data on bass familiarilty with lures

[Nick]

I have a neat test pond about two acres that has  a decent population of bass that I stocked years ago.  Depth is only six feet and the whole thing is surrounded by riprap as of this year. I have it pretty much to myself.

This year I got a little bit scientific and ran some tests to see how soon bass would get used to the exact lure, of if they would.  Since I cast cast to about 95% of the lake from shore, I used this summer period of hot weather with temps from 88 to 93 degrees as the test time.  I selected a lure that the bass had never seen, a brown 3/8 oz. jig with living rubber skirt trailed with a zoom Fat Albert single tail grub.  Within a one month period if fished 12 times at 11:00 a.m. and 12 times at 6:30 p.m. occasionally on the same day.  I fished 30 casts for each session.

My catch rate was very good for 8 of the first 11 sessions.  I averaged over four bass per trip with six bass going over 4 pounds. My best day I caught 8 bass. Over the last 7 trips I have not caught a bass using the same and only bait.  For me, this proves that bass do get used to the same jig used over and over again.

I plan to try the same test with Senko next June.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Nick, I think that's good for a quick experiment but overall, I don't think they ever get sick of certain baits.  THey either trigger or they dont.  I know an elderly man at my lake who has been catching trophy bass at night there since the 60's .  This guy is older than dirt and quite the charachter, anyway, he has an all wood canoe and still rows himself.  We see him out there in the middle of the night and for 20 years the joke has always been,..."evenin' Alfred, whatchya throwin'?" He only buys 1 lure.  Blk Jitterbug

[roadwarrior]

Nick,

Very interesting. I too have a little pond that I have fished for three years. The pond has produced three 10 lb bass and 5+ on a consistant, weekly basis. This is my practice pond and I fish a variety of lures and techniques, always from the bank.

When I first started fishing the pond I fished 5" Senkos almost exclusively. I felt like I was catching too many small fish and upsized to 6 & 7" Senkos. The larger baits produced bigger bass, period. Although I occasionally fished other techniques and Gitzits, 6" Senkos were really my bread and butter.

By the spring of 2004, the bite had diminished significantly and persists today on Senkos. Switching to Fat Ikas in particular, larger tubes and Kut-Tail worms has brought the soft plastic bite back in spades. Most days I simply don't fish soft plastics on this pond anymore, I would rather experiment with other lures.

So, my experience has been very similar to yours. In a virtually closed environment, bass can become wary of particular lures. I am positive this is the case on my pond.

BTW, Regarding LBH's post. I think you are right, but there seems to be a significant difference in learning patterns with "feeding" bass vs. a reactionary strike. If that were not the case, there's not a three year old bass on the planet that would ever hit a spinnerbait!

[CBedo]

Intersting findings.  It would be interesting to see if you wait until next summer to fish it again, if you then use that same jig, if they remember it.  Also, it would be interesting to see if you pound them with a different bait for a while, if you then go back to the jig, would they remember it.

I believe that bass definitely get conditioned to certain lures, but, their memories don't work the same way ours do, and over time, that pavlovian conditioning loses effect if not continually reinforced.  (I believe this is one reason why fishing the beginning of the year can be so good in places where there is an off season.)

[Guest avid]

I wonder if they are being conditioned to the lure, the time of day, or both.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I think it would be more of the fact that RW touched on. "Closed environment" are the key words. I fish a 292 acre private impoundment which I'm sure holds bass in the thousands. I suppose if all the fish have an opportunity to hit the same bait repeatedly, they may shy eventually. Totally not knockin' nick's observations, just adding another opinion to the equation.

[ifishflorida]

I remember some controlled tests years back that compared different lures and the memory of a fish when caught on them. Consistently the fish would hit some types of baits for a second time sooner than they would others. I do not recall the time period between being caught or order but a plastic worm was the one that the fish would most consistently hit sooner after being caught on it. Anyone else remember reading this years ago?

