SENKOSAM

Nice color combos. Where do you get your skirts?

I'm wondering about the ones shown on the site. If they work for the second case, why no the first case? I'm talking about the plastic O rings used for Senko wacky rig, not the crappy rubber Lurecraft sells that rots in one season.

I have been using small zip ties with success, but I found these sold at fishingskirts.com. Seems like they might work. http://fishingskirts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69&products_id=983

It's been a cold winter in the NE with few midwinter thaws (yesterday it was 60). What to do? Here are a few brainstorming ideas.

fishingskirts.com has an incredible selection of skirt patterns (many of which LC sells). I've changed from basic black for jigs and white or chartreuse for spinnerbaits to barb wire and fish scale patterns. You could make unique looking baits every day for 50 years! Too bad - I still have a bunch of living rubber laying around.

They are good! I've even caught large humpback perch on them! Just remember the long pauses after you get it to the depth you want. I've used them with and without the rear feather dressing.

I still maintain that color enhances action and profile and the more it does so the better. Who hasn't caught bass on basic black jig and trailers in stained water? Where's the contrast? If color contrast was always important why not always use white, florescent colors or silver plate? If natural color is important, how come Creme's natural earthworm color doesn't sell ? How come super realistic color schemes and colors don't do better than more abstract colors, but can hold their own much of the time? Maybe it's because color can be a turnoff when it comes to certain baits or not matter at all for other lures. I have rarely done well on a bubblegum skirted spinnerbaits; I don't like emerald green soft plastics and neither do bass - even in clear water! Drop shotting black finesse worms don't produce for me and isn't preferred by most anglers I know. Solid bright white swimbaits may have their place, but I prefer more muted colors and so do bass in the waters I fish. In fact solid bright white doesn't seem to sell in any lure design except spinnerbait skirts. Lure color is too subjective as it lure design and consensus is near impossible except for the most widely used colors for certain lure designs. The ColorC Lector and pH fad hooked gullible anglers like me when they first came out, promoted by Hannon. Man, have my opinions changed!

When all else fails, go finesse! Downsize, slow down and make sure the lure gets near the bottom when the surface bite is dead. How much weed does the area have you're allowed to fish? If thick and you don't have a boat to fish baits vertically, you're out of luck. I suggest the following lures: small 3" grubs on 1/16 oz jigs 1/4-3/8 oz jigs and Rage Tail craw trailers and pork frogs 3" XRaps drop shot 4" soft worms that float horizontally live bait on a drop shot or beneath a bobber Johnson Silver Minnow weedless spoon with pork frog 4" Senkos or Yum Dingers - wacky If anything you should be able to catch some panfish. If you get zero bites, either move along the shore line and cast or find a different body of water.

To answer the question, I chose to take baby steps and remember how I became somewhat more versatile. Lure versatility starts with reading posts on this site about favorite lures and uses, going out and buying a few and then see how they react in the water. The first time I tried to walk-the-dog with a Zara Spook, there was ice on the water. I didn't expect to catch anything, but I'd read about it and couldn't wait to master the cadence or see what this ugly sucka could do on the surface. I was thrilled and my high confidence level was immediate! My first use of a jig and pork frog was in shallow water, dropping down steep ledges. That led to me seeing a spinnerbait as nothing more than a jig with a blade and using it the same way. The primary difference I noticed was the difference in drop rate, but the hit was the same. (I cut off the long arm and made it a short arm.) The point I'm trying to make is that unless you've seen with your own eyes and felt the lure on your line, you can't know its capabilities or versatility or lack of versatility. (ie. Salted lizards or Senkos are no good for C-rigs in 2' weeds IMO.) I agree with Franco about fishing beyond your comfort zone, but that involves finding new patterns to learn and using lures with presentation capabilities you've discovered have the highest potential. Shallow water patterns (especially in spring) and school fish make it easy to learn new lures, obviously, but it's the heat of the summer that separates the versatile from the why-didn't-I-take-up-knitting? angler. BassResource allows one to tweek one's understanding of what specific lures can or cannot do or do better. But as was mentioned, time on the water and on different waters is the only way to know what to adjust (lures, presentations, time on different structure, etc.). Sonar in my opinion is essential to knowing the bottom. Maybe not so much for shallow ponds, but most definitely for deeper water lakes and rivers. How would one know changes in bottom composition (hard/soft) or where to drop buoy markers? For the newb, it's a time saver discovering what's down there; for the versatile anlger it's a must. Maps can only provide general information, but sonar also alerts me to depth changes and the presence of bait fish - in real time. The larger the body of water, the greater the necessity of a bigger boat, larger engine and and gas tank. No way can you learn a big river or lake without them, plus the fact that various patterns and structure can be miles apart. It seems to me that everything we use and do as anglers is connected. ie. sonar-water depth-lure choice/ line choice. ie. weed type and density-tackle choices-lure presentation (sonar not important) To me, being versatile means connecting those dots, overcoming your beginner frustrations by knowing all the basic associations so luck is on your side. As we are all well aware, luck can be the deciding factor.

