getting in a rut with lures

[SteveJ]

I know a lot of folk single pole fish but I use 4 poles spider-rigging and most of the time except when I'm in that rut I have 4 different colors and/or different style lures on and let the fish tell me what they want. Sometimes that does not work as I may not have what they want that day and if I'm over a hot spot with fish showing it's time for a big change. by the way I was in a store today that had just started stocking Bobby Garland lures, like I need more, and i picked up a pack of baby shad and 1 of 2" slab slayers, something new for me to try. That slab slayer looks real good to me.

[skeetbum]

Hey steve, try the green/orange assasin if you can find em. worked for me a couple of times when they were finicky. I use the curky assasins with some success also. smallmouth like those on a 1/16 head cast at the shore. I like surprises.

[GRIZZ]

I hate to say this but give some Berkley Gulp minnows a try. I know I have griping about their price ever since they were released, but I went and bought a package of the new 2.5 inchers, emerald shiner, not the bucket, at FishUSA.com and its been my best lure this spring. The packages come with 18 baits for 5.49 from fishusa. There are a variety of colors including my favorite green/chart Berkley color which I haven't tried yet, but I plan to get a pack in Erie tomorrow while I'm there.

I still think the buckets are pretty much a waste of money, but the 18 packs are doable. What comes in the packs is the exact same product as what is in the buckets. They call the ones in the buckets Alive, but the only difference is the juice and the bucket.

Fishusa now also has the 1.5 and 2 inch Gulp grubs which look like killer baits to me. They used to only be available from Cabelas. FishUSA offers them for 50 cents less than Cabelas had them for.

[joejv4]

I am fairly new to jigs, been using minnows for a long time, but I have a question, how long do you fish a particular jig with no bites before you change to a different style, color or size.

Like Ship, I give it 10 minutes, sometimes as long as 15, but rarely longer than that. Since I only get out for a couple hours a week, wasting time using something that they aren't interested in is painful.

The first thing I change is presentation along with depth = retrieve speed when casting jigs.

While I'm making that change on my casting rod, I start monkeying around with depth changes on my drag rod.

Next change is color. I almost always start with solid chart. but when that isn't working, I'll start really mixing things up and will rig one color or color combo on my casting rod, and something completely different on my drag rod.

Then I start tinkering with presentation again. after another 10 minutes, change colors again and repeat.

I normally fish 1.5" tube jigs, but after I work through several colors, and have no takers, I'll start trying twister grubs, crappie beavers, stingers and sliders. Sometimes all it takes is a different shaped bait and they don't care about color.

After I go through all of this, if I still have no takers, I resign myself to the fact that either I just can't find the crappie, or they have lockjaw. That's when I pull out my bait caster, tie on a popper, a snagproof frog, a senko, or a spinnerbait and catch a few bass for fun. Those green carp seem to cooperate even when the crappie don't.