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Top Elite Qualifier baits of 2023

Check out the lures that have carried these Elite Qualifier anglers to the top of the standings so far this season as well as the one bait they feel is necessary for anyone to throw when they visit the Harris Chain of Lakes.

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Photography by
Dalton Tumblin
Captions by
Christopher Decker
John Garrett is currently second in the EQ race with 1461 points, well inside the cut to make the 2024 Elite Series. Garrett’s best producing bait this year has been a Strike King Filler Worm rigged on a drop shot.
“This has been my number one bait this year. I would guess I have caught 70 percent of my bass with it. I mostly catch individual bass with it off of stumps or roaming fish. You might be able to generate bigger bites with something else like a jig, but in these Opens it is so important to rack up points. For me, I can for sure get a fish to bite with this worm. Forward-facing sonar is a big deal with this. One of the best things to do is, when you throw at them, you want to let your bait float. The Filler Worm is buoyant, so when I throw it, I don’t start shaking it. I have a long leader and I will let that bait float slowly down and if they don’t bite it then, they aren’t going to bite it. Most people throw it out there and keep a tight line and the worm is up there bouncing. They will bite it on the slackline fall, however.
Nearly every tournament, Garrett has caught bass around stumps and brush with a Strike King Rage Magnum Cut-R-Worm. That bait also helped him in grass fishing scenarios. Green pumpkin and blue craw have been his best producing colors. He rigs it with a ⅜-ounce weight and either a 4/0 or 5/0 hook.
“I made a Top 10 strictly with it at Watts Bar and helped me make the Top 10 at Lake of the Ozarks. At almost every tournament, I have weighed one or two fish every tournament using this bait.”
Another productive bait was a Strike King 5XD in sexy shad color. To generate the most bites, Garrett reels the bait as fast as he possibly can. He ties his 5XD to 12-pound fluorocarbon most of the time.
“We have had a lot of mid-depth tournaments this year, the 8 to 15 feet range. This has been a good search bait. I caught all of my fish at Eufaula Alabama with this bait and weighed in 28 pounds on Day 2 there. I also caught some at Toledo Bend with it.”
One of Garrett’s favorite baits to throw in Florida is a Strike King Red Eye Shad Tungsten 2 Tap.
At the Harris Chain, Garrett likes to target several different types of offshore cover like shellbeds and submergent grass. This bait excels in the 2 to 5-foot range and Garrett is able to cover tons of water with it.
Auburn, Ala.’s Logan Parks enters the final event of the year in seventh place with 1294 points. Three baits have contributed to his success including this Berkley Dredger crankbait. Depending on the depth of the bass, Parks will use the 17.5, 20.5 and 25.5 versions.
“At the first tournament of the year at Eufaula Alabama, I was cranking for big ones offshore. The Dredger 25.5 really gets down there. It is a deep diving crankbait with a little smaller profile, which makes it better for some of the more pressured fish that have seen the big plugs. I had a school at Watts Bar that I was able to pick up a couple key bass every morning on by cranking. It was a shallower school, so I switched to the 17.5.”
Parks also excelled this season by using a Berkley Stunna 112 jerkbait. He has used the Hankie Pankie color in dirty water tournaments while a perch color was productive at the St. Lawrence River. The stone cold color has been key in clear water situations like he saw at Buggs Island.
“Forward-facing sonar has changed the game with jerkbait fishing for me. It used to be I would throw out there and switch up my cadences and then try to remember what I did to get a bite. Now, you can watch these fish and see how they react. A big thing for me this year has been fishing offshore brush or stumps, something near the bank but not on it. The jerkbait is really versatile.”
A Berkley The General worm has also carried Parks through the season too. He has fished the stickbait in multiple different ways including on a wacky rig, Texas rig and a Carolina rig. Green pumpkin and junebug have been his two go-to colors. “It never hurts to have MaxScent,” he remarked.
“I caught a lot of bass using it on a Carolina rig, which is one of my least favorite ways to fish. They have been biting it this year. The General is one of the best baits to throw on a Carolina rig. At Toledo Bend, I caught some key bass offshore every day with it. At the St. Lawrence, I switched it up to a 4-inch worm and threw it on a wacky rig for smallmouth cruising around boulders. At Buggs Island, I caught them on a wacky rig there.
The Berkley Speed Boss is a bait Parks loves at the Harris Chain. He will throw it on either a Texas rig or a Carolina rig, depending on the situation.
“If you look at tournament results, a speed style worm is king in Florida. The Berkley Speed Boss is becoming one of my favorites. The two kicking feet gives it a different action and helps me get more bites.”
18-year-old Trey McKinney is third in the EQ race currently with 1417 points. Two baits have been responsible for his success, including this Strike King Baby Structure Jig paired with a Strike King Rage Menace.
