Lure modification can make a big difference !

[SenkoSam]

Lure modification can make all the difference !!!
Don't shoot the author. These ideas have served me and others well for decades and though theoretical, put me into a mindset of lure design and presentations that get fish to strike more often.

There are many reasons to modify lures and since most lures can be modified, one may ask :
are they more successful at catching fish?

In my mind there are basic reasons fish react to lures that simulate life or in other words artificial life objects:
1. something about a lure that's seen and felt by the lateral line triggers a strike
2. fish try to kill objects moving a certain way and at a certain speed
3. fish, to conserve energy, usually suspend, watching the world go by until something provokes them

Even in semi-clear water, fish senses are uniquely capable of seeing and feeling real or artificial life. They have no way of knowing the difference between any moving objects except that they move and look differently. This is not to say that anglers that believe fish ID a lure as some particular prey species and strive to match it are wrong, but omitting that step and concentrating on the following gets to the nitty gritty why some lures work much better than others.

In fact lures that move and look different may still catch fish in the same area and in the same hour, though some maybe better than others. But what is it that separates the modified lures in the photos in the post that follows from each other, yet makes them all equally capable of catching most species of fish?: a combination of lure action, shape, size and sometimes color.

Lure body and body part actions matters:
The fine legs and tail quiver with the slightest lure movement, but so do the thicker, side flappers which add the most visual body part action and bigger profile. Time-in-place motion is extremely important at times when fish will not chase a lure and need that extra-subtle stimuli to provoke the killer to kill. The drop shot finesse technique uses a thin worm that stays horizontal to the line and quivers with the least forward motion of the sinker on bottom. A light jig does the same thing when rigged with soft plastic lure, feather or fur because it can be allowed to stay in the strike zone (once found using the lure), longer than say a floating crankbait.

Size matters (in this case - smaller):
Modification also includes shortening lure length. Even and extra 1/2" may be to large for a fish to consider the object easy pickings. A thicker 3.5" French Fry may do much better if shortened to 1.5" and then rigged on a 1/32 or 1/16 oz ball head jig.

Profile matters:
Adding a thin tail to a thicker grub body (top photo) gives the appearance of a more meatier target challenging a fish's space. To large a profile, same as length excess, may not provoke a suspended fish.

Color can matter:
Any of the above may do fine using certain colors - the range being quite large. But light does things to color as does water clarity and the only way fish see a color's real hue is in clear water and in bright sunlight. Other than that, color brightness (contrast) contributes to lure profile and varying degrees of contrast may matter depending on background to the side or against the bottom.

Plastic softness always matters:
Take note of the cone tail grub in the photos below. The design may seem lifeless, but the use of softer plastic that makes up the cone does wonders for the quiver that drives fish nuts! It definitely matter with most finesse or non-finesse worm designs: too little and the worms is nothing but a stick. Even Senko-like sticks must be of a certain softness to display tip quiver on the drop. Adding a soft part to a firm plastic part is fine as long as it's the tail that's soft.

Do yourself a favor and go through the hundreds of soft plastic baits you've owned and not used for decades. Get yourself a candle, (I also use a battery powered soldering gun to smooth the seam), chose parts of lures you think when combined will make something unique and fish provoking in action, melt the ends and hold together for 5 seconds. You never know when that combination will blow away most other lures you own.

Other than that, consider shortening a lure that has good action but fish are too finicky to attack or adding a bit of silicone skirt by using a wire loop to pull it through the plastic.
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[SenkoSam]

All you need is a candle, some plastic lures and a bit of an imagination. Many of my stored plastics haven't done well since I bought them or worked only a few times of year. If a lure can't catch fish, it can't find fish.

When it comes to any lure design, what matters most is lure action. If a lure can not exhibit subtle movements on the slowest of retrieves, I've found them to be limited in use. Some lures must move at a certain speed or the action part is dead in the water.

Here are some ideas to wet the imagination:


Note the combination of lure parts swapped between the lures shown:





parts taken from a lizard:



The parts added were mostly from the hand poured molds they were poured from:



In the photo below, the top lure was the original design and never worked. I replaced the tail using flat and thin tail designs and immediately caught bass spring and then in summer.



I rarely use Mr Twister Grubs but now I do with this mod. into a straight tail which has made a big difference. (Spike-It dye used for a visual effect)



Candle or soft plastics glue can be used to fuse parts together, but certain plastics don't allow glue to work. I also use a battery powered soldering iron to fuse the seams that result thereby making the junction stronger.



There will always be a mystery why fish strike lures but not why they won't. Modifications that improve the success rate is the first step in understanding the effect they have on fish senses and is basic to choosing lures. Modifying lures is instructive and frees the mind of perconceptions regarding color, lure shape and action. Of course I could chose a few lures in a few colors and be confident 100% of the time they will catch fish, but lure variety reveals secrets of the strike that dispels limitations no matter what the authorities suggest.
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