When to Change Lures/Locations

[Rhardy]

I am curious to know how quickly everyone will change lures or locations when they’re not being productive? As a person who mostly bank/wade fishes, I only carry one rod and can only cover so much water in my time out. 
 

What I believe myself to do is to change lures way to fast and fish a spot way to long. I have considered only taking two to three lures with me to limit my changes but that doesn’t address beating a hole to death that just isn’t giving up a fish. 
 

What have you found to be a good balance for these two issues. 

[Catt]

When bank fishing I carry 3 rods; topwater, mid-depth, & bottom. I throw all 3 before I move or until a pattern emerges.

[NoShoes]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

When bank fishing I carry 3 rods; topwater, mid-depth, & bottom. I throw all 3 before I move or until a pattern emerges.

You’ve mentioned before you stay with soft plastics and jigs almost exclusively, what are you using for mid depth?  Swim jig?

[king fisher]

I usually start with a lure that can be fished at a variety of speeds, and depths such as a spinnerbait.  After trying different retrieves and depths, I hopefully will be able to determine if I need to change baits, or location.  If I get a strike waking the spinnerbait, I may try a top water.  If I get a bite slow rolling along the bottom, I may try a jig, or worm.  If I don't get any bites, I most likely will try a different location.  If they crush the spinnerbait, but the bite slows down, I may change blade type color, or switch to another lure that works at similar speed and depth before leaving the location.

[Catt]

3 hours ago, NoShoes said:

You’ve mentioned before you stay with soft plastics and jigs almost exclusively, what are you using for mid depth?  Swim jig?

 

It's true I like plastics & jigs but I'm good with all the other techniques to.

 

It might be a swim jig, it might be a swim bait, it might be a under spin, it might be a spinnerbait, it might be a square bill.

 

It depends on the body of water, time of year, weather conditions.

[Rhardy]

Looks like my best bet may be to work the water column and then force myself to move on. That and limit the number of lures on hand. Thanks. 

[PaulVE64]

As soon as i feel like enough fish saw my presentation going fast and slow.

I have no idea if its the right ploy but for me i often develop a bunch of bites on the first few casts on a new bait when i'm junk fishing.

 

Lately its been a senko. Unfortunately the senko is my last presentation.

[Junk Fisherman]

There is soooo much that goes into this decision and experience greatly helps in this area.  As someone fishing in a boat that has 6-10 combos ready, I will cycle through different technique looking for fish/information as to what will be the best pattern for the day.  Seasonal patterns, current weather, and water conditions all help determine where and how you start fishing.  My initial lure changes will only be if how I anticipated the conditions were off.  For example, the water clarity is different than I thought or it's a lot weedier than I anticipated.  I will move to a different area and fish different structure before I start making wholesale changes to the baits I throw.  And the fish have to give you some information too if you are going to be successful with your changes.  If you haven't caught much and have tried a couple areas and different structure and cover with a variety of baits, it is most likely going to be a long day.  

 

 

[scaleface]

I carry one rod and several baits that will fish the place effectively and be able to cast well on my combo .The lures will be different for each body of water .My river baits are different than my rip rap dam baits or weed filled pond baits or heavy current  rip rap lined river banks .... 

[shimanoangler]

I think this is something that all fishermen at all levels struggle with.   Sometimes it depends on how much time you have on a given body of water.  By this I mean, if I'm only fishing for 3 hours in the afternoon I might have more of a running gun approach where I'm on the trolling motor at high throwing baits that allow me to cover water to find active fish.   If I know I'm fishing all day, I might spend some time just motoring around the lake and using my graph to see if I can identify or find pods of fish before I start to fish.   On days that I'm going to be on the water all day I might focus on an area where I know fish should be and if I'm not catching them on one bait after 30 or 40 casts, I might switch out Bates lures and techniques several times before I leave that area.   Once I leave an area where I really believe fish should be and didn't get a bite, for example shallow, I'll switch my approach and start moving out to deeper water to see if I can find suspended fish on the graph and start fishing those fish with drop shots and other types of finesse techniques that allow me to get to those fish.  

 

The reality is there's not a right or wrong answer to this because as others have said, there's so many factors that go into the decision about where to fish and how to fish on a given day at a given time of year.   For me, the fall has always been an extremely tough time of year to find fish.   I have little to no confidence in anything outside of a drop shot, so I often find myself moving to offshore structure and deeper water to fish because that's the only technique that I have confidence in.   That said this year, I've challenged myself to be a little bit more diverse and open-minded and the methods I use to catch fish in the fall.   

 

Great topic, great question and I look forward to reading the feedback of others cuz I do think this is something that all fishermen struggle with at some point in time.   

[Tatsu Dave]

I use a lure I have a ton of confidence in and throw it in several colors that usually are my go to's. If I get no attention I usually move and try again, where I fish by mid summer the weeds are so thick it greatly limits my lure choices. It will be weedless plastics of some kind and with 5 rigs set-up I can usually get a pattern figured just changing rods. Its what works for me.

[BlakeMolone]

My strategy is find a good stretch of bank on google earth and then walk that stretch with a spinnerbait, squarebill, buzzbait, or other reaction bait and once I’ve walked as far as I want to I will but on a Texas rig or jig and slow fish my way back. I will then drive to the next area and do it all over again. If I think an area is truly a great area I will fish several different baits and go finesse with a ned rig and a popper in the high percentage areas

A float tube has proven to be a great way for me to fish high percentage areas and really just slow down and work everything and quietly get to pieces of cover others can’t.

[Rhardy]

9 hours ago, BlakeMolone said:

 

A float tube has proven to be a great way for me to fish high percentage areas and really just slow down and work everything and quietly get to pieces of cover others can’t.

Are you using a belly tube or a pontoon? I have thought about a pontoon because I am thinking it may be easier to fish from than my kayak. 

[Jonas Staggs]

one rod and one backpack with 2 tackle boxes plus other stuff. I would hike up and down the shore rather than stay put.

 

 

 

[BlakeMolone]

15 hours ago, Rhardy said:

Are you using a belly tube or a pontoon? I have thought about a pontoon because I am thinking it may be easier to fish from than my kayak. 

Belly float tube I got for like 25 in marketplace, it’s been a great tool!! Those pontoons look great and I am strongly considering getting one by next spring