Top or near surface - Depends on the type.
There's glide baits. On the cheaper end are the S-Waver 168 and 200, Baitsanity Antidote and explorer.
There's wake baits. Some of the best are things like the Triton baits Bull Wake, Spro BBZ Rat, Bull Rat
For middle of the column, you can divide it into hard and soft baits.
Hard baits - bull shad, bull shad 4x4, Spro BBZ Trout
Soft baits - Optimum boom boom swimbaits (weedless or line through), Trash fish, Keitechs, Osprey talons, Megabass Magdraft
For the bottom there's only a couple. Huddlestons (68 and 8" ROF12s), Hudd Gills, Mattlures Hammertail gill and shad, and I believe savage gear makes a good Hudd style bait to crawl on bottom.
Hudds and those type are best in early spring or late fall/winter.
the topwaters are good for post spawn through fall.
Soft baits are good all year, though which one will vary by water temperature and depth.
Bull Shads are great in post spawn and summer into early fall when you can burn them as fast as you possibly can.
Best bet is to watch the tactical bassin' guys on youtube. They probably have more invested in swimbaits than my boat costs.
