Thread: No telling which lures will work until you find the fish to begin with (pic heavy)

But as always the right area usually means fish caught or at least a higher potential for fish being caught. Yesterday was an example of an early success and the day before a late successes at finding fish that could be provoked to strike. Fish on the fish finder beneath the transducer rarely yields fish that bite in water less than 6' so casting all over the place and in different types of places sooner or later finds fish that will cooperate - but only as long as the right lures are used.

The Trout and Crappie Magnet lures do well when fish respond to their specific action: a side-to-side waddle with slight tail tip quiver. But at times larger lures having the same action provoke more fish to strike and from a greater distance due to vibration and visualization. This blunted club-tail grub has proven a far better fish catcher than either Magnet in summer in water less clear than in spring:



Even this thinner cone tail has produced fish more consistently - again same action as the Magnet.


The action may be the same as the Magnet but greater bulk = greater vibration. More and more I'm convinced that the subtle actions of lures and prey are detected easily from as far away as 15' by the lateral line via pressure waves that alert fish regardless of fish activity/sensitivity. This is especially true for fish that feed at night. Keeping this in mind, I strive to go subtle & slow in lure action most of the time but also slightly larger in body/tail bulk for ease of detection and p.o. potential.

The only thing a fish has to show for its lure-encouraged irritability to a newly targeted object, IMO, is its mouth and not the simplified YUM motive many believe is the reason for all strikes. Less subtle actions may work just as well like the curl tail, but curl tail lures must be moved faster - a lure speed that that doesn't always fit the p.o. action needed. (I'm sure most of you know what being p.o'd feels like. )

As I've proven on many posts with picture examples, on any day many lure designs in many colors have the potential for provoking fish to strike - fish minding their own business not in the mood to chase prey. Find a lure or many lures that accomplish this most months and make sure they are at hand every time you fish. Right now I have 15 soft plastic designs I can count on and variations of those designs brings the number to well into the hundreds. It makes lure choice so much easier and captures the essence of this statement by BobC:

You have to have confidence or at the very least a positive attitude in what you are fishing

Food for thought (though not fish food LOL).