Which is more important - lure shape or action or a bit of both?

[Ketchn]

a guy i know who used to produce plastics ( constant pursuit outfitters ) made a plastic called a thump chubby ....i thought it was the most ridiculous bait ever made , shaped just like a nickel with a tiny tail sticking off it .....i tried them a time or 2 with out much success ....then a bud of mine took me out and spanked me good using them .
lure shapes in many cases imitate baitfish and or other types of forage ....not all forage is linear in shape ......
just something to keep in mind ......

[jackie53]

Where we fish in our home lakes with water temps in the high 80's 85-86 deg.Can see a white jig 10'.It is really hard to catch a fish in the day time with artificial baits. Espically,Especially crappie and walleye.If your not fishing Rosey Red minnow's"live" ones your not catching.We were fishing yesterday in the Rain tried every color that had been producing.Nothing.A Local Crappie master pulled up to where we were fishing asked if we had any luck.We had caught a couple dink's."He Said you are not fishing the Right Bait"I said being the Crappie.com crappie master fishermen."We were schooled by the master crappiefishermen"What is the right bait?I said with a scowl" He said "Rosey Red Mimmow's" He sat their and caught 100 keeping his limit of 10" or better crappie and some keeper Walleye.We had just poured some Rosey Red plastic's that CTom had given us the recipe in the plastic pouring section.We put on the Rosey Red's game on we did not catch a 100 but ended up with enough to Grease the skillet.LOL.Did not matter bait or action.The fish were their.They wanted RoseyRed's.Did not matter bait or action They crappie wanted a rosey Red minnow,Not a shinner,Not a black head,They wanted a rosey Red minnow or not at all. The cat Fish kept slimming our baits.LOL The wanted the Rosey Red baits.

[Crestliner08]

Great post! I concur. The problem with most drop shot fishermen, that fish for bass in particular, is that they impart way too much action to their bait. Probably thinking that "have to" impart some action. In reality, just holding a drop shot presentation still, works far better most times.

[Slab]

Owner of website inserts shameless plug here: OUR SPONSORS BAITS ARE THE BEST - each and everyone of them can catch fish, I guarantee.

["G"]

Owner of website inserts shameless plug here: OUR SPONSORS BAITS ARE THE BEST - each and everyone of them can catch fish, I guarantee.

They have always worked for me when I can find the fish

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk 2

[Spoonminnow]

Result of experiment using a grub with four flat sides:
Worked great and on four fish species - crappie, perch, sun fish and small bass.


The above after it caught over 20 fish:




other lures that worked just as well:


All told, over 80 fish were caught - some near steep drops into 12' , others in water 4-5', using 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigs tied to 6# test fluorocarbon leaders. Slow slightly erratic retrieved lures got slammed!

[etexbasser]

This has been one of, if not the most interesting thread I have read on Crappie.com. Here in East Texas where I fish most of the time, I have learned two things. 1. When nothing is working, go smaller and put as little action as possible on the bait. 2. The best baits for me are tubes or the shad type baits. I have many different styles of baits, even the joker, and find the tubes and shads out produce all the others. I like that 4 sided bait, and I like the color.
I saw a guy on here a while back that made his own baits by melting plastic and pouring it over a board and after it hardened, he cut it into strips and fished with them.
Thanks for the thread.

later...don

[Spoonminnow]

a guy on here a while back that made his own baits by melting plastic and pouring it over a board and after it hardened, he cut it into strips

Same here except I use a glassy surfaced, ceramic floor tile. Nice thing is that I can recycle old lures and previously heated plastic. A pyrex cup, microwave and a razor blade does the rest.

When it comes to lure action, sometimes a certain design calls for softener to be added to the plastic to make it quiver with the least imparted action - very important for some lures swimming under floats. The bullet shaped lure (pictured above) doesn't need to be very soft because the hydrodynamic shape causes a waddle as it's worked slowly along.

Any lure can be imagined by an angler to represent this or that forage, but at the end of the day the angler who catches the most fish knows which lures do best regardless of what they look like. If I had to choose only two lure designs to use for the rest of my life (other than my own), it would be jackie53's designs. Anyone who can't do well with those is reeling them improperly.

[NIMROD]

My opinion is presentation and location more important than anything . Can't catch em if they are not there . I think tubes and such work so good because of suttle action .