dont know!

Question
I love to fish, I just don't know what lures to use when it comes to freshwater bass fishing. Can you give me some names of some basic lures out there that will help me catch some fish?!

Answer
Isabel; Sorry for the delay. I started answering your question and my computer went crazy.  It wouldn't type.  We finally found the problem but your question got lost.  

I will be glad to try to help you become a better bass fisherman or fisherwoman as it seems by your name.  You ask for names of some lures for bass fishing.  There are probably more lures made for trying to fool ol' bucketmouth than any other fish in the world.  There are hundreds of thousands of lures but there are only a few types of lures so I will first deal with types then maybe name some of each type and give you a little on how and when to use each type.

Lets start with my favorite, topwater lures.  These are lures that float on the water surface and make gurgles, plops, splooshes, flips, pops or other noises.  I like to use these along a weed line or near rocks, stumps or other visible cover or over visible submerged vegetation.  They  usually work best for me in low light conditions such as an overcast day or early morning (seldom anymore as I need my sleep) or evening just at sunset until sometimes late at night.  I caught my two biggest fish on a warm dark night when the water was real quiet.  I have caught most of my bigger fish  using these types of lures.  Some of my favorites are the Arbogast Jitterbug. I use the magnum size here but up north I use the standard size.  I like black for night and frog color for earlier.
The best way to fish the jitterbug is to cast it near cover and let it set for a few seconds. Five seconds is plenty.  Then twitch the rod tip and make it just jiggle but not move from where it landed.
Often this will bring a strike.  If not wait five more seconds and jiggle it again then begin reeling it in just fast enough to make it swim with its plop, plop, plop,plop sound.  Often a fish will chase it down striking several times before getting hooked.  One mistake often made with this lure is to jerk it away from the fish when you see or hear him strike.  Always just keep reeling steady until you feel the fish on the line then set the hook.  The Devils Horse is quite different.  It is shaped somewhat like a cigar with a spinner blade like a propeller on each end.  To fish this one cast it and do just about the same as I just suggested with the 'bug at first.  This lure does not swim like the bug.  It is best worked with short jerks making the propellers spin.  Stop it and let it set often for five seconds after a jerk.  Often the fish will hit this one while it is sitting still.  Again, and this is true for all these topwater lures, DON'T STRIKE WHEN YOU SEE OR HEAR THE FISH STRIKE.  WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN FEEL HIM ON YOUR LINE.  Many good bass are missed because we get excited and jerk too quickly.   Other lures for top are plunkers or poppers such as the Hula popper, Pop R, Chug bug and many more.  These are worked a lot like the Devils Horse except they make a popping sound when jerked.  Always play the waiting game for the first few seconds as with the 'bug or the horse.  After that you can try  different things.  Try making it go pop,pop,pop wait 5 sec. then pop, pop,pop, wait etc.  At other times bass prefer it to be going pop, pop,pop,pop,pop....sort of skittering across the water.  I promise you that if you try these lures on a quite evening enough times you will get some nice bass and this is the most exciting way of catching them.  (Keep what you want to eat but release the rest to be caught again. In fact I seldom keep any bass anymore they are too valuable to eat or hang on a wall.)  If you catch a really big one keep her alive (it will be a female) weigh her and measure her from tip of nose to folded tail, get someone to witness for you and take a picture. We call this CPR for Catch, Photograph and Release.
The taxidermists now can take the measurements and photo and make you a replica for just a little more than the cost of a regular stuffed bass and the fish can survive to give more little bass with her good genes.  If you catch a 5-6 pounder and want to bake her whole go ahead. One bass will not ruin the lake.

The next type of lures I am going to mention (hopefully not so long) will be the minnow type lure.  This is a long slender lure with a small bill in front.  The original of these was the original Rapala which came in the 1950s.  They come in many colors now but back then there was only the silver side with a black back.  This is called a jerk bait today.  To fish it cast it near cover or over submerged weeds etc.  Let it lie for a few seconds then begin giving it small twitches to make it dive and then let it float back up.  Sometimes the bass will want it just swimming along without twiches.  There are many brands of these now some which dive and stay down called suspending jerk baits.  They catch fish especially in very clear water.  Sometimes bass will be in open water especially if the wind is blowing some making small waves.  Cast toward the Wind and jerk it as mentioned before.

