Muddy water and worms.

[senkosam]

To quote Mikechell

If you drop something into the water right in front of the bass, it needs to be natural looking ... otherwise, it might be danger.

What a crock! Natural is not in a fish's vocabulary - lure action that affects the senses is. Very few lures mimic anything that lives in the water - especially prey. Relating human imaginings to a fish with peas size brain indicates a similar size brain in the angler that insists fish think the same way.

Fish have senses - not sense! Those senses are extremely sensitive to moving objects - animal or lure. The reasons for the strike are many with the reaction strike at the top of the list for many lures. Slower moving lures allow fish time to feel a lure's action over a longer time period and then provoke it to strike. Lures IMHO PROVOKE. To suggest why is at most a human guess and not due to a fish's reasoning.

Experience over many years catching many species and size fish has taught me one thing: good lures never lose their value and what do they have in common? : the combination of lure action, size and shape used in one or many ways. Of course WHEN & WHERE to use a lure is as important as the combination.

Waters vary. Some have little structure changes. Others have many types of fish attracting areas to fish depending on time of year or day. I might fish a spring spawn area in summer depending on the weather. Key is to use lures to find fish to the sides, front or back of the boat. The vertical approach may do fine for fish seen under the boat by sonar, but not at all in shallow lakes.

When members view lures I've made that catch fish as well as those that were bought, what they have in common is their record of catching fish over many years. Some would ask the question: if the lures were so great, why not use just one or a few of the best? answer: having a variety of lures that provoke strikes is more fun in my experience and similar to all of you that have stockpiled a 1000 or more over many years. More importantly, most lures are not versatile in many situations, whether in a lake or in moving water. Knowing the value of different lures in different situations is key.

If you get the chance to fish tournaments in different waters with different partners or just with different partners that know a water better than yourself, don't pass it by. I fished tournaments from my bass boat and from those of other anglers - some more or less experienced than myself. No better a learning opportunity!