Been long time since I used a Senko. Still have about 10 bags hanging around somewhere….

Bet the swimbaits I pour would catch a wally or two.

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I’m with you Spoony Min, don’t let these guys get to you, they are noted layman’s.

When I’m choosing the lure I will use for the day, I think not what the lure can do for me, but what I can do for the lure. The lightest flicker of my pinkie on my rod sends almost imperceptible vibrations through the rod, down the line and into the bait. These vibrations sexually stimulate the lateral line of most fish, making them ‘react’. These reactions go beyond being hungry, these are raw, unfiltered, unconscious, moist reactions.

Before all that happens though, it’s necessary to ruminate on the virtues of said bait. I’m not talking about how many fish it will catch(at least 5X a limit every time out), but what the lure represents to the local biome. One could argue that such a bait is meaningless, a grain of sand on the vast beaches of Mars, but I must disagree. This bait will fill a glaring gap in this natural ‘economy’. A grain of sand it may be, but while a grain of sand is minuscule and meaningless to a human, it is Mount Everest to a microorganism.

I digress, my thoughts and musings are often lost on this crowd, so toll not in the inadequacy of these responses, such a thought process and mind as we share is a heavy burden to carry in today’s world.

Always love rereading Phil’s reply! Apart from the R rated sentences, he figured out long ago that action speaks loudest when it comes to lures. Action, again, is dependent on shape and size. A kernel of corn is undoubtedly a bait that can be counted on for the above reasons as well as these two modifications:

A pickerel bit off the tail of a curl tail grub right at the boat. I figured: why not try casting the body minus the action tail?
The action/profile caught over 2 dozen fish that afternoon which included bass, and has done well since that day. Kind a reminds me of a mini-Ned rig:
Ned rig – how to fish it

Another surprise was seeing how much better a Sassy Shad did with the belly cut off to make the lure slimmer which changed the action.

The above 2 examples of lure profile/action changes, didn’t include different retrieves that made them move better than the originals.
The corn kernel example said it all!

(What else is there to do on New Year’s Eve when fishing is out until the lakes freeze over? With the air temperature near 50, we’ve had over 5″ of rain in the last 3 weeks making ice fishing less likely any time soon in N.Y.)

How do you attach your leader? What size wire?

Rare that a topic is replied to that is months old. It’s gratifying in that good replies to a topic are as valuable as the original post no matter how long ago it was started. Thanks for reviving the topic.

The lures I cast do not target a species unless I want to target a species by size. example: finesse lures on light jigs catch almost any fish that bite lures; larger heavier lures exclude small fish no matter the species. A spinnerbait with a large willow-leaf blade will catch bass and pickerel but not sunnies or perch.

On the other hand, lure length is in the eye of the beholder depending on action-profile. A Kut Tail worm 5″ long rigged on a 1/32 oz jig is capable of catching gills and perch; a 9″ Texas-rigged Phenom worm worked on the bottom has little chance of catching either.

I’ve fished 10 different waters and caught fish on all of them using leaders. Granted, my preference is no leader + snap, but when picks are about, on goes the leader and the smallest fish still bite. Identifying a leader as unnatural is a human ability – not the fish’s – which is incapable of knowing what a lure or leader represents. If it had any sense at all, the sight of barbed hooks would send it running.

Totally agree about braid vs mono or f/c. I removed my 10# KastKing line and replaced with 8# KK for its 4# diameter which allows the best finesse lure action at any depth and the least line bow. Strong suff!! I can pull the row boat to a snag and it won’t break!

BTW we had another 1.5″ last night and more is expected for the next four days!

weight is really under-rated as a factor, so is speed.

I fished a lake I hadn’t fished in months and it was after +2″ of rain fill the previous night. The 40 fish I caught were in water less than 3′ deep and would only nip at a curl tail on a 1/24 oz jig. I went to a 1/32 oz and got more hits but few committed bites. I finally went to a 1/64 oz and started hooking fish – many on the second cast.

Later in the afternoon fish started turning on due to a coming storm and I was able to go up in size to a 1/32 oz.

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Never heard of a fish that eats soap! How would you even keep it on the hook?

My dog once stole a subway sandwich from me and scarfed it down while I was in the bath room. Only thing left was 4 tomatoes laying on the floor liked she had nicely picked them off.

Sneaky little bast..d.

Thanks Tim. A lot of good info to take with me next time I fish. What jig weight do you recommend?

Fish have a sense about lures and other baits. Your example proves that.
Fish in my pond go nuts for bits of bread. Where does it say in the book of nature that sunfish love plant starch for Chrisesake!
Or that my dogs love carrots and fresh tomatoes for that matter.

