Southern vs Northern lures.

[billmac]

I understand that technically any lure can work anywhere, but are there lures / techniques that are particularly suited to the North or South, or perhaps not necessarily suited, but perhaps better accepted in the North or South?

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Biggest way to see a difference is to watch what the Pro's throw in Northern lakes, what what they throw in Southern lakes. Night and day difference. 

 

Sometimes same lures, but presentations, lines, and cadences vary greatly! 

For me, punching is a southern thing and dropshots are a northern thing. Change my mind haha

[billmac]

The answers may basically fall along smallmouth vs largemouth lines.

[gim]

32 minutes ago, billmac said:

The answers may basically fall along smallmouth vs largemouth lines.

This is what I was going to say as well

[Boomstick]

1 hour ago, billmac said:

The answers may basically fall along smallmouth vs largemouth lines.

Not true - we have largies too!

 

As a notherner, I can't really think of any lures I might use that a southerner would not use, but we may fish them differently or different variants. For example, do southerners ever fish colorado bladed spinnerbaits in clear water? Tends to work great when the water is in the 40 degrees. And we may fish smaller jigs than you guys.

[Bluebasser86]

I think lure color selection is probably going to be your biggest variation. Northern guys probably all have yellow perch baits in their boxes, whereas you may not find any in a southern anglers box. Lots of guys in the south fish white bass patterns (sand bass), but it's probably a lot less common up north. Bluegill and sunfish colored baits seem more popular up north also, while shad/herring baits dominate the further south you get.

[scbassin]

I fish Bluegill & sunfish colors often & I know many others that do also.  This also applies to Colorado spinnerbait blades in clear water.

[MGF]

8 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Biggest way to see a difference is to watch what the Pro's throw in Northern lakes, what what they throw in Southern lakes. Night and day difference. 

 

Sometimes same lures, but presentations, lines, and cadences vary greatly! 

For me, punching is a southern thing and dropshots are a northern thing. Change my mind haha

I'm in north west Indiana and we have lots of lakes that are largely covered in pads or some other matted weeds. A frog or punching seems like a good approach.

 

My "southern" fishing experience is limited to a couple of north Arkansas reservoirs and there isn't anything to punch. LOL

[galyonj]

55 minutes ago, MGF said:

My "southern" fishing experience is limited to a couple of north Arkansas reservoirs and there isn't anything to punch. LOL

Good point. I think bottom composition makes a big difference in presentation choice even within a given region.

[roadwarrior]

1 hour ago, MGF said:

My "southern" fishing experience is limited to a couple of north Arkansas reservoirs and there isn't anything to punch. LOL

I fish the White River Reservoirs (Beaver, Table Rock, Tannycomo and Bull Shoals).  They are NOT Southern Lakes.

 

[TnRiver46]

In the south, the ned rig gets stuck on branches every cast........ 

 

I think the difference is the lack of natural lakes down south. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the southeast that’s a bowl shaped body of water with a sandy bottom. Everything is a river or big deep reservoir full of mud, rocks, and logs (and current)

[soflabasser]

Southern lures catch bass in the North and Northern lures catch bass in the South. This I know from my own experience.

[PourMyOwn]

1 minute ago, soflabasser said:

Southern lures catch bass in the North and Northern lures catch bass in the South. This I know from my own experience.

Same here. I've never been to France but I know that croissants are delicious.

[soflabasser]

8 minutes ago, PourMyOwn said:

Same here. I've never been to France but I know that croissants are delicious.

Never been to Italy yet I love eating Italian food. Maybe I will visit in a future vacation.

12 hours ago, billmac said:

The answers may basically fall along smallmouth vs largemouth lines.

 The same spinnerbaits I use in South Florida catch smallmouth bass in the most northern of states. Have caught largemouth bass on small inline spinners in South Florida. I have more examples but this is enough for now.

[Captain Phil]

Back when I was actively guiding, most of my winter customers were from the North.   Many would bring their own tackle.  Occasionally, a northern fisherman would pull out a spoon or a spinnerbait that I had never seen before.   Sometimes I would tactfully suggest that they try one of my lures instead.  They had confidence in their "northern" lure, so they would throw it despite my suggestion.  To my surprise, many would catch Florida bass on the lures they brought from home.  Bass don't have Google Maps and they don't always do what you think they should do.  Other than ice fishing, anything that works in Michigan will work in Florida.