Easier said than done. Aren't lure versatility and fish pattern versatility two sides of the same coin? Which comes first? Isn't using sonar a big part of being versatile? To be versatile on a large body of water, doesn't that dicate using a larger boat and engine vs. a using a row boat? The answer goes to the core of what makes an angler good or better. Newbies or those less experienced would benefit from opinions from those more experienced.

Apart from fishing with others, how does one go about becoming versatile and what makes an angler versatile? Though I've used different lures and presentations when easy patterns dictated, I'm not nearly as versatile as I'd like.

what WW2 said.....! Expressed differently: The nicest thing about bass lure color selection is the variety, but too much variety is also a curse. I've kept fishing logs for years and I can tell you many colors work year after year. There are no simple or universal answers to your question - experiment and report back to us. That's the only way you'll develop a feel for colors under certain conditions and during different seasons, with the goal of limiting your color choices to those you'll always have confidence in.

Raul, this is only one angler's opinion but as a lure maker and designer of soft plastic lures, I have a few rules I go by when designing. Rule number one: prey familiarity breeds repeat strikes in the sam waters year after year. By association, lure familiarity from day to day or generation to generation, supports this rule and the outcome is positive. Lure familiarity can also produce negative results as suggested below. For example, the minnow-like lures shown below have a body & tail finesse action exactly like the real one. Maybe (genetically?) bass are familiar with the tail flutter and overall profile because its brain is wired to accept and attack this design for whatever reason. All I know is that it is a multispecies lure that works in different sizes and colors and that it works all times of year, even under the ice. To a fish, if it looks and acts like a minnow, it is a minnow and minnows are generally easy to catch. Rule number two: some designs are made for the novelty bite meaning, the general fish population attack something new the first year and then ignore it most of the time after that. I have no idea why it happens but I have boxes full of such lures I thought would work forever. Rule number three: Seasonal lure designs can be relied on for the season it has proven itself in consecutive years. Spring designs for me, for example, means making and using lures that produce noise, that may have bright colors and are shallow water baits. The minnow shown above will work, but why not generate long range wake-strikes in 2' of water?!! For this kind of strike, I designed a soft plastic, wide, spoon-like lure that does just that and guarentees a smashing bite in spring. The design may work as well in fall or summer, but for now it (and many others) is a primary spring lure. Why lure fatigue? Everyone on this site has opinions and speculations. If you find a fish that speaks English and tells you why, contact me ASAP! Just make sure you keep that fish in a safe location! Rule number four: texture, action, profile and color always matter. Same shape as the minnow, but with important differences. By varying texture, action, profile and color, I avoid lure design fatigue. Frank

It was taken from one of WW2Farmer's replies from another topic, in response to his comment, Franco's right - who wants to hear another 'what is the best braid' or 'what is your favorite spinning reel' type question. Brainstorming gets the juices flowing and what has been posted by many show that there is interest and thoughts on the matter. Believe me, it's not easy coming up with concepts and organizing supportive ideas and possibilities. Fishing for me is all about possibilities and the never ending fascination.

