Lure characteristics that define the sight and sound choices available to bass anglers ...Part 1

I'm not climbing the walls and not into ice fishing yet, so I figured I'd write something that may be of interest and that still beats reading the same ol fishing magazine articles while on the can.  :-* Here goes part 1:

Lure craft has been a source of satisfaction for hobbyists or profits for lure producers for decades. The reasons lures sell and keep on selling are many, but the reasons specific lures catch fish year after include biological and physiological factors that have been discovered in the last few decades.

Many may disagree with the ideas to be presented based on strong convictions and steadfast beliefs. If they work for you, go no further, but if you have ever wondered why a new lure works (one you've never used or seen before), consider the validity and application of these ideas and observations when buying or making lures.

The following multi-part subjects deal with a lure's appeal to fish and what separates lures of similar design. Much is opinion, some fact, but all is intended to make you think outside the ad box for company X.

Applied science is the application of scientific knowledge transferred into a physical environment.  Our laboratories are our basements, garages, sheds and kitchens, ponds, lakes and rivers, where we create prototypes or buy new lures and then test them.

Many lure crafters don't just reproduce other designs - we alter them! We take into account that lure success relies on a 1. lure function, 2. fish appeal and the age old question and 3. why fish strike lures even with full bellies or when not feeding.

Biological and physical attributes of fish are well documented: extreme sensitivity to vibration; excellent short range vision; excellent color discrimination; superb object speed, shape and motion detection, even in the dark.

This following statement is not meant to ruffle any-one's feather, but to keep in mind a simple fact:

many lure companies create reasonable superstitions, hawked by celebrities, to generate profits, some of which become ingrained in the minds of many generations of anglers the years. Many who craft lures  and the anglers who test them, eventually discover holes in those superstitions and found them without merit. The Banjo Minnow, The Flying Lure and Helicopter lures are three examples.

Burn me at the stake, but the first superstition regards matching the hatch and every layer of misinformation and assumption based on it. First off, bass are intellectually clueless, zero IQ, not a thought in its brain, nada.  A soft plastic stick is pink but so what, fish hyperactivity ignores color. A bass eyeballs a lure from less than a few feet away for over half a minute and then eats it; that should have been more than enough time to figure out the thing wasn't real! Unless man comes up with a way to ask fish questions AND get answers back, we are back to square one and must think unlike a fish, stimulating and then appealing to its predator nature.

Getting back to matching the hatch. There is something IMHO to the concept  supported by Dr. Keith Jones and other fish biologists that : fish have been ingrained over thousands of years  with basic images of what pass as prey. Every life form has a food image locked into its DNA no matter how simple the life form.  A lure may taste like a rubber balloon or may look like the color of bird droppings, but if it fits a basic  criteria as regards to size, shape, motion and maybe chemical reception, a fish will eat it! The predator response always matters as much to a lure maker or angler as is finding lure elements and presentations that get that response.

What does a fish think is edible?  - a bird, a rodent, a crayfish, another fish. What makes a fish attack objects and it is incapable of identifying? First off, (this is the controversial point of the essay) it doesn't discriminate between subspecies because it can't. But what it does do is respond to 1. vibration, 2. prey size and 3. the thing's proximity to cover. A small bird or mouse struggling in two feet of water near a bass's hideout is an open invitation to feed. Fur and feathers do not matter to a predator fish or mammal, nor do dorsal fin spines, hard shells or claws, maybe because food is food, period.

IMO a fish doesn't know a spring crayfish from a summer colored crayfish, so why do bass bite black or brown jigs ten months out of the year? For one thing color is third or fourth in importance. Jig design includes many attraction, namely: multiple waving strands that flare and collapse and displace water; a meaty center (trailer); an easy-to-eat size; and if rocks are present, vibrations that can be felt within several feet.  In the case of a jig and trailer, claw shape is important for some jig presentations because of the action they impart. Note the tail designs in these trailers:

The top one is the original Uncle Josh design still produced in pork - still a great jig trailer. The other two have action tails that flap and flail and causing the jig to wobble and send out additional pressure waves. All are soft, taste like nothing in nature and all three enhance a jig, making it far more productive.

If one believes a fish thinks a jig is a crayfish and it helps him catch fish, fine - the importance of confidence in a lure can not be underestimated. But after using many lures over thirty years, I have come to a KISS conclusion: save a step and put lures into general categories that evoke a strike.

1. creature or bug (IE. Brush Hog or Beaver).

If my swat reflex is initiated by a bug that buzzes around my face while driving, I don't care what kind of bug as long as it goes away! For all we know, the strike happened because of a sequence of fish stimulations that cocked it's trigger and then moved the fish into position to finish the thing off.

2.Fish

Mann Shadow and Lunker City's Fin S Fish have worked for me in different sizes since they came out.

If you've ever used them, you immediately notice how fish-like their actions. They glide and shimmy through the water just like a minnow or perch.

I've modified the tail section (right) to enhance the tail shimmy, especially for drop shotting. I watched videos and In-Fisherman underwater video or drop shot soft plastics (usually soft worms) and was amazed at how fish-like the action of a suspended lure could be!   

Lure action matters most as an attractor and sometimes as a prey imitator. If bass are eating schooled fish, cast fish type lures. But keep in mind that just because bass or any species is hitting something in particular, means they won't hit other prey types that happen by. Much of the time fish are opportunists and less selective the more active they are.

In support of match-the-hatch-image-of prey, many experiences has  shown me that it's  good to come close to the size of prey being eaten, the location within the water column (surface, mid depth or bottom) and color preferences (bright to muted, natural to unnatural). Open water mid depth prey are always fish; those on hard bottoms, usually crayfish or fish; prey in weeds - anything that swims. Bug (creature) and fish are the only general food categories I use. It simplifies things for me and allows me to concentrate on lure characteristics unique to many lures. The next three parts describe those characteristics.

Thanks for reading,

FrankM