Strike-triggers

[senkosam]

Strike-triggers are anything about a lure that provokes a fish to attack. All good lures have unique strike-triggers based on their design and presentation. There aren't that many presentations to choose from:
steady retrieve and trolling
hopping lures on the bottom
allowing a wacky rigged Sendo to slowly sink
small pauses in a slow darting retrieve that bring out a lure's subtle action

Lure combinations such as joining the parts of soft plastics together using a candle flame, are endless. This year I've gone back to using bladed lures with soft plastics, the reason being that a pulsating blade adds pulsations and quiver to soft plastics like no other! It's the same for skirted lures like the spinnerbait and Chatterbait. The skirt quivers and pulsated on the retrieve.

One discovery early this year was adding a Kut Tail Worm to a Micro Chatterbait I found lying on the ground. The worm pulsations and wild action from the back & forth action of the forward coffin-shaped blade, caught bass the first time I used it! Adding certain soft plastic shapes to a Beetle Spin - same thing.

Another strike trigger to add to the tackle box.

[senkosam]

I was explaining to a friend's son a few days ago why strike triggers provoke strikes. Simply stated, fish can't think for themselves so anglers have to think for them. IMO a fish's brain is a simple switch: on or off. When a fish sees/senses a prey animal, the switch may stay off, same for sensing the presence of a lure. Predicting accurately when the switch goes on is impossible, but upping the odds that your lure will do the trick depends on its strike trigger and, as stated in the original post, depends on lure shape and size unique to that lure and presentation.

Advertising may insist a lure looks or acts like a prey animal, but fish senses are not stupid nor inaccurate! Object-characteristic data the senses send to a fish's small pea-sized brain is very accurate - the same for all animal predators - except, of course, man that doesn't have the keen eyesight nor a lateral line!

IOW, the two basic settings are avoid/ignore (off) or track & attack (on). Animal senses know every detail and is, in a sense (no pun intended), one with a brain that has zero intelligence. Making believe fish interpret eyes on a lure as eyes or that fancy paint jobs represent anatomy of some sort, emphasizes surface appearance over everything else. Choosing lures based on that limits one's choices.

Don't shoot the messenger but at least consider the logic.