“It is a good overall jig. You can do so much with it. I put 15-pound line on it and can catch smallmouth. I can put 25-pound line on it and catch them out of the bushes. At Toledo Bend, I caught most of my fish flipping this bait and I will also swim it on the edge of the grass. There is something about the way the head falls. It kind of glides and the bass love it.”
McKinney also threw a Strike King Ocho with a 1/32-ounce nail weight pushed into the head of the bait.
“All of my high finishes like Eufaula Oklahoma and Wheeler Lake, I caught them on this setup. I like the honey candy color. I don’t throw this without forward-facing sonar.”
In his first trip to Florida, McKinney has found a rhythm using a Strike King Cut-R-Worm and a Strike King Hybrid Hunter. Both produced good bites in practice and he hopes that will continue in the tournament.
Three baits have helped JT Thompkins claim the EQ points lead after eight events, including a 5/8-ounce OutKast Tackle Juice Jig in peanut butter and jelly. He pairs it with a Strike King Rage Bug.
“A jig is a staple. I can do anything from flip grass and laydowns, drag it through rock or even LiveScope isolated fish with it. I have thrown it like a hair jig. I have snapped it, I have dead sticked it. Anywhere we have gone this year, I have been able to trigger a bite with a jig.”
A Strike King KVD Elite 200 jerkbait has also been a big player. Thompkins covers water in practice with a jerkbait to locate bass.
“This jerkbait is a little bigger than most. I throw this one in practice a lot. I can draw bass up off the bottom and see the size of them on Panoptix as well as the quantity of bass. I can also keep it away from them in practice. Rarely does a fish smoke a jerkbait, you have to work it to get them to eat it. I can throw it around brushpiles and grass. I can even put weights on it and fish it on ledges.”
For targeting big bass, Thompkins has used a Swimbait Garage Hyper Shad glidebait.
“I have caught a lot of big fish on it this year. I caught two of my bigger ones at the Ozarks on it. I caught almost all of my fish on the last day at Watts Bar with it. I should have won that tournament with it. I ended up breaking off a 5-pounder during the last five minutes of Bassmaster LIVE.”
In Florida, a Carolina rig is a staple and Thompkins will likely be utilizing it this week.
“Any stickbait in Florida will catch fish. The bluegill spawn 20 times a year it seems like. So you can take a Carolina rig and drag a magnum worm with a chartreuse tail and get bit anytime of the year. You can drag it through hydrilla. You can drag it on shellbeds or the edge of Kissimmee grass.”
South Carolina’s Kyle Austin has had three baits consistently in his lineup this year. Austin, who is eighth in the EQ race, likes to throw a Strike King Rage Bug on a Texas rig.
A Rage Bug is versatile. I use it on a jig trailer, whether it is a football head or an Arkie head. You can Texas rig it, put it on a free rig, anything. I always have it on the deck all the time and cover a lot of water with it. This is the mid-size bait, which is perfect for anything. Every tournament this year I have caught an above average bass with it.”
As a Santee Cooper Lakes native, Austin loves to throw a spinnerbait and it has been a clutch bait throughout the season. His favorite is this Treeshaker Tackle homemade spinnerbait.
“I don’t know how many tournament we had where there was a shad spawn deal going on. You can cover a lot of water with it and this one specifically I have won a lot of money on. At Wheeler Lake, I caught a limit with it every morning.”
A River2Sea Whopper Plopper has also been a big player for Austin this year. “A Plopper to me is just a big fish bait,” Austin said.
“A lot of these tournaments have lined up for topwater action. You can throw this on deep fish or shallow fish, it doesn’t matter. I think in two of my best tournaments I caught a lot of bass with a Plopper.”
Austin won’t vary his approach that much on the Harris Chain. A Strike King Rage Bug will be a primary player.
“The Harris Chain is known for offshore fishing, but there are obviously a lot of fish you can catch flipping. I am going to try to cover a lot of water with it. I’ll flip it in reeds, Kissimmee grass, everywhere. I have three rigged up with different weights for different cover.”
Robert Gee entered this event in fourth place in the EQ standings and is excited about the prospect of qualifying for the Elite Series. A football jig has been a large key to his success.
“In all of the tournaments, from Eufaula to Toledo Bend to Wheeler, I have caught them on a jig. I have dragged it around and casted it at bass on my LiveScope. It is something I always have tied on, at least when I’m not in Florida.”
Another confidence bait in 2023 has been a Texas-rigged worm. He prefers either a straight-tailed or curly tail worm.
“I have flipped it around cover and fished brushpilles with it. A lot of fish I have caught have been on isolated wood and by fishing places a lot of people wouldn’t.”
When times get tough, Gee turns to a pink Roboworm rigged on a drop shot.
” A drop shot is a very simple bait that gets bites year round. I always have it tied on and laying on my deck. I will either use LiveScope and find fish to cast at or I can fish it offshore on brushpiles or around docks. A lot of my biggest fish this year have come on it.”
For anyone wanting to fish the Harris Chain, Gee recommends throwing a ChatterBait.
“Anywhere in Florida, this is a bait you can pick up and cover water with. That is how I’m going to have to fish this week. Just chuck and wind. I have a lot of confidence in it.”

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