bass on a shoestring budget

[paul.]

what's up y'all? been a while. i've seen some fine catches here on the forum and lot's of good info as usual. but one thing i have seen on here lately that bothers me just a little is folks blaming baits for their lack of success. one thing us fisherman are never short on when it comes to our lack of success is excuses. we fished at the wrong time, the weather was wrong, the moon was wrong, the wind was wrong, other anglers are fishing better water than we are. the list goes on and on. and then of course there's my favorite fishing excuse, "these baits i'm using don't work!"

when we fail as anglers, oftentimes the baits bear the brunt of our anger and frustration. we are quick to say that a particular brand or type of bait completely and totally SUCKS and head to the store to buy "good lures" that will surely outfish the crappy ones we just caught the skunk with. let's face reality here folks. the baits we have today are head and shoulders above what our fathers had. advancements in lure technology and effectiveness have been astounding. and yet we are still quick to proclaim a bait as an epic failure when we don't catch a fish on it.

hence my little experiment today. my buddy is always using the phrase that so and so could "catch a bass on a boot lace." well just for kicks, i decided to put that to the test today. i went fishing with a shoestring! and i caught a bass. you can see the "bait" and the bass in the photo below if you dare to believe there's a grain of truth in what i'm saying. and i'll go ahead and push my luck and tell y'all that i had 8 other bites that i took the "bait" away from intentionally because i just needed 1 picture. i just wanted to see how many i could actually get to hit that little piece of shoestring.

now PLEASE don't misunderstand my intentions here. i'm not saying that i'm so good i can catch a bass on a shoestring and you can't. quite the contrary. you can. anybody can if they do things right!

maybe we just need to stop blaming this, that, or the other for our lack of success as fisherman and honestly search for the real reason when we come up short. as long as we can convince ourselves that the only reason we are struggling is because of the baits we are using, we have no real reason or motivation to try to improve our game. after all, if it's the bait's fault, it surely cannot be my own.

here's a pic. and i challenge each of you to go and prove this to yourselves. you might just be surprised. in fact, if you wanna, use this thread to post pics of your own bass caught on your own "non-lure" lures. hopefully that will convince some folks who are so hung up finding the "right lure" that there just might be a little more to it than that.

now let the debate began over who makes the best brand of shoelaces and which colors are most effective on bass. ;D

[Big-O]

Hey Paul, My favorite color for Boot Lace Bass Fishing (Banother site) is pink but I always got my wife to pick'em up for me, you know the ladies department and all. Do you have any advice on the latest brands nowadays that may have more action than the others... it's been a while ;D BTW, I think you're a Wack-Job

Big O

www.ragetail.com

[Grey Wolf]

A great point Paul.

[Simp]

Hey Paul, My favorite color for Boot Lace Bass Fishing (Banother site) is pink but I always got my wife to pick'em up for me, you know the ladies department and all. Do you have any advice on the latest brands nowadays that may have more action than the others... it's been a while ;D BTW, I think you're a Wack-Job

Big O

www.ragetail.com

When does the Rage Tail Lace come out Big O? I"m not sure stinky shoe or coffee scent would work better! HAHA ;D

[shimmy]

to be honest, i have had more success with my 12" medium sized sock albino colored rigged wacky style. Go big or go home.

[Big-O]

Paul only told part of the story, possibly to keep from sounding too pointed and brash....He's kinda modest you see : The complete lesson goes like this.

A Father was teaching his young son the art of fishing and said "A real fisherman can catch fish on a boot lace and there are others that can't catch'em in a seine net....but only because they won't take the time nor put forth the effort to get their feet wet". Then he asked his son "Do you really want to learn to fish?"

It was true then and I guess it still is today....

Big O

www.ragetail.com

[DRhodes]

Good story and good catch. but Ill stick to my plastics

[paul.]

Good story and good catch. but Ill stick to my plastics

;D ;D ;D ain't that the truth! so will i. my ragetails might not be a silver bullet, but they'll beat the crap out of a shoe lace.

[Dalton Tam]

I've always had better luck using Nike laces those darn adidas laces just don't do the trick for me.

[RWHusker.]

The Gary Yamamoto Laces are so soft the bass throw them every time.  Is this a lace conspiracy against fishermen?

[Taylor Fishin 4 life]

fray it and you have a rope lure for gar

[gobig]

This post should be added to read me before posting in important topics.

[SGT Rico]

Great post man, this deserves a sticky for sure!!

[b.Lee]

You should send this into Bassmaster magazine

[brushhoggin]

took the words right outta my mouth.

[Fish-r]

If Gary Yamamoto takes over they shoelace business and I have to go back to velcro shoes because I can't afford shoestrings, I'm blaming you! :'(

[Dan:]

We all have baits that haven't convinced us of their value. Heck some members don't even fish whole categories of baits (ie: spinnerbaits/buzzbaits/poppers/etc...)

Anywho, that's a pretty good trick there. I once caught a bass on a moving piece of bread while carp fishing. How can such a stupid animal so completely outsmart us sometimes?

[paul.]

good question man. we have everything on our side. "on paper" there's no way the bass should ever win. and still they do. these little green fish have made me look like a complete idiot way more than i like to admit.

btw, y'all really should try the shoe string. done right, it looks very convincing in the water, right up there with a trick worm. and if you use your head just a little, there's plenty of rigging options (like inserting tiny split shot in a "hollow" shoe string to add weight for casting distance. you can color 'em up with a permanent marker for different colors/patterns. and being cloth, they soak up and hold scent way better than a plastic.

so like i said, give it a try. i promise you will never look at bass fishing the same way after you've caught one on a shoestring. it kinda de-mystifies things. it instills that much-needed boost of confidence and makes you realize that this shouldn't be nearly as hard as we try to make it sometimes.

i'm tellin' ya, give it a try. it's a real eye-opener. and i still wanna see more shoestring fish on this thread. you might just be pleasantly suprised. trust me, if it was difficult, i couldn't do it. ;D

and there's nothing wrong with having favorite baits. we all do. i have some baits that are consistent favorites. and i have some whose stock tends to fluctuate dramatically. and i have some that i don't ever like and probably never will. that don't mean they aren't good baits, just not good for me. right now i'm pretty stoked about the shoe string. ;D

good luck with the shoe laces.