[Nick]

Yes, I have. I tend to agree that I can repeat plastic worm fishing with more success than I can with a jig.  I think they learn the jig quicker. This is my generalization.  In the late 70's when the first rubber legged Arkie jigs came out, we really waylaid the smallmouth on clear Ozark streams with them. They lost much of their appeal after three or four years though. As more and more guys used them, I think the bass caught on. The same was true for the buzzbait, tube, and now they see too many Flukes. Granted, if we get a good rain and the river rises and colors up, nearly any bait is a good one when the smallies rampage.

Also, wish I had a way of tagging the larger bass in my pond to see how often I have caught the same one!

As to the time of day, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could catch them around noon, and I caught more bass then than I did in late evening. I have no clue why.  Nearly every day was sunny, hot, and calm.  I did vary the retrieve with the jig except I could not work it slowly off the bottom since the lake has a clingy moss problem which prevents this retrieve. Nearly every fish was caught on a steady retrieve with a two or three second pause to give the jig time to fall back.

Funny thing, I have never seen a crawfish in my pond or caught a bass that puked up any craw remains in 8 years. I'll see if the new riprap creates a craw habitat.

I will let the jig lay for a month and try it again just after Halloween.  I'll let you know.

[kevthebassman]

http://www.fishunlimited.org/ProgramsTagging.shtml

here's a website where you can order tags to put on your fish when you catch them.

[fishwhore]

My experience is the same. When I first used Senkos on my pond it was almost like it wasn't even fair for the fish. I tripled my catch and my buddies started fishing them exclusively.

Now here it is 6 months and I can hardly get a bass to take a Senko. On clear days I can even see the lunkers, sometimes two at a time, come up to investigate the bait and then swim away. Last time I switched to a Bass Assasain jerk bait and BAM they exploded on it.

I am convinced the Senko baits have imprinted on the fish. I have tried using the Senko as a jerkbait and have managed a few bass that way but the old drop technique is now a bust in this pond.

[Nick]

Of interest is the tandem willow spinnerbait that nearly always seem to catch fish in decently warm, clear waters when wind is present.  That wind really helps to refract light at the surface camoflaging the spinnerbait as it is retrieved at the top of the water column. I think the bass just can't discern the lure as one they have seen so many times.  Fooled into thinking it's real prey, they continue to bash it through the last 20 years.  The willow blades appear much more like the shape of prey fish than do other shapes of blades. In clear waters, stick to that willow shape!

[basser89]

If memory serves me right, I read (several years ago) in Bassmaster magazine that bass will get conditioned to a particular bait when presented constantly. But given, I believe, two or three days rest of that bait, the bass will strike the bait again. As for the spinnerbait, I think, the overall success for the same bait used may be more because of a reactionary strike. So I can see with slowing moving lures (ex. jigs or soft plastics), the bass could become "conditioned" to not bite them after a period of prolonged use. Just my $.02.

[Nick]

Basser89,

For grins I tried racing my jig as fast as my Curado would retrieve it, and for the first week or so many bass shot out of the riprap to nail it.  After 8 trips, though, I couldn't get a strike even though I changed jig colors. I don't know if the bass left the riprap in numbers, or just got used to the fast jig, but this past Wed. evening, I tied on a six inch swimbait for grins and caught a 5 pound largemouth within 4 feet of the riprap shore on my seventh cast.  They hadn't seen the swimbait for three months, an then I only used it for a few casts. Again, I think the novelty of the swimbait triggered a very positive response.

[blanked]

another way to look at it is a lake that gets pounded with a tournement or a popular lake that gets pounded every weekend.  its been my experience that by thursday the following week things have calmed down  

[basser89]

Nick,

First congrats on the 5 pounder! And secondly, for the input on the jig! That's very interesting! The spinnerbait comments I made on my last post was an "educated" guess based on my experience. Luckily, I've actually opened my eyes more this year and have started experimenting with lures (haven't messed with the jig much yet) and I've learned a ton this year!