Doc's Perspective on Lure Selection

Lure selection is a tricky business indeed. One day the fish are hitting on white jigs, the next day they prefer a creme-colored jig, and two days later their preference is for yellow. All the while, the water clarity remains the same. The barometric pressure is the same. The tides are reasonably similar, and so the moon phases. How is a fisherman to cope?

For the frequent angler, this change is no problem because he has followed it on a daily basis. He uses today what worked well yesterday; and if that doesn't work, he uses something slightly different. In most cases, it doesn't take long for him to find a variation of the previous day's theme that will produce fish. But for the occasional fisherman, this business of lure selection is much more difficult.

The best and fastest of options is to ask a good fisherman what was last successful for him. If it's a friend, he will likely share this most valuable information. If it's a stranger, he'll more than likely lie. - sad, but true. In either case though, the newcomer will have a clue about what to use or what not to use. In the long run, he won't have to ask strangers for help; and he'll develop a few friends with whom shared secrets will strengthen the bond. That's all part of the fishing experience.

Fish are creatures of habit, and their bait preferences seldom change dramatically. If a chartreuse floater gets their attention today then it is a logical choice under similar conditions tomorrow. If that doesn't produce results, the experienced angler would first try a chartreuse medium-runner; and if that still doesn't work, then maybe a yellow or green bait might be a logical alternative. In most cases, this logic will catch fish, but not always.

If environmental conditions have changed dramatically, then the fish's bait preference might be equally dramatically altered. Most of the time, if you've been catching fish every day in the same location on a particular bait; and, for example, a front has moved through, that successful pattern has changed. And it's time to experiment once again. Under similar conditions, though, a similar bait is more than likely apt to be productive.

The anguish of bait selection is unique among artificial bait enthusiasts. The challenge of bait selection is also a unique one for them. Live bait fishermen simply fish the same live shrimp under the same popping cork, and they expect the same results. If not, they freeline that live shrimp or fish it with a slip sinker to permit inspection of deeper waters. In either case, the options are limited.

Interestingly, those limited options that, more often than not, produce results for the live bait angler, backfired last week. Surrounded by wadefishermen fishing live shrimp, I felt most inadequate. When the fish failed to respond to the live shrimp though, the live shrimp fishermen continued to toss more of the same at them. When they refused my topwater MirrOlure offerings though, I went to a Countdown Rapala. They refused that too.

A quick glance at the other folks showed that they weren't catching any fish either; so I continued to change baits. They continued to toss live shrimp.

Most of the time, one would think that the fisherman is confronted with the proposition of making a piece of plastic look like a live shrimp. This day, however, that was not the case. The fish were intent on striking something that closely resembled a Johnson Sprite. The live bait fishermen were out of luck. Nothing they could do would make their live shrimp sparkle like that Sprite. The Sprite took fish. The live shrimp didn't. It must have been most frustrating for those folks, I know. But I have seen this sort of thing happen before.

When I left the water, I had six nice specks to my credit; and I had released maybe six more. The four live shrimp fishermen that were wading not fifty yards either side of me didn't have half a dozen fish among them. It is strange indeed how these things work...

There is, unfortunately, a sequel to this story. On a recent trip to the Gulf Park Pier in Long Beach, I was put in my place by a couple of live-bait fishermen. Not twenty feet away from me, a young boy and his dad were casting live shrimp and catching nice trout to beat the band. It seemed as if every other cast produced a good fish. Exercising all my options, I tossed everything but the kitchen sink at those fish; and they too exercised their options and ignored my every offering. That morning, at least, plastic just wasn't on the menu...