How long do you fish with a lure?

[BASSMAN1301599783]

I am in the habit of fishing one bait for almost half the day if it is not producing. I tend to move spots before ill tie a new bait on. So my question is... How long is to long? How do you decide this bait is not working? Thanks.

[Max-in-Mn]

That's a very good question! I guess for me I use a certain lure for certain situations and if that doesn't work I switch spots and technique. Example, if I am fishing docks, I'll use a 6'' curly tail. If they don't bite that than they're not there. Or maybe, I'll use a spinnerbait up in some reeds and if they're not hitting in the reeds, I'll try a slow retrieve in the open water adjacent to the reeds. So yea, I would say that you can over throw a bait. You just have to kick yourself and move on to different spots and or techniques

[Grey Wolf]

One way to solve your delima if you fish out of a boat , is to have at least four rods rigged for differant techniques (soft plastics , cranks , spinner-baits , top water) , don't leave your spot until you have thrown all your set-ups , this should help you put bass in the boat and to set a pattern for the fish.

[bassackwards]

certainly, u can change lures for different situations if they aren't there.

but I think you have one healthy "bad" habit.  I sometimes get to a point, where every few casts I'm changing.  that's not good.  how can I learn to use a lure doin that?  keep 1 lure on for half the day, you're going to get good with that lure.  you're eventually going to use the lure and find out how bass want it presented on an average.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I let the gods guide my thought process. I just get a feeling of when I should change up and somtimes I get the same feeling to switch back reeeeal quick.

It's not so much a time thing. I don't say, "I'll give this 45 minutes and I'm switching". Instead, As I fish I continually assess the game that is layed out before me and try to plan my choices accordingly.

This more so applies to whether I will change 1 of 4 rods that are constantly rigged. Doesn't happen often because 4 choices for the day can usually get you pretty close. If I had difficulties that day, I might try somthing different on 1 or 2 of the rods the next day.

Smartazz answer would be- I fish with a lure till it's lost or broken.

[nwgabassmaster]

With me, if I am fishing a certain area, I am apt to try 3-4 lures until I get a feel for what the bass are biting.

One example is that I was fishing the Rocky Mountain PFA with my neighbor, Brian, and I had a Pop-R, a T-rigged finesse worm, a 1/2 oz. white/red spinnerbait with dual gold willow-leaf blades, and a T-rigged NetBait Baby Action Cat.

I fished the topwater to begin with, and had some bluegills hitting it.  We were fishing one specific bank that had some great looking laydowns.  After the topwater, I fished the spinnerbait, and still did not have any decent bites.  Next, I fished the finesse worm, and picked up one small bass.  So, I knew that they were wanting something that was fished really slow.

I switched up to the Baby Action Cat, and immediately started catching quality bass.  All of them were over 2 lbs., and I caught 5-6 of them.  We went back and fished some spots that we had fished earlier, and I caught more quality bass, all of them being over 2 lbs.  

Therefore, I fish a certain bait until the bass tell me that they do not want it.  It might take 1 hour, might take less.

[Nick]

Fish a lure as long as you think it's the best bait. Confidence rules.  If you have confidence in every technique known to madern bassers, I would change very frequently, sometimes every fifth cast if I have the rods pre-rigged. I make present several lures to one spot no bigger than a washtub that I believe holds a fish.

When prefishing, I adhere to Dion Hibdon's rule of thumb.  Don't spend more than 5 minutes in any one place with one lure. To me that means keep moving and changing until you have developed a solid pattern which includes depth, structural elements, lure selection, speed, and last color.  This "narrowing" gets a whole lot easier with experience.  If however, you lack confidence in a certain technique or lure, try to go with someone else who catches them with a system that's foreign to you.  I developed confidence in lures after fishing with guys who could show me a thing or two with Senkos and Flukes.

[fishinfool]

You just need to feel like you've worked the area over well with the bait your working. It's all about preference, I wouldn't feel right about telling someone how long is the correct length of time to use a certain bait especially w/o knowing the situation. You just have to feel it out for  yourself, eventuall you'll aquire a pattern for this and then you'll feel more comfortable w/ changing lures or patterns. The only way to learn is to gain confidence and learn from your mistakes along the way.

