Do you ever have a lure that you do great on one year, then never catch anything with them again? For me soft plastic swimbaits were on fire 2 to 3 years ago but I haven't caught a fish with them since despite trying them often.

Firetiger lipless crakbaits two years ago, sick fish last year and frogs this year.  I dont think lure swings are the fish, it's the fishermen.  It's pretty interesting. 

I believe it has to do with angling pressure and the fish getting conditioned to certain things. One lake I fish was great for my favorite bait, spinnerbaits and I was really doing well for quite some time but then I noticed my catch rates were going down and the same time it was going down I noticed other anglers throwing spinnerbaits. So I strated using the swim jig and that was great for the last 2 seasons but now the fish are seeing it more and the bite has really slowed and this year square bills have been the major player. So pressure has a lot to do with it because once someone finds a hot bait or tactic on a certain body of water the word spreads and soon everyone is throwing it and the fish become conditioned to it.

One year I tore the fish up on those little Cordell CC jigging spoons with the feathered treble hook . I thought I was really onto something . Lots of different species  lots of different spots . I even took a couple of kids out and they tore them up too . I dont think I caught a fish on one since .

Yep, can't explain it.

I don't think I caught a single fish on a frog this year. 

I dont think lure swings are the fish, it's the fishermen.  

 

I'd agree with this, for whatever reason you just dial in to how the fish want a certain lure over a period of time.

I believe it has to do with angling pressure and the fish getting conditioned to certain things. One lake I fish was great for my favorite bait, spinnerbaits and I was really doing well for quite some time but then I noticed my catch rates were going down and the same time it was going down I noticed other anglers throwing spinnerbaits. So I strated using the swim jig and that was great for the last 2 seasons but now the fish are seeing it more and the bite has really slowed and this year square bills have been the major player. So pressure has a lot to do with it because once someone finds a hot bait or tactic on a certain body of water the word spreads and soon everyone is throwing it and the fish become conditioned to it.

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I think a lot of it has to do with the fish's forage preference one year vs. another.  Bluegill had been the primary bass forage for a number of years on a local lake.  I don't know how many lures I colored or changed skirts on to imitate bluegill.  Early this year I only caught a handful of bass on that pattern.  I found out sometime in June that 3"-4" perch had been stocked just after ice out.  Perch patterns have been outproducing the old standby big time all season.