Crappies galore! Many soft plastic lures bit! Nice way to test different shapes.

[senkosam]

[brandx112679]

  Senkosam, it's amazing what fish will bite on. I can't ever figure out what they think they are feeding on, with some of my offerings sometimes. But it is fun throwing different baits at them to see if they will bite them.
 All that really maters is your having fun trying the different baits you come up with.
  Glad you are enjoying fishing thats the main thing.

[ctom]

When crappies get on a good bite they'll hit a bare hook.

[senkosam]

I can't ever figure out what they think they are feeding on, with some of my offerings sometimes.

I've found that after catching so many fish on so many lures for so many years that:
simple is what simple does. The proof that certain lures do well is in the catching. Words such as what fish think or what they were thinking when they bit a lure is not relevant even if it could be proven - which of course it can not.

The various shapes shown have unique actions. Was color important? Couldn't say except those colors in those lure shapes at least never deter the strike - even the clear plastic lure pictured on the bottom. In fact many clear plastic lures in different shapes have done well in the murkiest water you can imagine. Must be the lateral line that tracked the lure and allowed the fish to get close enough to strike it.

Our lures do just that: 1. move so that the lateral line is stimulated such that 2. when the fish is within striking range, a combination of sight and lightning-fast propulsion further target the moving object for destruction - kinda like a heat-seeking missile. Does the missile (fish) care or think what it is it's about to destroy? Fish don't exhibit too much compassion in my experience.

As lure crafters and testers, we know something most anglers don't: we can discover shape-actions fish attack. In fact, last summer a pickerel bit off the tail of a curl-tail grub. I figured - what the H, may as well cast it to the same spot to see what happens. I caught that pickerel, 24 other fish after that and more the day after on the same lure. (pictured top-right)

Then figuring the shape had to be good so I poured a Mo Magic grub from a mold, removed the flat tail, colored ir with different color dyes and cast it on a light jighead. Same thing happened: fish after fish after fish!! (chartreuse/black, orange lure pictured next to the Sassy Shad with the belly cut off.)

You or I can close our eyes, grab any lure that's proven itself and do just a good once fish are found. The reason as in the example of the light bulb butt: the shape and the waddle when twitched with the rod tip. Just too much for fish to let pass.

[Lamar]

 I can't ever figure out what they think they are feeding on, with some of my offerings sometimes.

  It's like walking up to a basket of apples and you see one pear. And you think to yourself I'll eat the pear just to have something different.

[senkosam]

There are videos on YouTube that show minnows suspending off bottom barely moving. Further on in the video, minnows are changing direction constantly like something is up.If I could upload the video you'd see what I mean.

Now I'm not one to give a hoot about what looks natural when it comes to lures (99% which don't move nor look natural nor like anything fish eat). But the video does give one some perspective when it comes to the way fish act: from suspending and barely moving to a nervous energy that is getting them ready for flight or attack.

The usual scenario:
A lure passes through their strike zone interrupting their slumber and the bully in fish takes over. The more nervous the lure's action, the more the predator senses vulnerability. Not knowing or sensing what a lure is, creates a vacuum between its ears while at the same time propels it to stop the irritating object from moving.

Lures iMO do just that: trespass, irritate and provoke an attack. All the rest of the stuff that assumes anglers know why fish strike certain lures makes assumptions not based on proof or fact. The more lures you or I catch fish on, the more we must take into account the technical side of lures: lure size, shape/action and presentation. On top of that, most lures are not versatile whereas soft plastics are.

[senkosam]

I came up with a term for why fish bite lures: fish strike-triggers.
Fish are supersensitive creatures. They feel everything thing from splashdown to lure motion. The eyes confirm what is felt and provide the target's distance, speed and action. Color is the least important of the triggers but may help at times whether via brightness and/or flash, dark or bright hue or clear hard or soft plastic (see photo). (My favorite surface lure is a clear plastic Zara Spook.)

Today I used four lures that had just the right strike triggers. No guessing what they thought the lures were, just that lure shapes, sizes, actions and retrieves - in combination were what were necessary to trigger the bully in fish to strike something they've never seen before in their entire lives!

Having made lures for decades and catching fish on them in all scenarios, has proven to me that the combination of lure action/shape and speed matters most. Forget what fish think seeing as how they can't; just focus on what a winning lure IS after it consistently catches fish.

The lures pictured each has its own strike-trigger and the best retrieve(s) to bring it out. Logic be damned when it comes to fish except when patterns emerge. Place and time, weather and weather changes, seasonal factors, cover vs open water, shallow and deep, enter into the equation and much of the time determine which lure(s) to cast and how and where to work them.

JMHO