in one of my most recent videos i went over exactly what i think should be inside of a beginner angler's first ever tackle box from the lures inside hard bait soft baits terminal tackle to the actual box and bag themselves and any accessories i talked about everything that's needed to make sure your angler is properly set up for success what i'm going to do in this video is take every single lure that i recommended y'all put in your first beginner tackle box and i'm going to show you how to properly fish all of these lures that way you can get out in the pond or on the lake and not be confused as to what to do with your hands when you have these lures i'm not sure what to do with my hands so go ahead and click that link in the video description but i say without further ado we hop into our tackle box here first opening up the tackle bag and we're going to talk about the soft plastic lures first i'm going to show you guys how to rig these soft plastic lures then we're going to go on the pond behind me and show you how to use these lures to catch bass so the first one we're going to talk about is going to be none other than the soft plastic worm itself the soft plastic sticks [Music] the soft plastic stick bait is a fantastic beginner worm because it doesn't require any sort of fancy action or skills really you cast it out there you let it sink and you hop it back to the bank as we'll show you guys but how do you rig this soft plastic stick one we're gonna use what's called the texas rig now if you're confused on what the texas rig is i think i have a video detailing it and if i don't already on my channel i will leave one linked below really with all of these lures that we're going to discuss i already have really really detailed instructionals this video is going to serve as an overview on how to fish these lures if you want to dive deeper into these there's a lot of intricacies and a lot of details with it i will have those videos linked below for you all to check out again my channel i hope to make it a library of bass fishing content that y'all can lean into and learn on so what you're going to do with rigging this texas rig hook is you're going to thread it through the top of the worm here about quarter inch and a third of an inch then poke it all the way out run it through until that bend in the top of the hook near the eye passes through that worm a little bit then you're going to find where that hook bend is supposed to pop out of your worm just like this you're gonna poke it on through and it should wind up pretty dang straight and that right there is how you work and how you rig your texas rigged worm so i say we hop on the water and show you guys how to fish this thing and catch bass fishing a soft plastic worm is really a whole lot easier than you'd ever think like i said a second ago it's really cast out there let it sink and work it back slowly and so the the biggest thing that i see and the thing that keeps a lot of beginner anglers from catching fish is really a two-fold thing one they fish it too fast and two because they fish it too fast they do not allow that worm to get to the bottom most of the bass in your bodies of water i don't care if it's a creek a stream a river or a huge lake most of the bass are going to live at or around the bottom especially in shallow water so by the time i've had this whole conversation my lure is definitely at the bottom it is sitting down there and i can tell that because my line is no longer going out if you're fishing calmer water and you cast you'll see as your lure fall or it falls no matter what type of lure you're throwing as long as it's not a topwater you'll see that that line kind of go out from you and then stop and that's when you can tell your lure has made it to the bottom if it's too windy and you can't see your line you'll just have to learn to know this by feel but again i take so long to talk about this because it really is the most important thing when throwing a soft plastic especially this soft plastic stick bait so we now have it at the bottom i'm going to reel in all of my slack i'm gonna lift it up a good foot two foot maybe three foot up in the air and now you'll see i've caused a bunch of slack in my line out there you can see i can move the rod tip without actually moving the soft plastic worm i'm going to reel in my slack as i lower my rod tip down then with that line tight repeat the process lift up let it sink back down give it three or four seconds to get back to the bottom reel in your slack lift up that worm let it sink back down is a super easy process but something that people mess up because they try to over complicate it they try to you know jig their rod tip up and down and maybe reel that worm back to the bank this worm right here has zero appendages so what do you think reeling is going to do it's not going to do anything this thing excels at doing nothing that's the whole point of a soft plastic worm so cast it out there let it sink no matter if you're using a bait caster or a spinning rod you want to let that thing sink to the bottom lift it off the bottom let it sink back down reel in your slack line it is a super simple process and catches bass all around the country what a bite is going to feel like on this lure and any soft plastic really is either going to be a little tap on your line if it's a big bass a big tap or you're just going to lift up and it's going to kind of feel a little bit mushy it might feel like you're stuck down there when you're beginning people ask all the time how do i know if it's a bass or how do i