What's the deal with changing to different lure for followup?

[haggard]

If a bass hit a certain lure (say a topwater swimbait) but didn't commit, why would the angler immediately switch to a different type of lure (say a worm) for a followup attempt at the same fish? I've seen/read about this numerous times. What's the rationale behind trying a different lure as opposed to the one that almost got the fish?

 

[NHBull]

I always have a rod with a worm tied on near by when I throw a top water.  I don’t know why it works, but the success rate is very high

[DINK WHISPERER]

1 hour ago, NHBull said:

I always have a rod with a worm tied on near by when I throw a top water.  I don’t know why it works, but the success rate is very high

Agreed. I've always looked at it as maybe the fish thinks it stunned/wounded whatever it just attempted to eat on the surface. Now it's falling through the water column and is easy pickings. I always have a senko ready when I'm throwing top water baits. I might be wrong on my logic but I do know it works and they rarely hit the surface bait again. 

[Scott F]

2 hours ago, haggard said:

If a bass hit a certain lure (say a topwater swimbait) but didn't commit, why would the angler immediately switch to a different type of lure (say a worm) for a followup attempt at the same fish? I've seen/read about this numerous times. What's the rationale behind trying a different lure as opposed to the one that almost got the fish?

 

Try it for yourself. After a bass misses your topwater, throw it back and see if it hits the bait again. If it doesn't, throw a senko to the spot and see what happens. Guys talk about it because it works. Why? Who can say for sure. It just does.

[Bluebasser86]

2 hours ago, DINK WHISPERER said:

Agreed. I've always looked at it as maybe the fish thinks it stunned/wounded whatever it just attempted to eat on the surface. Now it's falling through the water column and is easy pickings. I always have a senko ready when I'm throwing top water baits. I might be wrong on my logic but I do know it works and they rarely hit the surface bait again. 

This is the same rationale I have for the follow up bait. Injured baitfish often flutter to the bottom while convulsing slightly, looks a lot like a sinking fluke or Senko. 

 

At times, throwing the same bait they missed back at them will work well too. The bad thing is, the only way to tell which works in each case is to try it and hope you make the right choice. 

[WDE]

On several occasions I’ve seen a bass crash on the bank on shad. I’ll throw a worm(Senko typically) right in that area and they’ll hit on the first cast. It’s almost like clockwork. 

[Fishing_FF]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

This is the same rationale I have for the follow up bait. Injured baitfish often flutter to the bottom while convulsing slightly, looks a lot like a sinking fluke or Senko. 

 

At times, throwing the same bait they missed back at them will work well too. The bad thing is, the only way to tell which works in each case is to try it and hope you make the right choice. 

 

Same rationale here. Whenever I am fishing a hardbait (popper, Whopper Plopper, buzz bait, jerk bait, crank bait), I have a 4" or 5" wacky rigged Senko standing by. I've even started doing with with spinnerbaits with success. When a fish crashes the bait and a hook up doesn't occur, I throw out the Senko to flutter to the bottom. I would say about three quarters of the time for me the Senko doesn't even make it to to the bottom before getting nailed.  

 

There is a lot of underwater footage now of bass feeding and hitting baits. They get their target a lot of the time on the first strike, but when they don't they can actually be seen circling or coming back to finish the job. If this is their nature being recorded, make sense to put something back for them to hit again.

[Catt]

11 hours ago, NHBull said:

I always have a rod with a worm tied on near by when I throw a top water.  I don’t know why it works, but the success rate is very high

 

Yelp! 

 

If it aint broke quit trying to fix it!  ?

[Bankbeater]

There might be several reasons why bass will hit a plastic worm when they miss the first bait.  The only thing I'm going to worry about is having the rod rigged with the worm within arms length so I can grab it if I need to.

[papajoe222]

My reasoning is that the fish didn't fully commit to the first lure and a slight change, or even a drastic one, will get them to.  I always follow up a surface strike with a soft jerk bait or weightless stick worm. If that doesn't work, I'll change something about my original presentation. Often times it's just a matter of working it faster or slower. Sometimes it's a change to something different, but the same lure worked the same way more often than not, will result in the same result; missed fish.

[kickerfish1]

Think of it this way. You just took a bite of something your mother in law cooked and it didn't taste very good. But suddenly she breaks out a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies and all of a sudden you have the urge to eat again!

