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Most of the new bass baits are revealed each year at ICAST in July. Though many of those baits aren't even available for purchase until the fall. This means we usually don't get to see what the newest baits and lures can do until the following spring, when I spend multiple days a week chasing big bass throughout the entire spawning process. It is the ultimate proving grounds—throwing thousands of casts to see what catches the most fish.
This year, there were plenty of new bait options, including fancy new glide baits, funky-looking soft plastics, micro crankbaits, and other specialized jigs and swimbaits. Out of the endless number of new lures that hit the market, most are nothing to write home about. From my experience, there are usually only a handful to a dozen or so new baits doing something completely new or are slightly different enough to produce more bites. Those are the baits you want to spend your money on. I sifted through a couple of dozen new lures from this year to narrow down the most innovative baits on the market. Here are the top 10 best bass baits of 2025.
Best Overall: Gambler Lures Walking Frog
Best Hard Bait: SPRO Little John Micro 45 Crankbait
Most Innovative: Missile Baits Shredder
How We Picked the Best Bass Lures
Since baits and lures vary so widely in size, technique, and design, it is difficult to create a baseline testing process to compare them like we would do with baitcasting rods. Instead, the best way to test baits is to get them out onto the water and answer one simple question: Do these baits catch bass?
That's exactly what I did for over two months—wear these baits out to see what they can do. The selection process included choosing any new bait or lure release since ICAST 2024. Many of the baits on this list didn't go on sale until last fall or winter, and there are some new baits below that aren't on sale yet, but we've had the chance to fish them. I threw hundreds of casts with every bait and lure on the list and made sure to fish various techniques to get a wide-angle view of what these baits can do. Here's how they performed.
Best Overall: Gambler Lures Walking Frog
The new Walking Frog from Gambler is a stroke of genius. Adding what is basically a silicone plug to where the hooks enter the body of the frog helps prevent water from getting inside. A problem that has plagued every hollow body bait since the first one came along years ago. The dual BKK frog hook is very sticky and strong. And the tensile in the legs is a nice touch that I haven’t seen on any other frog.
While testing, I caught a fish on this frog pushing 6 pounds. It was sitting in a foot of water, presumably on a bed, when the bass absolutely choked it. The hook stuck the fish perfectly and kept it pinned all the way to the boat. In the 300 to 400 casts I made with this frog, I think I only had to squeeze water out of it three times—and all of those were after a fish catch or me banging the bait off cover. The silicone has about half worn off now after 6 or 7 trips, but it is still keeping water out.
Best Hard Bait: SPRO Little John Micro 45 Crankbait
SPRO recently released the latest in their long-loved line of Little John Crankbaits—the Micro 45. And this little bait is awesome. Keeping the same basic profile, SPRO dropped the size and weight of the Micro down to 1.75 inches and 5/16ths of an ounce. The bait is only rated to dive down to 2 to 3 feet compared to the original Little John 50, which dives 3 to 5 feet, weighs 1/2 ounce, and measures 2.5 inches.
This bait reminds me of the Bandit 100 (which I love), but with a more flat-sided design. It has two sharp Gamakatsu trebles, 10 great color options, and the same action as the other SPRO Little Johns that I have come to love. I haven't caught any giants on this bait yet, but I've had no problem stacking numbers around shallow wood, rocks, and grass. If you like more subtle, smaller profile crankbaits, you’ll love the Micro 45.
Most Innovative: Missile Baits Shredder
I have never seen anything like Missile Baits’ new Shredder soft plastic. I saw John Crews' post about this bait at the 2025 Bassmaster Classic, and I reached out to see if I could get my hands on one. These baits are so new that only a handful have even been poured. He sent me two, one of the larger versions and one of the smaller molds.
The Shredder has long tentacles like a soft plastic tube, but these run the length of the bait all the way up to the head. And the head is solid, creating a secure place for rigging. Below the head, a piece of plastic runs down to cover your hook point when Texas rigging. You could also just slide this whole thing up onto a skirt-less jighead or vibrating jig and run the hook through this middle section and leave it exposed. You could also put this bait on a Tokyo rig. Or even put the small version on a Ned head. It is an innovative and versatile soft plastic that has a bunch of rigging options.
Shimano Gravitator 220 SS Glidebait
The Gravitator is a fantastic new offering for those who like to fish big baits. Priced at $50, this bait is a good option for someone who wants to try fishing a glide bait but doesn't want to drop $200 to $300. The Gravitator comes with a spare tail and fins, all locked securely into quality packaging that can be used to store the bait. You’ll notice two line ties on the nose of the bait. Tie to the lower one, and you can effortlessly keep this bait right on the surface, almost like a wide swinging wakebait. Tie to the top eye, and the bait can be walked 2 or 3 feet under the surface.
There’s a little bit of a roll to the bait when you tie it to the lower eye, but that's the only issue I have with it. I caught a bass close to 4 pounds on the Gravitator and a few more solid 2-plus fish. On the same outing, I also lost a couple of bass around 5 pounds that hit right at the boat. This bait gets bites. Period.