know if i'm stuck you really don't know it becomes a muscle memory type thing but as long as you have a high quality rod and reel and some good line you'll be able to tell okay something feels a little bit different here this doesn't feel like the same you know water that i've been pulling my lure through as i work it back to the bank that probably means you have a fish so you're going to reel all the way down just like you have been when you've been reeling in your slack line you reel it all the way back down and then you set the hook like your life depends on it set the hook and then reel that fish in don't feel the need to go back down set the hook again back down set the hook again when i was a beginner i would lose fish all the time because i would set the hook and feel like i've got to keep going up and down up and down up and down and you just don't the biggest thing is you never want to give that fish slack line because then it's free to wiggle its head around and that hook that used to have pressure forcing it into the top of that fish's mouth is not going to have pressure anymore and it's very easy for that fish to shake that hook out so again this is a super simple lure to throw and if you want to see a master class on how to fish texas free soft plastics i will leave that video linked in the description now moving on from our soft plastic stick bait we're going to move to our soft plastic creature bait which is going to be rigged the exact same way [Music] a creature bait is an incredibly versatile lure because it can represent a lot of different things can represent a crawfish a bluegill really any kind of creature as the name would suggest that the bass could eat any kind of forage a creature bait can represent kind of with the exception of like a bait fish or a shad of course you could get white or bait fish colored creature baits and i'm sure it would confuse the bass and cause them to bite but our creature bait is another fantastic lure again if you want to see a video on how to rig every single soft plastic i think in that video i go into like 15 different versions of soft plastics i will leave that one linked below but i'm not going to show you guys up close of this one again you're going to feed it about a quarter inch poke the hook through spin it around until it passes that barb then you're going to find where the hook pokes through bend the soft plastic poke it through and just like that you have yourself a rigged soft plastic creature bait like i said it imitates everything and it definitely catches bass everywhere usually a little bit bigger bass than the soft plastic worm does for whatever reason this lure has a bigger presence in the water usually like this this rage bug here it's got more vibrations more appendages that cause a bigger appearance in the water to those fish and that just triggers a bigger bite so let's go on the water and show you guys how i normally fish this soft plastic the soft plastic creature bait is really no different when it comes to working it and the soft plastic worm is but oftentimes because it does have more appendages a little more action it does take a little bit longer to fall to the bottom so with the soft plastic creature bait you got to be a little more patient with fishing it than you are a worm but again i cast it out there it's now at the bottom there's two main ways that i work a creature bait the first of which being the same as the worm as lifting up my rod tip where that lure kind of goes from here up into the water column and then back down or if you're fishing around gravel or a rock or maybe a hard sand bottom another great way to catch them especially around rock is by dragging your soft plastic creature bait so i'm going to back up a little bit so y'all can see instead of hopping it like this i'm going to lower my rod tip down and i'm going to drag it just like this right here and i can't tell you why but bass love a creature bait drug along the bottom it just catches fish all over the place that i go especially in the springtime when those bass are up shallow spawning dragging a creature bait is the best way to go to catch a bass and again as slow as you can go i feel like as more people get into fishing you're going to see fish become harder and harder to get caught and so i feel like slowing down with these soft plastic presentations is going to work very very well especially if you are just getting into the sport soft plastics in my opinion are the best way to go same thing with the hook set you're going to be dragging or hopping feel something a little different maybe you kind of feel your line swimming off to a direction that you didn't cast you probably have a fish you're going to reel down and set the hook just like that if you want to know a really cool video on how to properly set the hook with all these different types of lures because hook sets are not the same if you set the hook or with a creature bait the same way you set the hook with a crankbait you're going to lose a lot of those crankbait fish but there's definitely differences when it comes to hook sets with all these lures i will leave that video i've made about hook sets in the video description as well if you can't tell already i love making videos that help you guys in every way possible so we are finished with the soft plastic creature bait let's move on to the last soft plastic that was in this beginner tackle box and that being the soft plastic jerkbait [Music] i absolutely love the soft plastic jerkbait and in my opinion it is the best all-around pawn lure out there