: Versatile year-round use
• Examples: Missile Baits D Bomb
• Why: Effective in clear, dirty, or stained water

Compact Baits with High Kicking Action

• Best for: Specific situations, especially post-spawn
• Examples: Missile Baits Chunky D
• Why: Offers a different profile when fish are less aggressive

Seasonal Bait Selection Guide

Pre-Spawn

• Recommended: Baits with orange coloration
• Example: El Diablo color
• Why: Mimics pre-spawn baitfish

Post-Spawn

• Approach: Start with less kicking action, gradually increase
• Tip: Use bulkier profiles for bigger bites

Summer

• Focus: Imitate bluegill and other prevalent baitfish
• Colors: Green Pumpkin variations, Bruiser Flash

Color Selection Tips

1. Green Pumpkin Flash: Ideal for spawning areas
2. Bruiser Flash: Versatile for year-round use
3. Super Bug: Best-selling color, effective in most conditions
4. El Diablo: Excellent pre-spawn choice

Pro Tips from John Crews

• Always carry multiple rod setups with different bait types
• Let the fish behavior guide your bait selection
• Experiment with different profiles and actions to find what works best
• Consider fishing pressure and water clarity when choosing baits

By following these expert tips from John Crews, anglers can significantly improve their flipping technique and increase their chances of success across different seasons and fishing conditions.

Video Transcript

Hey, John Crews here. One of the biggest questions about fishing, particularly flipping, is which style of bait to pick and when. It’s a great question, and even professional anglers struggle with it sometimes. There are different times of the year where certain baits excel, and from my perspective, some baits are preferable under specific conditions.

 

You have bigger creature baits with a lot of action, like the Destroyer, and more streamlined baits that are bulkier but don’t have much kicking action. Then there are smaller, compact baits like the Chunky D that have a lot of kicking action. So, if you’re talking about flipping and pitching, when do you pick which bait?

 

For flipping, I like a bait with a lot of action to get the bass’s attention, especially in dirtier water, around a lot of grass, or in lower light conditions. When using heavier weights, such as half-ounce, five-eighths, or three-quarters of an ounce, the kicking action helps draw attention. This is particularly effective when fishing around heavy cover.

 

However, there are times when the fish don’t want all that kicking action. You have to let the fish tell you what they want. For example, post-spawn, I don’t use as much kicking action until a few weeks past the bass spawn. The Missile Baits D Bomb is a versatile bait that works year-round in clear, dirty, or stained water. Sometimes, a bulkier profile like the D Bomb works better, especially when there’s less fishing pressure or when trying to get a bigger bite.

 

I’ve used the D Bomb in various applications, such as on a jig, a Carolina rig, or a swing head. For flipping and pitching, it’s a go-to bait. I’ll always have a rod with the D Bomb and another rod with something else, like the Destroyer or Chunky D, depending on the situation. The Baby Destroyer is a more finesse version of the Destroyer and is great for bed fishing, especially for larger bass.

 

When it comes to colors, I have a few favorites. Green Pumpkin Flash is effective around spawning areas, likely because it imitates a bluegill. Bruiser Flash, with its black and blue combination, works almost year-round, even in clear or stained water. Super Bug is probably my most versatile color, with black and blue on one side and green pumpkin blue on the other. It’s our best-selling flipping bait color and works in almost all conditions.

 

After the spawn, with bluegill around the bank, I alternate between Super Bug and green pumpkin variations like Green Pumpkin Red or Green Pumpkin Flash. Pre-spawn, I prefer colors with orange in them, like El Diablo, which mimic baitfish.

 

In summary, the choice of flipping bait depends on the conditions and the time of year. Don’t forget to consider something that looks like a baitfish or bluegill, especially post-spawn and throughout the summer. That’s my long-winded answer for when to use different flipping baits.