|
Keying in on specific baits: for the angler.
by Derik Gates
Ever wonder why that secret bait catches more fish. Maybe its not the bait . . . maybe its you!
With thousands of different lures on the market, choosing one is very difficult and has resulted in many a full tackle box, or boxes as may be the case. Yet, despite all the options we still always turn to the old standby, and why not. It works!
The reason for this magical lures attraction may be caused by the ability of the angler to use the bait. This action is imparted from years of trial and error with the same bait, subconsciously a general pattern emerges. The angler gets good at working that certain bait; moreover, he learns how to use the bait differently in different conditions.
Another factor is confidence, with a tried and true bait, an angler will have more patience, often letting a bait sit longer, or working harder to impart that exact action. “It caught a fish before, it can do it again”. This subtle difference can play big dividends.
This point was brought into light a few years back fishing with a close friend on my home lake. Most of the bass were being caught on plastics, Carolina rigs and tube jigs. Body baits had worked before, but were usually only thrown in the spring and late fall for pike. My friend, a life long trout fisherman, stayed with a light rod, line, and chose a 4 inch Rapala original floating bait. I chuckled and told him to change to a tube jig, but he said he was “alright”. The fish continued to bite on the plastics, but equally as good was the slow twitching action of the rapala. I threw on a body bait and tried working it, with less finesse mind you, and quickly changed back to plastics as he started to catch the lions share of fish. The advantage we each found that day was to work our confidence bait, the way we knew how. And despite the total opposite techniques used we both got into many fish with frequent double headers.
We are all constantly searching for that new fish magnet lure, but often, “old faithful” will bring out the best in the angler, which can be the most important factor of all.
|
