MAGIC LURES AND SECRET BAITS FOR BASS
What Causes a Lure to Be Magic
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Thousands of dollars are made each year by lure
manufacturers who believe they have produced such a
lure. Many anglers swear by baits they claim will produce
bass under any weather or water conditions. Even though
pro fishermen won't admit to having magic baits, they
do use the words, confidence lures, to describe these
baits instead of the word, magic. But what causes a
lure to be magical? How do you find and use a magic
lure? How long does a magic lure's spellbinding characteristics
last? Can you make any lure in your tackle box magic?
Let's find out this week.
Magic
lures are to the fishing industry what new fashion trends
are to the clothing industry. Publicity, promotion and
the endorsement by trend setters establish the magic
in a lure as in clothes. If four or five of the best-known
guides and anglers on any lake tout a particular lure
as the best bait on the lake, then suddenly that lure
becomes magical. Because of these pros' endorsements,
more anglers will begin to fish that lure on the lake.
Since more anglers are fishing that lure, more bass
will be caught on that bait than any other used on that
lake at that particular time.
When professional bass anglers and the T.V. pros like
Roland Martin,
Bill Dance and Hank Parker start telling the press about
a lure they have had phenomenal success with, then this
bait becomes a magic lure all of us feel we must have
in our tackle boxes. We believe if we use the lure properly,
we can catch just as many bass and bass as big as the
pros take. Yet another aspect of a lure that causes
it to become magical is if the lure is different from
any other lure the bass have seen. Bass become lure
sensitive. After they have seen a particular variety
of lures over some time, I believe they are more reluctant
to strike those lures than they are a new lure presented
in a different way. A different color, size or body
type of lure often will make bass that have been reluctant
to bite lures before to aggressively attack a new, magical
lure. Or, if you utilize another kind of presentation
or retrieve to give an old lure unusual action or an
action the bass hasn't spotted before,
often the fish will be attracted to the lure, hit it
and take it, although they have not attacked the lure
in the past.
Some years ago, the 4-inch, hand-poured, plastic worm
became a magical bait, although nothing was very revolutionary
about a 4-inch plastic worm. However, anglers who dropped
the lure to the bottom and shook the bait as they retrieved
it, an action called doodling, seemed to hypnotize bass
and seduce them into biting. The pig and jig is one
of the oldest lures on the market today. But once anglers
have learned how to flip the pig and jig, how to fish
the lure in current, and where to fish the lure during
various times of the year, suddenly the pig and jig
has become a mesmerizing lure anglers have to have in
their tackle boxes.
TOMORROW: HOW TO FIND AND USE
A MAGIC LURE
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