Secondary lure action

[Angry John]

I am very curious about the effect and importance of secondary action on a lures ability to catch fish.  When is secondary action more important, or does it even play a role in getting bites.  There are two examples that best fit what I am trying to figure out, one is a feathered treble on a bait, and the second is the skirt on a swim jig.  There are lots of other lures that this applies to, but how important is the secondary action and is it more of a summer time thing when fish want more action or is it valuable all the time???

[smalljaw67]

This is something that is trial and error and you may really never know what made the fish bite.

[NorthwestBasser]

I've often wondered this about Buzz baits. Since you can take off a skirt and say, just use a paddle tail in place, or the combination of both. Was the skirt or trailer that important, or just the blades churning up the water? Anyone ever tried running a buzz bait with out a skirt or a trailer, just a blade and a bare hook? Hmmm...

[MassYak85]

I think it can be important all year long. In the summer the pulsating skirt on a swimjig when it bumps into a piece of cover could be enough of an extra attractant aside from it's swimming action to trigger a bite. But in the winter you might only want the secondary action. If you have a jig just sitting there on the bottom for long periods of time the slight action of the trailer and skirt in the current could be all they are looking for and too much imparted action could deter them. 

[Deleted account]

I'm not buying into the "secondary action" thing. Feathered hooks, skirts and other enhancements are part of a lure, a swim jig without a skirt is a grub on a jighead. Will it work just as well? Yes, and sometimes better, and sometimes not as well. A skirt will add bulk, and enhance bouyancy, which may be the ticket on a given day or not. Another thing to keep in mind is that some lures rely on a fixed action, where others have varied possible actions, and yet others have no action but what is imparted by the angler. YMMV (but it won't).

[Angry John]

14 minutes ago, reason said:

I'm not buying into the "secondary action" thing. Feathered hooks, skirts and other enhancements are part of a lure, a swim jig without a skirt is a grub on a jighead. Will it work just as well? Yes, and sometimes better, and sometimes not as well. A skirt will add bulk, and enhance bouyancy, which may be the ticket on a given day or not. Another thing to keep in mind is that some lures rely on a fixed action, where others have varied possible actions, and yet others have no action but what is imparted by the angler. YMMV (but it won't).

In my two examples they are not part of the lure.  I can fish a small paddle tail on a weighted hook or I can put it on the back of a swim jig.  Putting it on the back of a jig means that you have two actions.  Some jerkbaits come with a feathered treble and some people add them to ones that don't come that way.  Other factors can play in changing the balance and primary action by adding something else "jerkbait" comes to mind but others do this to crankbaits also.  There is a change and that change if you call it secondary action or modification does change the presentation.

[kickerfish1]

Tacticalbassn covered this in one of their vids. For a jig for example, the skirt and jig is the primary action while the trailer provides the secondary action. 

[Angry John]

I watch there stuff all the time and if you check the comments i am all over them.  I think him and tim put out the best fishing video's.  My question did spur from one of their video's and was looking for more discussion relating to that.

[wdp]

I think it def matters. I look at it this way. Let's say the fish are in a somewhat neutral mood and you're fishing a popper. Most the bites are coming on the pause. Which do you think would get more bites? A popper with a rear treble dressed with a feather or a popper with 2 naked trebles? ?

 

If secondary action didn't matter nobody would put trailers on a spinnerbait or jig. 

[iabass8]

8 hours ago, Angry John said:

  There is a change and that change if you call it secondary action or modification does change the presentation.

You answered your own question. 

 

In your example of using a skirt on a jig vs not using a skirt and it's importance or "secondary action" of the skirt, you're changing the presentation. Things that are visual and less reactionary will be effected more so than a buzzbait. If presentation wasn't a factor than bait A would always outfish bait B all things equal. 

[RoLo]

I doubt that anyone can positively answer that question.

Though few seem to recall, the original definition of a "swimbait"

referred to any 'hard' or 'soft' bait with two separate actions.

In the case of most swimbaits, it combined body undulation with the throb of a paddle-tail.

We all know how well that advent climbed the ladder of success.

 

Roger

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, wdp said:

I think it def matters. I look at it this way. Let's say the fish are in a somewhat neutral mood and you're fishing a popper. Most the bites are coming on the pause. Which do you think would get more bites? A popper with a rear treble dressed with a feather or a popper with 2 naked trebles? ?

 

If secondary action didn't matter nobody would put trailers on a spinnerbait or jig. 

 

If you add something (or take away something) from a lure, you are not adding a secondary action, you are changing the action of the lure, I think we aren't disagreeing, we're just looking at it from a different perspective. In my head, a swim jig with a grub is a totally different lure than the same one with a paddle tail or straight tail, (not to mention craws, chunks and the like, which are even more different) I'm not adding secondary anything, I'm changing the presentation, somewhat or a lot.