Why Does A Lure Have To Look Like Food?

[Jim H.]

The current craze over swimbaits reminds me of the time years ago when "naturalized" crank baits were the rage. I laughed at the time because I knew a couple of things most fishermen didn't. That is:

1) Bass know what food is and they hardly ever get caught because they have been fooled into thinking that something is food that isn't.

2) Bass do not have hands.

Many years ago there was a National fish hatchery and aquarium just west of Corning, Arkansas. Way back when, I was a sales rep for a large company and I would pass by there every couple of weeks. Whenever I could I would stop in and spend some time watching the aquarium that always contained some really nice bass. On one particular day the tank held 3 bass in the 4 - 5 lb class, an artificial log and some other cover. It also had 5 or 6 threadfin shad swiming around and in one corner there was a stream of bubbles rising from an aerator. I was fascinated by those shad! They would swim right in front of those 3 bass and the bass completely ignored them. One bass was on the bottom next to the log, one was laying on top of the log and the other was laying motionless next to a limb on the log.

There was also what looked like a small 1" long feather caught up in the stream of bubbles. It would rise to the top and then slowly sink back to the bottom where it would again get caught up in the bubbles. As I watched, each bass (one at a time) would open her mouth and flare her gills. When that happened the shad would immediately go to the surface and start "flipping." The bass would then swim over to the bubbles and suck in the feather, spit it back out and return to it's previous station! In the 90 minutes I watched, every one of the bass performed the same ritual with the feather but not one ever indicated any interest in the shad.

My conclusion? I would rather fish with something that looks more like a feather than a shad. This is where the part of "bass don't have hands" applies. They are curious creatures and since they don't have hands they use their mouths instead. Just my $.02

[.ghoti.]

A lure doesn't have to look like food to catch bass. Take a gander at a spinnerbait if you aren't convinced.

On the other hand, a lure does have to look like some sort of prey to catch a fisherman.

[Shad_Master]

A lot of lures don't look like food. Even swim baits differ somewhat from the "food" they are trying to imitate. It is this "difference" that is what is called the triggering quality of the lure. It makes the bass (or other fish) curious enough to "feel it with their mouth". In his book, Think Like a Bass, Tom Mann tells about catching bass by using a piece of bark and a hook, but he was able to get them interesed (i.e. triggered) to strike.

[grimlin]

Sounds to me that the feather looked like something injured and an easy target. If it was an actual shad doing that I doubt it would have gotten spit back out.

[SirSnookalot]

A lure doesn't have to look like food to catch bass. Take a gander at a spinnerbait if you aren't convinced.

On the other hand, a lure does have to look like some sort of prey to catch a fisherman.

Bass will hit my mother's old garter belt..........bass are aggressive, they hit about anything.

[deaknh03]

Bass will hit my mother's old garter belt..........bass are aggressive, they hit about anything.

Interesting analogy..

[slonezp]

Bass will hit my mother's old garter belt..........bass are aggressive, they hit about anything.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

[Fishing Rhino]

Bass will hit my mother's old garter belt..........bass are aggressive, they hit about anything.

Didn't your mother keep wondering how she was "losing" her garter belts?

[WRB]

The diffierence is active feeding bass and inactive suspended bass.

The prey fish like the few shad swimming in the aquarium are of no interest to inactive bass until it's feeding time. The feather circulating with the current was a distraction, a curiuosity to the captive bass.

Feathers have life like movement in the water and make good additions to several lures like spoons, jigs and top water plugs.

Toss a hand full of feathers into the aquarium and the bass may react for a moment, toss in a hand full of live shad and the bass will react like a dinner bell went off, become instantly active because they are conditioned to being hand fed.

Wild bass stay alert to their surroundings, however are inactive most of the time and become active feeders when the conditions are right or an opportunity for a easy meal is present.

Flashy noisy lures work well when bass are feeding, not so good when the bass are inactive. Swimbaits and slower moving lures close to the bass may create a feeding opportunity to an otherwise inactive bass....like the slowly moving feather accelerating speed near the pump out let.

Change of pace or erractic movement can make a big difference.

Tom

[joshholmes]

from the way it was acting isn't that similar to a spoon?

[clayton86]

Maybe the shad were the bass's pets lol seriously I used to have 2 albino oscars in a 75gal tank we fed them gold fish dozen at a time. All the same sized gold fish all same color but there was always the same one left everytime till he got bigger and I took it out. The oscars would not eat it and let it swim with them soon as any other fish went into the tank they destroyed it but never the 1 goldfish. So maybe it was like that with them shad and the bass who knows its just odd

[urp]

The current craze over swimbaits reminds me of the time years ago when "naturalized" crank baits were the rage. I laughed at the time because I knew a couple of things most fishermen didn't. That is:

1) Bass know what food is and they hardly ever get caught because they have been fooled into thinking that something is food that isn't.

2) Bass do not have hands.

