I've been fishing the same waters for about a month now with a friend who had told me to use 6" Zoom lizards Pumpkinseed with a Chartreuse tail... And it consistently caught 12-20 smallies/rock bass every day. (until today, but that's not my question.)

So I experimented today, giving 15-30 mins or more on any OTHER lure I had, while my buddy was fishing with the same old lizard. We moved up and down to our different spots on the creek, and he caught fish, maybe half of what we would normally get (per person) Which, I'm guessing we may be on late side of the spawn where they don't eat? (I'm sure I sound like an idiot, but I'm new to bass fishing.)

I caught zero fish on these lures:

silver swim shad on a 2/0 keel-weighted gamakatsu,

chartreuse powerworm Texas rigged.

Boo-yah camoflage jig with the rattling deal.

White 1/4 oz spinnerbait.

craw colored 1/4oz spinnerbait.

So why is it they are so picky? hahaha. Is it my presentation/retrieval speed/etc, or do some fish just only eat pumpkinseed lizards with green tails? HAHAHA.

I don't know, I read all kinds of other tricks on here, but more often than not, my lure choice is fairly terrible, only those goofy lizards. Also, the same pumpkin lizard with a red tail will catch 0 fish as well. *shrugs*

Any insight greatly appreciated, as I'm a total newbie.

Knowing the lake conditions would help, also what presentations you used on the baits you threw. And are the fish pre spawn, spawning, or post spawn..?

Sorry. I'll elaborate. Pre-spawn, but I'm guessing we're going to be spawn in the next week or so.

Creek is very clear, rocky bottom, depth varies from 3ft/8ft+

As far as presentations, like I said, I'm a newbie, the spinnerbaits, I really just varied the speed, from slow enough to where the spinner was almost not spinning, to fairly quick to where the spinnerbait creates a "weighted" kinda feeling, as if I had a few fairly large sinkers on it.

The worms I tried twitching across the bottom, bumping off the rocks. The jigs I pretty much do the same thing with, while sometimes trying out just slow steady retrieval with almost any of it.

its my experience that i fyou throw a multitude of lures in a multitude of presentations and you dont catch anything.... its not the lure... theres no fish there...  maybe the fish have moved from where you were catching them and your buddy picked up the stragglers....

I hope you're right. I just feel like 80% of my lures are fruitless...Actually, I know they are. Some types of lures I've fished on and off for a couple years, and only a select few of them have EVER produced for me... But since you guys have more experience than I do, I figured I'd ask.

nah.

almost all lures will catch some fish some of the time. the lures you have werent nationally marketed beacuse they dont catch fish. lol.

they just havent produced for you... in the times and conditions youve thrown them.

eventually youll throw one at the right time in the right area for that lure to work... and then youll relate that scenario with choosing to throw that lure, and itll become your favorite lure to throw in that situation.

its all a learning curve. everyones is different.

i threw jigs for several years with barely even a bite. i know they catch fish.. ive seen other people do it. lol... then just a month or two ago.. i got into a jig bite and now thats all i want to throw.

theres hope.

Even though color shouldn't make a difference, sometimes it does. What I would try, is buy some plastic's other tahn lizards in pumkinseed..try some Senko's, and creature baits..If you don't already, I would have some good flurocarbon line in 6 to 8 lb test. Try throwing the above baits weightless if possible, and let them Sit, give you bait a Slight twitch, if you do crawl it, do it Very slow.

As was said, it's possible the fish have moved off, as they may be staging at this point, so deeper water may prove to be better. Then again sometimes ther bass are more focused on the spawn, and refuse to strike anything. I have fished conditions like that a few times..It's very frustrating when you can see schools of bass, or single fish just cruising, that refuse to take any baits what so ever,

Fishing from shore limits us, sometimes we just can't reach them in deeper water, but we try. Experiment, nothing is written in stone that says you have to fish a certain way, the fish will let you know when you get it right..   Good Luck out there.

hehe, thanks. I'll try to keep experimenting as I go along, and hopefully when the conditions are right, I'll nail them, and remember what they were. Is there really such a dramatic difference in lures for changes in conditions?

Can be..re: conditions. Example..at a local lake I fish at, during the prespawn, about the only thing that will catch bass is a white jig, with a brown colored trailer, the trailer can be a sweetbeaver, a craw, or a creature..During othere times, the Only color worm, or plastic's they will hit with any degree of regularity is ..you guessed it..Brown, it can have other colors, but has to be mostly brown..

In other lakes, plastic's get bit better on purple colors..go figure.. ;D

Hmm. That seems a lot like what I'm picking up on, I think. I suppose some lures are more apt to work on certain bodies of water, as well as conditions. I hadn't considered that bass of a given body of water might be more likely to go for one over the other, I just figured they're all the same.

Oh, and after reading my topic, I think it came off as airheaded/egotistical/etc. Definitely wasn't the intention, and thanks for helping out!

No worries, and anytime..

Best to have a good assorment of colors, that way, you have a better chance..

dont give up, like has already been said sometimes the fish just aren't there, and always be confident when your fishing.  When your confident you will fish alot better.

What the bass are feeding on, or what the forage base is, dictates what lures they will hit.

On the smaller bodies of water I fish, where bluegill are the main forage, watermelon seed trickworms are "THE" thing.

On a couple of bigger lakes I fish, gizzard shad are the preferred forage, therefore shad imitating lures like cranks and spinnerbaits work best.

Imitate what the bass are feeding on and you have solved the puzzle.

Thanks! I have a variety of colors, but not necessarily a variety of colors of EACH LURE... For instance, I have a white spinner and a camo spinner.

Soft plastics: green yamamotos (not senkos), pumpkin lizards, yellow worms, some silver/blue swim shads, and purple worm with red tail. (Dont ask, I just thought it looked cool. I'm sure they won't catch a cold, but it would be hilarious to prove a buddy wrong.)

And some typical soft swimbaits that look like shad/small bluegills.