How Important is Paint and Detail to the Bass?

[roadwarrior]

Ok you guys might be suprised with my answer. On most baits like spinner baits, buzz baits, crank baits, jerk baits, and soft plastics, etc detail means almost nothing. NONE of those baits look like real fish. they look like lures. Now the colors can be verry important but fish dont see the detail on those baits. They are reaction baits. fish see a moving vibrating image and react. Back when I use to fish Rapalas I would catch a bunch of fish on the simple foiled baits with black on top. When the "new" ones came out with the shad images on them I thought they would be an improvemnet. I was wrong. The simple black silver ones would out fish the "fish" ones 10 to 1.

In soft plastics the fish get a good look at the baits and I think detal could hurt them. They are usualy very simple in design and the fish dont see anything wrong with them.

Now where detail is VERRY important is when a bait realy does look and act like a real fish. When fishing "real" swimbaits, the baits are made to look like real fish and they are generaly worked slowly so the fish get to look them over. This is where detail becomes important.

I also think color is always important except at night.

There's no one more qualified to make a professional comment.

Thank you.  Very clear and to the point.

-Kent  a.k.a. roadwarrior

8-)

[Muddy]

Thanks Fellas

[Raul]

Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn 't, it depends. I fish two different kind of waters, ultra clear and not ultra clear. When the water is ultraclear detail matters specially when the conditions dictate that you have to fish very slow; if the water is not ultraclear then the importance of bait detail matters a lot less.

Some of the lakes I fish are ultra clear almost year round except during the mid summer when the rain washes debris into the lakes and the water becomes murky, that 's when I say that detail is a lot less important. Lures that normally don 't even get sniffed at when the water is ultraclear catch fish when the water is dingy.

[retiredbosn]

I'm always amazed at discussions like this, detail, line that is invisible, etc. I have a hard time understanding why we put so much emphasis on these details. Most CBs I have has big ugly hooks on them, not to mention a large bill on the front. My question has always been how can the detail on the CB mean anything when you have those hooks hanging off of them? Any fish that can see the detailed scales but miss the hooks, deserves to be caught. Additionally any fish that can see your line but miss the lip on the front makes no sense. I think that discussions that focus on the minute detail of the bait, but misses the obvious attachments to the bait are misdirected. The question I have is why does any bass hit a CB that has those hooks, diving bills, etc? Makes no sense to me.

[Mattlures]

On baits that are fished slowly then the hooks and line become more visable and some fish definatley avoid them. If you have ever been under water or seen underwater footage of a crankbait you will notice that the focal point is the bait itself and the line,bill,and hooks kind of blend into the background. Because these baits have a lot of vibration and are usualy moving fast you almost dont notice these things unless your looking for them. Plus the dirtier the water the less you see. Also the fish usualy only see these baits for a second. They either react or they let it go by.

My jigs and soft plastics are all simple designs with no eyes and very little detail.

[retiredbosn]

Don't get me wrong, I catch plenty of fish on CB's, I know they are a very versatile lure.  When me and my brother go fishing, live bait is not allowed, no gulp or powerbait, nothing.  We joke that it is cheating. I just think that focusing on scale detail on a CB for fishing purposes doesn't make much sense when you consider the bait as a whole.  Come to think of it, I don't think any of my jigs have any eyes or anything of them either.