Top 5 Winning Baits from the 2025 Bassmaster Elite on Lake Okeechobee

Bassmaster Elite 2025: How the Top Anglers Fished at Lake Okeechobee

The last time the Bassmaster Elite Series visited Lake Okeechobee was almost exactly two years ago in mid-February of 2023. Similar to the recent 2025 event, catchable bass were available in all three phases of the spawning cycle. Most people assumed the expansive weedy flats of the big lake were the highest percentage areas likely to produce the winning bag of fish.

In that event, Tyler Rivet found an unlikely, untapped area of hard bottom spots off the bank of the Kissimmee River. He caught most of his fish on a jerk bait, something the other Top 10 finishers weren’t throwing.

In 2025, Brandon Palaniuk, and three other anglers, found another fairly unassuming, non-community, non-historical type of area where the winning fish lived—the now famous C-41A canal. Also like Tyler Rivet’s 2023 victory, the winner threw a bait the others weren’t throwing (apart from first day leader, Greg DiPalma).

Brandon Palaniuk on his bass boat hooked up with a big leaping bass. — Brandon Palaniuk hooked up in the spot he shared with the other tournament leaders. | B.A.S.S. | Dalton Tumblin

But among the Top 10 anglers’ baits, there was a lot of diversity—a lot of one-of-a-kinds.

Following is a breakdown of the most effective baits used by the Top 10 finishers at the 2025 Bassmaster Elite event at Okeechobee, Florida.

Top 5 Bass Baits That Dominated the 2025 Okeechobee Tournament

1. Deep Crankbait

Bassmaster Pro Greg DiPalma posing with the deep crankbait he caught most of his key fish on. — DiPlama used a magnum worm and deep crankbait to pinpoint prespawn bass on depth breaks. | B.A.S.S. | Dalton Tumblin

If you had asked me to guess my top 50 baits for a tournament on shallow, weedy Lake Okeechobee in the Florida Everglades, I don’t think a deep crankbait would have made my list. None the less, a deep crank was mentioned three times among the Top 10 anglers, twice by tournament Champion Brandon Palaniuk who used both a Megabass prototype and a Megabass Big-M 4.0, and a third time by the only other angler to hold the lead in this event, Greg DiPalma who threw a Nomad D-Trak.

2. Swimjig

Bassmaster pro Will Davis Jr. posing with his swimjig. — A key bait for Davis was this 1/4-ounce Davis Bait Co. Beast Swim Jig, with a Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog for a trailer. | B.A.S.S. | Dalton Tumblin

A swimjig was also mentioned three times. Jacob Foutz used a 1/4 ounce swimjig with a pretty standard boot-tail Kietech 3-1/2 inch swimbait trailer, Bob Downey and Will Davis Jr. both had a craw-style trailer on their swimjigs.

3. Ball-head Jig Minnow

bassmaster elite pro Jacob Foutz posing with his jighead minnow. — Foutz credited much of his success to a 4-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ on 3/16-ounce Owner Range Roller jig head. | B.A.S.S. | Dalton Tumblin

Two competitors, Jacob Foutz and Kyoya Fujita, thanked the very popular, ball-head jig and minnow baits, generally used in conjunction with forward-facing sonar.

4. Jig Worm

Bassmaster Elite pro Will Davis Jr posing with his shakey head worm — Davis used a 3/16-ounce Davie Bait Co. Little Will Shaky Worm jig head with a Davis Shaky Worm. | B.A.S.S. | Dalton Tumblin

Day one leader Greg DiPalma used a fairly beefy Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed Worm, rigged on a 7/16-ounce wobble head-style jig head. And Will Davis Jr. opted for a more finesse-y 3/16-ounce Davie Bait Co. Little Will Shaky Worm jig head with a Davis Shaky Worm.

5. Everything Else

Bassmaster ELite pro Kyoya Fujita posing with his dice lure. — Leading the list of "everything else", here's a look at Kyoya Fujita's dice lure. | B.A.S.S. | Kyoya Fujita

After the list of baits that two or three anglers had in common, there were quite a few one-of-a-kinds. Jason Christie threw a frog and a Texas-rigged, soft plastic stick bait. Trey McKinney used a ribbed worm that he threw both wacky-rigged and Carolina-rigged. David Gaston was the only angler to credit a bladed jig. Bob Downey had a craw rigged three ways—punch-rigged, as a pitching jig trailer and on a swimjig as mentioned above.

Fujita credited a weightless 14mm Field Side Sailor Dice Rubber Magnum. Second place finisher John Garrett flipped a Texas-rigged craw. And in addition to his crankbait’s Palaniuk relied on a Megabass jerk bait. Apparently, there were a lot of baits the Okeechobee bass were willing to bite

Key Takeaway from the Lake Okeechobee Bassmaster Elite

The 2025 Bassmaster Elite Lake Okeechobee showed once again that even one of the most fished lakes in the country can be, and in fact probably will be, won by the angler bold and confident enough to do things his own way.