Know your prey: Seduction II

[Raul]

Okie dokie, you are out there urging to satify your need to make that lady be yours, ATTRACTION is something like money, they almost guarantee fun but that doesn 't mean you 'll get it, a few ones will fall on the attraction side but most ones won 't, if you owned a Ferrari Enzo you can bet it 's going to give you immediate attention, but owning one is one thing and another completly different one is that you know how to get the most out of it, you still have to use your "charm" aside from a fancy car and the promise of a hefty wallet.

You have attracted them now it 's time to make 'em bite, you need to provoke the strike.

Provocation is also an easy concept to understand, it itches you scratch, period, you don 't care how much damage you can proke when you scratch that itch all you want is to scratch it.

Whick properties PROVOKE the strike ? well, exactly the opposite ones that caused the ATTRACTION in the first place, kinda confusing isn 't it ?  :. What I mean is really this, imagine that the things that attract are like a B-52 bomber, pure muscle and tons of heavy fire power and imagine that things that provoque are like a B-2 bomber, it doesn 't carry as much muscle as a B52, it doesn 't have the same fire power and weaponry but it 's stealthy characterstics won 't let them see him coming,by the time you are aware you 're under attack it 's already too late :-X

1.- Size.- size again ? yesir, size again, as I stated before LARGER sizes attract because they are easy to spot, buuuuuuuuuuuut, size isn 't everything ya know, it gives smaller and more precise punches. Small size baits will catch more fish than large baits because any flaw in the design will be subdued with the smaller size. Lets 's be realistic, how many of you have caught a 10+ pounder LMB, to most anglers it 's a dream that may never see, me ? I live in big bass country, which doesn 't mean crap, fish don 't care if you are in big bass country, have I done it ? yup, I have done it more times in a period of 25 years to be exact than you will ever do in 3 or 4 lifetimes, but the ammount of fish under 4 pounds that I have caught during the same period of time multiples by the tenfolds the number of fish I 've caught over 10+ pounds. So there 's no need to throw in a monster 12 inch swimbait, with your regular baits is more than enough. Stay small and you 'll catch more fish, which doesn 't mean you should start fishing with 2 inch grubs.

2.- Natural colors and subdued flashiness: the same thing that applies to very dark or hot colors applies here, bass feed on........fish, tadpoles, insects, little mammals, little birds, HOT colors and specially in combination with black in nature usually mean "DON 'T MESS WITH ME !", poisonous or bad tasting animals are usually brightly colored. Most animals bass feed on are non poisonous or bad tasting so they don 't have hot colors nor are very flashy, on the contrary, what they want is not to be seen or they are history so their color pattern blends in with the environment, in other words, they are CAMOUFLAGED. Natural color and subdued flasiness are positive feeding cuues for predators like bass.

3.- Random Action: did I say MECHANICAL ? no sir I DID NOT, I said RANDOM action, random action is part of nature, if you have taken enough time to study animals as I do, you will notice something peculiar, animals that are preyed upon rarely move in a predictable pattern, they shift directions constantly their action is anything but predictable it 's completly random and more if the are aware that there 's a predator looking as them as a snack or the main course.

4.- Natural sounds: this may sound specially odd to some but many fish are not mute, we tend to imagine them as mute but they are not, fish speak between themselves to identify themselves as a species, you can easily differentiate a cardinal from a canary so if bass have good hearing why can 't they differentiate a minnow from shad, they "talk" when they need to comunicate but also they move silently, why ? because sounds attract predators, just ask male peacocks what happens when they open their big beak to scream out there in the indian jungles you can be shure that the first one to be aware of it 's presence is the tiger. Random sound alerts more a predator than a series of repetitive sounds emmitted by a rattling bait.

5.- Long, thin, elongated shape: it 's hydrodinamic signature is much more subtle than a short rounded shape, it emits enough to be detected but it 's easier to swallow, which one do you think bass will prefer ? long and thin or short and round, it 's not the same to eat a watermelon in chunks than trying it to swallow it whole, or is it ? if it were me I 'd rather choose the chunks, my mouth is big but not THAT big.

6.- Fast motion: that 's an easy one, "look here it comes, hey, it 's running away ! I 'm going to ****** it before I let the opportunity get away", that 's how a bass sees a fleeing lure, it looks to him like it 's trying to escape from it.

Those are the provoking properties of lure however they alos have drawbacks:

1.- Size: reduced size has in it 's favor that it lifts anything, which is also it 's drawback, it lifts anythings, all the fleas want to be on that dog. Smaller size means lost of fish but little or no biguns.

2.- Natural colors and subdued flashiness: they are dull, they tend to blend too well with the environment so you you end up witha bait that 's so natural that fish don 't see it.

