If limited to only one lure for anywhere in North America, any kind of fish, fresh or salt, it would be a lead head jig as the most versatile lure in my tackle box. I like marabou but soft plastic is probably more versatile.
Steelhead, salmon, walleye, pike, bass, crappie, channel cat, trout, bluefish, stripers, sand bass, perch, kelp fish, albacore, halibut, rock cod, bottom fish... a lead head jig works for pert near any fish that is predatory for part of its diet. One mid sized jig will catch all of those except the smallest perch.
But who wants to be limited to one lure, even if it is a favorite? My favorite way to fish is a Vibrax spinner in rivers. In salt water and big lakes for salmon and trout my favorite is a Dungness Stinger salmon jig, a lead minnow. I love buzz baits in late summer for topwater pike. The take may give you a heart attack!
Dan, I am admitting my shortcomings, but I cannot catch fish on a rooster tail. A young friend with me Sunday caught nice brook trout with a yellow rooster tail, and they are the favorite of several friends of mine. For whatever reason, I do not fish them well and though I have a few I rarely fish them anymore. Ditto for flatfish. Small flatfish are the favorite of a friend who is an excellent trout fisherman, but I can't catch fish on them, apparently don't have the knack to run them in a way the fish prefer.
It is a curious thing how much confidence in a lure makes it effective.
Last edited by Okanagan; 07/20/18. Reason: confession
