If bass can in fact become “conditioned” not to bite certain lures can someone explain why after 60-100 plus years these lures still catch bass?

In the late 1800s, John Hildebrandt pounded out a dime and rigged it to one of his wife's hatpins with a trailing fly. The result was one of the first in-line spinners, and Hildebrant spinner baits, including the famous Snagless Sally, are still going strong.

1930 Arbogast product line expanded to include the revolutionary Hawaiian Wiggler, the now-famous Jitterbug and the Hula Popper.

For those who believe the rubber skirt was not developed until the 1970’s

Among the most unique and revolutionary contributions Fred Arbogast made to the fishing lure industry was his development of the Hula Skirt. Experimenting with his lures, Fred discovered that the addition of a flexible rubber skirt created lively, fish-attracting action, which greatly improved their effectiveness.

Heddon's River Runt Spook fishing lure had its beginning in 1933 when it was first introduced, the River Runt Spooks was called the 'standard sinking' model and was given the Heddon series number 9110. In 1935, two new models were added to the River Runt Spook line, a floating model, series 9400 and the jointed floating model, series 9430.

1939 The Zara Spook was first developed by the Heddon company as a wooden lure named the Zaragossa 6500 series lures

Lauri Rapala whittled, carved, and shaved his first successful lure from cork in 1936.

Creme Lure Company: The first marketed worm was the Crème Wiggle Worm. It was sold by mail in 1951 at a cost of $1.00 for a pack of 5.

I believe bass can “turn off” to certain lures but that condition will only be for minutes to hours not weeks, months, or years.

I believe conditioning occurs but I agree with most of what you said, Catt, with some caveats. In my opinion, (and I emphasize that this is only an opinion), if a single bass becomes conditioned to a lure the conditioning is not permanent. The length of time that conditioning lasts is debatable based on the limited capabilities of a bass's tiny brain, and the amount of reinforcement received to create the conditioning. If a period of time passes where the particular bass receives no reinforcement (i.e. is not hooked by that particular bait) that conditioning will be lost. As for what that length of time is, I have no idea.

There are obviously other extenuating circumstances that must be considered when thinking about conditioning. For example, we have all caught young bass that will bite a lure over and over, sometimes in the same fishing trip. The young bass seems to take longer to develop conditioning.

I think it's more likely bass "turn off" to boats approaching, bad casts, poor presentations, noisy occupants, etc. than any one bait. I have seen from shore bass fleeing when the TM is lowered.

I think you are right Catt. Having caught the same bass more than once at least a few times over the years (that I am aware of-I suspect it happens more often than we know) on the same bait, I agree that conditioning is short-term.

While the proverb, "there is nothing new under the sun" is true, the development of baits over the years has increased selection and colors, and I think that has improved our chances of catching fish. The Senko for example has become a part of most fishermen's arsenal because it is slightly different from everything else, making it a very effective bait at times. It is more about a bait that matches the conditions than the fish becoming conditioned to a bait.

To a large extent the idea of conditioning is about selling tackle more than anything else in my opinion. It is easier to buy the hot new bait than work on the bad habits that J Franco mentions, or the techniques that make you successful Catt.

I think it's more likely bass "turn off" to boats approaching, bad casts, poor presentations, noisy occupants, etc. than any one bait. I have seen from shore bass fleeing when the TM is lowered.

I agree with this. It could be argued that bass fleeing things like a trolling motor is an example of conditioning. Otherwise, why would they "turn off?" Are they conditioned to sensing danger when they feel the throb of a trolling motor, are they just naturally afraid of the vibration, or is the vibration of such an amplitude that when it passes through their lateral lines to their inner ear it is uncomfortable? The science is not there to answer such questions with any degree of certainty at this time.

The bass don't get conditioned to lures, the angler does.

No lure can catch bass unless it tied on and fished.

Todays hot lure becomes tomorrows forgotten lure.

