Finally connected the dots between lures and the fish they catch

[SPOONMINNOW]

This post is in memory of jiggerjohn - a fellow fishing fanatic that was of the same opinion why fish strike lures.
This is only one man's opinion so please don't shoot the writer. Plus I don't expect any replies considering the reasons we believe certain lures catch fish vary based on the colors and designs we have confidence casting.

I've been fascinated by lures that catch fish and spent thousands of dollars in the past buying lures I hoped would do well. Once I got into making many of my own such as spinners, spinnerbaits, all kinds of jigs and now mostly soft plastics, did I finally discover a central theme of why many caught fish after so many decades. Simply put: we poke the bear or in fish terms: poke fish senses so that they respond aggressively. So, how do lures do that?

Keen sight and/ or sound (vibration) detection is what fish depend on to survive. A simple brain is the conduit between those senses and the body for responses to the actions of live animals and lures once detected - but only at a particular right moment in time. Fish may watch a moving object such as an insect on the surface or a hair jig under a float, but it must be in-a-mood to strike. Plus when it comes to lures, not all lures have the same potential regardless right place/right time.

So many good combinations of lure characteristics make lure choices easy, from hair jigs to skirted bass jigs and spinnerbaits to the thousands of soft plastic shapes and actions that consistently catch fish every year. IMO, those characteristics simply irritate fish into striking regardless of color choice. Fish are triggered by lures in such a way that is involuntary - kind a like us slapping at a stinging insect that just landed on our skin which became hyper-sensitive to the lightest touch especially after getting bit a moment ago.

Once I discover a particular combination of lure action/ shape/ lure material/ and size that catches fish, I document it with photos taken of fish caught that day and any day after. Just a few caught fish is all it takes to have confidence in a combination that I'm convinced will always catch fish hypersensitive to being poked. Better yet is believing it possible that slow-moving lures can raise fish sensitivity to a hypersensitive level from the usual inactive, energy-conserving state when suspended.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Indeed fresh water fish strikes may be advantaged by slowest possible retrieves enabled by lightest possible lures that can be cast & retrieved without line management or bottom snag problems.

Most fish in my experience ain't dumb enuf to hit the same lure twice after a missed hookset. Even soft plastic tail nippers can sense something unnatural about the texture or pull pressure and will refuse follow up presentations. Sometimes a quick change to a different lure can elicit a second chance strike, but not very often.

Never say never as there are always occasional exceptions, like boiling wipers that ignore sunken presentations in favor of high speed surface burns.

My experience tho is limited to jigs unadulterated with any natural bait enhancements and the spots I fish are almost always #s depleted lacking perhaps in competition for forage.

And there's the "how the heck?" factor like this AM why the 4 fish I managed to catch in a very slow usual pre-sunrise session preferred seemingly oversize chartreuse stubs over natural baitfish color plastics of match the hatch appropriate size.

 

[hookup]

Most fish in my experience ain't dumb enuf to hit the same lure twice after a missed hookset.

And that's why I luv fishing a fluke for small mouth.

When the fish blows up on the bait and you miss the hook set, dead stick it and 99 out of 50 times they'll hit it again.

imho - most box store brand baits are made to catch anglers.

I've always be a finesse fisherman - small baits, light lines. John helped to teach me how to perfect that technique for bass.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

I have caught many fish that attacked again and again either on the same retrieve or repeated retrieves while working the lure slowly.
my experience is the same as hookup's:

When the fish blows up on the bait and you miss the hook set, dead stick it and 99 out of 50 times they'll hit it again.

I'm wondering if the type of lakes I fish and the shallow depths I try to find fish in make a difference when it comes to what I cast and the presentation I use, which is usually slow. Lure types by-design were changed frequently and caught as many fish as using only one lure. Yesterday while contending with a 15mph + wind, I caught fish on these various lures which I bet you can figure out the action/ shape element combo fish were provoked by:




Note: the middle fat grub was nose-hooked and worked near tree stumps and under overhanging limbs.






There were a few others but you get the idea. Fish were caught mostly in water less than 4' deep and some in water 6' deep. The lake averages 10' in depth like all the other lakes I fish and shallow water patterns are usually found most of the year except when ice fishing. Each lure has a different action/profile. Some were slammed while others produced light strikes that had to be hook set immediately. but all poked the bear in some way or another on a day of bright sun, high wind, post cold front with 1.5" of rain the day before.

 

[hookup]

Nice mixed bag you got there

I've used the hit/dead-stix technique in lakes & rivers

Another thing the fish has taught me is sometimes they want a fast moving bait, other times slow, then other times they wan't a lift-and-drop SNIDER style retrieve.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Area differences apparently abound. Perhaps it depends on how hungry the fish are relative to amount of predators vs amount of forage. My area finicky biters being few in # maybe are better fed without having to compete with others.

Also, my hard pressure spots occupants have been aggravated by many lures intruding on their territory which might make them more bite shy.

