The great worm mystery, solved! (Theory)

[Joshua Vandamm]

The great mystery of what plastics worms look like to fish, seems pretty simple to me. 

 

What do Trick worms etc look like. Eels!! (Duh)

[DomQ]

Looks like a good drop shot bait, hmmm

[Joshua Vandamm]

16 minutes ago, DomQ said:

Looks like a good drop shot bait, hmmm

Yeap. Check out the life cycles. The glass eel stage is around 4” and mostly is free floating. Yellow and on in maturity and the are bottom dwellers mainly. Think shakeyhead. ?

[scaleface]

I've caught lots of eels in the Mississippi and tributaries but not one in a reservoir .

[Deleted account]

And a senko is what? A Cohiba?

[burrows]

Alright! Another senko thread sweat!

 

 

[BASS302]

American Eels are an East Coast species.  Your hypothesis does not apply to the West Coast.

[Joshua Vandamm]

48 minutes ago, reason said:

And a senko is what? A Cohiba?

LOL. Eel also perhaps. Close enough. They all look like snakes or eels. 

There are lots of reservoirs with eels. Juveniles mostly. Doesn’t matter if they’re in all waters or not tho it’d be historically/instinctually hardwired. 

3 minutes ago, BASS302 said:

American Eels are an East Coast species.  Your hypothesis does not apply to the West Coast.

See above. Many traits and behaviors go back milenia and eons. Even beyond that inherited from a common ancestor. 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I don't think baits look "like" anything to a bass. They don't have the capacity to reason or think. They run off pure instinct. Anything with a profile, action, size and color to maybe be edible will draw strikes. 

[Raul]

There ain’t no eels where I live, the nearest ocean is 350 miles away, our rivers only carry water during 6 months, the rest of the time they are bone dry.

 

So nothing applies .....

 

[MIbassyaker]

There is no great worm mystery.

 

Or rather, there is only a "worm mystery" if lure-striking behavior occurs because bass are precisely-tuned to particular forage species, and therefore a lure that draws strikes must be something that mimics a particular species. But this premise doesn't make much sense given bass are notorious generalists in their predation behavior, and rather famously are willing to eat anything that (1) moves, and (2) will fit in their mouths.

 

It is true that Bass show preferences for fusiform shapes in general -- a long axis with tapered ends.  But this isn't very mysterious either, as that general body shape is common to most of what they eat, most everywhere, most of the time -- baitfish, crayfish, terrestrial critters, limbs and fins aside, all sport some approximation of the fusiform body plan. And this simply because the fusiform shape is common to most forms of vertebrate and invertebrate life of the right size to eat in a freshwater aquatic environment.

 

Artificial worms are another variety of the preferred fusiform body plan, and bass are just not too particular about the details.

[BuzzHudson19c]

10 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I don't think baits look "like" anything to a bass. They don't have the capacity to reason or think. They run off pure instinct. Anything with a profile, action, size and color to maybe be edible will draw strikes. 

Exactly. Just look at all the creature baits out there.

[Jaderose]

I was unaware there was a mystery

[jbmaine]

I have no idea if this applies to lakes/ ponds, but when I used to fly fish for trout in rivers I would put a screen in the water, scruff up the bottom with my boot, and see what was on the screen to be able to " match the hatch". I was amazed how many worms I collected.

[scaleface]

17 minutes ago, jbmaine said:

I have no idea if this applies to lakes/ ponds, but when I used to fly fish for trout in rivers I would put a screen in the water, scruff up the bottom with my boot, and see what was on the screen to be able to " match the hatch". I was amazed how many worms I collected.

I wouldnt think   there would be any worms . Earth worms ?

[jbmaine]

51 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I wouldnt think   there would be any worms . Earth worms ?

 Yes, Just normal little earth worms

[RPreeb]

Another point - if you have ever seen a free swimming leech, it looks a lot like a 3" to 4" black ribbon tail worm. 

 

I know that back in the early days of plastics, they sold a worm (brown) and an eel (black), both otherwise nearly identical, pre-rigged with 2 or 3 hooks, red beads and a prop.

[Wurming67]

Bass are predators they see an opportunity for food and take it,lures are made to catch fishermen, bass react they don't think.

[Gundog]

2 hours ago, Jaderose said:

I was unaware there was a mystery

Well now you know but its too late because the mystery has been solved therefore there is no more mystery. 