You can say that again! ;D

I've read everything you said and believed it as gospel for over 40 years, but now I wonder the validity of all that knowledge//opinion/speculation/ imagination. Homer Circle was one of the first fishing writers to make his name in the 70's impressing newbie anglers like me with ideas which had no source. Now I question him and all other past fishing media wondering if bait companies were behind half the truths. Slone, don't you think it's possible that there are far more smaller bass because the numbers that hatch every year are near a million or more? The numbers are reduced through predation by larger fish and fish eating birds and natural mortality reasons. One thing I've noticed annually are the huge spawns of panfish and catfish every spring and summer. Unless there is a fish kill, don't most lakes and ponds always sustain all ages and sizes of prey fish, frogs, insects, crawfish, shrimp and other creatures? No bass should ever starve because of lack of food. The only time I've ever caught concave belly bass is in late summer when the water looks like pea soup and green algae scum lies on the surface. Many of the small to medium bass just stop eating, but not due to a lack of food or too much competition. I think young bass just have higher amounts of energy and feed more often in warm water. Does a large bass usually wait for a large meal to conserve energy? How much of the time? 100 %, 50%, 25% of the time? Another theory with exceptions.

Most definitely bass can be conditioned to do tricks in a laboratory. "Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behavior, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information." A lake or river environment doesn't allow fish the time or opportunity to be conditioned to one specific lure or lure class. A fish my see the lure once in its lifetime and maybe get hooked, but a year down the road forget it ever saw the lure. Here's an idea (or two) to think about (opinions welcome). The complexity of a bass's brain as compared to a dolphin's or parrot's brain is ..well.. a no brainer! : But when you think of all the fish you've caught in all their different stages of life, can't you see a few analogies to higher forms of animal life behavior? For example, juvenile bass are much more aggressive on average than an older bass. Young puppies show the same aggression and hyperactivity. Both have one thing in common - play. Young fish seem to do the same. All young push the limits of their limited abilities - bass are no different. They attack something they don't realize they can't consume. Anyone catch a 6" bass on an 8" lure? They may attack to eat, but many attack because the moving object is there and they feel safe to just capture it, maybe testing themselves and the lure they've never experienced. Young bass are apt to chase a lure and attack it several times on one cast, older, lazier bass not so, especially those with large pot bellies! Older bass may also testobjects they've never seen if the object (lure) gets their attention, holds it and become irresistible at least for the moment. Maybe an hour later nothing you do with the lure will get even a whiff. I compare a bass's intelligence (stored knowledge) and learning ability (based on its limited capacity to store data and to reason) to that of an eight month old infant. I believe a bass's mentality in the wild can't evolve much further. In this light, a two year old bass is similar to an infant when it comes to moving objects. For instance, a baby's mobile gets different infant reactions in a day's time - joy, excitement, irritation, the urge to touch it, yank it, mouth it. The toy may also be completely ignored (depending how wet his/her diaper, hunger pains and crankiness). But if the mobile falls down and even bruises an infant's head, he most likely will not be afraid of it the next day and back to observing and being fascinated. Bass go through different stages in their lives and in one day's time. Youthful exuberance has been touched on. An older bass's vulnerability to strike a lure depends on the stage it's in; the length of those stages vary daily. In any order, the stages are: sedate and lazy; mildly interested in new objects that come within its space; more irritable and maybe more apt to test/ mouth the object) after giving it its undivided attention; very irritable and hyperactive - it will eat your sneaker! Fish and animals in general, first need to feel safe and in charge of their immediate space. If a lure's presentation and action doesn't turn an active stage into a sedate stage, you have a window to catch it. Sometimes that window is nailed shut, just like it's mouth!

I don't think I've ever seen or heard that happen, even in a lab, but if so, IMO it would have to do with a very high activity level. An ultra-high or medium high activity (irritability) level reduces a bass's selectivity when it comes to lures or live prey. It's like someone turned the dial up and turned the fish into a feeding machine. Its short term memory seems to get shorter when it's in the mood and forgets it got caught on the same lure a week ago. How many prespawn males have you caught that have torn lips with multiple holes ? Same for crazy a** pickerel! But one thing is very true what Senile said about conditioning. Fish can get excited and stay excited because of a learned response. Example: I took my son to a trout farm in Eldred, NY to fish and see how trout were raised for stocking. The breeder tanks held all size fish crowded together and when the caretaker came over with pellets, the fish became excited and then fed in a frenzy. (Maybe that's one reason trout anglers don't see hatchery fish as a challenge.) The sunfish I had as a kid would rise to the surface when it saw me nearby, knowing that fish flakes were going to be sprinkled. But if I was able to recapture that fish after flushing it down the toilet after feeding it, you think it would stop eating my fish food? Probably not. I totally agree! To stop using a lure because I believe bass just aren't feeding on lures they might have been caught on or been exposed to, assumes a lot! We can never know how near an inactive bass (one not actively chasing bait or prey) is to being turned on and beginning to show signs it is gearing up to feed. We throw the dice and see what happens. But there might be something to the old angler wisdom of working an area slower and repeatedly. Doug Hannon's, Al Lindner and Glen Lau's underwater videos are amazing as learning tools - the tape doesn't tell fish tales! ;D

