So if you are blessed enough to get a gift certificate for Christmas to Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Tackle Warehouse or the like, you may want to stock up on some lures to be ready for fishing 2013.

It sounds easy doesn’t it? But if you are not familiar with what does and doesn’t work where you fish, getting started can be overwhelming.

Take Zoom plastic baits for example, the best I can tell, they have around 306 or more colors that come in around 58 or more baits. That’s 17,748 different bait options from one bait company. And my wife thought I had a lot of fishing goodies, looks like I’m pretty thrifty.

There are some staples for bass fishing in our area that are pretty consistent from year to year. While everyone you talk to will have a different list, these baits will appear on many of them. This list will be about lure only, Retrieves and tactics will not be covered for now.

Lets start with spinner baits. A 3/8 ounce or ½-ounce bait in white/chartreuse is very good all around. A tandem Colorado/willow leaf blade setup is good for a lot of conditions, but 2 willows are better for clearer water. The other end of the spectrum is a large single Colorado blade that is best for dirty/muddy water. I like silver blades in clear or warm water, copper or bronze in cold or muddy water.

The thinner the wire connecting the blades to the head the better your fishing. This gives a bait more vibration, which gives more shimmy to the skirt and more thump to the blades. Thin wire spinner baits are harder to come by. I’m old school so I prefer Hawg Caller and Mann’s spinner baits. I also like Ledgebuster and some of the new Strike King series, but they tend to have thicker wire.