[Matt Fly]

10-15mins.  What type of lure?  What has been your target depth?  If worming on bottom and fish are suspended on the graph its time to change.  If fish are on bottom and your 1/4oz t-rig 7"worm aren't working, time to change, maybe a slow drop presentation like split shotting, change weight size.  Maybe biting off an 1/2" to 1" of the worm, down sizing.   Changing in slight color variation, from green pumkin to grn pumkin with 1/8" chart. tail, 1/4" tail and so on.  Maybe a c-rig,  With all of this said, it takes me 10-15min. to change, specially if i was there yesterday and caught'em and the graph shows them to be there again.  If there not in the feeding mode,  I'll try for the reaction bite.  Thats what is nice about having a partner, one throws watermelon red flake, the other gold flake and so on till a pattern or color is established.  

[bass109]

All day, depends on how hard the fishing gets. I has to be pretty bad conditions for me to use live bait in freshwater where i fish.

[Raul]

Ok another brainstorm

The question: What made you tie that particular bait in the first place ?

Baits are tools Bassman, you have to select the right tool for the job. It doesn 't mean that you will only end up with only one choice, it means that several of the tools in your T-box will do the job, there 's no such thing as a universal tool.

Selecting the proper tool is done AFTER you have analyzed the infromation that the lake is giving you, never BEFORE you have done your anaysis, because the conditions dictate which tools are the appropiate ones required to do the job, not the way around, tools do not dictate the conditions.

After I have analyzed the information I come up with a selection of which tools are in my opinion the best suited to perform the task.

Many of us have favorites, I do have my favorites and fish with them only when the conditions dictate that they are appropiate. My favorite tools are crankbaits and if you look at my t-box you will see that I have a very large selection of crankbaits by certain crankbaits may not be the adequate ones to perform the task so from 500+ cranks I end up tying one or two; spinnerbaits follow in my preferences, from the 100+ I have with me I end up with one or two; soft plastics are not my kind of bait, I don 't like fishing with them, if I can avoid tying them and fish instead with a crank or a spinnerbait I will do it gladly, but if conditions demand it I will tie them.

So to answer your question, How long do you fish with a lure? I fish a lure as long as the lure is working or is the appropiate one for the spot I 'm targeting, many times I 've been crankbaiting and I see a likely spot where a crank is not going to perform and then I switch to a spinnerbait or a soft plastic lure to work that specific spot. That may be minutes or hours, I may switch sizes when the bait is not producing the size of fish I 'm after.

The only time I use "search baits" is when I fish from the bank or when for soem reason I 'm out of my depth finder, I do it to locate the depth the fish are located, most of the time my search bait is a spinnerbait, I can work it from the top to the bottom, I can retrieve it burning the water or at arthritic snail pace, besides, they sink at a predictable rate of 1 ft/sec for every 1/2 oz of weight.

I don 't "guess" fish, when I select a bait I 'm certain that it 's the right one, not to brag about it but in most ocassions I 'm right.

[Reaction_Strike]

Well then...guess nothing else needs to be said after that!  Nicely done, Raul!

[BASSMAN1301599783]

Thank you all for your great replys, I think that the question I should have posted was "how long do you fish with a particular bait before you know its not going to produce or you are in the right spot?" But I do think I need to anilize the conditions and situation better than I currently do before I tie on one particular bait. If I can do this I think the fish will tell me how long it should be in the water and where I should be.

[Raul]

There are certain guidelines that help you to narrow down the choices Bassman:

Murky/muddy water---->low visibilty:

Colors.-

Flashy ( metallic finish or with metalflake ),

Dark ( dark browns, blacks, watermelon, green pumpkin, purple )

Hot ( bright orange, chartreuse, firetiger )

Profile and size.-

Large and bulky, the bigger the better

Rounded body ( more hydrodynamic signature )

Noisy ( rattles )

Vibration ( lipless vibrators, blades in spinnerbaits, C tail shape in soft plastics )

Wide wobble

Clear water------> high visbilty

Colors.-

Natural ( greens, light browns like pumpkinseed, silvers, rootbeer, whites )

Naturalistic finishes ( shad, shiner, baby bass, bluegill )

Size and profile.-

Medium size

Slender body and profile

It can be noisy or silent

Tight wiggle

Curly, paddle or no tail

[BASS_KILLER]

I dont change lures i change spots but then i come back wit a different lure and i just rotate like different lures different technuques different depths

[BASSMAN1301599783]

Thair is another list I am puting in the boat ;D

[sinker48]

I fish from the same spot 99% of the time. Do not have A boat. Change lures often size, color, depth action. Sometimes it takes longer to tie it on than what I use it.

