Brian
what do you mean I've lost sight of the basics, I never had sight of the basics in the first place! I do like to fish jigs and cranks, but for the most part I try to do stuff that isn't considered the "normal" way to bass fishin. Bass will hit a lot of funky stuff, sometimes better than the usual stuff, just because they haven't seen it before.
That said, I don't hesitate to use brush hogs and worms and whatnot if I have to.