Don Meier wrote:

Why do fish bite or not bite ? Because they can ! LOL

Couldn’t have said it better! LOL

But they gotta match the hatch and truly show fish what they’re looking for. That’s why I carry several different dyes and scents in my boat, because you never know when the dinky panfish are gonna be hungry

Words in bold say it all! Good luck catch’n those “dinky panfish”. Superstition and assuming things are true is a wonderful thing until it bites you in the – well – you know.
On many forums, my past posts have received positive comments and appreciation of the concepts presented. Not worth posting links to them here.

That’s what separates me from the average DIY tackle makers like yourself. It’s the little things.

Very true – but I wouldn’t brag about it.

Brief enough a reply for ya?

You know it!

Interesting though you’ve never posted on lures used or tell us of your past or present successes on the water using various presentations. Simplistic sarcastic replies don’t count.
Inquiring minds want to know….

Superb!

I think most competent anglers do what the OP suggests: think action, color, speed, etc, and not imitation. Nobody thinks walleyes eat crawler harnesses because they “look like” anything.
And I agree, being super-intellectual is a real burden.

The synopsis of the initial post is that we, as lure makers and/ or designers, know how subtle differences in lure shape and action can affect a lure’s success. It’s mind-boggling the variety of lures – especially soft plastics – that can catch most fish species on a single outing. By the same token, you and I know the lures that don’t cut it, many that get discontinued.

So when I post photo examples of lures stuck in fish’s mouths, the emphasis is on lure action-by-design – something some may find interesting enough to ask questions such as, where can I find the mold, or from which lures did you make the hybrid?
Lurecraft to me is a hobby and a quest to discover superior lure designs almost anyone can catch fish casting. Nothing against live bait and a float, but it’s cool when fish blast something made of hard and soft plastic, metal, hair, silicone strands (skirts) and wire/swivels/blades/hooks.

Like this statement:

This bait or ‘lure’ in question IS real. To be completely forthright, I don’t like the word lure. Acknowledging that this object is being used to ‘trick’ a fish into biting is giving the fish the upper hand psychologically from the beginning. It is essential to believe that you are NOT fooling the fish, much to the contrary. You are providing exactly what the fish wants and needs, there are no tricks or cunning deceptions, this is life and this is a necessity of survival to the fish, nothing more or less.

If trolling curl tails, what jig weight? Straight-tails, I assume, don’t cut it trolled.

Will trolling catch fish in shallow 4-5 FOW with or without weeds?

What is the deepest water you catch fish on the troll?

When trolling, which do crappie prefer: soft plastics or crankbaits (like the RipnRap)?

Have you caught fish trolling spinners like Mepps?

Please give examples of the best lures/ rigs you do well trolling.

I haven’t trolled lures in decades and vaguely remember catching river smallies on trolled crankbaits. Last week I saw fish schooled in 5′-6′ on the screen in a few areas, stopped the boat and cast small soft plastics to them. Not a bite!

MX1825 do you have photos stored anywhere on your computer? You can access then from in-depth outdoors.
Place a photo on your pc where you can access it.
Press the [Choose File] button at the bottom. It will show you the photo or photos in the location you stored it on. Highlight the photo and press [open].
At the bottom, you’ll see [IMG_#.jpg]. You can add another by pressing [Add another file] and repeating the above

Photos will show up in the post as attachments which can not be deleted from the post:

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Thanks. I approximate its weight at over 5.5 lbs. Mud cats run smaller.

Thanks guys. A major weather change is coming and fish went crazy in different areas of the lake. I even had three deer in my backyard I’ve never seen that close eating grass.

I wish I knew how to delete one pic that was posted 2x but posting in any case is easy:
If you have an online photo storage site like imgur.com, press the img box above, copy the
BBcode on IMGUR and paste.

To upload a shot, press the Choose File box, open a photo on your PC and then ‘open’ it. It will be posted immediately. But once posted, impossible to delete or arrange photos.

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Nice when most any lure worked yesterday.

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Fish bite when they want to bite, but if they are neutral or negative then one best have the presentation as subtle as possible.

Couldn’t have said it better. Personally I like catching the most fish, not necessarily the largest. There are among the 100 – 150 I catch (on some days), some nice specimens of different species. But it seems most were not actively feeding – even the schoolies.

A few days ago I got into two different schools 40 yds. apart: crappie and sunfish, one fish caught after another after the first fish. Isolated fish were yellow perch, bass, pickerel and a catfish just hanging out – just like the fish in the two schools.

