| Sponsor Products |
Largemouth Bass Extreme
Without the Extreme Guide In Your Fishing Arsenal, You Might As Well Stay At Home.
|
| My Favorites NEW! | |
Register or Login now
to create your own favorites!
|
|
| Fishing Stories |
Creating a Successful Pattern on Conditioned Fish
(Add to Favorites)
Posted Wednesday, May 29th, 2002 to Fishing Stories
By Karen Savik http://www.karensavik.com
Bass get conditioned to lures. On one of my favorite lakes a white live-rubber jig and trailer used to be...
By Karen Savik http://www.karensavik.com
Bass get conditioned to lures. On one of my favorite lakes a white live-rubber jig and trailer used to be the hot lure. You could catch bass all day long. Now it’s tougher to get them on this lure. Now a smaller profile jig in brown does the trick. Maybe it’s a change in habitat that has caused this preference, but I believe the fish actually discover through their own experiences? or even the experiences of other fish ? that a particular lure profile, smell, color, or sound is cause for a negative reaction. The fish in effect develop a negative conditioning to lures that have caught them or their buddies.
This conditioning shouldn’t be a problem for the angler as long as they realize what’s going on. When they start having problems catching fish on the ?hot? bait then it’s time to discover what the next successful lure or lure combination is going to be. While this requires some experimentation it is not necessary to drift too far off the earlier productive pattern. As an example just take a look at the minor modifications made on the live-bait rig that has been successful on heavily-pressured walleyes.
In the past most walleye anglers used a live-bait rig that incorporated a snell of about 30 to 60 inches in length. As walleyes became conditioned to a sinker that was close to the bait anglers discovered that a longer distance between that weight and bait was necessary to trigger a bite.
This resulted in a modification to the live-bait rig that uses a slip-bobber stop on the line that allows the angler to put as much distance between the weight and the bait as they need. On some lakes that might be eight to 10 feet. On some lakes it could mean up to 20 feet between that sinker and hook.
Have you noticed how the introduction of a new bait can sometimes fuel a better bite? The Risto Rap crankbait hit the market a couple of years ago and began catching fish immediately. Major bass and walleye tournaments were won with the lure. It is still a hot lure and will continue to be for a number of years. Fish react to the bait because it is a unique body style with a unique sound pattern. They haven’t become conditioned to the lure.
How long does it take for fish to get conditioned? It depends on the body of water; how much pressure does the lake get, or how much is a particular presentation used on that body of water. Where that white jig went cold quickly, there’s a lot of pressure on that lake and most bass anglers were flipping white jigs because that was the productive pattern there. Likewise for the extended distance on the live-bait rig. Lakes where this is a factor get fished mostly with rigs. The evolution of conditioning would look something like this. The local paper or the bait shops discover a pattern is working and they tell the world. Anglers always follow a hot bite so they head out to the lake and use the productive presentation. Fish are caught, some are kept, some are released.
Before long the fishing slows down and the roving anglers go off in search of the next hot bite. These anglers are quick to say that there are no fish left and the ones that are left are not the aggressive fish that were being caught earlier. The local anglers are left to discover another pattern that works. If they stick to what was hot they’ll likely be disappointed.
In fact there are still plenty of fish left. Some have been caught and are conditioned. Some are not prone to reacting to the hot presentation and some are just not very aggressive and require different timing. With some experimentation another productive pattern can be worked out.
If the hot presentation consisted of flipping a green jig and minnow along the weedline for walleyes, try a rattling jigging spoon now instead.
If the bass were biting on a purple seven-inch plastic worm on a Carolina rig switch to a three-inch grub tail on that same Carolina rigging.
There are a lot of anglers on the water and they’re teaching these fish what to bite and what to leave alone. Take this into consideration each time you go fishing and those little modifications you add to the presentation will make a tremendous difference.
Add this Article to your favorites.
Send a message to this user regarding this Story
Other content from User #2097:
1 Stories found for this userUser #2097.
|
|