Next is the spinner baits.  Basically there are three types of blades on this lure.  One is almost circular called a Colorado blade, one is elongated and called a willow leaf and the third is somewhere in the middle called an Indiana blade.  Spinnerbaits come in two basic shapes.  One is the safety pin type named because it is sort of made like an open safety pin with hook on one arm and blade or blades on the other arm.  Sometimes these have a single spinner blade and it may be a Colorado for more of a thump thump sound in the water, sometimes a single willowleaf which spins much faster and gives lots of flash. The Indiana is often used as a second blade. Sometimes they have two blades the big one may be any of the three and the second one down the arm may be any of the three giving several different combos.  At first I would recommend one single colorado blade larger than a quarter and one double willowleaf. Later you can add to your collection.   The other type is called the In-line spinner.  This one usually has a single blade on a straight wire shaft.  It probably has a single hook on one end and the line tie on the other.  Mepps is probably the best known of these although the Snagless Sally is also good.  Unless this type lure has a very good ball bearing swivel ahead of it it will twist the line.  Another way of preventing line twist and also making it easier to cast is to use a snap-swivel on your line.  Take a small bell sinker, (the kind with a wire through it and a loop at the top) and place it on the snap and then snap to the spinner.  Most spinner-baits have some sort of skirt on the hook end but often it is also good to hang a small plastic trailer on the hook also.  Color is up to you and the bass.  By that I mean try different colors of skirt or trailer until you find the color bass want on that day.  Spinner baits may be fished on the surface, just under the surface or any place down to the bottom.  Toss it into brush piles and slowly pull it out.  Cast it over weed beds or alongside weed lines or near wood cover.  There is still one more type called a "buzz bait".  This is a safety pin type with a short arm and a big propeller of some kind on it.  It is intended to be pulled across the surface making a buzzing sound.  This is a very effective lure for big bass.

Then there is the crank bait.  These are made of wood or plastic and have a relatively large bill on front to make them dive and wiggle.
There are hundreds of these on the market.  Some cost $3 or less and others cost $25 or more.  I have caught a lot of fish on the cheaper ones.  I seldom will pay more than $5-$6 for a lure.  They come in all sizes from tiny one inch ones to 15 inch size.  I like the ones that are about 2-3 inches.  Some run deep and some run shallow.  You can make a deep runner run shallower by reeling slower and/or using a heavier line.  You can make the shallow runners dive deeper by attaching a small bell sinker to the snap. (I do not use a swivel on these like on an in-line spinner)  The sinker should be just large enough to slowly pull the lure down.  Caution: have a good lure retriever or you will lose a lot of the deep ones.  Fishing these is usually a matter of casting them out and cranking them back but you will often get more strikes if you use a varied retrieve.  Crank enough to get the lure down to it's running depth then use a start stop retrieve or use your rod tip to make the lure jump every now and then.  Color is up to you.  Ask locally what colors are best in your lake.

