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Thread: What Makes Fish Bite?

  1. #11
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    Didn't mean to stir a rat's nest. I just wanted to share a couple things I had learned in the past year. (I've been fishing for forty+ years myself.) Different people have different experiences, schools of thought, training and education thus will yield different results. For instance I do not fish for crappie at all. I'm primarily a catfisherman, so for me to be using any kind of artificial is almost unheard of in catfish circles. Thus the need for a public open forums to talk about these things. Which I must say I contribute to less and less these days because people seem to get up in arms over the simplest things.
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    The video you shared about lure characteristics and their importance is the whole point of the above discussion and agrees in part with what I have been trying to say for as long as I've been posting on fishing forums. Long ago I only fished for bass in bass tournaments, but the experience taught me a lot about lures watching others catch fish on different ones as well as on many different waters. Once I started making my own lures (like you), another world opened up about discovering what fish strike and why based on lure components and the unique characteristics of each. The search is ongoing and fruitful to say the least.

    Sorry if I rattled your chain....

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    Understood.

  4. #14
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    CrappiePappy is offline Super Moderator - 2013 Man Of The Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spoonminnow View Post
    That may be, but how do you chose lures based on that? Assigning reasons/motives or emotions fish strike lures, assumes fish reason - and thereby are capable of logic or that fish get angry and are thereby emotional as seen in animals with larger and more complex brains.
    Actually Spoony .... I believe "why" they bite is mostly hunger & territorial protection. I just added "anger" as an explanation that YOU are always touting when you say you "aggravate" them into biting.

    We already know that a Crappie doesn't have a complex brain, and survives by instinct. That instinct tells them to eat it, fight it, or flee from it .... and the mass majority of the time it's eat it or flee from it. (which Livescope has shown me, time & time again)
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    Pappy, agreed. Ain't no body gonna tell me a gar ain't ornery.

    And I fish without sonar, so I have to rely on more "attracting" elements of lures in general.
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  6. #16
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    Mabe irritated would have been a better word such as the irritation you experience when mosquitoes constantly buzz around your face causing you to you swat at them.

    Regardless, is your lure choice ever based on hunger or what fish are (supposedly) feeding on? How would you know, especially when the fish you just landed has a full belly and a minnow still sticking out of its gullet? Gluttony perhaps?

    In my book, territorialism is just another form of irritation in the world of fish when the feeding impulse is not present. Hey, I just thought of a descriptive word for all strikes: impulsive. It's even better than irritation or anger (a word I don't remember using in past posts), without out being specific regarding the reaon fish strike such as hunger or territorial response.

    But another type of strike not mentioned is related to mob violence - IOW - where after one fish strikes, a feeding frenzy is started, leading to one fish after another being caught, regardless the number fish in a panic seen caught by their nearby buddies. Unless I knew for certain that a baitfish school was near the school of striking fish, I couldn't say for sure those fish struck to eat - especially only a single, solitary lure. I would rather label it stike-frenzy comparitive to a riot started by one individual, which then becomes contagious. In this case you could close your eyes picking out different lures and pretty much all would be struck. (i.e. fish bit this minnow shaped lure, but then struck a claw shaped plastic and then a fly and then a Crappie Magnet, etc. Guess prey-type targeting wasn't relevant.)
    Last edited by Spoonminnow; 01-15-2022 at 01:51 PM.

  7. #17
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    Since there is a limited time to edit a post, I'm rewriting it because it drives me crazy seeing the errors!! Too bad grammerly doesn't work on c.com.
    (
    Please delete the duplicate.)


    Mabe irritated would have been a better word such as the irritation you experience when a bee suddenly comes out of nowhere near your face causing you to swat at it. Regardless, is your lure choice ever based on fish hunger or what fish are (supposedly) feeding on at that moment? How would you know if a fish was hungry, especially when the fish you just landed has a full belly and a minnow still sticking out of its gullet? (Gluttony perhaps? lol)

    In my book, territorialism is just another possible cause of fish irritability also present when the impulse to eat something presents itself. Hey, I just thought of a descriptive adjective for all strikes in general: impulsive. It avoids assigning reasons such as hunger, irritation or anger (a word I don't remember using in past posts).

    But another type of strike not mentioned is related to mob violence - IOW a (feeding?) frenzy that involves other fish in the school. (I guess the number of fish hooked, fighting for their lives as seen by their buddies, doesn't seem to matter. So much for fish IQ.) But unless I knew for certain that a baitfish school was near the school of striking fish, I can't say for sure those fish struck to eat - especially that one single, solitary lure I'm catching fish on one after another. A more accurate phrase in my book is strike-frenzy, comparable to a riot started by one individual that became contagious to others in the crowd. In this situation you could close your eyes, pick out one of a variety of lures and know it would be hammered regardless of whether the lure resembled a prey animal or not. Interesting though is when the strikes stop all at once. I would think some fish never got the opportunity to [fill in the word of choice].
    Last edited by Spoonminnow; 01-16-2022 at 06:00 AM.
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  8. #18
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    I have definitely noticed the feeding frenzy-type strike.
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  9. #19
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    Funbun, first let me congratulate you for sharing your thought in a well made articulate video. Many of you points are illustrated in the following lure /fish caught photos.

