BP's Top Bass Snatcher of 2022

 

In early July, a poster in the In-Depth Outdoors bass forum wrote about his success on a Z-Man GOAT Toadz. My ears perked up, seeing that he was talking about topwater explosions. I did some investigating. There are 4 different GOAT baits made by Z-Man. Three of them are different-sized grubs (Baby GOAT, The GOAT, Billy GOAT), and the fourth is the Toadz, which made its debut in 2022; they released the Grubs a year or two earlier. All I could get my hands on at first was The GOAT size. Immediately, fish were all over it, so I quickly placed an order at Tackle Warehouse because they had baits in stock, hoping to get some Toadz and Billy GOATs in time for a tournament on the Crow Wing River. Unfortunately, they got delayed in shipping and didn't make it. The Billy GOAT and Toadz were straight-fire for me until it finally got too cold for topwater. The Billy Goat was my #1 bass catcher in 2022, and the Toadz finished #2. Not counted are a significant number of fish that got off in the reeds or heavy slop. Also not figured into the numbers is that I used the Billy GOAT as a Chatterbait, Spinnerbait, Swim Jig Trailer, and the Toadz on buzzbaits. With this bait concept, Z-Man hit a home run; it draws strikes like a champion. 

Here are my Top 10 Bass Lures for 2022, by the numbers:

The Craw Tube's total put it into 3rd Place overall.
The Brovarney Jig caught an additional 26 largies putting it in 5th Place.

The eBay Chatterjig also caught 7 largies making it my 6th most productive bass lure of 2022.
    

2022 One Fish Wonders Pike/Tooth & Walleye/Gold

As opposed to the bass list, these lures that only got a single pike are not a disappointment. I don't need no stinking pike.

As for the Walleye side of things,

only the crawtube and Brovarney Jig are not a disappointment as I do not expect to catch a golden bullhead on either, pure bonus fish. I had a decent year for Golden's  at the Grumpy Old Man Hole. The Jetty was pretty much trash for the second straight Fall, so disappointing.  

2022 One Fish Wonders For Bass/Jumpers

 I caught only one bass/jumpin' bullhead on 21 different lures this year. There are 22 baits on the list above; the Big Bite Baits BFE caught 6 Jumpin' bullheads, so it shouldn't be on the list.