Now we get to the plastics.  This started back in the mid 1950s when a man named Creme made some plastic replicas of night crawlers.  At first you had the choice of red or red.  I first tried one in 1959 while fishing in Minnesota.  We had been catching bass on real night crawlers when my brother-in-law pulled out a plastic worm.  He called it his "big red worm".  It had the hooks built in and a leader to which you tie your line.  He tossed it out and a bass grabbed it.  I now have several hundred variously shaped plastic lures.  Mostly now they come without hooks and I simply hook the worm through the head about 1/4 inch then turn the hook around, shove the worm up to the head of the hook most of which now have some kind of holder to keep the worm from sliding down.  Hook the worm about halfway down pushing the hook just barely through the worm and then backing it down a tiny bit.  This makes it virtually weedless.  If fishing shallow water I do not use a weight or maybe a tiny split shot just at the hook.  If the water is deeper I put a little bullet shaped weight on the line before tieing the hook on.
The sinker can be allowed to slide or you can push a round toothpick in the small end and break it off keeping the weight down against the hook.  Some like one way some like the other.  Always use the smallest weight you can get the worm down with.  Of course if you are fishing a droppoff in 30 feet of water you will want a larger weight than fishing two feet of water.  Plastics now are made in all kinds of shapes and colors.  Lizzards are often good for big bass but I still use the plain old worm most of the time.  Other critters are available but  that is for the pros not me.  Cast the worm or critter near pilings or under docks, into grass beds, around stumps or standing timber.  I often cast my lure to hit a stump and then let it fall on a slack line.   I watch my line and if it stops sinking too soon or jumps slightly to one side I reel down and when I feel tension I set the hook.  It used to be said one should "cross his eyes" to set the hook but with today's ultra sharp hooks it isn't necessary to set the hook really hard.  I use only wrist or forearm motion to set the hook.  I use a spinning outfit for this type of lure.  I use casting outfits for most of the others.  I use 8lb test line on my spinning outfit although if you don't expect 8lb bass I would drop to 6 lb. as it casts easier.  Make sure you have your drag set just right about 75% of line strength.  I use    14 or 17 pound test on my casting reels.  Again if you don't expect really big bass you can drop to 14 and 12 pound test. I am talking about monofiliment not the expensive special lines.  You may want to use a more expensive line if you like but I have been satisfied with Trilene XL for years and it costs half or less than the fancy lines.  If I was a pro fishing big money tournaments I would use fancy lines too.  My rods are in the $20-$30 range and I have three Ambasadeur 5500c reels and Cardinal spinning reels at about $20 each.

There are a few more lures that I would suggest you begin collecting as you have the money.  I would not be long without a Johnson silver minnow and some pork frogs (not plastic).  I love to cast this lure back into beds of lilly pads and bring it back over the tops and between the pads.  To do this it is necessary to keep your rod tip up as high as possible to keep your line from falling between the pads and getting hung up.  I have had some big bass take this lure. Other types of spoons are useful at times but I seldom use them for bass.
Another is a plastic frog with a double hook folded back into its back to make it weedless.  Cast it into lillys or other weed beds and swim it out with small movements.  Pull it up on a Lilly pad, pull it to the edge and let it sit.  Then pull it off and be ready for a strike. (wait til you feel him, remember)

Occasionally I use a jig either with a pork frog or a plastic critter.  I don't use this as much as I should because it is a big bass catcher.  Toss it up under docks and let it sit.  Shake the rod tip to make it shudder but not move.  Try this for several minutes if you have the patience. (I don't that's why I seldom use it)
Jigs are also good for pulling off a ledge into deeper water but this is getting a bit complected for a beginner.

I promise if you get one or two of each of these kinds of lures and use them trying different ones and types each time you go fishing you will learn how they work and will start catching bass and maybe some really big ones.

Oh I almost forgot one of my favorite lures.  It is a lipless crank bait.  Examples are the Rattletrap, Cordells spot, Rapala lipless lure (can't remember name), bayou boogie etc.  These have a line tie high on the head or back and are heavy and sink like a rock.  Some wiggle as they sink others do not.  They cost anything from around $4 the Rattletrap to much higher for some special ones.  I don't have any of those expensive ones but I do love my rattletrap.  It can be fished several ways.  Originally it was made to cast out as far as possible and then burn it back at high speed.  This works at times but other times I like to cast it out over submerged weeds and reel it in only fast enough to tick the weed tops now and then.  Another way is to cast it out in deep water and let it sink to the bottom then jig it up and down a couple of feet.  Still another is to cast it out in deep water and slowly crawl it across the bottom. This does not work well if the bottom has lots of snags etc. as this lure hangs up easily and is hard to retrieve.   Still I like to use them.

Well that should get you started.  Don't go out and buy a whole bunch of lures.  Buy one or two and go fishing.  Then when you can afford it buy a couple more and so on until you have as many as you need.  Of course you will never get to the point that you have as many as you need.  LOL

That's it for now.  Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.
It might be worth printing up this message so you will have it to read over now and then as you proceed in your fishing.  Good luck and if I can be of further help with specifics please feel free to use the follow up feature on this site.  I would like to know how you do in your fishing.  If you start catching some bass let me know via follow up.  Thanks;

I am
Jack L. Gaither (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia