Bass Lures

[senkosam]

When I say taught, I mean letting the fish tell me what is true and false when it comes to manmade lures.
I used to follow the match-the-forage concept I read in fishing magazines and watched celebrity anglers illustrate with great catches. Of course, lure companies were behind most media exposure of their lures and irrefutable until forums came along for anglers to compare notes.

I began making my own lures starting with in-line spinners with and without hair-wrapped trebles. I did as well as I did using Mepps spinners. Various blade sizes and colors piqued my interest and once they caught fish, I figured lure companies weren't the only supplier of good lures. Blade baits such as the spinnerbait became an obsession. What various blade size and blade combinations along with skirt colors would get bass to strike? What trailers should I try and did they help? Even arm length (i.e. short-arm spinnerbaits) were made and fished with different presentations. I caught hundreds of bass on those creations that dispelled color choice as anything but personal - not a fish's - choice.

Weedless bass jigs came next tieing living rubber skirts in many colors onto Arkie jigs along with trying various trailers.
More bass by the hundreds. I found skirted jigs could be swam horizontal to the bottom or jigged off it. A few dark colors
were all I needed.

Soft plastic lures followed jigs and spinner lures, using molds and soft plastic stored in jugs bought online. Color choice exploded after so many used caught so many fish! In fact, I even did well on clear plastic in various lure shapes.
Let me emphasize one thing: targeting a fish species is not possible for many lures and many lures may catch 6 fish species in one outing! The lure shown caught bass, various panfish, pickerel, catfish and trout.
clear.jpg

In the last 12 years, modifying soft plastic lures had been a challenge. A part of one lure was added to another lure part using a flame to slightly melt the ends to be joined. In this example, I hand-poured spike tails and added them to a grub body which was then wacky-rigged using a small jig. Man did fish go nuts watching those quivering tips on the way down and no different than bass on wacky-rigged Senkos (where I got the idea from.)
spike.jpgaITzxnQ.jpg There are many more but you get the picture.

What have I learned from catching fish on soft plastics in general and modifying lures specifically?
1. Shapes and action matter like for hard baits.
2. Many lure shapes and actions in different sizes can be used with different presentations.
3. Some lure combinations of shape and action excel far more than others when it comes to provoking fish to strike.
4. Color hue and brightness may enhance a lure's shape and action, the rest being personal choices based on successes and confidence.

Granted, most of the above is well known by most of those who read it. But for me and others, lure choice can be made easier minus the bull we've been fed for decades.

[Gotfish?]

When I say taught, I mean letting the fish tell me what is true and false when it comes to manmade lures.
I used to follow the match-the-forage concept I read in fishing magazines and watched celebrity anglers illustrate with great catches. Of course, lure companies were behind most media exposure of their lures and irrefutable until forums came along for anglers to compare notes.

I began making my own lures starting with in-line spinners with and without hair-wrapped trebles. I did as well as I did using Mepps spinners. Various blade sizes and colors piqued my interest and once they caught fish, I figured lure companies weren't the only supplier of good lures. Blade baits such as the spinnerbait became an obsession. What various blade size and blade combinations along with skirt colors would get bass to strike? What trailers should I try and did they help? Even arm length (i.e. short-arm spinnerbaits) were made and fished with different presentations. I caught hundreds of bass on those creations that dispelled color choice as anything but personal - not a fish's - choice.

Weedless bass jigs came next tieing living rubber skirts in many colors onto Arkie jigs along with trying various trailers.
More bass by the hundreds. I found skirted jigs could be swam horizontal to the bottom or jigged off it. A few dark colors
were all I needed.

Soft plastic lures followed jigs and spinner lures, using molds and soft plastic stored in jugs bought online. Color choice exploded after so many used caught so many fish! In fact, I even did well on clear plastic in various lure shapes.
Let me emphasize one thing: targeting a fish species is not possible for many lures and many lures may catch 6 fish species in one outing! The lure shown caught bass, various panfish, pickerel, catfish and trout.
clear.jpg

In the last 12 years, modifying soft plastic lures had been a challenge. A part of one lure was added to another lure part using a flame to slightly melt the ends to be joined. In this example, I hand-poured spike tails and added them to a grub body which was then wacky-rigged using a small jig. Man did fish go nuts watching those quivering tips on the way down and no different than bass on wacky-rigged Senkos (where I got the idea from.)
spike.jpgaITzxnQ.jpg There are many more but you get the picture.

What have I learned from catching fish on soft plastics in general and modifying lures specifically?
1. Shapes and action matter like for hard baits.
2. Many lure shapes and actions in different sizes can be used with different presentations.
3. Some lure combinations of shape and action excel far more than others when it comes to provoking fish to strike.
4. Color hue and brightness may enhance a lure's shape and action, the rest being personal choices based on successes and confidence.

Granted, most of the above is well known by most of those who read it. But for me and others, lure choice can be made easier minus the bull we've been fed for decades.

What is interesting is how the tactics you use for Upstate New York are similar to those that work in Southern California, just by a different name:

1. The wacky rig on a light jig head. We would use a Roboworm or Senko on a wacky jig head or dropshot. I like the idea of the thin tails, looks like 2 Saltshaker worms glued together. Sort of like a Lake Fork Whack N Worm but finesse sized.
2. Light weight jig heads for bass. This was really popularized with the Ned heads.
3. The ribbon tail bodies you have posted on the old sdfish. Those have a lot in common with the Reaper design by Don Iovino (sometimes called the father of finesse fishing, at least in So Cal).
4. Bicolor baits. Also known as "firetail" baits and some people use Spike It dye to do the same thing. The use of clear body is not common but not unknown either.

A lure that fools more than 1 species is not a bad thing either.

[camobass]

But again, this forum is for SD area fishermen and women per ADMIN. A lot of us in SD who are “idiots” for fishing realistic looking swimbaits per OP. People can hide and change their screen name, it doesn’t matter.

[Gotfish?]

But again, this forum is for SD area fishermen and women per ADMIN. A lot of us in SD who are “idiots” for fishing realistic looking swimbaits per OP. People can hide and change their screen name, it doesn’t matter.

It's a shame you can't be polite to people who you don't agree with, even for something as unemotional (to most people) as fishing. And he uses Senkosam on other forums, he is not trying to hide that he used the name Spoonminnow before, it's obvious looking at his posts it is the same person. Nor am I trying to hide that I used dmorgan3 before.

But by your reasoning, what are you trying to hide by calling yourself camobass instead of using your real name?

It would be nice if you could just follow the golden rule and treat others like you would want to treated, assuming you don't want to be treated like dirt.

FYI, there are plenty of people on this forum who have used creature baits; not all baits match the forage.

[Avid_Angler]

But again, this forum is for SD area fishermen and women per ADMIN. A lot of us in SD who are “idiots” for fishing realistic looking swimbaits per OP. People can hide and change their screen name, it doesn’t matter.

@camobass please be polite and respect other people’s rights to express their opinion. If you feel like a post is not following the rules you can always report it to the mods. In this instance the OP did not break any forum rules.