Proper Lure Selection and Presentation

When to use a certain lure and how to fish it properly, this is a question that goes through every angler抯 mind. With such a large selection of tackle and colors to choose from this can be mind boggling. I will give you some of my thoughts on making this decision a little easier.

What I抣l do is pick a lure and explain my lure and color choice, and why I抣l fish it at certain times and places. I will keep this mainly related to the spring season. This will be a two-part article.

The first thing an angler should do is look at lures the same way a mechanic views his tools. A mechanic knows that every tool will get a specific job done and he uses that tool accordingly. So an angler needs to see the same with a lure, because that抯 exactly what a lure will do for you.

JERKBAITS: this is a lure that is very good when fish are suspended. I like to fish it early in the spring when the water temperature is say 48 to around 58 degrees. In winter fish will relate to vertical areas like steep banks or bluff walls and they will still be in these areas in early spring. Fish like these type areas because they are able to take advantage of warming trends that we have in the spring by suspending just a few feet below the surface absorbing the suns heat, and they can also move back down to deeper depths as cold fronts move in. theses vertical areas make it easy to move up and down without traveling long distances. My color choices are pretty simple. Jerkbaits are what I call a visual bait so a fish will need to be in clearer water and that抯 where this bait works best. So I will fish gold on cloudy days and in water that has a little color to it. A shad pattern and chrome and blue are my other two choices. I do prefer a jerkbait that suspends.

JIGS: a jig is one lure that I really fish year round, but I find it to be extremely effective in the spring. I fish a jig that I designed the Bluegrass jig. Early in the year I will fish this bait on bluff walls and also at the end of the bluffs as the water warms, right where the bluff starts to change into a flat and if there is some type of cover there then the chances of a big fish is definitely good. When the water is about sixty degrees I will do nothing but drive around the lake looking for these areas to fish. And then as the fish move up on the flats to spawn I抣l fish docks and shoreline cover with the jig. I will either flip or pitch a jig ninety-nine percent of the time. Color choice will be green pumpkin with a zoom pumpkin chartreuse trailer or a pumpkin with chartreuse jig with the same zoom trailer. A Black and blue jig with a zoom matching trailer in stained water and a watermelon jig with a zoom watermelon trailer (note that some times I will use a chartruse dye pen to dye the tips of the trailer to give it a little extra color and fish really respond to this) I抣l fish this color in clear water.

When to use a certain lure and how to use it properly, this is a question that goes through every anglers mind. I am going to go through crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and plastics. I will discuss how and when to use these lures. This is the second part of a two part article, for those that missed the first part it can be seen at my web site, listed below. Remember that a lure is a tool that is used to catch fish and each lure will work at its best under a certain time of year and conditions.

CRANKBAITS: I fish crankbaits a lot in the spring these lures are great fish locators. I like to start out early in the spring with this lure, and fish it on chunk rock banks and I will usually want a creek channel or deeper water close by, I will fish this lure at a fairly slow speed and I want it bumping the bottom or the cover that is in the area, if there is grass in the area I will go to a rattle trap this lipless vibrating bait is at home in grass year round. It can be fished a lot easier in this situation and is a favorite of big bass. Even though in fishing this lure in grass or some type of weeds I still look for the deeper water close by this deeper water is what makes the better quality fish move into the area. I will also fish a crankbait in the back of the creeks this is a good place to catch fish a little later in the spring, right before the spawn and right after, I like small crankbaits and I fish them on 10 to 16 pound test team fish camo line, this camo line is a must in clear water.

A little trick that I have learned with crankbaits is i fish them when fish are on a good spinnerbait bite. Now when fish are eating a spinnerbait that means they are feeding on shad most or the time. So with everyone using spinnerbaits I will go to a shallow running crankbait, and fish it right in the middle of any cover. By doing this I will get bites that other anglers wont get because of the spinnerbait pressure fish aren抰 seeing a crackbait, but I can put the crankbait in the same strike zone as others are doing with the spinnerbait. And by doing this the quality fish will eat my crankbait.

When ever I fish crankbait I use St Croix抯 pro glass rod, I like the seven ft med action and I have been using it for over seven years, this is so omportant in hooking and landing fish. The glass rod is more forgiving than graphite and you won抰 have the fish pull of when its barely hooked.

SPINNERBAITS: this is a very versatile lure it can be fished any where and anytime. I will use it to draw what I call a reflex bite most of the time. And by doing this I can fish it and get bit on it when the so called spinnerbait bite isn抰 on. Now the way I do this is by fishing very fast all the way to the boat or I抣l fish it fast to the cover and when I get to the cover I will stop my retrieve and let the bait die (fall) six to twelve inches and that抯 when the strike will occur. You can do this at different depths but it helps if you can see some part of the cover even if its just the shadow of the tree or what ever cover it is.

PLASTICS: I will flip plastics year round and in the spring its hard to beat a ZOOM tube or lizard, these are great big fish baits. I will flip bluff walls early in the year and as spawning season approaches I will move on to the flats and the back of creeks. I will also caroline I lizard in the spring on the spawning flats or in the channel in the back of a creek. I will use natural colors most of the time and I dye the tail of my lizards with a chartruse zoom dye marker.

One other thing is after the spawn I will flip a plastic crawfish I don抰 know why it has to be plastic its like they don抰 want a jig, maybe they have seen them all spring and the plastic is something they haven抰 seen as much.

Good fishing!