Rapala PXR Jowler 127
The Rapala Jowler has a rather unique front end to it. This topwater walking bait features a plastic cupped mouth similar to a Jitterbug. But, where a Jitterbug is meant to be reeled and wobbled along, the Jowler is designed to be twitched side-to-side like a Spook. The result is a far-spitting, hard-cutting topwater that blends a popper and a walking-style bait. There are other long walking baits or pencil poppers with a cupped mouth, but none with a mouth this big that I know of.
With three super-sharp RedLine VMC trebles (the rear one outfitted with a feather), this bait is lethal to the touch. It’s easy to walk and you can launch it as far as you want. There are 10 color choices for whatever forage you’re around. I haven’t caught any big fish on this one yet, but I have caught a few chunks. It’s just a matter of time til a giant comes up and smashes it.
SPRO Cover Jumper
The SPRO Cover Jumper is the latest vibrating jig to hit the market. This genre of baits is already saturated, with dozens of ChatterBait models and dozens more of different brands’ attempts to reinvent the wheel. SPRO did a good job, though. The blade design of this bait is a little different compared to others, giving it less of a sharp, jarring action and more of a dull thump, like you'd expect from a Colorado blade spinnerbait.
This bait comes with a very sharp hook—a 4/0 Gamakatsu Nano Alpha jig hook, to be exact. And there’s a soft plastic trailer that comes with the bait, which has a pre-stamped hole in it to help with rigging. There are 11 colors offered, which cover all the basics. It is my favorite vibrating jig to come out in a while, and I've already caught a good bass around 4 pounds on it during the late pre-spawn.
Rapala Crush City Pig Stick
There are more soft plastic stick baits out there than nearly any other style of bait. But the new Rapala Crush City Pig Stick differentiates itself. Starting with the packaging, Rapala uses a plastic tray inside a tight plastic zippered bag to keep the baits perfectly straight until you’re ready to use them. Once you take one out, you'll notice the bait has alternating sections of ribs and rises, with a smooth spot in the middle. It also feels a bit heavier than most stick baits, making it a little easier to cast farther.
The smooth section in the middle is designed to hold a Crossover Ring, which is VMC’s alternative to traditional O-rings. This smooth section between two of the knots in the bait works great at holding an O-ring as well. With smooth baits, the O-ring can slide right off the worm on the cast. This bait does a better job of staying on the hook until you can retrieve it to the boat. My best fish on this worm was a post-spawn 4-pounder that rolled on the Gambler Walking Frog but wouldn’t take it. I fired the Pig Stick back to her several times, and she ate it.
VMC Redline Series Spinnerbait
The VMC Redline Series Spinnerbaits come in various colors and blade combinations. They’re all made with 17-7 stainless-steel ultra-fine wire that allows the blades to kick hard. Stiffer wires limit a little of the flash, thump, and pulse of a spinnerbait. This thin wire has a lot of flex. The “sproat-style” hook on this bait gets the point up close to the blades, ensuring better hookups with bass that take a swipe at any part of this lure. The hand-tied skirt is a nice touch too.
I caught a fish close to 4 pounds that absolutely inhaled this bait. When I got the fish in, the hook was lodged deep into her mouth, and the entire blade arm was still outside, flexed up and out of the way. I did have to bend the arm back into place a bit, and I’d recommend watching how often you do that, as some spinnerbait arms notoriously break after you bend them several times. But I’ve had the same bait tied for 4 or 5 trips now, and it’s working for me.
Nomad Designs Badlands Swim Jig
I love a good swim jig. And by a “good” swim jig, I mean one with a big hook. There are very few swim jigs that have a stout enough hook for the way I like to fish. The best I’ve ever found is the Dirty Jigs Tackle No-Jack Swim Jig. The Nomad Designs Badlands Swim Jig is the closest comparison to that all-time favorite I’ve ever seen. Outfitted with a gaff of a meat hook, this one will not bend—no matter how big the rod or how strong the line.
I went with the Shimma Shad color, which has little pieces of tensile in the skirt that add a unique flash in the water. These baits come in ⅜- and ½-ounce varieties. Three-eighths of an ounce is my go-to on any swim jig. I really like that the weight is stamped underneath the head of this bait so that I can quickly identify which size it is and restock with confidence. The trailer keeper is fantastic, and the hand-tied skirt isn’t going anywhere.
Berkley PowerBait Unrigged CullShad
The Unrigged CullShad is my favorite swimbait from the new offerings. I’ve been a fan of the original CullShad for the last couple of years, which comes pre-rigged with a treble hook harness. So I was excited to hear there would be an unrigged version with the same Honeycomb technology on the back half of the bait that makes the pre-rigged one swim so well.
These baits come in 5-inch and 6-inch versions. There are two of the bigger ones per pack and three of the smaller ones per pack. I tried rigging the CullShads several different ways, from surface fishing on a weighted EWG hook to fishing the bait on a jighead below. I even slid one up on the back of a buzzbait. I don’t like this quite as much as I like the pre-rigged CullShad, but it's still a quality bait worth checking out. My most memorable catch on it weighed around 3.5 pounds and came in about a foot of water on a light weedless jighead.
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