What is that thing? Hey, man. You got any more of those? What are you using? I’m selling my stuff.
Sound familiar?
These are questions and responses to getting your butt wore out by somebody with a hot new lure. Some aren’t really new but have made resurgence usually because of tournament wins.
What do you do when certain baits are outperforming? Join the crowd, of course, so you don’t miss out on the wave of easy catches.
But also be on the lookout for something new or off the wall for yourself. If you find something forgotten or out of favor and can stay ahead of the curve, then you’ll be way ahead.
Let’s look at some recent trends.
This year it’s “swim” baits and “football” jigs. Last year it was shaky heads, frogs and the Chatterbait. In 2005 Senkos and square-bill crank baits were the rage.
Years ago I can remember when the Slug-go came out and the Carolina rig caught fire with every bass angler worth his salt.
But do these trends really mean anything? Are the bass smart enough to remember lures from one year to the next?
The answers for me is like my usual answer with anything related to fishing —– yes, and no.
Do fish learn? Yes. Are fish smart? No. Do fish change habits based on environmental conditions? Yes.
As anglers, we change the environment. A bass successfully feeding that gets caught several times is likely to change its behavior. That’s why anglers at heavily-fished lakes need to be constantly changing lures and techniques. It doesn’t have to be a big change.
Look at the Slug-Go and Senko lures — they’re very similar. Regular jigs and football jigs are also similar.
The key to hot baits is they provide a new way to fish a lure or a different design that infringes on the bass’s adaptations to us; yes, us, the anglers.
Do you think a bass — which just ate a ¾-ounce Gigabite peanut-butter-jelly color with purple and pink flake, 4/0 wide-gap hook with a fluorocarbon weed guard and 60-degree line-tie jig and double-tail black grub with yellow tips dipped in red dye and sprayed with garlic — knows what it just ate?
Bass don’t reason like we do, In fact they don’t reason at all.
Reasoning is one way to react to something, just as bass react to fishing pressure by not biting or changing locations, I react to the heartburn by not eating potato chips and moving further from the kitchen —maybe to the recliner.
Year s ago, a good buddy of mine, Jason Rackley, gave me a Team Daiwa minnow. I didn’t even know what I had for a couple of years.
When I finally realized what this bait would do, I started buying all kinds of exotic lures and often expensive ones, hoping to find another as good as the TD Minnow.
I’m still at it today, trying to stay ahead of the curve. Hhmmm, the next big things is? … and next year or the year after? … and it may be out there right now. What do I think it is?
A wake bait? Huh?
A wake bait is a crankbait or an elongated minnow-type lure that’ll just bulge the surface.
It’s almost in the swim-bait category to me.
I cringed when I saw Mark Davis win an FLW event with this technique because it can be so good, and I’d like it to be unknown for a few more years.
Davis is one of my favorite fishermen and is often ahead of the curve. Don’t let his down-home Arkansas accent fool you; Davis is a sharp angler.
Some oldie-but-goodie lures remain the Red Fin and Bomber Long A. But both fish better with some adaptation.
Change to lighter wire hooks, smaller split rings and tie a loop knot on to get them to create that wake on the surface.
Some of the newer wake baits are the Team Daiwa Dead or Alive, Monster Jack and Megabass XJ. Many others are already available to those willing to look — and most are coming from Japan.
Wake baits are effective for pre-spawners, post-spawners, and work surprisingly well in the winter if fish are somewhat shallow or suspended shallow.
The angler with the coolest name in fishing, Ranger Pro Rip Bass of Spring Hope, thinks the swim bait will get hotter as East Coast anglers learn how to fish them.
“I haven’t had much success with them yet, but I’m going to keep at it,” he said. “They have too much potential.”
Swim baits have been a mainstay out West for the last 10 years.
So ride the wave of bass catching hot trends and always be on the lookout for the next big thing.
Always keep in mind water conditions and time of the year, as some of the hottest lures only work under special conditions.
A new lure can make bass seem big and dumb — just how I like ’em.
Dustin Wilks is a 29-year-old professional bass angler and Raleigh native now living in Rocky Mount. He has qualified for the Bassmaster Classic four times and operates Fish Like a Pro Fishing Lessons (252-883-6749 www.fishlikeapro.com ). His sponsors include Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Daiwa, Keelshield and Culprit.
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