Thread: Maybe why fish bite lures

A newbie was looking at all my lures in the basement and asked how do I decide which to use. My response: I close my eyes and pick one. His confusion led to this explaination - one I never posted on crappie.com this way:

Fish are predators that have evolved senses to track prey - lateral line being one. But once a potential prey animal is found, what happens next leading to the bite & swallow? Substitute animal with unknown moving object and the result is the same.

As we know, predators aren't scavengers like catfish that will grab dead things off the bottom. They respond to prey action and lure action. What kind of actions? Too many to count! Prey fish exhibit slight fin and tail motions along with gliding and darting. Mann Shadow grub has the exact same action. Both get bit. Other lures I catch fish with have different actions dependent on lure shape and angler-imparted action.

I stated there are too many actions fish attack for one reason: a fish's tiny brain is like a computer chip: many action-shapes have been stored in it that fish respond to. As I said, there are over 200 different lures stored in my basement that have caught fish. Many are hybrids (connecting the parts of two soft plastic lures using a candle flame). Evolution has programmed fish to bite them - no questions asked.

Various actions work or not - choices limited to what is stored in that part of its brain that dictate it must strike, hungry or not* when conditions are right. So when chosing lures, think not what a fish thinks the lure is but the lure's shape & action (one of many) that fish respond to.
*ever see a fish bite live prey or lure only to eject it immediately? Hunger was not part of the equation - the prey's or lure's action was plus the simple fact that fish are bullies similar to the big birds that push aside the smaller ones from my feeders!

Thx for reading. (For others, I hope it helped getting to sleep.)