Lure Specialization Vs Variety

[reelnmn]

I personally feel like this whole notion of 'if fish aren't biting xyz' on a particular day to be complete bs.  I vary lure selection to match the cover/structure I am fishing.  I change lures between trying to get fish to react or coax them into biting. 

 

If you spent the entire year specifically locating fish, I bet your catch rate would go up regardless of lure selection.

[RAMBLER]

I didn't do it, but I met a man who fished with only one lure.  He also had a trolling motor repair shop and sold fishing tackle.  But, he only sold and used one thing.  Zoom trick worms/watermelon red.  He caught a lot of fish including 10 pound ones.  The stories I heard weren't just from him but from a couple of other people that knew him, so, I think most of them were true.

[buzzed bait]

Ah, but each season brings different conditions and fish behavior so you have to go a year to get the comprehensiveness of the self-training this is designed to produce.

 

but this will have you thinking next year the fish will be in the same place, same pattern, same behavior, etc.  which is just not always true. 

 

it's a novel idea and frankly only works with a bait as versatile as a spinnerbait, swimbait or plastic.  reason being is that one couldn't set out with only a topwater bait all year long or only a deep diving crank all year long.  the reason the spinnerbait will work for year round is you can really cover the whole water column with it.  otherwise you're missing out on a lot of fish.

you shouldn't need more than a month or two to really learn the bait itself.  then you need to spend the rest of your life trying to understand the fish....

[roadwarrior]

I try to learn when the bass are active and easier to catch, not waiting to try something new when all else fails.

Tom

 

Great advice! There is no way to judge a new lure or technique if the fish just aren't there or not biting.

 

 

 

[Bassun]

Yep, but slow rolling a single colorado blade is a classic winter/deep water spinnerbait technique.  Try it out this winter!

 

I learned this years ago on a spinnerbait it had modified for night fishing.  I had put a bigger black colorardo blade on a blue and black spinnerbait.  I stopped by the river to eat lunch one day and thought, hey why not try it.  On like my third cast a really nice smallmought slammed it.  I agree, you can catch fish on spinnerbaits year round.

 

... however I try to learn when the bass are active and easier to catch, not waiting to try something new when all else fails.

Tom

 

Of all the things I've read in your posts, I think this is the best advice yet -- especially for novice anglers.  Immediatly I thought back to plenty of hard days where I starting throwing things that I never throw, and have no confidence in, just trying to get bit instead of backing up - rethinking - and reapplying what I knew. 

 

I've learned over the years to trust my gut more than a lure but even now there are times I will still catch myself swaping lures instead of rethinking the situation and adjusting my approach.

[geo g]

I have hundreds of baits at home, some I use occasionally and some I never use. I do have several confidence baits I will always throw on ever trip regardless. 1). a 4" senko type bait. 2). a zoom watermelon red fluke. 3). watermelon red trick worm. These baits I know can catch bass under all types of conditions, and locations anywhere in the country. These confidence baits have changed over the years but this is my latest.

One tier below are the frogs, black/blue jigs, chatterbaits, and in-line spinners.

I'm sure several years from now, there will be changes to the list.

[deep]

No thank you, I like catching over fishing. Now, I don't fish a ton of different lures- a couple classes of bottom baits, and two or three covering-water type of baits, and swimbaits- which would be another whole can of worms (lol). I have confidence in those. But fishing one single style of bait is not for me.

 

"You always should follow what the fish want. If you use a certain technique when conditions are not right for that technique, you're wasting your time." - Bill Murphy.

[ColdSVT]

I know i have a jig on deck all year and it is rare that i dont catch atleast one on it...but i also have condition specific stuff on deck as well

Right now i have a jig, 6xd, jerkbait and topwater handy

[BassmanDan]

A big part of the fun for me is catching them in different ways...a vicious topwater strike on a buzzbait, or the thump of a big fish hitting a jig in the wood, or ripping a lipless crank through the grass and it getting slammed by a five pounder. A spinnerbait is a versatile lure but limiting myself to one bait wouldn't be as much fun for me. But you know what they say about different strokes for different folks.