Dead sticking at my spots will usually result in a bottom snag.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Anymore, I try not to assign a motive for strikes. Maybe too simplistic but the only thing I assign to a lure that got struck was ...THAT IT DID GET STRUCK!
Why fish went crazy hammering it can only be speculated. Simply stated: there's got to be a reason why similar lures work far better than others. I have tested a thousand or more lures over many decades, comparing lures of the same type, always coming to the same conclusion that lure design and action matter far more than any motive assigned to the strike such as hunger, territoriality, anger, curiosity, etc.; or why fish didn't strike: fishing pressure or fish not hungry vs that period of the day when fish suspend and nothing wakes them up to play. The question I no longer bother asking is: do fish think lures are living things?

Rather, lures that get hit on a regular basis have descriptive actions that I label such as:
body wobble
twitching / pulsating thin tail(s)
darting & pausing & darting ....
hair that breathes and pulsates
tail thumping (shad-type boot tail)
snake/ whip horizontally, on the bottom or a combination of both
thin tail fluttering like a flag in the wind
strobe-like spinner flash
and others

Fish senses are amazing in detecting moving objects (even at night), object speed, type of movement, water displacement (size), vibrations and how they contrast against the environment.

Granted, not all of the above actions work all of the time, but most of the above actions get struck most of the time and on the same outing. Numbers caught don't lie. It's rare I don't catch at least 30 fish, averaging over 50 fish and seasonally over 100 fish on many days fishing solo. Fishing with someone that uses the same type lures racks the numbers higher.

 

[Hawnjigs]

#s don't lie is relative, my last outing Fri 3-6am only got 7 fish but successful considering exceptional for the spot 21" wally & 8# catfish were highlights. Pretty much always fish this high pressure spot alone in the dark before others start showing up after sunrise. Rarely do I observe the daylighters catch anything decent, and I hope the meatheads don't discover the nite bite.

SM correct me if I'm wrong but all your posted pic catches bit a different lure? Does that suggest that the fish will bite anything of appropriate size?

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

SM correct me if I'm wrong but all your posted pic catches bit a different lure? Does that suggest that the fish will bite anything of appropriate size?

Hawn you expressed one of my considerations regarding lure choice but left out lure action/shape/rate and type retrieve, At the same time, you mentioned time & place choices which are absolute when it comes to any lure choice. I fish shallow water areas or surface activity when present even over deeper water and know spots to try using light jigs ranging from 1/32 - 1/16 oz. depending on depth and speed of retrieve. No lure will catch fish if lure speed is too fast for conditions or lure design dictates a slower speed to show its stuff - specific action. 1/8 oz is much to heavy for the lure size and a slow presentation.

When it comes to lure size, I could limit numbers and species caught casting larger lures for larger fish - I.e. heavier skirted bass jigs with big action trailers or in-their-face crankbaits with rattles and a wide wobble (there's action-type again). But I'm addicted to the strike and whatever is at the-end-of-the line surprise, from the smallest fish (for ha ha's) to the 3 lb bass or catfish bending the crap out of my light action rod. The ultimate satisfaction is getting into a school of fish* that pretty much hit cast after cast any lures with any or most of the above combinations. Casting 4 rods with different lures proves that which is all part of the grand experiment to confirm lure-design effectiveness.

When a lure design works and the lure is lost, photos remind me of the exact size and shape that has to be reproduced until modifications of it are tried. Funny how fish sense the slightest difference when it comes to shape & size combinations and at times won't bite something as often when either is off.

*Fish schools and the many fish caught from them confirm the fact that much of the time fish suspend and are inactive. All it takes is one fish to start the riot (just like humans) because aggression is contagious; regardless seeing their pals hooked and in a panic, fish bite one after the other most any lure you chuck at them (within reason).

 

[hookup]

Dead sticking at my spots will usually result in a bottom snag.

Again I'll refer to SLIDER (sorry for the spell checker change I didn't catch earlier). Start trimming lead until the snags stop. JJ and I had long conversations of this technique.

And you don't have to have SLIDER jigs to fish the SLIDER techniques Charlie Brewer wrote about (note: if anyone is interested do not waste your money on the video - buy the book & read it each season. jmho)

Don't get me wrong, I still loose jigs to bottom snags - especially in wood. But I loose way less with the lessons I've learned from both writers like JJ, Brewer and the fish

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Perhaps it depends on how hungry the fish are relative to amount of predators vs amount of forage.

Hard to prove unless you had a way of getting a response to the question - You hungry or what? - from the fish you just caught. Assigning a motive to the strike is simply human imagination at work assigning a label to the strike. Thousands of magazine articles in the past have filled-in-the-blanks why fish strike lures - especially those advertised by celebrity-sponsored anglers. Predicting which lure(s) to use based on any of that is useless unless sheer luck is on your side. A far better predictor of a pattern is the combination of 1. the location(s) fish were caught, 2. lure size/shape/action and 3. presentation(s) used.

 

[hookup]

For bass, in the fall they have to put on their feed bags to live through the winter.

But bass also strike because they are pissed off at the bait for invading its territory

Both work for me as long as I get to catch them