Many years ago there was a National fish hatchery and aquarium just west of Corning, Arkansas. Way back when, I was a sales rep for a large company and I would pass by there every couple of weeks. Whenever I could I would stop in and spend some time watching the aquarium that always contained some really nice bass. On one particular day the tank held 3 bass in the 4 - 5 lb class, an artificial log and some other cover. It also had 5 or 6 threadfin shad swiming around and in one corner there was a stream of bubbles rising from an aerator. I was fascinated by those shad! They would swim right in front of those 3 bass and the bass completely ignored them. One bass was on the bottom next to the log, one was laying on top of the log and the other was laying motionless next to a limb on the log.

There was also what looked like a small 1" long feather caught up in the stream of bubbles. It would rise to the top and then slowly sink back to the bottom where it would again get caught up in the bubbles. As I watched, each bass (one at a time) would open her mouth and flare her gills. When that happened the shad would immediately go to the surface and start "flipping." The bass would then swim over to the bubbles and suck in the feather, spit it back out and return to it's previous station! In the 90 minutes I watched, every one of the bass performed the same ritual with the feather but not one ever indicated any interest in the shad.

My conclusion? I would rather fish with something that looks more like a feather than a shad. This is where the part of "bass don't have hands" applies. They are curious creatures and since they don't have hands they use their mouths instead. Just my $.02

[urp]

I remember when some flash bulb company put hooks on flash bulbs and caught bass for promotional purposes. I've caught bass on another promotional lure--ever seen anything in the water that looks like a "can of Budweiser"? Shouldn't be overly concerned about color, either. Ever see anything swimming that's the color of a chartreuse spinner bait?

[RoLo]

A lure doesn't have to look like food to catch bass. Take a gander at a spinnerbait if you aren't convinced.

On the other hand, a lure does have to look like some sort of prey to catch a fisherman.

Precisely

[3dees]

makes you wonder about these Japanese lures selling for 5 times more than other lures. I'll put my 5.00 bandit crankbaits up against those luckeycraft lures that are so beautifully painted any day. what they catch is fishermen.

[deaknh03]

The current craze over swimbaits reminds me of the time years ago when "naturalized" crank baits were the rage. I laughed at the time because I knew a couple of things most fishermen didn't. That is:

1) Bass know what food is and they hardly ever get caught because they have been fooled into thinking that something is food that isn't.

2) Bass do not have hands.

Many years ago there was a National fish hatchery and aquarium just west of Corning, Arkansas. Way back when, I was a sales rep for a large company and I would pass by there every couple of weeks. Whenever I could I would stop in and spend some time watching the aquarium that always contained some really nice bass. On one particular day the tank held 3 bass in the 4 - 5 lb class, an artificial log and some other cover. It also had 5 or 6 threadfin shad swiming around and in one corner there was a stream of bubbles rising from an aerator. I was fascinated by those shad! They would swim right in front of those 3 bass and the bass completely ignored them. One bass was on the bottom next to the log, one was laying on top of the log and the other was laying motionless next to a limb on the log.

There was also what looked like a small 1" long feather caught up in the stream of bubbles. It would rise to the top and then slowly sink back to the bottom where it would again get caught up in the bubbles. As I watched, each bass (one at a time) would open her mouth and flare her gills. When that happened the shad would immediately go to the surface and start "flipping." The bass would then swim over to the bubbles and suck in the feather, spit it back out and return to it's previous station! In the 90 minutes I watched, every one of the bass performed the same ritual with the feather but not one ever indicated any interest in the shad.

My conclusion? I would rather fish with something that looks more like a feather than a shad. This is where the part of "bass don't have hands" applies. They are curious creatures and since they don't have hands they use their mouths instead. Just my $.02

Sounds like somebody's been fishing with the Banjo minnow. I'm just joking, but the infomercial for the banjo minnow shows the exact same phenomenon, bass hitting a fluttering object being yo yoed.

[BASS fisherman]

Bioligists say there are several reasons bass bite lures.

Off the top of my head some of those reasons include:

Anger: The bass will bite at a fish to get it out of its territory.

Hunger: The bass is feeding.

Curiousity: The bass wants to know what something is so it feels it, and tastes it.

Reaction: A bass sees an injured fish swimming odd, his instinct drives him to eat it because it is an easy meal. Or what looks like an easy meal as it flies past its head crashing into rocks and stumps.

Im sure there are more too.

Those are just off the top of my head.

[J Francho]

I think as humans, we do an awful lot of anthropomorphizing (assigning human traits to animal behaviors) and over think this. EVERYTHING a bass does is out of instinct, whether it's territorial, hunger, or whatever. They simply don;t have brains big enough to process all that's going on.

As far as bait "looking like food," I'll stick to feeding times, not bedding bass. It isn't food that you're imitating, its the opportunity to feed that you are stimulating. A spinnerbait has just about every message that a bait fish would send out, but not all in one package. Send out enough cues, and you've triggered a feeding response.