Unpacking a few boxes after my recent move, I came across a special memento. It’s a plaque containing photos of many of my favorite Great Lakes fishing memories; from it hang several old lures. Over the last 20 years, each time I caught a 6-pound-plus smallmouth, I cut off my bait and saved it. Such gave me rare insight when I stopped, took a step back and observed.

During that same period, I likely tried just about everything intended to catch trophy smallmouth. I designed the first ever goby lure, as well as the most realistic goby swimbait, and each has accounted for some brutes. And I gave in to all the trends, some of which worked, while most didn’t.

Yet, through it all, a handful of lures continued to produce exceptionally large fish above and beyond all else. Looking from a scientific standpoint, I’m not sure exactly why, but my guess is that each blends subtle positive qualities with an absence of negatives. For instance, as you’ll see, the best aren’t overly gaudy. Let’s take a look at the Top 5.

5. Blade bait – Here, we’re talking about the thin metal lures made popular decades ago in Tennessee, including the Silver Buddy and others. In fact, while many of today’s top lures are produced in garages, “the Buddy” still reigns as the overall best commercial blade. This bait’s subtle positive cues will likely never be explained by the modern science dominating today’s lure design. Here, we have no perfect swimming characteristics, sexy coloration or sound-emitting chips. Nope, just a hunk of lead molded to a slab of steel; yet this bait far outproduces all others when the water is moderately cold. While I’d caught dozens of giants on a blade in Erie, it was St. Clair ace Scott Dobson who helped show me how incredible this lure can be just about anywhere smallmouth swim.

4. Jig and chunk – Just like their green cousins, big smallmouths love a jig. While the trend of fishing jigs deep on structure has never really caught on with bronzeback aficionados, believe me, it will. Before leaving my home turf up north, I caught more large smallmouth on a jig than just about any bait, especially in the heat of summer. The key seems to be just the right drop rate – often faster than would seem productive – polarized through the use of fairly light line. A discontinued TABU tackle lure is my favorite, in subtle green-pumpkin colors, dressed with a Speed Craw. The huge plus to fishing a jig for smallmouth is the ability to hook and fight big fish on large, stout casting tackle,instead of wimpy spinning gear, resulting in more bass in the boat. A jig and chunk was responsible for my third largest-ever smallie, a 6-13 brute caught from Chautauqua Lake, New York.

3. Hair jig – Like the above-mentioned jig and chunk, this bottom-bouncer catches big ones. However, more so than even the blade bait, the hair jig looks terrible. Why, then, is it so productive in extremely cold water? The key, I believe, is in the subtle way bucktail works when water temps are in the high 30s to low 40s. Believe me, I have seen times when a hair jig will outproduce every other lure by a margin of 10 to 1. A straight hair jig, made only with deer hair and requiring no trailer, can be simply unbeatable for big smallmouth. Buddies tied mine for years; the exact lures are now available online from Cervidae Hair Jigs. The hair jig was responsible for my greatest five minutes of smallmouth fishing: two fish, combining to weigh 13-5 on back-to-back casts.

2. Dropshot – Baits here vary with personal preference; the notable detail is the method. Dropshottting provides a subtle look with deep-water fishability like no other presentation, even in the roughest of water. No technique has yet to come along that can compete with dropshot fishing for catching big smallmouth when water temperatures breach 65 degrees. While I’ve never liked it, dropshot fishing helped me make a living since age 25. Strangely, I feel I owe it something.

1. Tube – Decades ago, I never would have guessed that the tube lure would hold its place as the top producer of big smallmouth worldwide, but without question, it has. I think the appeal of a tube is two-fold: first, tube baits mimic several prey species very realistically, from gobies to craws, shiners to perch. Also, a tube produces a unique, non-mechanical action for the entire retrieve, often spiraling and gliding as it goes. Such action is probably the most realistic of any bottom-bouncing lure in all of bass fishing, and giant fish seem to never get used to it. The only parallel I can draw is the horizontal fall of a Senko, another lure that bass seem to never recognize as a fake. At least half the baits that hang from my 6-pounder plaque are tubes, and it accounted for my only “true 7” on St. Clair.

Notable Mentions

While my bottom-bouncing list of lures may seem boring to those looking for a secret bait, the facts remain that, even in this day and age of ultra-realism, old-school reigns supreme.

But, as in any fishing, there’s fabled stories to consider. I’ve had great days cranking a Rapala DT10, one of which resulted in my largest tournament stringer ever. My wife caught a 6-04 on a spinnerbait one October. I had a fish over 7 follow a jerkbait and stare at me boatside, and I broke off a smallie I believe weighed 8 on a swimbait in upper Michigan. But the proof still lies on the wall.

One final exception has to be the aforementioned Goby Replica swimbait. While I’m still trying to get this lure dialed in, it accounted for my largest five-fish stringer on St. Clair (topping 28 pounds), as well as my fourth-largest fish overall (6-12). Perhaps others have insight into this unique creation.

Over the years, there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of 5- pounders. Yet, a very limited number breached 6. Falling back on hard data, the lures responsible for their capture, followed by all of their releases, can be kept in one small tackle box.

(Joe Balog is the often-outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)