What do you base your selection of new lures you never used before

[SENKOSAM]

I've fished the same lures using the same techniques on the same structure with above average results for years.

I think you could divide anglers (of all freshwater species) into two categories: the above and

those that get bored doing the same thing with the same thing year after year - successful or not -and prefer the challenge of catching fish as fishing something different, using different methods or presentations or different gear.

There are advantages and disadvantages to either points of view and I confess I'm in the second category. I can stick with driving my 10 year old car year after year, but rarely use the same lure with as much frequency or at allafter a few years. This explains the huge inventory of old lures. What it doesn't explain is why I bought so many of the same thing knowing I would stop using them completely? :-? >!!!

The reason I believe we buy a lure style in bulk is based on :

high lure expectations and the fantasies we have when not fishing and bored, gliding around the aisles in our local tackle store or looking through a catalog for the tenth time) ;

fear that this wonderful new lure will be discontinued :-[;wanting to believe in bargains : ; being fickle; wanting to be on the tv show Hoarders; and an undecisive personality :-/.

If anything, we keep people employed and the pros  8-) endorsed $$$$!

[Siebert Outdoors]

here is how I pick a lure.

I look at water temp, time of year, past experience in this situation.

Then I throw a jig. ;D

If that doesnt work I start switching areas then lures.

[roadwarrior]

here is how I pick a lure.

I look at water temp, time of year, past experience in this situation.

Then I throw a jig. ;D

If that doesnt work I start switching areas then lures.

          

I think the keys are often depth and focus. Sometimes

the fish are concentrated shallow, deep or at a specific

depth. The "focus", to keep this concept simple, is

baitfish or bugs; swimming or crawling!

As a specific example: At the Guntersville Roadtrip

lipless cranks and spinnerbaits were hot, worms were

not. On the trip last year at Pickwick both swimming

baits and soft plastics worked, but soft plastics dominated.

My suggestion is to start out with something rigged

for every depth, top to bottom. One presentation will

tend to dominate on any given day.

8-)

[Catt]

Locating active bass is the challenge not walking the aisles of a tackle shop

[J Francho]

Catt needs to be cajoled by a luremaker before he tries anything new! 

[bilgerat]

I too have scaled way back. Going through my tackle storage totes in the basement has turned up many baits I had forgotten about that I used to do well with.

I got caught up with tying on new stuff too often and not really thinking about what I was doing. I got away from the basics and my fishing suffered for it.

This is the first time I'm really focused on what I need to do to be a better fisherman. Clearing out my tacklebox = clearing out my head. I realized fishing is something you can over think too easily and lose your way.

[Paul Roberts]

Really good stuff here, from everyone. Fun subject. I really like GMAN's tact (know something well and go find it), RW's "depth and focus" (might be the ultimate nutshell), and bilgerat's comments about clearing your head of the wrong focus.

Sometimes things come outta seemingly nowhere and turn your head. Like the time a young kid took me to a pond he had permission for. I had three expensive rods and was weighed down with my exploratory "KISS kit" (LOL). He had one cheap rig and a little plastic box held closed with a rubber band. In it were like three cheap no-name lures and some snelled hooks -some with dried worm guts still on em. He tied on a little chrome crankbait that turned out to be so badly out of tune it spun circles as he cranked it in. And he cranked it in so fast it just made big loops through the water. PATHETIC! But he had several good bass on the bank before I caught one. Now I can think back now and figure out that those bass were on a metabolic high and aggressive, and I could've caught those fish too with a burned Spot or 'Trap. But I didn't know about burning lipless then. Shortly thereafter I added that to my repertoire and it opened up a new door for me.

Another story: I met a guy fishing a corporate pond (J Francho knows it) and we hit it off. He fished two lures: a black plastic worm (he poured himself) and a Jitterbug. And he was happy. But I introduced him to some things (spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, JnP, jumpbaits, and a translucent worm color) that he couldn't avoid. Some lures covered water SO much faster, or offered more appropriate triggering characteristics than his choices, that I'd have 15 to hand before he had 3. For instance, on bright sunny days a translucent worm outfished an opaque one 15:1. And on and on.... His tackle grew, as he grew as an angler. He eventually got divorced and I'm not so sure that's not irrelevant. :

I fish a small res here in CO that was a favorite of a buddy of mine. He always did really well with SBs and cranks, until one year he started getting skunked. Well we discovered what the deal was. Heavy rains and high water allowed for tremendous YOY bass survival -there were hordes of fingerling bass and the mature fish were on em. We went to finesse gear (actually UL had the highest catch rate) and were right back in business. I made the switch pretty quick bc I'd seen this exact same thing before -YOY bass dominating the food chain. One year I broke out 3" streamer flies on fly tackle and had a ball while SB pitching buddies failed miserably.