[primetime]

learn to fish either a texas rig or jig/jighead and a plastic worm would be the way I go, a spinnerbait can get boring, plus it is not my first choice since fish on pressured lakes do not always want a spinnerbait after a cold front and way too many variables that I can't control. I can't fish a spinnerbait in heavy cover, in thick grass, and I am all about figuring out a pattern, finding fish that are feeding, and with spinnerbaits you will surely have days without getting a strike as they may not be where spinnerbaits are at their best, or just too flashy or providing too much thump based on what they are feeding on. if I know fish are feeding on crawfish why would I want to be chucking and spinnerbait and working when I can just too a jig and trailer and do much better.

 

I am all about taking an entire day to fish nothing but a jig, or tube, etc...Because those baits will work anywhere you go, shallow, deep, weeds so thick you wonder if 80lb braid is heavy enough, so spinnerbaits are great (Used to be much better 10-20 years ago) bladed swim jigs work better now, fish get conditioned and I have been in many conversations with other anglers about the spinnerbait not being as effective as it was years ago, and honestly, a spinnerbait is one of the easiest lures to learn imo. Master the Jig, and you will catch bigger fish and all year anywhere, and it makes plastics and spinnerbaits easier to use since a Jig can be a spinnerbait, Not other way around.

[hatrix]

The few things I have learned after 60+ years of bass is not to force feed bass lures I like to fish.

KVD made his name using Nichols spinnerbaits, covering water making hundreds of casts and it for him.

Spinnerbaits don't work for me very often, unless the bass are very active eating baitfish near cover edges.

The reason being my style of fishing is slower and deep structure where the classic tandem spinnerbait doesn't work well.

Good luck!

Tom

 

I actually do that a lot sometimes. It does depend on how much I have fished recently and how well I have done. Sometimes I get at a point where I would rather fish something "I want to fish" then throw a T-rig for example. I might be able to kill it with a T-rig but sometimes Lots of times I look at it like no matter what you have tied on and what the conditions are no matter how backwards it could seem at the time. There is always a fish that will bite that thing right now if you get it in front of him. Of course not being open to all options will limit your success but it can be more enjoyable. This is really true at places I have fished a bunch or fish all the time. I really could care less about catching 2# or something. Actually there has been days where I won't even set on them cause I don't care to catch them and its almost a hassle. I am sure lots of people on here sorta feel the same. Like how many thousands of 2# fish will I catch in my life. They are just plain and boring sometimes.

[hoosierbass07]

 I received Charlie Brewer's book on Slider Fishin' a few days ago.  There is a really good paragraph that I think he's very right on mark.  He recommends people to specialize in four or five lures and not try to master all the ones on out there you can buy.  He said often times fishermen master one lure and then switch to a new one and try to master that.  Then master that lure and then switch to another.  He said his catch rate had gone way up when he stopped trying to master all the lures out there in the market and instead focused on a few lures that he knows works.    

 

 This year - I caught 99% of my bass on soft plastics.  There was one day I caught four or five bass in under an hour with a small spinnerbait.  Those were decent sized bass too.  But that was the only day spinnerbaits have worked for me.  There was one day (and one big bass) a crankbait worked for me.  All other days I fished this spring/summer/fall,  the only thing that has worked has been soft plastics.  This reminds me of Bill Murphy's book on Big Bass Fishing, he said crankbaits may only be the hot lure one hour or so out of the whole day, or two weeks out of the whole year.  Really, from my own experience and the opinion of other great fishermen, I keep asking myself - why use any other lure beside soft plastics worms/stick baits/lizards?  

[papajoe222]

It seems that every season brings with it a different bait that just seems to outproduce the others and I'll always have that bait tied on. For the purposes of learning the ins and outs of a certain bait or presentation, I have limited myself to just that bait for an entire outing.  I did that exact thing with a Norman Deep Little N and by the end of the day I could tell what type of bottom I was fishing, when the bait was approaching a limb or large rock, when the bottom rose or fell and sadly that I needed to retie frequently. 

Although a great way to learn, the biggest majority of time I'm out to catch fish and I don't limit myself to just one bait.

[mjseverson24]

I love to junk fish, I would enjoy fishing much less if I only used one lure. I do enjoy when I can establish a pattern(especially in tournaments) but I really enjoy catching fish a variety of different ways...

 

Mitch