Once the school is revved up, the variety of lure shapes and actions fish can be caught on increases. I rarely burn baits through areas for reaction strikes but there is a time & place for it.

(southern NY BTW, not far from the PA border.)

By the way how many walleye have you caught in clear water during the day on your wire leader?

Never caught walleye or fish waters that have them. In fact, no water I fish is gin clear except one trout river.

If I had any kind of leader on that would prevent pike bite-offs of any sort, I would not catch any crappies, that I know is certain in the lake I fished.

Too bad we don’t live closer. I believe I could prove that on certain days, and especially when fish are schooled, I could do well with fine wire leaders and the right lure(s).

It will always come down to numbers and quality caught. I got both and the logs to prove it.

I don’t need any other than three trailers for my skirted jigs – two that I pour into plaster molds of the originals.
Uncle Josh Frog in 2 sizes: #11 and #1 and
Craw trailer
Claw trailer (made by taking the claw off a craw lure and attaching it to a flat body.)

The three also catch fish rigged on a no-skirt ball head jig.

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Nice reply!
I looked up the thickness of 32g wire and it’s a measly.008″ Even I have a hard time seeing it in my tackle box. The thinner the better for reasons others mentioned such a lure action being affected. No way would I want to use a leader thicker than that, plus the wire only needs to be less than 3″ long.

I’ll be fishing a lake this coming week that has no picks – no leader needed. I have gone up to 15# test braid to lessen line wraps and knots at the rod tip in windy weather. I know it won’t affect the bite from all the fish caught using it last week.

Interesting in that even small fish are caught on the leader as well as trophy fish of different species. Again, the lure focuses a fish’s attention and once one bites it, others in the area seem to want to join the fun.

(Note: when I throw bits of bread to sunfish in my pond, at first only a few go for it. But when that happens, more become near, surface slapping then becomes the rule. They even compete with the small turtles that also arrive for the snack, taking it before a turtle can dive for it their usual way to eat bits of bread.)

(Note: small bass come over to see what the commotion is all about. But recently a foot-long bass watches me, waiting for more small yellow perch to be dumped that I put in from my boat’s livewell. Who says fish can’t learn where the goodies come from whether bits of bread or lures?! Good thing it’s not the same thing with lures.)

I read all the time about clear-water high pressured waters. I’ve fished them and don’t see a difference between them and low-pressure less-than-clear waters. My thing is, first, you gotta find them. The larger the water the more difficult it is to do that. The less skilled the average angler that fish’s them, the easier it is to find spots they are incapable of finding.

A local lake I fish has all kinds of fishing pressure from bass club anglers. Few catch a limit anytime they fish the lake and the reason is obvious – they simply don’t know the lake.> Plus, they don’t know what to use and when to use it. More fish for me using a variety of unconventional lures in unconventional ways covering more water effectively.

Natural got noth’n to do with it. Numbers of fish do. Trout got the same brain as bluegill. Make that cast long enough and retrieve slow enough and FISH ON!

For me the evidence is in the catching and the number of strikes overall. Words like ‘natural’ don’t do it for me. There are just too many lures that catch fish that are unnatural in design and action.
Example: bass strike spinnerbaits – a lure with a heavy wire attached to a brightly flashing blade attached to a lead head with a hula skirt attached, not to mention the sharp hook. Natural? I think not!
Example: Chatterbait – a bent metal blade attached to a hula skirt. Its action like the spinnerbait is one of the most unnatural underwater moving objects ever.

Name a lure and I’ll pick it apart as being unnatural. Anglers assign a motive as to why a lure was attacked (i.e. hunger, territorial, nest protection). But motive is not what motivates fish to strike; sensory overload is. The overload could be instant or take longer to occur. How many of you had a strike as soon as the lure hit the water? No time for a motive beforehand.

Any lure choice I make is based solely on two things:
Will fish strike it based on its action and shape? If so, color is the least consideration but lure size a major factor when it comes to action and shape.

The wire leader or snap is not part of the lure that focuses a fish’s attention or distracts from it – the lure is as proven by nearly over 80 fish caught in two days using it. Photo proof is the answer to the question along with many others I’ve asked and had answered thanks to fish strikes.

Here’s another even bigger fish caught today, netted because of the wire leader:

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bigcrappie wrote:

You have too much on the end of your line, just tie the jig and fish. I do not like all that hardware.

I should have mentioned I lost 4 lures to pickerel the day before.
Now no more lost lures due to razor-sharp teeth. I had to play this puppy for 45 seconds and the leader saved the day due to the lure being hooked deep.

If a lake has no pickerel, the snap swivel or duo-lock minus the leader is faster when changing lures.

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