It pays to know your water, conditions, seasons, etc... and have a warehouse backing up your KISS box lol. Granted some lures are more versatile than others, esp for someone who knows the game. I was a jig man for years and would still fall back on them if I was forced to fish one lure type. But...the slice of the world called "jigs" can be enormous. You should see my jig boxes.

Sometimes things come outta seemingly nowhere and turn your head. But the trouble begins when we start looking for that "nowhere", as if some magic is going to solve persistent angling problems. Buck Perry said, repeatedly, that if you are relying on, or looking for, some magic "twitch" that will solve all your problems, your gonna continue to fail. It just doesn't work that way.

[SENKOSAM]

Nice Paul!

Brings to mind why I buy a new lure or replace ones I own:

1. Speed range of retrieve.

Every lure has its own speed range - deadstick to slow; slow to medium; medium to fast.

2. the lure has a profile, motion or vibration right for the conditions or is unique in those qualities (ie Chatterbox vs Helin's FlatFish)

3. an attractive new color (I need to have confidence in it before I cast it) or a color that fits my idea of a condition

There have been some excellent revolutionary lures that have come out in the last few years that I now always carry and there will be new lures to tempt the monkey in the future, I'm sure!

[Paul Roberts]

Speed Control

Depth Control

Triggering characteristics -where the voodoo begins lol.

...

...

...

Confidence -hmmmm....I try not to fool myself. But where does reality leave off (10feet down in a fish's brain) and the voodoo begin (banging around in my own head). Sure glad fishing is innately fun, otherwise, who'd bother??? ;D

[Catt]

Keeping your lure selection simply does not imply a lack of versatility; it means you don't need 5 or 6 different name brand spinner baits. The versatility of spinner baits is having different blade & skirt combinations not who made it. Plastic worms all you need are straight tail, curly tail, ribbon tail, & paddle tail; one reason Zoom is so popular they cover all 4 types.

I realized years ago you'll never find that magic lure or magic color & you'll never have every scenario covered

The reason why it called fishing & not catching is you'll spend a lot more time fishing that you ever will catching.

[Siebert Outdoors]

here is how I pick a lure.

I look at water temp, time of year, past experience in this situation.

Then I throw a jig. ;D

If that doesnt work I start switching areas then lures.

I think the keys are often depth and focus. Sometimes

the fish are concentrated shallow, deep or at a specific

depth. The "focus", to keep this concept simple, is

baitfish or bugs; swimming or crawling!

As a specific example: At the Guntersville Roadtrip

lipless cranks and spinnerbaits were hot, worms were

not. On the trip last year at Pickwick both swimming

baits and soft plastics worked, but soft plastics dominated.

My suggestion is to start out with something rigged

for every depth, top to bottom. One presentation will

tend to dominate on any given day.

8-)

Roadwarrior,  Your explanation is alot better then my sarcastic truth one.  Thats really how I do it.  But I also follow what you said.  I start with my strongest most confident lure then build upon that.  My goal is to break the ice and get the skunk out of the boat before I start experimenting with other lures an locations different then the seasonal patterns.  Certain times of year the jig will not work as well as the trap, jerkbait, etc.  But most times it will work for me.

Its also odd how it changes day to day.  Even with identical weather patterns. 

[SENKOSAM]

Seeing is believing! whether it be on YouTube  or DVD - underwater video cannot be faked! Also, seeing a fellow bass angler catch multiple fish on something you've never used,  never had much confidence in or been successful at catching fish on, forces those with an open mind to admit their ignorance or inexperience with that particular lure. I have fallen into that category more than once! :-[ Only after I caught fish with the lure under the same conditions (depth, cover), did I see it's potential for future outings.

Most articles in different magazines can mislead if advertising is behind them and I don't trust them much anymore. Just because a BASS tourney was won on X, Y and Z custom lures at a certain time of year in a different climate zone doesn't mean it will work where I fish. It's ludicrous to expect it would.

But the first year Roland Martin won a Hudson River tournament (in my backyard) on a giant willow leaf spinnerbait, I knew I had to buy one! It has worked for me ever since it was introduced in the 90's and worked better at times than smaller blade(s) combos.