i've made videos on it before titled as such best pond lure ever and i'm sure i'll keep making those videos because i believe this in different colors can represent every type of forage those fish are going to possibly eat and i really think this profile right here in this size specifically the four inch catches bass of all sizes and all kinds all around the country it's going to be rigged the exact same don't really feel like i have to show you guys it's a texas rig quarter inch through the top third of an inch poke it out through that underneath area where that pocket is in that in that soft plastic jerk bait poke the hook back through you know whether you want to leave the hook exposed or put it back into the worm to make it weedless you can do whatever you want it's just a fish catch a machine i see we go in the water and show you guys how to fish this one which is a little bit different than fishing the creature bait and the worm so soft plastic jerk bait i'm going to rig weightless almost all of the time occasionally i'll put it on a weighted belt a belly weighted hook or a nose weight just like i had the other texas rigs but i think it's most effectively fished weightless i'm gonna cast it out there now letting it sink to the bottom is definitely effective but i found that fish that are you know willing to feed and chase especially in clear water are looking around they're willing to chase a lure just like this one up in the water column so it's not necessarily as important to get it all the way down on the bottom but you definitely want to get it you know closer to the bottom of the water column not up top but the way that i work it is almost like i work a worm where i'm going to lift it up but instead of a slow lift like i had with the worm it's going to be more of a jerk like that one two one two three and it's going to cause that that jerk bait just like a bluegill or a bait fish to kind of like jump left and right as it goes higher in the water column and then you let it sink back down and as it's sinking back down you might give it one more jerk and it kind of jerks that soft plastic jerkbait up and it really glides and gets those fish's attention so that's one way you can work it another way that if those fish are really shallow they're feeding on bait fish you actually see fish physically hitting the top of the water as you cast it out there and you take your rod tip and you go like this it's almost like a jerk down instead of pulling your worm up you're jerking it down just like this a lot faster maybe three or four seconds in between every you know two to three or four jerks you give that rod and you're going to find some incredible success working your soft plastic jerk bait this way and just like i said with the other two lures if you want to see a very well done video on how to fish this thing a master class on a soft plastic jerkbait i will have that linked in the video description as well so i just realized as i was finishing up the soft plastics portion that i didn't talk about what nut i used to tie all of my lures on there i'm a simple guy i keep it simple i tie one knot and that's called the palomar i use what's called the fisherman's knot or the improved clinch for a long long time i don't even know what knot is best out there but i have success tying the palomar and a great buddy of mine tyler berger i believe either today or in the very near future is dropping a video about all these different fishing knots and i'm actually teaching how to tie the palomar so i will leave that video as long as it's out on youtube i will leave a link in the video description below palomar is a super simple knot there's tons of videos out there i just don't feel like covering knots in this video because this video is about the lures themselves so now that we have soft plastics done some of my favorite pond lures are upper head the first of those being the spinnerbait [Music] i'm gonna be honest and say that i don't believe there's a better moving bait for every pond out there than a spinnerbait i talked about in the previous video it is a very weedless lure it can be fished in any water depth at basically any speed you can roll it really slow with your reel or you can burn that thing back to the bank or back to the boat a spinnerbait just catches fish and really has an awesome presence in the water gets those bass's attention and causes them to eat now how do you work a spinnerbait is it just a cast and retrieve lure yes and no i'll top on the water and show you guys how to work a spinnerbait the good and faithful lure the old spinnerbait is a super easy to learn how to throw and that is exactly why i've included it in this beginner tackle box series so what you're going to do is you're going to literally cast it anywhere you want out there in the middle up here near the bank you can catch fish anywhere but you got to understand just like the soft plastics most bass that are going to hit a spinner bait want it around the bottom i haven't found many situations especially in ponds where the bass want it super high up in the water column almost where the blades are like hitting the top of the water haven't found that to hardly ever be the case so i let my crank my spinner bait sink all the way to the bottom so i'm going to cast it out there let me back away from the camera here let it sink all the way to the bottom and then depending on what type of stuff i'm fishing around so if it's if it's grass or weeds i'm going to reel that spinner bait straight back in with my rod tip angled up out of my hand at a one