Funny though, I got to be careful pinning any accolades on my shoulders when my lures kick A like they did today.You are enjoying the sport not just by catching....but also by designing and experimenting
I've had access to a local private lake via the lake association for decades and fished the lake a thousand times with stories to tell. I stopped fishing it for years for various reasons and because I was told that hybrid grass carp had destroyed much of the habitat. Today I was trying out my new 2.5 HP Merc outboard for the first time on that lake and decided to fish. First fish a small perch. After that is was fish school city near acres of pads in water 4-7'! I'm saying, fish after fish after fish!!!
Now, if any lures do well under those conditions, the first thing one does is get drunk on one's genius for having made them, chosen which and how to fish them and where. At present I have a hangover after catching 63 fish in 5 hours on various designs - even one with the tail bit off! Many hits were multiple on the same retrieve by fish that wouldn't take no for an answer and included white and yellow perch, crappie, sunfish and small bass. Even caught some of those fish vertical jigging alongside the boat when fish missed 6 times on the retrieve (most likely from overexcitement.)
The lake has changed so much since the last time I fished it years ago that I'll have to relearn seasonal patterns and fish locations. More than that is being to test more designs which, as someone said, is a confidence builder when those designs catch at least a dozen fish in the same area - like today. But was today a good test for those designs? They will have to prove themselves in three other waters.
I forgot the camera or I could have illustrated the outing and the lures + fish caught on them. I didn't even mind the rain with the rain gear still in the truck because incredible memories, as we all know, don't happen very often.
Here are a few of the designs that caught a bunch but in different colors: