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Thread: What to aim for when making lures - something to consider

  1. #1
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    Default What to aim for when making lures - something to consider


    The title of the post should have been, What to consider when choosing lures for those that don't make their own, but the concept is the same.

    As I was pouring some lures in my favorite design, it came to me why they work so well on most freshwater fish species: vulnerability / irritability.

    I don't care if the material is fin, fur, feather or plastic. The most important factor is that fish see the moving object as vulnerable and less due to hunger, anger or any other human stimuli anglers attribute to a strike.

    Unless fish have a means to communicate the reasons they attack something, we can only surmise the why. Their brains are conduits between their senses and muscles and when the eye and other sense organs indicate key factors about an object, those factors decide whether an object is ignored or attacked. Unless I see a feeding frenzy evidenced by surface activity, I always assume fish are suspending either in a school or solo. If so, fish are watchful in a fight or flight mode, ready to encounter whatever enters its strike zone - the area within which something stimulates a reaction.

    Many of the lures anglers use for panfish are geared towards smaller sizes. Those for large species are usually, but not always, larger in order to provoke via a visual cue. In fact, most soft plastics used for crappie and other panfish, run less than 3" in length and less than 1/2" top to bottom.

    The other factor that contributes to an appearance of vulnerability is lure action. Tail action probably accounts for more catches than even color and the more finesse the action, the greater the stimulus. Fir, feather and curl tail and flat tail plastics are favored my most anglers for a reason: they move at the slowest speed possible and most times appear as ripples or flutter. Along with hair or plastic is the spinner blade - either in-line or wired over a lure. Too little or too much flash is ignored; the right size of a blade twinkles just enough to be noticed, tracked and struck. It's not the thought of what the spinning blade represents, but that it just suddenly appeared and disturbed a fish's inactivity.

    In human terms, fish are bullies and/or intolerant of any object that it deems doesn't belong. On the other hand, fish, like humans, are sensitive to and become irritable of objects that irritate. To do so requires the stimulus to stay put for just the right amount of time to tickle a fish's lateral line and be annoying : lure speed matters.

    For example, recently I went back to using a stick float attached to a finesse soft plastic rigged on a jig to get strikes in an area I just caught fish. The line under the float was long enough to be at eye level as indicated by how low I let the cast lure go down when catching crappie. I dragged the float 2-3" and stopped, letting the surface ripples produce a lure action fish couldn't ignore, catching more in the school that had stopped hitting the cast lure.

    A low lure speed indicates vulnerability and fish assume the object can't move any faster thereby putting the unknown object into the category of an easy target. Fish are after all, missiles that launch themselves toward targeted objects and with superb accuracy. Once targeted, the object may speed up, but no matter - fish easily overcome a lure's speed and open their mouths at just the right moment - even when raising the lure just out of the water!

    The sequence is therefore: stimulate/ irritate/ provoke through the use of making an object appear vulnerable. Tail action, lure speed (even at near stop), small lure size/dimensions and other subtle visual factors (tiny flashes or sparkles), all contribute to a lure's success. Of course many anglers choose to believe a lure represents a prey animal recognized by fish, causing it to feed. Could be, but the factors mentioned above must be taken into consideration first and foremost before a predator attacks - for whatever reason one assigns.
    Last edited by Spoonminnow; 10-02-2015 at 03:16 PM.
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    Very informative! Thank you!

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    I just use a philosophy that "Big fish eat little fish." Consider the species you are making a lure for and them imitate their forage. In the case of Crappie, anything you handcraft under two inches in length with some chartreuse in it should work. The size, and color attract them. The presentation (Slip float or slow troll) then triggers them to bite. Just my opinion folks.
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    I have never seen a lure or bait that would always catch fish every time you go fishing. But if you find one I sure would like one. On second thoughts forget it that would take all the fun out of fishing.
    Be safe and good luck fishing
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    Quote Originally Posted by scrat View Post
    I have never seen a lure or bait that would always catch fish every time you go fishing. But if you find one I sure would like one. On second thoughts forget it that would take all the fun out of fishing.
    You want to try one of my creations. pm me. Guaranteed to work on most freshwater species. Last time out on a new lake I counted 47 fish (belt counter) : bass, pickerel, many crappie (one 13"), large sunfish and large yellow perch. I used various colors in the same design, cast & retrieve and under a float - all caught fish. When I went with a partner the weekend before, together we caught over 100 fish - same species on the same design.

