TackleTour

Hello,

I wanted to post a question in the Subject box, but my question was too long to fit in the box.

My question was "How Long do You Stay with a Lure or Technique that's NOT working/"

Example....you begin the early morning with a top water, say with a popper. No bites....BUT how long do you throw the popper? One hour? Or do you switch to a buzzbait after a half-hour of throwing the popper?

The same type of question could be asked about a jig, fishing docks with it. Do you throw the jig for an hour, with no bites....or keep at it for 2 hours? or change to a finesse worm or Senko after an hour or half hour?

On the techniques part....how long do you fish an area like docks if there is no bite? This is related to the lure question.

I hope that I get some good responses. I tend to stay with unproductive lures for too long. Sometimes I will stay with a lure IF it recently caught bass for me. Like a day or week before. BUT conditions change.

If I'm in a spot that I know there's fish in, like a nice flat with some weeds, and I don't get a bite in 10 or so casts with a popper, I'll be putting a buzzbait/spook/torpedo on right away.

I find that I switch pretty often, say less than half hour at most if nothing is biting. First I'll switch lures (sometimes I'll just change colors on the same lure for starters) and stick to the same technique and if that's still not working I'll then switch to a different technique completely. I do find that I'll spend considerably more time on techniques I have more confidence in than ones I don't when I'm going through the rotation trying to see what they fish want.

Sometimes I'll stick with a technique too long if I'm fishing a familiar body of water and Ive done well with it before. I'm changing quite frequently if I'm on new water and searching though. Most of the time I'll junk fish and change rods/baits as I approach different cover.

About 10-12 casts if it's a moving bait, longer if it is bottom contact.
It really varies, if I had an intuitive sixth sense to know when to change my presentation, I might be able to fish for a living.

Personally for me, if I am at the back of the boat, I observe what the other guy is doing first, then make my adjustments accordingly, based on other factors such water clarity, structure, or whatever is working for him etc.

The one thing I can add is that no matter what I am using, I always have my Senko setup ready all the time. If my buddy misses a fish, I will chuck my Senko out there. Yeah, I admit it, I am a vulture, but a very effective one!

Around 30 minutes is my limit. Then I may throw out some ultralight offerings in the same area - if there's fish around they'll usually take a shot at morsels. It's kind of my barometer for what kind of mood they're in. If no go on ultralight, I'll move on and repeat the pattern. It works well for me. Most published bass fishing "strategy" is based on waters far away from my New Jersey waters, so I don't pay much mind to it. Years of struggle and stubbornness have taught me a thing or two. Take the time to learn your waters, don't obsess with what's catching fish 1000 miles away. Not saying you can't learn by what others are doing, but tailor it to your situation.

A few years back I realized I was changing baits way too often, and stubbornly sticking to what worked a week ago. I culled down to a six pack size tackle bag with a few confidence baits that cover the whole water column. Best fishing move I ever made. It cleared my mind and got me back to concentrating on fishing instead of obsessing on bait choices and colors. It has helped me a lot, but may not be the best approach for others.

I think, as a whole, we anglers over complicate things. It's almost as if there's too much information out there. We fishermen have "evolved" tenfold over the decades, but they're still the same pea brained bass that have been around for thousands of years. And they still have the upper hand

This is a great topic. But maybe re-phrase the question: how do you decide whether to stay with a lure that's not working or move from a location that's not holding fish? Is it the lure that's not working or are you fishing the wrong area or the wrong depth?

I am totally baffled about making that decision. I probably stay in an area too long, trying different baits, fishing fast, fishing slow, fishing different depths. When maybe I should just move across the lake.

If I can show up knowing what baits should work, it speeds up the process. I normally know based upon weather, seasons and forage base what I should start with and subsequently move to if the initial offering doesn't work. The time frame for a change is about ten minutes.

If the feeshies are there...then you can continue to pound with the same lure or a different one. Changes can be made in many ways, however I agree that most anglers tend to overthink and over-complicate things.

- Speed, depth, presentation/action, dropping down in line size, or upping to a larger bait to punch through heavy cover.

- Color, size, weight, variations in blades/body/skirt materials.

- Time of the day...amazing what happens when sun angle, wind, water temp, shadows, etc., changes throughout the day or night.

All this said, I sometimes find that a different angle of the cast, or backing the boat back off the spot, or coming back at a later time when wind/clouds/chop provides cover - can trigger bites with the EXACT same lure and presentation that was ineffective just a few hours previously.

You may be surprised that if you just anchor and wait a while, the mood of the fish and prey, along with the progression of the day - will let you know when your quarry "more ready" to cooperate.

Good luck.

Great question. You could say that making the decision to switch lures or spots is the essence of what great fisherman does especially in a tournament. I would add that it depends what you are out trying to do. If I am out fun fishing and trying catch a mix of numbers and size, I tend to switch more often. If I am out trying to get a really big fish in a big fish lake, I tend to stick with a lure that I know will not produce numbers but big fish. For instance, fishing a big football jig in the pre spawn or a big swim bait.

KVD once said.... "I'll try anything for 20 minutes". I kinda follow that rule. I will try a lure for 30 minutes before changing.

Crankbaitmaker

I give baits about 20-30 minutes before i switch up. If im fishing a shallow pond ill most likely go with just topwater and plastics. If im fishing a deep lake then the whole arsenal comes, lol. Ill start topwater, then jerks, then cranks, and then plastics. Work each column thoroughly and see what the fish want...

the hooligan wrote:I give baits about 20-30 minutes before i switch up. If im fishing a shallow pond ill most likely go with just topwater and plastics. If im fishing a deep lake then the whole arsenal comes, lol. Ill start topwater, then jerks, then cranks, and then plastics. Work each column thoroughly and see what the fish want...

Thanks for the info, esp the 20-30 minutes. Your lures with the top waters are good, except during colder times when the top water bite disappears.

For as long as I'm entertaining myself with that lure...


oe

I waited to long this past saturday... i had fished this lake three weeks ago and kept switching baits until i started catching them on a skirted grub from chompers...watermelon red flake.... so i naturally thought thats what id use this time as well.... i only had around 4hrs to fish so i mainly threw the grub and every once in a while a jig or small crankbait... anyway when the 4hrs were up i didnt have a single fish... i decided to fo back yesterday and figure out what was goin on... so i decided to go smaller on the plastic bait... i ended up with a 6" finesse worm in the same watermelon red flake color on a shakey head....bam, that was all it took...i ended up catching 10 bass throwing this in the same spots i had tried the day before... i threw the grub again just to see if they'd hit it but no bites.....
My thought process saturday was that if they wouldnt hit the grub being fished slow that wouldnt hit any plastics.... i was wrong and im almost positive that i wouldnt have gotten skunked if i would have changed plastics saturday...
So yeah if it hasnt worked in about 20min...you need to change up something but maybe a small change is all ya need...