    Note:
    I started making hybrid plastics a few years ago after I got tired of pouring plastic into molds and coming up with the same size and shape day after day. Considering the bags and bags of soft plastic lure accumulated over many decades, I figured why not come up with new shapes and size as well a modify lures already owned? I hold each end of the two parts to be connected using a candle, hold together for 4 seconds and that's it. Here are a few:


    3 lb. white sucker and yellow perch caught on a modified Crappie Magnet grub:



    curl tail added to a segment of a Fr. Fry stick:



    clear taper tail added to a grub body:



    fin tail added to a segment of different bodies:



    claw added to segment of stick:




    Joker grub tail added to a different body"



    Two grub bodies (minus tails) attached together"


    As you can see, size/shape/action accounted for ALL fish caught, color secondary but important since we all like to think certain colors contributed to the almighty TRIGGER. (so glad you included that word in your video!)
    I am going to continue with another reply that is an example of an ultra trigger that guarantees super high fish irritabiity: dense schools of mixed species in early spring in shallow wetland water. IMO, minus irritability, fish have no reason to strike an unnatural moving object. Here goes:

  10. #20
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    I'm sure many of you have had banner days when right place/right time allowed some record catches.
    In the northeast we had a record amount of rain in a short time that raised water levels like crazy in all lakes and rivers. In the lake I fished yesterday, the lake was up almost three feet affecting the spawn of yellow perch - one of the
    first fish to spawn in spring. Where perch spawn, most fish follow to eat their eggs. I'm talking about four to five other fish species that follow in dense, mixed-species schools into water no more than 3'. I'm talk'n crappie with perch and sunfish; white perch with crappie, yellow perch with crappy and a few bass in the same school.

    Granted, a child could catch fish-after-fish in that scenario, but one thing it allowed me to do is to discover and rediscover more things about lures - particularly about soft plastics on light ball head jigs. When fishing a wetlands shallow water pattern, it pays to work lures slowly, mid-depth. To do that 1/32, 1/64 and 1/24 oz jigs are a must along with hook sizes to match. A lure can be 3" on a 1/32 oz jig but the hook size/gap must be at least a #2 hook, like this example of a 5" plastic worm that caught all kinds of fish yesterday - many on the same lures:

    perch, sunfish and bass caught on a 4" plastic worm:


    Don't get me wrong, the light jig small soft plastic/shallow water wetland pattern doesn't mean any of this doesn't catch fish most times of year and in deeper water. Like my previous post about lure design, shape, action and retrieve make all the difference.

    Float fishing isn't my forte and especially not in 3' of water, but when you find dense schools of very irritable fish, anything is possible. A buddy wanted me to order some 1.5" foam cigar floats and when I got them, I borrowed one. Man did it open doors as far as ultra-slow fishing using a rod pull & pause presentation!! Cool was seeing crappie attack the float once it plopped down, at times jumping out of the water! Many lures worked under the float and one that excelled over all others was the Mojo grub in - clear plastic:

    I've poured clear plastic shapes before, but the clear plastic Mojo even in murky water does as well as any color! the thin straight tail that flutters with the least motion imparted.

    Thin tail of the Mojo added to a French Fry segment and the 1.5" cigar float:


    Another find was the Chubby Grub fashioned from cutting off 2" off the front of a worm (shown above) with the end blunted with a lighter:

    Nothing says, come & eat me like the wagging of a Chubby Grub rigged on a 1/32 oz jig!

    A fellow lure-crafter friend gave me some hand-tied soft & fuzzy grubs which I nicknamed: Fuzzy Wuzzies. Caught his 12" crappie casting it:

    What a great slinky action!


    So in conclusion, some terms used by Funbun were - IMO - right on, but most of the replies complicate the reasons fish strike lures. It's not rocket science. Fish are triggered to strike lures for reasons having nothing to do with hunger or ingestion. A painted eye means nothing in the scheme of things, whereas contrast is key against a background - actual hue or color brightness not a factor in of themselves. Heck, my clear-plastic Mojo grubs can outfish any colored lure hands down!! Why?:
    1. thin, straight tail that flutter with no angler-induced action.
    2. the clear body transmits background color, light reflection and refraction
    3. the body is enough of a target fish want to murder as it dances while tresspassing its personal space. (if that aint a form of anger, I don't know what is! As I said, crappie attacked the float!!!! and then attacked the lure(s) used beneath it.)

    Important note: all of the lures shown above will catch fish in the same lake on the same day as illustrated by the above - 150 fish caught in over two consecutive days (Tues. and Wed of this week); 40 fish caught on Tues in one area;110 fish caught on Wed. in three locations discovered. Skill had nothing to do with so many fish caught. Hyper activity is caused by hyper irritabiltiy and school fish are just that - super irritable.

    Fish senses - sight and vibration/motion detection are supe-sensitive to anything that moves. It's brain is limited to a great degree being able to interpret or relate to anything in nature what its senses detects that is unnatural - lures in particular; and seeing stationary heron feet connected to long legs just before the fish is eaten.

    Too bad we don't live closer Funbun. We'd go crazy fishing together discussing why fish struck various lures and coming up with new designs and modifications.
    Last edited by Spoonminnow; 04-15-2022 at 03:31 AM.

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