    This year alone, I've caught over 1000 fish on this design in four different lakes (3 or more outings per week from April until now with a month or more still left). The same goes for last year. The problem I have is not trying other lures in my box to compare!

    The last crappie angler I sent a few two on this site never tried them to my knowledge or if he did, never sent me a report. Hope you're not like him. I don't sell lures and give them to open minded anglers who love to discover new things. Most ask for more after the first outing.
    Last edited by Spoonminnow; 10-03-2015 at 03:05 PM.
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    Try some cranks

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    I have caught lots of Crappie that were so stuffed full of shad that they couldn't possibly had room for the lure that they hit.
    The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along
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    One of the impulse or reaction strikes that I have not heard you talk about in any of your posts (while I admit I may have missed it if you did) is what I call the competition strike. The competition strike occurs when there are so many predatory fish in a school or shoal of fish that they react to a bait strictly to beat the others to it... without being very discerning (at all) about what the particulars of the bait and/or the target forage or just how its presented.

    Accordingly, people (including yourself) can recall times when they caught fish off of pieces of plastic or aluminum foil trash that they picked up off the bank. I have seen this quite often and believe that this may very well account for the observations of DockShootinJack (above).
    Last edited by Special K; 10-03-2015 at 07:58 PM.
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    Crappie are opportunistic HUNTERS, they only get "honked off" or "irritated" when they are spawning or guarding the nests...Big Crappie will "Move" smaller Crappie, without blood loss!
    One thing Crappie do, is they constantly feed all year long...feeding will only slow during the heat of the summer when the water gets to warm (cannot take in enough calories to sustain metabolism), then they suspend in the day time heat, and have to wait until the night to feed...and it also slows in Northern Winters, when they still feed on microorganisms and use fat reserves, so they don't have to exert excess energy.
    You are just using Bait Triggers to get them to feed....Bait Triggers are the things that make a fish react to bite or not to bite...Triggers are, Scent, Sound, Taste, Texture, Shape, Vibration, Pheromones, Color, Luminescence or Phosphorescence.
    All Crappie strikes are a result of their need to continually feed, sometimes they strike to injure food, then come back to finish it off...sometimes it is an exploratory strike to see if it is worth trying to eat.
    A Crappie wants to feed as easily as possible, without getting injured...this is why you make the lure "Vulnerable"! Crappie will hit a 5.8 swimbait if you make it look sick, injured, or dying! We have found many 5 inch shad in the bellies of 12 inch Crappie.
    We have seen Crappie eat until they cannot get another morsel in their mouths, they will hit a lure with shad still in their mouths.
    Our local reservoir is Shad and Crawdad driven in the growing season...leave your small baits at home if you want to catch big fish here...unless the Mayflies are hatching!
    Crappie like most fish are wired to eat and to survive...one way they survive is by eating, putting on fat, storing fat, and growing....they are not going to bully something and take a chance of getting injured...they do not fight each other or other fish....they are not emotional....they eat, any chance they get!
    Last edited by Slab; 10-04-2015 at 08:30 PM. Reason: fixed language
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    I had 7 crappie in a big aquarium they were 5 to 6 inches long 1 of them kept the other 6 huddled on one side of the tank most of the time .The "bully" stayed darker than the others and didn't like the sucker fish. When it would try to clean glass the crappie would run it off the glass wasn't feeding just bullying
    At feeding time he would try and get every minnow before the others..and he would have a mouth full and chase the others trying to get the ones they had
    Can't explain it just an observation

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