[scbassin]

38 minutes ago, PourMyOwn said:

Same here. I've never been to France but I know that croissants are delicious.

I have been to France Thanks to the USN & must agree with you!!

[gbassman519]

i beleive that the same bait that works in tx. and fl. works here in va or anywhere else, it all depends on a lot of variables, the cover, structure, time of season, weather, and bait fish in the lake you are fishing. i've seen ppl in Fl. catch Lg.mouth on a  bubble gum ( pink ) lol senko and  laugh but i caught a lot here on same color while dropshotting. Just my  thoughts gl.

[BassNJake]

12 hours ago, billmac said:

I understand that technically any lure can work anywhere, but are there lures / techniques that are particularly suited to the North or South, or perhaps not necessarily suited, but perhaps better accepted in the North or South?

Never really saw the float and fly before moving to TN

It's a staple when the water is cold and I have seen guys have success with it in the dog days of summer

(When I fish it my chances of hooking up are automatically reduced as now 50% of the time I have a chance of falling asleep)

[PourMyOwn]

12 minutes ago, scbassin said:

I have been to France Thanks to the USN & must agree with you!!

I had some good ones when I went to Quebec City a few years back too. 

 

I originally used the line about croissants when a local here in NH told me I was foolish for throwing a jig and pig because the pond I was fishing had no crawdads. (he said crayfish)

[DitchPanda]

I feel like regional style lures used to be more of a thing before YouTube and social media. Now everybody sees and knows everything. Kinda how dropshot used to be a huge deal in clear deep water in California, Arizona and New Mexico. Now guys are using them coast to coast and everywhere in between in all types if conditions and water colors. Colors are another deal mentioned above that I feel everybody experiments with now. They always say match the hatch but I don't know how true that is. Take for instance swim jigs...got a lake by me that has no shad but a white swim jig is great...my local lake has tons of shad and a bluegill swim jig is a better option.

Another thing that was hyper regional that has spread is the damiki rig. Guys have been using that in places like Cherokee lake for a long time...I've seen guys using them up here in Iowa for smallmouth in late fall and early spring.

14 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Biggest way to see a difference is to watch what the Pro's throw in Northern lakes, what what they throw in Southern lakes. Night and day difference. 

 

Sometimes same lures, but presentations, lines, and cadences vary greatly! 

For me, punching is a southern thing and dropshots are a northern thing. Change my mind haha

I really think dropshot is a west coast thing that is now and everywhere thing. Brad knight won the 2015 Forrest wood cup in Arkansas on a drop shot in dirty shallow water.

[galyonj]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

In the south, the ned rig gets stuck on branches every cast........ 

 

I think the difference is the lack of natural lakes down south. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the southeast that’s a bowl shaped body of water with a sandy bottom. Everything is a river or big deep reservoir full of mud, rocks, and logs (and current)

TVA lakes are trash cans full of water.

[Cdn Angler]

Natural lakes vs. reservoirs impacts a lot of things, like water clarity and vegetation. 

 

So does the size of bass, what they eat etc. 

 

So different approaches are needed to optimize, but there isn't going to be a lure that one will bite and the other won't. 

[TnRiver46]

53 minutes ago, galyonj said:

TVA lakes are trash cans full of water.

At least it all goes downstream haha

[GetFishorDieTryin]

You can go just about anywhere in the country and catch fish on the same baits.  There are SMB in the South as well as the north and if your targeting them the baits tend to be scaled down in sixe compared to bigger LMB baits.  No 2 lakes are exactly the same on a few different levels.  A rainbow trout hudd could be dynamite in one lake because it has stocked trout but wont work nearly as well in a lake a few miles away because it doesn't have trout. 

[LCG]

I am in Ontario, Canada and for the most part we fish the same lures and plastic baits. Bluegill, sunfish, perch, crawfish are all abundant here. I always here about shad, which I have never seen here. Other than that, all techniques work here.