3.- Random action: remember the strip dancer on steroids comparison I made on the mechanical action ? oh well, never been to those places of sin   but I have a very vivid imagination  ;D, imagine that the strip dancer changes make-up and wardrobe on every presentation, oh lalá, but if she does it too oftenly it 's not that quite well either, too much random action makes the bait difficult to pinpoint and confusing to the fish, too much is too much.

4.- Natural sounds: too much noise is not good but too little may not be as appealing.

5.- Long, thin, elongated shape: too thin may ot content enough calories to make it worth the expense of energy even to swallow, bass need somthing more appetizing and more stomach filling.

6.- Fast motion: well first you told me that slow, now you tell me that fast  ???, well I didn 't mean LIGHTNING fast in the first place, it 's easier to overspeed the bait than to overslow the bait, burning the water can be effective if the conditions are right. Also certain baits don 't react well to high speed, specially lipped crankbaits, too fast and they roll on it 's side and don 't work well.

So catching fish is not only based on the provoking properties of the lure because it 's lacking of "something else", they may povoke to bite but it 's not enough to attract them.

What 's next ? ............

The CORRECT BLEND.

[Pond-Pro]

    Thanks for all the information. Bassmaster magazine should have consalted you before writing their "Lures that attract and trigger" artical. Great Job!

[Raul]

Don 't tell me that BM magazine has an article that says pretty much the same Pond Pro, gee  :-[, I didn 't know !  , it 's been ages since I 've seen a BM magazine, the last one I have is over 10 years old and I just kept it because it had a great article in how to outfit a jonboat as a bassin machina that I have followed scrupulously to turn my jonboat into it.

[Hawkeyes18]

Once again, great read.

[Pond-Pro]

      Yeah, the September 2004 issue of  Bassmaster mag had a 4 page atical about lures that attract and trigger.  It was basically the same thing you have been writing.   The last section of it was titled "The right blend"  Here is a link to it if you feal like comparing. http://espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/s/b_fea_bm_0409_attract_trigger.html

   

[Raul]

Thanks for the link Pond Pro, I 'll read it and see what useful information I can find in it, "You can 't teach new tricks to an old dog", HA !, says who ?. There 's always something new in the horizon.

[Chris]

The bad thing about BASSMASTER mag is that they run articles over and over. Most of the stuff he has been talking about I know has been printed up in a few books some written by Doug Hannon. I also know that I have not read one of Doug's in almost 20 years. The information is new to those who don't know it. I also touched on a lot of these topics in some of my previous posts. Raul just kinda spelled it out for you. :-/

[Raul]

Chris you do a wonderful writting job, keep the spirit because for what I have read of your replies you are a very knowledgeable fisherman and we need people like you in the forum.

[Chris]

A lot of this stuff is more or less guidelines. You need to understand that a bass in a controlled environment acts like a bass should. The problem comes in when their environment changes and the bass changes too. This change could be natural like high water or a cold snap kills off a food source or man made like over fishing, boat traffic, or weed control. A change in a bass's environment changes a bass's habits. A bass in most cases is at the top of the food chain and will do anything they need to do to survive. The problem is that we as fishermen learned how to use better techniques and better lures to catch the same green fish. Something needed to change for the bass to survive. Guess what changed the bass. Most of the bass in California are Florida bass. Well, Florida the average depth of most lakes are 5 ft deep. In Cali you have lakes that are 45-100+ ft deep and people are catching fish in that deep water. The bass changed because shiners where not available to them anymore but trout is. Some of the best advice I could give a new bass fishermen is to learn the tried and true techniques first then you know what not to do when your on a pressured lake. Strange huh? Well if everyone is doing the same thing over and over again the guys catching the fish are the ones doing something different.  

[bassackwards]

I'll keep it simple... I'll be waiting for the next issue, and any added input as well.

of raul's post... I mean

[BASSMAN1301599783]

the last one I have is over 10 years old and I just kept it because it had a great article in how to outfit a jonboat as a bassin machine that I have followed scrupulously to turn my jonboat into it.

Raul what year, month, issue, is the article in? I am coming up with ideas for my jon boat and would love to read this.

Thanks for another great post!!!! ;D ;D ;D Keep em comin!!

[Raul]

Let me finish with this series of posts and I 'll scan the pics so you can see which ideas I borrowed and how 's my jonboat beginning to look decent, a mini bass rig.  A nice boat is good but is more important who 's behind the wheel.  

[BASSMAN1301599783]

Let me finish with this series of posts and I 'll scan the pics so you can see which ideas I borrowed and how 's my jonboat beginning to look decent, a mini bass rig. A nice boat is good but is more important who 's behind the wheel.

Sounds good. Thanks man.

good quote too

[DDbasser]

Thanks for the info Raul!!

and like I said before, keep it coming!!

[Matt Fly]

Still Pt III to come.

[Needemp]

Pretty good stuff