What to aim for when making lures - something to consider

[INTIMIDATOR]

Good to know others have bad days just like me. I have read where that fish always eat all the time and you just have to know where and what to do to get them to bite and I don't know if this is really right. I have been fishing before and had seen fish in shallow clear water and have put everything in the tackle box and live bait also in front of them and have even ran them off trying to get them to bite. My wife and I fish with 6 poles each with minnows and a friend of mine also fish with the same spider rigging and we have dug them(24 hooks with minnows) all over the 400 acre lake without catching 1 fish. So I would say at times fish just don't bite.

Scrat
My home Reservoir is close to 2500 acres and is less than 10 minutes from my house. I watched it being built in 1974, I knew all the land that was flooded, it was a golf course, several ponds, gravel pits, railroads, roads, bridges, trestles, and a couple farms....I have fished this lake for 40 years, even when I lived in the South I would come home and fish. I watched the Marina drawdowns, and drawdowns for the Main Boat Ramp, I worked on the Cover Projects for 8 years....there are only a few of us that know it that well.
I studied the fish in the lake and worked with the ODNR fish biologists to provide proper cover and ask questions...I worked part time in SC for a Lake and Pond Management company to learn about ecosystems...I have papers published by fish biologists about baitfish, basic food chains, ecosystems, etc...I have studied Largemouth, Smallmouth, perch, Walleye, and Crappie...all of this to improve my fishing!
In the Winter, I read research on stuff like fish eyesight and senses, lure color and water interaction, and other fish behavior and topics.
I fish every chance I get, 3 years ago I fished this lake 276 times in a single year! I know every pattern, every match the hatch event, and the temps that they all happen at....I know where fish go during storms, high winds, or in the winter...I understand my home lake, and that is why I do well there!

I don't fish tournaments any longer, but I am on several Company Pro-Staffs, this is because word got out about my testing, experimenting, and reviews, that I have done for many fishing companies...I will test a new fishing product/products for Companies and give them feedback, and they put me on the Pro-Staff, so I get lures free or at a huge discount...that is all it is for me!
I use the Keitech Pro-Staff in my signature so anyone who has questions about swimbaits, Etc, can know the info that I share with them is not just BS like others!

Good Fishing!
Brent

[Spoonminnow]

I have read where that fish always eat all the time and you just have to know where and what to do to get them to bite and I don't know if this is really right.

Right more often than you know!

Competition strikes even from a mixed school is hard to prove. If many fish are concentrated in an area, it's almost always a no-brainer to catch fish after fish and even fish of different species. In this case more lure types work. But, I would think that most crappy anglers on this forum prefer soft plastics when other lure types aren't working - which for me is most of the time. Soft plastics are more versatile than any other lure types : under a float, drop shot, casting, vertical jigging,... to name a few and a large range of speeds from the pause to a medium rate of retrieve.

So, what lure characteristics do I select that have proven to be effective 99% of the time because of an inherent versatility, from April to Nov. (and even under the ice in Jan. and Feb.)?: vulnerability (ease of attacking and biting) and subtle lure irritation (for when the bite is slow at first).

I've caught pan fish on most lure types you can think of and in some cases on larger lures pan fish don't usually hit, but for the slow bite and the search bait that searches for fish that can be provoked, I can't think of anything more effective.

Maybe it's the waters I fish, but I rarely come home catching only a handful. Sonar helps a great deal to find structure but the right lure does the rest as it does for all of you most of the time.

BTW, we all would like to improve our catch rate and therefore are open to suggestions that can do so. Simple is a simple does and overthinking what or why fish strike contradicts that. I'd just as soon use one lure in one color for the rest of my life, having full confidence in it's ability to do as well or better than any other most of the time. Guess what - I have! Now it's just a matter of finding them!

[scrat]

Hope I did not say or do anything here to offend anyone on here. I am only trying to learn more and help others with what little fishing knowledge I know. Thanks everyone for all the help and I have learned a lot here on Crappie.com #1 fishing site. Everyone has been real good about helping and teaching others of what they know.

[INTIMIDATOR]

Hope I did not say or do anything here to offend anyone on here. I am only trying to learn more and help others with what little fishing knowledge I know. Thanks everyone for all the help and I have learned a lot here on Crappie.com #1 fishing site. Everyone has been real good about helping and teaching others of what they know.

Scrat
I don't think anyone on here was offended by anything....A few of us on here are just wired differently...I enjoy understanding why things happen and what's going on with the lake and fish...I just enjoy learning, experimenting, and figuring things out...that's more enjoyable to me, especially when I catch fish when others aren't....and then I can help them!
I figured you didn't understand the Pro-Staff part...it is very cool if you can get in with fishing companies...you get all kinds of stuff to help advertise for them, hats, stickers, money to give to Tournaments for publicity, rods, reels, line, lures, etc...if you are a touring Pro, you can receive even more...normally it will start out small until you start building a resume in tournaments...if they think you are a good investment, you can make a living off of sponsorship money...but you have to keep winning or placing! I did that for awhile and fishing was no longer fun, it was a job! Now fishing is fun again!

Good Fishing!
B

[Cane Pole]

Hope I did not say or do anything here to offend anyone on here. I am only trying to learn more and help others with what little fishing knowledge I know. Thanks everyone for all the help and I have learned a lot here on Crappie.com #1 fishing site. Everyone has been real good about helping and teaching others of what they know.

Don't worry about it. Go ahead and poot in the elevator.

[Cane Pole]

I have no problem catching fish. I read IEEE magazines and publications. I can do magical things, but BS is my forte.

[Spoonminnow]

I don't think anyone on here was offended by anything

This forum does the best job of making sure offensive behavior is highly discouraged, unlike some bass forums I will never contribute to again. That and the members act like gentlemen and not closed minded thugs insisting their beliefs hold more truth than any of those that disagree. The nice thing about a forum is that anglers, experienced or not, get to see both sides of an issue and can wonder about each when on the water, doing their own experiments to see which is accurate or whether both have merit. Fishing for any species requires certain basic rules be followed, but not always, leaving the sport open-ended for speculation and further individual experimentation.

For example, I sent some lures I made to a gentleman on this site and I wasn't clear about the absolute rules of using them. He trolls; they will not work trolling unless certain lure speed characteristics are strictly followed. I pm'd him specifics about the best way to use them and if he follows those suggestions, he will catch many species and far more fish using them as I have for the last five years.

This may even open up a whole new way for him to find and catch fish just from the simple suggestion to not always troll. Some lures he may no longer use if swayed by successful casting & retrieve presentations. In fact, he may even find similar lures sold that are as effective and as versatile, experimenting further as new doors of discovery open.

To me that's what fishing is all about - discovery, imagination, experimentation and finding exceptions to anyone's rule, modifying one's belief through proof - one that can be tested and confirmed over many outings.

[Cane Pole]

Fish biologists (one is a member here) told me fish seldom roam more than a couple of miles from where their spawn area. I found over the last half century that building fish houses is far better than any bait you can contrive. I catch fish, but I read IEEE.