The Most OVERRATED Bass Fishing Lures! (Tier List)

Overview

Blake (“Bama Bass”) ranks popular bass fishing techniques and lures on a personal tier list from S (best / “gas”) to D (worst / “ass”), focusing on:

• How often each bait is tied up on his boat deck
• How confident he is in the conditions where it works

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Tier List Highlights (by lure/technique)

S Tier (gas / frequently tied up & highly confident)

• Hollow-body frog (topwater frog in “frogging conditions,” effectively used ~24/7 in season)
• Jerkbait
• Glide bait (stays tied year-round; requires commitment time, but he always has it ready)
• Finesse swimbait / small soft-plastic swimbait (works across species; always rigged)
• Spinnerbait (especially in windy conditions)
• ChatterBait / bladed jig
• Swim jig (planned for Lake Okeechobee; “if conditions are right,” it’s tied up)
• Finesse jig (including multiple finesse jig types; strong confidence all year)
• Tube (smallmouth in particular; extremely consistent)
• Ned rig (year-round for him in open water)
• Drop shot (deep/grass edges, rocks; also mentioned for bed fishing)
• Shaky Rap / Shaking Rap Minnow (near the top of his arsenal; “cheating”)
• Soft-plastic craws on Texas/Carolina-rig setups (his go-to trailer/profile)

Implied S tier: Topwater popper is A tier (so it’s not included here).

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A Tier

• Topwater popper (especially for smallmouth; versatile popping/pause/walking)
• Buzzbait (largemouth topwater staple around cover/docks/grass; he believes it earns bigger bites)
• Lipless crankbait (strong use in pre-spawn/sparse grass; less in summer/fall, but still A tier)

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B Tier

• Walking bait (he likes it but feels it doesn’t get enough attention compared to other topwaters)

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C Tier

• Wake bait (big wake/swimbait-style wake baits) (used “here and there,” louder at night but not tied up often)
• Square-bill crankbait (he loves it but hasn’t fished it much this year; fewer shallow-rock situations)
• Medium/deeper diving crankbait (lowered because he had very few meaningful bites this year)
• Jointed swimbaits (multi-jointed, not glide baits) (limited usage; only example mentioned: 5-inch)

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D Tier (rarely used / low confidence)

• Whopper Plopper (rarely/never throws it compared to other topwaters; still catches fish)
• Big soft swimbaits (~6-inch class) (not enough usage; mostly remembered from Mexico)
• Creature baits (fished only a couple times; he prefers worms/craw profiles instead)
• Ribbon tail worm (didn’t fish it at all in 2025; low confidence)
• Curly tail grub
• Punching (claims he doesn’t get successful punching bites in his Midwest waters)
• Shaky head (basically never fishes it; on the deck only if someone else’s)
• Hover rig (cool concept, but requires patience/slow sink; he lacks patience and conditions aren’t ideal)
• Scrounger head (doesn’t throw it; wants to try more in 2026)
• Jig and spoon (e.g., 6th Sense Divine jig/spoon): wants to try but never does

He also mentions additional D-tier baits and emphasizes that he ranked “every single bait,” while admitting he may have missed some categories.

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Closing

He feels confident in his selections because the tiers reflect:

• How often he actually picks the bait up
• Where it’s most useful

He also notes that many D-tier lures still catch fish—he just doesn’t use them enough in the right situations.

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Presenters / Sources

• Blake / “Bama Bass”