 

Same way with fish! It can often be as simple as giving them another bait to look at.

 

If they got some hook in their mouth or felt resistance during the fight they may not bit again for awhile. Only logical exception would be a bass on a bed.

 

[TnRiver46]

I catch more "follow up" fish with the same lure they hit the first time than I do casting in a different lure 

[haggard]

Old post, but I tried it today and it worked - casting in about 10 feet of water, a soft plastic baby turtle lure (thanks @LadiMopar) got a strike but not hooked. I had an orange/brown ned rig worm (thanks @jbmaine) on a L/F spinner next to me and not sure why but for some reason I grabbed it and offered the fish another cast. I just figured if it knew the turtle was no good, why throw the turtle again; give it something different. The smallmouth took it, landed.

 

Then the same thing again. Baby turtle got a bite, maybe even hooked and jumped (can't remember) but got off the hook. Same as before, immediately tossed the ned rig and landed the fish (another smallmouth).

 

 

Getting a lot of mileage out of this Doomsday Turtle lure. The head finally wore out so I cut it off and let the 1/4 oz bullet weight become the new head; the thing is still catching fish after fishing the hack out of it on three separate outings. Going to cut it back again and see how long it will last

 

 

 

[LadiMopar]

3 hours ago, haggard said:

Getting a lot of mileage out of this Doomsday Turtle lure. The head finally wore out so I cut it off and let the 1/4 oz bullet weight become the new head; the thing is still catching fish after fishing the hack out of it on three separate outings. Going to cut it back again and see how long it will last 

Glad the turtle o'doom is still getting those bronze fish excited, but if you are having trouble setting the hook on them maybe try a 5/0 offset. The 4/0 might be a bit too short for them. 

[WRB]

If you hook a bass and it comes off the chances of hooking that bass again quickly is low. 

If the bass decided it didn't want to fully commit to a strike, then a follow up cast or different lure can work.

Most of the time when bass are active enough to strike a surface lure there will be more then that 1in the area. You don't don't know unless you catch the bass and then catch another in the same place and that is more common then you think.

Tom

[Catt]

There will been times the bass will simply miss your topwater lures for what ever reason.

 

One highly productive technique for locating bass in our shallow marshes is to throw a topwater not necessarily to get the bass to strike the lure but to get the bass to expose its location. 

 

Once that puppy gives away it's location, he's mine!

[Sam]

After missing a topwater a bass will think they injured the prey so by throwing a Senko/stickbait back to the strike location the bass will believe the meal it missed is injured and hit it.

 

A slow falling Senko/stick bait will look like an easy target.

 

Ant that's the way it is.

[thinkingredneck]

The same priciple works with Steelhead fly fishing.  If one flashes at a topwater waking bait, swing a small dark wet fly.  Who knows what goes through a fish's "mind"?  

[haggard]

22 hours ago, LadiMopar said:

Glad the turtle o'doom is still getting those bronze fish excited, but if you are having trouble setting the hook on them maybe try a 5/0 offset. The 4/0 might be a bit too short for them. 

Maybe crazy but I'm using a 1/0 offset, which is what I use most of the time on anything I Texas rig. I tend towards the finesse'er site of things, maybe to a fault. I have some 3/0 which typically I use for 5in+ worms but maybe it's time to try the 3/0 on the Turtle o' Doom. I just love that lure, the size, color and the subtle fwaptastic action of the legs on a gentle retrieve. Possibly more than the bass do.  

 

[LadiMopar]

7 hours ago, haggard said:

Maybe crazy but I'm using a 1/0 offset, which is what I use most of the time on anything I Texas rig. I tend towards the finesse'er site of things, maybe to a fault. I have some 3/0 which typically I use for 5in+ worms but maybe it's time to try the 3/0 on the Turtle o' Doom. I just love that lure, the size, color and the subtle fwaptastic action of the legs on a gentle retrieve. Possibly more than the bass do.  

 

That's a lot of plastic (turtle o'doom) for a 1/0 offset, 4/0 is the manufacturers recommended size. I tried 3/0 and found that the smaller LMB were just barely connecting because they couldn't quite inhale the turtle far enough to really drive the hook in.

 

The 1/0 might be part of the reason that poor turtle lost his head ?

 

They do have great action, and even the real turtles stop and look!