Seeing is believing!

[tholmes]

There's very few lures that are new, they are just different from those already on the market. An example is the Excalibur square bill or the Rapala Thug. I might buy one or two because of a unique color or they hit a specific depth range. I will admit, couriosity has played a roll but my bank account has made me less curious these days. I will buy if i'm going to a new body of water and it has a history of a specific bait being the go to lure, i.e. Table Rock and Wiggle Warts.

There's a lot of truth in that^. There's not much out there that is truly new, just variations on the same themes.

I fish a couple of small community lakes and a few large reservoirs, almost exclusively from the shore. I've been fishing the same waters for many years, so I've got a pretty good grasp on what works in different situations on these lakes. My new tackle purchases tend to reflect that.

Tom

[VABassin'14]

"If I were a bass I'd eat this" ;D

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said/heard that.

[Paul Roberts]

"If I were a bass I'd eat this" ;D

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said/heard that.

;D I've been apt to say, in my excitement in the moment, "How could they resist THIS?!" And somewhere inside I almost believed it. But...over time, I've had it beaten out of me. My rudimentary understanding at this point sounds something like this:

It seems we carry expectations that fish can make their choices on a whim like we can. Few anglers seem to recognize the real, and dire, environmental and physiological limitations imposed on fish. These limitations explain a lot of why (where, when, and how) fish feed or strike lures, or don't.

-Fish are ectothermic, meaning their muscle power and physiological processes are dependant on surrounding temperatures. They have pretty strict energy budgets to work with. Endothermy (which we enjoy), in which the animal carries much of it's physiological environment around within, is a whole different thing.

-Many fish, bass included, have depth change limitations that directly affect their energy budgets.

-Prey fish are not easy to catch, having been as honed to avoid predators as predators have been honed to catch prey. If fish just ran around chasing everything they saw (and many do when they are young) they'd be dead. They have to use their energy resources wisely. Mature fish, those few that actually survived, have learned what's worth the energy to pursue. Pursuit is not just a run over a grab it sort of deal most of the time it's a process that results in a final decision to commit energy. For bass this is exhibited in a number of patterned behaviors, a most common one is to identify, stalk, flush, and capture vulnerable prey. Not every individual bluegill fits this 'vulnerable' category at all times. Individual fitness (in all its forms), and immediate conditions, matter. The final decision to commit can be aborted at any moment, right up to the very last moment. I've watched bass doing what appears to be speed/fitness testing of potential prey like lions moving wildebeest to get a bead on which individuals are vulnerable. Water/lighting conditions weigh in, aiding one side or the other. A lot of things weigh in to the decision to commit to a target, and then finalize it.

-Added to this, in waters that are fished, fish do learn to avoid lures to a certain extent, and this enters into final decisions about what they put in their mouths.

I guess the bottom line is a lot of things weigh in to the decision to commit to a target, for a fish. What we think or wish has nothing to do with it. It's a very real world down there and each predator earns its prey -just like we earn every fish we catch.

[Scorcher214]

I'm still young in my fishing so I still buy new stuff a lot. but when i find something i like, i tend to focus on it more.

Like my spinnerbaits. I have several different brands. My first ones were BooYahs, then i tried the KVD signature series and now those are my favorites. Then I Tried the terminator T-1 serires. Meh, they are okay, but I think I'm gonna stick with my KVDS. Oh wait, i bought some more today from Red Dirt baits....Well, gonna have to try them out some ice-out!

[Senkoman12]

i have been trying to cut down on buying tackle right now. it is hard becuase im paying the price for buying cheap rods and finding out they are obsolete or dont do the job well.

but when i go to buy lures i mostly look through my collection and see what im lacking. when i say im lacking im talking about lacking where it could hurt me in a tournament because i dont have it.

btw one way i buy most of my tackle is by clearance and sales, i was in gander mtn yesterday and got a couple rapalas DT for $5 a peice and yum dingers for $3. major deals, no but good enough sale for me, i have been in there where i found SK hardbaits for $1.95 a peice. i got about 30 of them.

[BassThumb]

Speed Control

Depth Control

Triggering characteristics

This is the basis of all lure selection, in my opinion. It's is what I have in mind when I choose a lure from my tacklebox or rig up my rods at the beginning of a fishing trip. I don't try new lures and techniqes very often, but often than not, trying something completely new is simply out of curiosity and the desire to catch a fish on something different.

These are good posts, folks. I really enjoy this thread. Thanks.