I don't know if a bass avoids eating the same lure versus becoming less aggressive towards it. Maybe just coincidence but if,for example, I change the color of a soft plastic stick from bright in early spring to more subdued in late spring/ early summer (ie. bubblegum to green pumpkin), I get better results. Same worm, same size, same company. If I downsize a bait, sometimes I find the smaller bait works better. Same design, just smaller. If I work a crankbait fast but then slow it down with longer pauses, the bait may (and at times has) produce better. Same bait, different presentation. A soft plastic may work better changing to a C-rig once fish start ignoring it worked weightless near surface or deadsticking a spinnerbait rather than using a steady retrieve. Same bait, different presentation. I change jig trailers in summer from those I use in the spring. Same jig and color skirt but it works for me along with a different presentation. One last example - changing from a floating minnow to a suspending minnow. Same shape, different action and possibly different presentation. It's not a question of fish avoiding a lure as much as you renewing its interest in it. Why it does, well everyone has their own opinion, especially those who make changes in the same lure that results in more strikes. Giving up on a specific lure for the year or forever may not be the best idea. Classic conditioning has nothing to do with why a fish stops biting a lure and then starts biting the same lure in its natural environment where there are few controls or constants. I wish it were otherwise. But classic conditioning does apply to anglers who avoid using lures for the wrong reasons. Senile, I would bet you've had similar experiences.

In Paul's previous post, he related lure avoidance as the subject of a study done relating an inherited recognition of lures and fish aggressiveness. I'm not a believer. But I'm also not a biologist (other than the Bio 101 course I took in community college. ) What I propose is first defining a few terms and then giving examples of how they might apply to bass responses to our lures. First, as anglers, we use stimuli - something that incites to action or exertion or quickens action, (feeling, thought - humans only) or provocation. The three types of stimuli - positive, negative (or aversive) and neutral. We all desire the positive response - the bite. An aversive stimulus is any negative stimulus to which an organism will learn to avoid it. For a fish, that probably includes anything from low oxygen levels or a sudden shadow or visualization of objects such as herons and humans. (Scuba divers have been video tapped getting very close to big bass and cormorants swimming underwater easily catch bass.) Do bass ever see our lures as aversive stimuli or do they come around to simply ignoring them (a neutral response)? Meaning, does a bass sprint to the other side of the lake when confronted by something much smaller than itself even if the object hooked it multiple times? I think not. How many fish in a school see other fish hooked on the same lure over and over and still attack it? Not very bright if you ask me. Scientists and anglers know that all forms of animal life have the ability to learn from experience (though maybe not all anglers, myself included . ) Part of that learning includes recognition. To recognize is to identify as something previously seen, known; -to identify from knowledge of appearance or characteristics; -to perceive as existing or true (even if it's not) Our ace in the hole is the simple fact that bass recognize an object as edible and vulnerable. Angler present lures that stimulate a basic recognition of an object as a type of prey (maybe stored in its genetic substance) or something unknown that intrigues it. (We will never know which). I know the following term relates to computers, but it seems applicable to bass - pattern recognition. Pattern recognition is the automated identification of shapes or forms (or patterns of speech). A lure pattern is something I theorized in a previous post and includes all design characteristics that separate one lure from another. Now, back to the subject in the title - lure avoidance or neutral response indicating sensitivity from repeated exposure. I don't believe fish avoid lures that they once ate with glee. That which was not dangerous before is not dangerous in the present. It doesn't mean the fish doesn't recognize the lure by shape, size, action and color, it just means that the fish is either no longer fooled into eating it or not interested in the least. Over time and exposure, something happened either to the fish, its environment or both. Okay, so now you want bass to respond to the same lure class and design you previously caught it on. How? You change something in the lure pattern. You changed size, color, weight, action or presentation and all of a sudden the lure catches fish again (until it doesn't). Is it just coincidence? Who cares!! The bass now recognizes the object as intriguing or vulnerable or as food. It no longer recognizes the lure as a plastic or metal fake not worth looking at. You have acknowledged its natural selectivity and re-included your lure back into it. Of course, the higher a fish's aggression level, the less selective it is, but a lure that has been ignored recently, will still most likely be ignored. I believe it takes only one fish to turn a school on and one lure to turn it off after changing from one that works to one that doesn't Food for thought. : Frank

