if one particular bait is killing it..do you change up to keep it interesting?

[Darth-Baiter]

Fun fishing.  i imagine in a tournament, you glue that rod and bait into your hands. 

 

say, you limit out on a Wacky Senko.  do you grab a jig setup to "check it out"?  or is it a numbers game?  i change up often, but would have that Wacky on the deck and pick it up to remind me what a fish feels like. 

[Choporoz]

Sometimes. My thinking and actions are so nuanced, it probably isn't helpful.  Here's some thoughts that will go through my head in that situation:

- Were some of those hits on the fall?  If so, will something falling faster or slower be even better?

- Are any fish hitting on the retrieve? If so, maybe I need to try a moving bait?

- Are the fish all under 2#?  Are there 4 pounders close by that might respond to something different?

  I guess a wacky rig isn't a good scenario for me to hypothetically run through, because if I am throwing a wacky rig, I've already tried every other single bait in the boat...but the idea is same.  I will still try different things.  But my patience won't be great and I'll probably be back to the magic bait pretty quickly.   I'd enjoy a 30 dink day...but I'd prefer a 20# limit, so I'll keep outsmarting myself

[gim]

Nope.  If something is working, I keep using it.  Strike while the iron is hot.  Because at some point, its going cold.  Then the time for switching presentations up will occur.

[WRB]

The best to experiment with lures is during a good bite to learn what is actually working best.

Tom

[Tennessee Boy]

If I'm "killing it"  I'm not going to loose interest.   I might make a change if I think I can dial it in further.  I also agree with Tom about experimenting during a good bite.   

[OkobojiEagle]

Yes I'll add a different bait, but I won't quit using the "hot" bait.  A couple casts with a new bait, then a couple more casts with the "hot" bait.  Sometimes I circulate through several different types of baits...

 

oe

[Pat Brown]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

The best to experiment with lures is during a good bite to learn what is actually working best.

Tom

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I have PLENTY of days where I glue a confidence bait in my hands and go looking for a bite.

 

When I'm on them and they seem willing to bite, that's when I play around.

[padon]

Tom is right about experimenting. in your example i may switch baits if i fwwl like i can get a bigger bite on another bait. but otherwise i just keep hammering them. I spend enough days getting my tail kicked. when its my turn i take advantage!

[Jar11591]

If I’m hammering them on a certain bait, I’m gonna continue to use that bait until I’m not hammerin’ them on that bait anymore! 

[Functional]

depends...I'll have a few fish of fun and then try something im a similar category.

 

I.e. if I'm killing them on a spinnerbait I would consider a swim jig, chatterbait or weightless fluke, POSSIBLY a rapala/crankbait.

 

If I'm doing well on a T-rig I might change the profile or throw a jig (with my fingers crossed). 

[Happybeerbuzz]

Yes, all the time.  I don't fish tournaments.  However, I do buy entirely too many lures. 

[NavyToad]

The only reason I’d switch baits when they’re biting is if I broke off and didn’t have another one to tie on. I have plenty of time to “experiment” when they’re not biting.

[scaleface]

Nah, especially if they are choking it . If  the some of fish are missing the lure , bumping it... then some tweaking might be needed.

[bowhunter63]

Keep throwing it till they want something else .

[roadwarrior]

3 hours ago, WRB said:

The best to experiment with lures is during a good bite to learn what is actually working best.

Tom

 Especially important with new to me lures.

[JediAmoeba]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

The best to experiment with lures is during a good bite to learn what is actually working best.

Tom

This. This is how you figure out if the fish are just in a frenzy or keyed in on a certain bait...

[Susky River Rat]

This is a prime example of where fishing with someone else helps. I fish with my dad or alone. If we get onto something I’ll tell him to keep throwing that and I start switching it to see if something else is better. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I do it all the time.  Fish cooperating is the hardest variable to control, so if you are getting bit every cast take advantage of the situation.  Keeping the same lure on may guarantee a few more fish, but in the long run, using that bait as a crutch isnt going to help you become a more well-rounded angler.  I fish with a guy who catches numbers like you wouldn't believe but hes one dimensional.  If his 2" grub on a 1/32 1/16 or 1/8 doesnt work (which seldom happens) he will come up with the most far-fetched excuse to explain why he isnt catching and I am.  