                             Good  Luck !

                                        Sinker 48  

[AceHigh]

Its not always as easy as Raul may make it sound to some.  Thirty years ago when I fished the same few lakes 20-30 times a year with nothing but a huge selection of crankbaits and spinnerbaits, it was easy to stay on fish and know what they wanted.

Now I rarely fish any water more than once a year and half the time I am on new water.  35 years of bass fishing experience helps as its extremely rare to find myself in water or a condition wher I haven't caught fish before, so what has worked before is always where I start.

However, at least half the time what worked before doesn't work at all and I will change lures (type, size, color, etc.) as well as my presentation and retrieve about every ten to fifteen minutes until I am reasonably certain I know where the fish are and what they want.  I am always surprised about how unpredictable fish can be and how little respect they have for doing what they are always supposed to do.  I wish I had a nickel for all the times I though I had found "perfect" water and conditions and got no strikes, then moved to a place that should have been barren and loaded up.

Then again there are times when you just have to stick with what you know will work and wait until the fish move up and feed where they are supposed to.  Worm fishing lake points in the summer can be this way for example.

I usually start with 6 rod & reels everywhere I go - 1 spinnerbait, 1 plastic worm (Texas style), 1 jig and pig,  2 crankbait, 1 swimming grub.  I keep a flipping and a pitching rod on top in the rod box if I think I may have found a pattern that fits.  That means that even if I find the lure the fish want, I may change my fishing style to make sure I hook and land the most fish possible.

[bassaddict62]

If I'm fishing an area that has all the signs of holding bass (food source, access to safe/deep water, and cover) I'll change lures pretty frequently. Half a dozen casts with no action, and I switch lures. I'll never leave spot without working it over completely.

[bass109]

I switch lures alot thoughout the day but stick to my favorite lures most of the time.

[SBM-RL]

i ussually have a few different poles rigged differently but if im fishing with someone and there boating them and im not then ill probably switch to either what there using or somthing simular but i ussaully dont switch a ton bc what i have on i put on for a reason and i have confidence in it

[Chris]

"Window of opportunity " You need to understand this phrase. A window of opportunity basically means a time frame that you are around fish and they become active and you capitalize on it. In a lot of cases the window is small and most of the time the fish are inactive. When you get close to that window things start to change and areas that you didn't catch fish the first time around that you chalked up as dead water is now producing. If you are in the right place at the right time you cash in. Bass go in cycles between being active, neutral, and inactive if the conditions turn south. Bass change their activity level as conditions change. In some cases their activity level changes after you trick one fish out of a school to bite. The rest of the bass that where neutral now become active. I try to fish places that I know holds fish with the right tool for each job then when that window opens I try to be in places where I know big fish live to capitalize on their activity level. Well, when are those fish more inclined to become active?

Mornings at first light-When the sun first comes up is a major time when activity levels go up. A bass is a predator fish and mornings give a bass an advantage over their prey. They can see where there prey cannot or has a hard time seeing. Low light distorts color and colors blend more because of lack of light and this by itself is an advantage to a bass.

Afternoon-In the afternoon on sunny days shadows give a bass cover and concealment. Prey has a hard time looking into a shadow and making out that 5 pounder licking its chops. Afternoon also is when the sun is the highest in the sky and colors are the most vivid. Bass can see the most range of colors at this time of day. (the more light the bigger range of color is reflected and seen) They are able to pick out color and shape of their prey the best and with less distortion. This is an advantage to a bass.

Sun set-the same reasons as sun rise.

Cloudy conditions-This is another low light condition to the bass.

Windy days-wind positions bait and bass and breaks up the surface of the water. Colors change and become distorted when the surface is disturbed and light is broken up.

Night- This is another advantage to a bass.

[BASSMAN1301599783]

How do you know when that window opens?

[Chris]

yep just added it ;D

[BASSMAN1301599783]

Thanks for the info Chris ;D