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postcard · 05-14-2002, 03:08 AM

Sight, sound, and feel are three factors to consider when choosing an artificial lure on tough days or on days when the pattern is spotty. Three other important lure elements that should be considered are a lure’s depth range (top, mid-depth, bottom), lure size (weight as it relates to lure motion or action and drop rate) and rate and type of retrieve. (These three elements effect your presentation.) I believe the above six lure elements overlap in their effects on the fish’s bite. For example, sight characteristics include color brightness, amount of flash, reflected colors or color patterns, translucent colors and laminate colors. But they also include lure profile and size which effect reflected sound and water disturbance (sound qualities). Sound qualities include type of surface disturbance, subsurface water displacement, object impact noise, inherent-noise chambers, bait profile and size, and lure vibration (i.e. action-related oscillation, apart from sound chamber rattles). ‘Feel’ elements also include lure profile, action-profile, and sound elements. By action profile I mean the bait’s appearance on the retrieve. For example is the skirt full or does it contain less strands; is it short (rocket shad) or long (beyond the hook curve)? Is the action profile a wide wobble (Helin’s Flat Fish) or tight (Rat L Trap or Poe’s Thin Shad)? The lateral line is extremely sensitive to water displacement by a subsurface object’s profile and density. A combination of fish-attracting elements exists in each lure. Those characteristics are applicable to certain patterns and a pattern can be compared to the combination of a lock. Does the lure(s) have the right combination of any of the above elements that passes the Bite Me! test for certain fish, light and water conditions? For instance, my buddy and I fished for panfish recently after a severe cold front. The spawn pattern that usually occurs this time of year was destroyed by 5” of rain and a 15 degree drop in water temperature. The wind stayed at 15 mph all day. Forget shallow water. Forget large profile baits. Forget 98% of the stuff in my storage boxes. I asked myself, “self, what color will work in tannin stained water, and what lure can be fished slow to medium and in 10’, with fish at 6’. We found isolated schools with the side-finder and worked small to medium grubs and panfish-size crankbaits. The lure that beat the pants off all other lures tried, was a Bass Pro tricolor crappie grub on a 1/8 oz. jighead. I caught 10 fish to every one my partner caught. The lures he was using were perfect for more active fish. But I believe the elements of: 1. the tiny curly tail with silver metal flakes; 2. the 1.5 “ body length; 3. the thin diameter braid; 4. the 1/8 oz. jighead (with sides filed to reveal ‘bright metal’) used in order to feel a ‘nothing-at-the-end-of-the-line strike at 6-8’; 5. the laminate colors of florescent lime and chartreuse or pearl (for tanin stain visibility); 6. the knobby, grub profile and; 7. an erratic retrieve gave me the combination of lure elements needed to unlock lock-jaw fish. Two grubs caught 50 fish. His 15 types of grubs caught 20 fish. (He caught up to me in the pm, a little.) I did try other styles, but I kept the tricolor nearby to confirm sonar fish signals. In the afternoon we went after bigger species in shallow water, adjacent to wetlands. A popper only caught one small bass and buzzbaits and spinnerbaits couldn’t buy a strike. But my in-line spinner combined with an 8” Big Wag worm in tequila sunrise, accounted for 4 pickerel, 5 bass and 6 missed hits. The blade was a #3 Colorado with a few silver beads. The color contrasted just right in stained water and captured just the right amount of the bright sunlight. The weight of the heavy worm allowed long casts for spooky fish; the braid allowed strong, long-distance hook sets and the weightlessness of the Texas-rigged worm allowed for a horizontal, shallow, steady and slow retrieve in and over emerging vegetation. The medium wide u-tail slithered like a large augertail, uniquely displacing water and vegetation. Thus the combination of successful elements: 1. good lure color for water color and bright light; 2. large, long profile and action profiles (good for shallow fish); 3. a tiny, flashy, spinning blade(relative to lure length); 4. two contrasting vibrations: spinning blade and slithering tail; 5. slow, mixed retrieves; and 6. a presentation that put the 'creature' right in its living room(for potato-couch fish). (I’ll include a link to a jpeg of the spinner-rig at the end of this thread.) Large Brush hogs, Hoo Daddy or Bacon Rind worms would have done just as well as the Big Wag, with or without the spinner. (The spinner got their attention from a longer distance.) Elements that would not unlock the lock in shallow water: 1. buzz; 2. pop; 3. fast and steady retrieves; 4. black and red flake color I’m sure better anglers than me could have found other lures with other characteristics that could have caught fish that day and in different water. But I found elements that worked for me based on my breakdown of productive, lure elements that contrasted in a way that got strikes. A particular lure's success can tell you a lot about how, where and possibly why fish were catchable. That pattern could last a day or a week. Don't ignore the lessons of a lure pattern. Edited by MasterJigBuilder on 05/22/02 07:27 PM.

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