Me neither. The only research that interests me is bass senses. They might not have much sense, but they can sure tell a crankbait from a jig! Can you relate a turned off body of water to the results of the study Paul brought up or have the active fish sometimes all turned inactive the day we go out? Sonar/Lunar tables anyone?

d**n!! and I thought I was the olny geek that posted mind bending topics! Thanks Paul - I don't feel so all alone. LOL Getting back to proving that genetics affects intelligence and innate lure aggression, a few variables were left out: 1. fish caught on live bait. Are bass more wary? 2. fish response to a large variety of presentations and lure designs. 3. interbreeding affects on aggression and memory (long and short term). According to Keith Jones, bass in general can be sensitized to specific lure types even after a year goes by. Some lures more than others. 4. Will the same bass in a group respond the same way in different natural environments with different water quality and weed type? 5. Is it even possible that fish can become line and hook shy? 6. Will fishing pressure skew results?

Excellent JFranco! I have to agree about the switch-on/ switch off experiences. I been lucky to hit bass schools in open water adjacent to or on humps. One minute fish after fish, 15 minutes late - no bites. Whatever had turned them on (not me) such as a large school of baitfish (the only thing that turns school bass on), still had to be present, but the bass mysteriously stopped feeding and went deeper. I know they went deeper because my sidefinder only showed panfish signatures rather than the mix of large and small. Agitation is something I rely on for incredible prespawn, spawn and postspawn bass and pick fishing. The longer in an area my lure can make some noise (ie Spook) or swish (large soft jerk stick, large nose hooked tube or bug) or chop (large Frog with paddles), the greater the chances of getting a bass to leave its station and attack from several feet away. The strikes are explosive and viscious, an indication of how much my presentation racheted up their spring bully/territorial attitude! Quiet lures rarely seem to evoke that kind of strike that time of year. Really getting tired of snow and ice - can't wait to agitate under a warm sun!

We are on the same page Tom! I thinks as time goes on, more anglers, especially young anglers, will understand the relationship of fish senses to its prey objects within its environment - (prey objects being anything it decides to eat whether it be a diver's weight or chatterbait).

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you everyone!! I had forgotten that theory about negative cues and totally agree. I used to think visual cues were most important because those of us with good vision use our eyes to pick and chose food and judge proximity, along with taste and smell. Here are a few observations and thoughts combined with some of the research done by marine biologists over the years: Bass live in a fluid environment, vision not being the first thing it counts on to find edible life, but its lateral line and inner ear are incredible at detecting vibration, spatial orientation and object size, motions and speed. It doesn't have stereoscopic view because of mostly side-vision eye orientation. Its view of the world is primarily through colored filters (stain), cloud (muddy water) or in total darkness (night). It seems to me that it tracks prey similar to a bat - its sonar's primary use - but ignores other predators at times (heron legs and cormorants) that are easily detectable. We can distinguish barbecued pork from steak because of our senses and memory help us separate the two. But simplifying a fish's eating habits : fish sense fish nearby, it eats fish; it senses flies on the surface - it eats bugs; it senses creatures crawling on the bottom or swimming overhead - it eats them. In other words, fish eat generic life forms of life just like we take generic prescription drugs. Maybe what we all do as artificial life casting anglers is simply pique their interest and let bass nature (and senses) do the rest! Creepy and weird can be what turns a bass into an aggressor.