Bassmaster reveals Elite Series winning baits

Bassmaster’s annual audit of which baits won its Elite Series tournaments in the US throughout the year provides an invaluable insight for anglers and the industry.

Although it does not reveal brand names, it does rank the lure categories – with some surprising results.

In 2021, the old-school skirted jig was used 27 times by the Top 10 anglers over nine events. This category included flipping and swim jigs and it was the former that brought victory for Wes Logan (pictured) at Neely Henry Lake and for Caleb Kuphall at Lake Guntersville.

Tied on 27 are variations of soft plastic straight-tailed worms. Texas-rigged, wacky rigged or Carolina-rigged, the venerable worm proved its worth during the February through to July season.

The wacky version emerged as the trending choice, with Taku Ito using a Japanese worm rigged wacky style to win in the clear water of the St. Lawrence River.

Crankbaits, lipped or lipless, made it into the galleries 26 times during the season. Bryan New cranked a lipped bait over bars on the St. Johns River to score his win.