American tournament bass angler Nathan Quince has released his annual list of the five lures he believes will define bass fishing through the 2026 season, combining two emerging trend baits with three time-tested staples that remain cornerstones of his tackle selection.
Published on his YouTube channel last month and already approaching 14,000 views, Quince's breakdown argues that bass fishing in 2026 will be defined by a combination of experimentation with large presentations, early adoption of ICAST-driven micro baits, and a cost-conscious pivot toward value reels and lures as tariffs raise the price of imported tackle.
"There are thousands of fishing lures out there, and every year more are getting released. But today, I'm breaking down the five lures that I think will change your fishing in 2026," Quince opened. "Some of these are brand new baits you should start experimenting with, and others are old school lures that just flat out catch fish."
Top of the list is the glide bait and the broader category of large multi-jointed swimbaits. Quince pushed back against the conventional view that glide baits are strictly a spring pre-spawn and post-spawn presentation, arguing they have proven productive across winter, summer and autumn periods when bass are opportunistic. "A lot of people are catching big fish in the wintertime on glide baits because they want a big meal. A lot of people are catching big ones in the summer or the fall on glide baits just because bass are opportunistic feeders and you can draw fish out of cover with these," he said.
The second pick is the micro 'fuzzy dice' category — small forage baits led by the original Quakis 13mm and 17mm models, the Strike King Tumble Weeds, and the upcoming Z-Man Fuzzy Nuggets. Quince likened their current commercial moment to the early years of the Ned rig, during which a short window of bait novelty produced an irresistible effect on pressured fish. "I will not be throwing this thing. I'm not using a little TRD bait and throwing it out there and fishing for tiny fish. It doesn't just catch tiny fish. And I was late to the game. I waited two, maybe even three years before I even started fishing the Ned rig. And by that point, the fish had seen a ton of them. It still works. It still always catches fish, but there was a magic window that first year or two where that was irresistible to those fish. I believe the same thing is going to happen with these dice baits," he said.
The third pick is a value-oriented alternative to the now-$20-a-piece Z-Man JackHammer: the ChatterBait Evo at $9.99. Quince said he has been running the Evo through pre-practice sessions for Lake Toho tournament fishing and has landed multiple seven-pound bass on the Golden Shiner colour. "They're half the price of a jackhammer... They have a great blade on them. They're direct connected to the head. They vibrate almost immediately," he said, adding that he fished the Evo — not a JackHammer — at a recent Bassmaster Open.
Positions four and five are old reliables: the flipping, swim and football jig family, and the drop shot. For jigs, Quince emphasised versatility across depth, cover and forage match. "You can mimic anything these fish want to eat. Any depth of water and any cover," he said, confirming a jig is his first tie-on each spring and last tie-off before ice. For drop shots, Quince flagged the Strike King Magic Worm for largemouth and spotted bass, and Z-Man TRD-style baits or the Strike King Half Shell for smallmouth, with both Texas and nose hook configurations in rotation.
Quince also confirmed that he is working on his own glide bait design, with prototypes and release potentially following later in 2026 if the development cycle stays on track.
For Australian anglers targeting impoundment bass, the list carries direct read-across. Glide baits and multi-jointed swimbaits remain under-fished in much of Queensland and northern New South Wales. The fuzzy dice category is beginning to arrive through Australian tackle importers. And the price gap between jackhammer-style bladed jigs and lower-cost alternatives is widening at Australian retail at a similar rate to the United States.