o'clock angle or 11 o'clock angle and if i'm fishing around maybe a little bit deeper water or water with not as many snags i'm going to retrieve the lure with my rod tip either kind of sideways to it so i'm not reeling straight at the bait reeling a little bit sideways from where i cast and maybe at a three to three o'clock to five o'clock angle definitely never a six o'clock all the way down here it's kind of somewhere right in the middle and the big thing about you know getting a bite and catching fish on a spinnerbait really any moving lures is that you don't have to set the hook really hard because you are already moving that bait towards you when a fish hits it oftentimes it will hit that bait and take you the opposite direction which leads to a really awesome bite a really quick tug and that bite in itself almost sets the hook for you so there's no need to feel the bite and set the hook really really hard all you've got to do is be reeling feel that fish you know thud the lure and it starts fighting back and you just kind of lean into that fish that's going to be the exact same with all reaction baits we're going to talk about and one really cool way that you can add some action as we said to your lures is going to be when you're retrieving it specifically with the spinner that i'm talking about you're going to maybe give it you know one or two little jerks with your rod or maybe speed it up and then pause it and then continue the retrieve that is a great way to make the the spinner bait skirt that you have right here the skirt kind of flares as you add some jerks or speeds and pauses it really attracts those fish and make sure that they know it's there and they can come and eat it so a spinnerbait fantastic way to catch fish and the great thing about it is that there's really no way to fish it wrong so whether you are throwing a bait fish organic color for that clear water ponds and lakes or you're throwing a more bright flashy color for that dirtier water a spinnerbait is a fantastic way to catch bass staying in the vein of moving baits let's talk about the two that i didn't necessarily recommend for most bass anglers out there that are just beginning but if you are fishing in an area with no snags nothing to get your lure caught down there on the bottom i'm going to talk about the crankbaits [Music] for most beginner anglers out there a crankbait is not the moving bait you want you want the spinner bait like we just talked about but like i said if you have nothing to get snagged on crankbaits are great lures for that situation and they definitely catch a ton of bass i know when i was first beginning these treble hook lures like a square bill crankbait a popper as we're going to talk about ended up catching me a ton of fish just because they have such a high hookup ratio extra hooks equals extra chance for that fish to get hooked up so i say we go on the water show you guys how to fish both the square bill and the lipless crankbait they are incredibly versatile lures the first crankbait that i'm going to show you how to fish is going to be the square bill crankbait now if you're unfamiliar with what a squarebill crankbait is it is a crank bait that's in the reaction bait category you cast it out there you reel it back in you occasionally give it some pauses and some jerks but it only dives to a certain water depth so making cast out into the middle of your pond your lake not really going to be the most effective way to throw it you want to throw it more parallel along the bank so as i look here throw it this way as i work down the bank throw it more this way and kind of do that same pattern as you work your way around the pond or the lake that's the best way to use the square bill you want the square bill to be diving where that bill is just barely hitting the bottom it's kind of a misconception about crank baits that they shouldn't hit the bottom they definitely should be hitting the bottom which is exactly why i recommended them to be fished in areas that don't have a whole lot of snags down there on the bottom so i'm going to make a cast out there just like this and unlike the soft plastics and the spinnerbait this thing doesn't sink it floats so you can let it sit there as long as you want nothing's going to happen but i'm going to start the retrieve and i'm going to kind of slowly reel it until i feel it's at full water depth if it's maybe diving too deep i will raise my rod tip up which will kind of bring that crank bait up in the water column a little bit you really just want to find the area where it's going to be just barely hitting the bottom and as you can see i'm fishing in an area that has a little bit too much leaves and sticks down there but it still could work so i'm going to make another cast this way i notice it's a little bit deeper out there start reeling it back in and one of the best ways to catch fish on this thing is to hit a stick or a stump i just hit a stick out there a piece of grass whatever i hit it i'm letting it rise and then i'm reeling it again because a fish could be following that thing as soon as it sees your crankbait deflect off of a piece of cover it might think what the heck's going on and then that crankbait begins again it oftentimes triggers a bass into biting and that is how you work the square bill crankbait but like i said with uh with hook sets they're not all the same so with a crankbait hook set instead of you know feeling that fish bite my lure and setting the hook really hard it's just going to lean into that fish all you need with treble hooks is to lean into those fish there is absolutely no need as a matter of fact it's counterproductive to be setting the hook very hard with travel hooks as it tends to rip those hooks out of the soft flesh in a bass's mouth so that's how you work the square bow crankbait again it is a shallow water lure meant for areas that are not snaggy now a lipless crankbit is worked just like a square bill is except that it is a sinking lure not a floating lure and it can be fished in relatively any water depth so making casts out into the middle of your pond can be effective with the lipless crankbait as well as making them parallel along the bank next to any kind of cover but like i said it's not a weedless lure and so you don't really want to throw it around a whole lot of snags or else you're going to be losing them so i like to kind of understand how deep my body of water is and what's going to do what's called count my lure down so i'm going to know how fast it sinks per second and then i'm going to know how deep per se the area i'm fishing is and i'm going to count the lure down so it doesn't actually hit the bottom so i know it's about eight feet out there i'm going to count one two three four and that right there should be just above the bottom i'm gonna reel it in with my rod tip i'd say at a three o'clock angle maybe a little bit lower if the water i'm fishing is really shallow i'm going to be having my rod tip up in the air it really depends how high you want to keep that bait in the water column but again you just cast it out there count it down start reeling it in and a bite is going to feel just like it does on a spinner bait or a square bill crank bait and you're going to lean into those fish it is an amazing way to catch fish and one really cool way is if you're fishing in areas that have no snags at all not even really any mud just sand gravel that kind of thing you can cast it out there let it sink all the way to the bottom this time even though it's treble hooks let it sink all the way to the bottom and especially in the fall and winter you will work it just like a worm almost identical to a worm except it's a crank bait so you're going to lift up that crankbait kind of fast like the soft plastic jerkbait let it sink to the bottom lift it up fast let it sink to the bottom lift it up fast let it sink and that vibration as the lure comes from the bottom of the water column up into the water column and then kind of glides back down can definitely trigger some fish that is called yo-yoing almost like you're using a yo-yo in your hands just like that that's exactly what you're doing with the lipless crankbait and if bait fish are dying in your body of water like i said the fall the winter early spring you're going to find a lot of success yo-yoing your lipless crankbait but it is a great lure to throw and again if you want to see a detailed video on everything you got to know about this lure and crankbaits in general i will leave that video linked in the video description so our moving baits are now finished we're going to put them back in the tackle box and we're going to move on to our last category which is topwater starting with my all-time favorite for ponds and really catching bass anywhere the topwater popper [Music] one of my most memorable fishing days of all time took place i think i was in sixth or seventh grade maybe eighth it was really my first experience of catching a ton of bass and a bunch of big bass all in one morning and that day has stuck with me and i kind of credit that day to why i am the person i am today why i love bass fishing so much is because of that day and because i threw this lure right here this here is the kvd popper i was actually throwing a different one back in the day i think i threw the the head and chug bug really almost the exact same lure the chug bug is just a bigger lure as compared to this one but the popper is an incredible lure to cast out there and catch fish on it is addicting to see fish come up and hit a top water but there are some nuanced things you have to understand when throwing a topwater that don't really apply to the rest of the lures in your first tackle box so let's hop behind me and show you guys how to fish the popper the topwater popper is a fantastic topwater lure and it really doesn't take all that much effort to learn how to fish that's why i included it in this video so what you're going to do because there's a floating lure it is a top water lure i'm going to throw this specifically next to pieces of cover so in your pond or your lake if you've got docks or you've got wood sticking up whether it's a stump or a tree if you've got an edge of the grass maybe you just know that the bank drops off really quick from the edge where you're standing that's a great place to throw a topwater out in the middle of your pond where you have no clue what's out there or how deep it is probably not the most high percentage place to throw away top water i love throwing them in the morning if it's overcast and again i have tons of videos on top waters and how to fish each of them effectively what the differences are i will leave that link in the video description i hope all these videos help you guys out when it comes to working the topwater popper i'm going to make a cast out there in the middle just to show you guys how to work it but of course i would never usually cast a popper in the middle i'm going to reel in my slack and what i'm going to do is i'm going to take my rod tip and make sure it's kind of up like a 2 o'clock 3 o'clock position and then with my line relatively