[Paul Roberts]

15 hours ago, Joshua Vandamm said:

Yeap. Check out the life cycles. The glass eel stage is around 4” and mostly is free floating. Yellow and on in maturity and the are bottom dwellers mainly. Think shakeyhead. ?

One big hole in this theory:

 

-American Eels are catadromous -the opposite of anadromous. So Eel larvae/elvers live only in saltwater, the adults migrate to the Sargasso Sea and back to FW. They must have access to the ocean. Elvers are free-living in the ocean until maturity, then migrate into FW.

 

Sorry.

 

 

 

[MIbassyaker]

 

16 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

One big hole in this theory:

 

-American Eels are catadromous -the opposite of anadromous. So Eel larvae/elvers live only in saltwater, the adults migrate to the Sargasso Sea and back to FW. They must have access to the ocean. Elvers are free-living in the ocean until maturity, then migrate into FW.

 

Sorry.

 

 

 

 

There is a funny old story of an attempt to plant eels in the local river here back in the late 1800s:

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/News/2013/02/11/3-000-eels-dumped-into-bayou

 

“I planted about three thousand at the Crockery Bridge on the Grand River, which was Jubb’s Bayou,” Jennings wrote. “There I procured a boat, took my young snake-lets, and with tender care, planted them in their western home in one of the finest bayous on the Grand River.” 

 

Jennings was living in Cadillac, Mich., when he wrote this recollection.  He noted that he never had the opportunity to fish for the eels, as he had departed Crockery Township soon after planting them. 

 

“I did not remain there long enough to have the pleasure of landing one of my black beauties,” Jennings wrote, “but have been told by those who caught some that the bayous in that vicinity were alive with eels.”    

 

Apparently, most of the fingerling eels were eaten by fish in the bayous and river, and those that did mature did not flourish for very long.

[MassYak85]

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

[Joshua Vandamm]

4 hours ago, Jaderose said:

I was unaware there was a mystery

Oh yea. Even the Berkley guy (forget his name now) calls it a mystery. 

 

3 hours ago, jbmaine said:

 Yes, Just normal little earth worms

Worms don’t swim. They’re hardly ever in water unless there’s a mud slide. 

 

Leechs yes. Small worms could like like them, or minnows. Larger worms...

2 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

One big hole in this theory:

 

-American Eels are catadromous -the opposite of anadromous. So Eel larvae/elvers live only in saltwater, the adults migrate to the Sargasso Sea and back to FW. They must have access to the ocean. Elvers are free-living in the ocean until maturity, then migrate into FW.

 

Sorry.

 

 

 

Untrue here. Or rather not entirely true. Half of their early life is still in fresh water. 

They wont last long in reservoirs but I’m sure they wind up in them more than we know. 

 

The pic above is from Rock creek. A freshwater tributary.  

2 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

 

There is a funny old story of an attempt to plant eels in the local river here back in the late 1800s:

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/News/2013/02/11/3-000-eels-dumped-into-bayou

 

“I planted about three thousand at the Crockery Bridge on the Grand River, which was Jubb’s Bayou,” Jennings wrote. “There I procured a boat, took my young snake-lets, and with tender care, planted them in their western home in one of the finest bayous on the Grand River.” 

 

Jennings was living in Cadillac, Mich., when he wrote this recollection.  He noted that he never had the opportunity to fish for the eels, as he had departed Crockery Township soon after planting them. 

 

“I did not remain there long enough to have the pleasure of landing one of my black beauties,” Jennings wrote, “but have been told by those who caught some that the bayous in that vicinity were alive with eels.”    

 

Apparently, most of the fingerling eels were eaten by fish in the bayous and river, and those that did mature did not flourish for very long.

My take away is fish eat them. Basically nothing else to the story. 

17 hours ago, scaleface said:

I've caught lots of eels in the Mississippi and tributaries but not one in a reservoir .

Proving again, they are in fresh waters. 

21 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

That’s certainly a big factor. But I don’t think entirely explains why to seem to love almost motionless worms even. 

[Joshua Vandamm]

I’ve seen DNR surveys of local tributaries. Many have juvenile eels as the most prevalent species. 

[scaleface]

10 minutes ago, Joshua Vandamm said:

Proving again, they are in fresh waters.

Not only  that they have to go through several lock and dams to get   here . They are not rare at  all . I   hate catching them . They are difficult to get the hook out because of all the slime .