Find your go-to lures, buy them, stick with them
All fishermen have great hopes of finding the next great lure; companies are always searching for the same thing. So what happens? We end up with so much tackle that we are confused and overwhelmed when we hit the water.
There is nothing wrong with experimenting with new lures. I buy just about every new lure that looks like a significant improvement or a new category altogether. I do this just looking for an edge over other anglers and to give the fish something different.
Where I have gone wrong over the years is buying multiples of a new lure before testing. This is where you waste the most money. Once, my garage got stuffed with so many lures that I tested and determined scientifically that they are “junk,” I realized it was time for a change. It dawned on me not to buy three duplicates of the best three colors of every new lure.
Am I smart or what?
The best approach is to experiment with new lures one at a time. Every so often you find a really great lure, and you can expand your arsenal with more of the good ones.
Lots of guys I fish against on the Bassmaster Elite Series say the same thing; once they simplify and stop carrying so much gear, they tend to focus on the fish more and have more success. This is not to say that you don’t need lots of tackle, because you do. There are countless situations where a particular lure or color outperforms all others.
Once you give a lure a fair shot over different seasons and in different water conditions and it does not work, do what I do — give them to your buddies so you are sure to outfish them.
One of the luxuries I have in working with various lure companies is to help design new baits that fill a void in my arsenal or fix a problem I’ve had with other lures.
I’ve been lucky to have design input on Assassinator spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, OutKast jigs and others.
Recently, I helped design a new creature bait for Culprit that has been a big success — the Incredi-Craw. This bait filled a void for me. It is a bulky, heavy cover “flipping-style lure” that will hold big, wide-gap hooks. I wanted it not to be too soft that it would tear too easily and get hung up all the time. I also wanted it to have a specific shape and action to fish well with 3/8 to over an ounce of weight.
In testing, I slammed them on my home lake in Rocky Mount. I took them to several other places with very good results. I even ran the design by a couple of trusted friends who all gave it the big thumbs-up. So it was reported back to Cuplrit, and a production mold was made. Now you can get them on Tackle Warehouse.com in two sizes — all in less than a year.
New baits are constantly coming on the market. My advice: try them, but don’t go overboard or you’ll end up with more lures than you can reasonably keep up with. Once in a while, you’ll find a rare gem that will be your top producer — get more of those.
Go through your tackle every year and eliminate the junk and fish with only the good stuff. We all get only so much time on the water, so maximize it with less stuff.
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