tight maybe a little bit of slack i'm going to lower the rod tip until it becomes completely tight for just a split second and that causes that popper to kind of move forward in the water very quickly but a short little kind of like staccato movement and it causes that cupped lip in that top water to spurt a little bit of water and so what it looks like in practice is just like this where i go pop reel in my slack a little bit pop up reel in my slack pop you can do even bigger pops to get a bigger splash bigger noise and you can do tiny little ones just like this that really allowed that just to the tiniest of little what i call bloops by that topwater lure and that really is the best way to work a topwater popper there's tons of different brands out there some of them allow you to work them more side to side and some are designed like this one is to really plow forward in the water back towards you when you get a bite you're going to know it you're going to see a fish come from the water it's going to hit it and it's going to take it down with it and you don't really have to set the hook all that hard because it is a treble hooked lure more than likely it's got one of the hooks in its mouth so again it's just a simple pop i don't know two seconds in between pops and if the water is getting colder and the fish are more lethargic and you still want to catch them on top water maybe give it five or six seconds in between pops but this is not a lure that you need to have sit there for a long time it's a top water it's fun to work fast it's fun to catch fish so that is how you work the topwater popper in the last lure in our beginner tackle box one of the most fun ones out there that can catch you tons of bass if the bass are feeling it and that is the top water whopper plopper [Music] the whopper plopper is a fantastic lure for catching bass in relatively open water whether it's shallow or deep and in clear water and it's definitely an awesome way to catch your new personal best bass or just get yourself out there on some fish in general so i say we hop on the water and show you guys how to fish this bait right here the plopper the really great thing about this lure is that just like the spinner bait and even simpler than the spinnerbait it doesn't take any kind of special retrieve or special action you cast it out there it doesn't even sink to the bottom can't get snagged on anything unless the snag is of course above the water that you can see but it's just a really simple lure and catches the heck out of some fit where do you throw the whopper plopper you can really throw it anywhere in deeper clear water it'll draw fish out from deep water those deep grass lines deep rock piles it will attract fish from that deep water to come hit this thing and it also excels in very very shallow water in your early mornings and in overcast conditions the topwater plopper catches fish now the thing about the plopper is that it takes a certain speed at which you retrieve it in a certain rod angle to make sure that tail is plopping because if you reel it too slow or your rod tip is angled too low you're not going to be able to get the desired action out of that lure and it's just going to kind of drag back in the water like you caught a plastic bag and that's not going to catch you any fish you want that tail making the whopping and plopping noise as it's intended to so when i cast out there if i want to work the lure really really slowly i'm gonna have my rod tip pointed up at a one to two o'clock positioning just like this and if i want to be able to have that lure plopping faster back at me i'm going to lower my rod tip to a three to four o'clock position and speed up my retrieve but if you were to have your rod down in a three or four o'clock position and you are reeling it very very slowly you're gonna find that that lure that tail right now when i reel it this slow in this rod tip position it's not plopping but if i was to speed it up you can hear it right there it does so again i want to cast it out there if i want to keep it really really slow reel it with my rod tip up like this if i want to speed it up i will lower my rod tip and speed it up just like that and with the hook set you don't need one you just get the bite give him a second maybe pause your retrieve and then reel into that fish and you're going to have him hooked but of course do not give him slack a topwater lure especially a treble hooked lure or even those crankbaits it's so important that you keep tension on those fish and as a matter of fact i'll probably make a video about tension here soon on the channel because it is very very important to keeping fish hooked up but that's been the video i hope you've enjoyed let's go sit back down so that is the video everybody i hope that you enjoy it again my goal here on this channel is to help you guys become better anglers and catch more fish and i understand that so many people out there are taking up the sport of bass fishing and i want my channel to be a huge library of content to help you guys out if you're not subscribed hit that subscribe button and i'm going to slide over here for one second if you guys want to see that soft plastics video like i mentioned how to rig every single soft plastic i will link that video right up here i think that one is the most helpful video of any of the channels i've ever made it helps get rid of a ton of confusion when you are first beginning bass fishing so again make sure you guys click that link to check it out my name is tyler we'll see you guys next time right here on trf