The Alabama rig is the hottest lure around, try to order it and it's back logged, everyone must have it now!

The old lures still catch bass, they work better with upgraded sharper and stronger hooks.

The thought that bass somehow inherit memory genes from lures that caught past generation bass is difficult to understand. It's possible for the most of aggresive bass to be removed from the lake, not the entire gene pool.

I still fish with the same jig style made from a mold that is over 40 years old. The hook has changed from Eagle Claw #630 to a Gamakstsu #114 and tied with the same deer hair. The hair jig still works because I still fish with it.

Tom

WRB, please read my responses above. I know Catt mentioned this but I said nothing about bass inheriting genes to ignore lures, nor is that the definition of classical conditioning.

WRB, please read my responses above. I know Catt mentioned this but I said nothing about bass inheriting genes to ignore lures, nor is that the definition of classical conditioning.

You weren't quoted, so why would you assume that his response was totally directed toward you?

You weren't quoted, so why would you assume that his response was totally directed toward you?

I didn't. If I had assumed his response was directed at me I wouldn't have mentioned going back and reading my posts. From reading his post I did assume he had not read all the posts which could be an incorrect assumption.

I didn't. If I had assumed his response was directed at me I wouldn't have mentioned going back and reading my posts. From reading his post I did assume he had not read all the posts which could be an incorrect assumption.

I went back and reread all the posts and didn't intend step on anyones input. I refering to articals written over the years regarding bass becoming conditioned to lures they see a lot and the angler believes the bass will not strike them anymore and stops using the lure.

Every lake will have a population of bass that may never respond to lures, new or old designs. Some of these bass may be caught only during the spawn off of beds when the bass strikes anything to protect the bed site...it could spark plug. These bass leave the nest site and knowone see's them until next the spawning season.

Other bass are caught several times each year, some each month and other can be caught within a few minutes after being released.

In general a new lure that the bass have never seen appears to get better results than lures the bass are subject several times a day. I believe it can work like this; 10 bass in an area, 1 of those bass is more aggressive than the others. If you catch that 1 aggressive bass and the other 9 did not respond to that lure, yet 1 of the others may rspond to a differnt lure. It's not that the other 9 bass learned anything, they just didn't respond to the lure you presented or the way you presented it.

If you put the lure away, the bass can't strike it.

Tom

I went back and reread all the posts and didn't intend step on anyones input.

Tom

That's a great response, Tom, and another explanation for what we encounter when fish aren't biting. And I'm sorry that I didn't make my response clearly. You didn't step on anyone's input. When I am working, to save time I sometimes makes posts with quick, short sentences. Sometimes these quick responses can appear to be abrupt but that is not my intent when making them. I just wanted to make sure you read another take on the subject of conditioning that allows for it, but doesn't see it as something that will stop a fish from biting forever.

Thanks all for clarifying.

Every lake will have a population of bass that may never respond to lures, new or old designs.

Am I the only that has a hard time with the cold, hard truth?

Because a bass doesn't live 50 or 60 years. Only 12 to 15 at best.

I guess Grandpa isn't teaching the children what lures to avoid.

Am I the only that has a hard time with the cold, hard truth?

No. I reject this truth, and choose to believe if I can just get the right magic bait in the right magic spot at the right magic time, I can catch any bass in the lake. That is my position, do not confuse it with a lot of facts.

There was a famous study out there by Dr Keith Jones of Pure Fishing(which owns Berkley, Abu Garcia, Penn, Mitchell and other well known brands) that concludes that a bass can recognize and continue to reject a certain lure type (hard crank bait) for 3 months or longer, but for some reason they could not remember a plastic worm... As it was funded by one of the largest soft plastic worm manufacturers in existence, I was never satisfied with the conclusion that were drawn.

The study has been held as 'canon' by many bass fisherman over the last few years, some of them here, and I'm glad to see that opinions are changing.

I love all those tests on bass being held in some type of tank, pool, or small pond.