[NorthernBasser]

I'm guilty of leaving fish to look for fish. I don't always, but definitely guilty of it. 

 

Catching bass with different techniques is part of the excitement for me. If I'm nailing them flippin' docks, I may just up and leave and see if the frog bite is on on the other side of the lake. I'll be doing well with a Fluke up in the shallows, and I may go out deeper and start throwing cranks. 

 

It's all part of the fun. Now if there's money on the line, that's a different story. 

[gim]

47 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

I'm guilty of leaving fish to look for fish.

I’m guilty of this too, but when I leave fish to find fish it’s usually because I’m unsatisfied with the current size I’m catching.

 

And I’ll fully admit that most of the time it backfires because it’s not very long and I’m back on the spot I originally left. Woulda been better off not leaving.

[J._Bricker]

No way, not a chance. That’s my goal if I haven’t been on the water in a while, to find that one technique, that one bait that I don’t have to put down ‘cause they are chewing on it. And the aftermath of those days leads to “if this bait and color killed it, maybe these colors and similar baits will too” tackle buying spree. I wish there were more days like it, but to me figuring it out is what fishing is about.

[txchaser]

Almost always, because I'm trying to learn what else they might bite, can I upsize fish, etc.

 

Last weekend was one of the few times I didn't for very long. I could get a consistent bite on the outside edge of pondweed, but only on that kind of grass. Slither rig with a space monkey, GP with a dipped tail. THey'd bite almost nothing else, and nowhere else, except for white chatterbaits on millfoil grass points, and those chatterbait fish weren't very big.

 

It was clear very quickly that they weren't interested in much else, so I spent all day just flipping the pondweed. 

 

Usually it is the opposite, I can find something else they will bite too, and it is often much better and or more fun - wacky senko at outside grass lines is terribly boring, and catching small fish isn't as fun as big fish. 

 

I do find that having a bunch of rods really helps with switching up - if I can just pick up another rod that's (as an example) mid-column but faster it is easy to try out whether a swimjig gets me a better bite than a flashy swimmer.

 

[Tatulatard]

On 5/10/2023 at 10:12 AM, Darth-Baiter said:

Fun fishing.  i imagine in a tournament, you glue that rod and bait into your hands. 

 

say, you limit out on a Wacky Senko.  do you grab a jig setup to "check it out"?  or is it a numbers game?  i change up often, but would have that Wacky on the deck and pick it up to remind me what a fish feels like. 

Yes. I switch out the bait to a competing product.  In the case of the senko I would switch to a generic senko type bait.  I have done this and no longer fish senkos wacky. I use other baits that are more durable yet still have an enticing wiggle.  I save the senkos for weedless rigged no weight non skipping applications.  

[Darth-Baiter]

i did this yesterday.  switch to a Senko.  it was like Crickets...no sniffs.  

 

back to my creature and BAM-O...fish on!  the jig bite was also nowhere to be found. 

[Kirtley Howe]

I don't change up lures "just to keep it interesting". I change up because if a lure or type of lure is catching fish does not mean it is the lure that will catch the most, or the biggest fish. Also, I will change up lures to something I prefer to fish (topwater vrs crankbait for instance.) to see if that will also work. In some cases I will settle for catching less fish, or maybe smaller fish, in order to use a lure or technique I have more fun with. Example: Ned rigs catch a ton of smallmouth bass, but I would be happy catching a few less using a crankbait. 

1 minute ago, Kirtley Howe said:

I don't change up lures "just to keep it interesting". I change up because if a lure or type of lure is catching fish does not mean it is the lure that will catch the most, or the biggest fish. Also, I will change up lures to something I prefer to fish (topwater vrs crankbait for instance.) to see if that will also work. In some cases I will settle for catching less fish, or maybe smaller fish, in order to use a lure or technique I have more fun with. Example: Ned rigs catch a ton of smallmouth bass, but I would be happy catching a few less using a crankbait. 

HHHMMMMM......reading what I just wrote, I realize that, in essence, I DO change up baits "just to keep it interesting". I really never thought of it that way before. My bad.