Posts: 2361
| 1. wait until you feel the fish before setting the hook.
2. they create an illusion of speed(Paul Hartman shame on you for stealing Joe Bucher's patently incorrect description of slow, active lures)
3. they are bad hookers
4. they are best in calm conditions
5. they work best with active fish
My answer sheet
1. False, you better watch that lure, some fish will come up and engulf the bait and you will never feel them until they are in the process of turning, and sometimes spitting the bait out, or they have created slack line, and taken the sound and pressure off the bait-those will be good candidates for misses
2. false(false when Bucher came up with it too!)
3. true, I have to concede that on the whole there are some problems that come up with surface baits that can interfere with good hooking percentage, even on some amazing strikes, suction strikes and airborne attacks are two routes that present problems for hookups, and these are strikes where the fish actually gets the bait in mouth.
4. false
5. false in my experience fish sometimes respond to these even when no fish is hitting anything and some fish repeatedly respond to surface baits that, for all intents and purposes disappear when other baits are thrown
came up with this quiz after reading P. Hartman's article in Esox Angler.
feel free to give your own answers...obviously I didn't agree with all Paul's points in the article |
Posts: 32960
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | FSF, I use surface baits in the roughest conditions out there. Agree there. I usually try to 'watch the fish into' the hookset. If I am looking at the sonar or the electric or something and get a hit, I respond by tightening the line FAST until I am sure it is in the fishes face, and set the hook. I will NOT set on a fish in the air, lose too many of them. Ask Muskiemedic and One (hehehe) Pretty much agree there, too. What is an active fish? If I get a hit, the fish is active. Surface baits sometimes are ALL that can get a fish to take for me. Agreed there, too. Bad hookers get arrested and don't get much work, I think. (Sorry... ) Seriously, I have a new bait that I missed/lost 8 in a row that flat ate the thing, and another almost identical that has stuck 6 in a row now, including the 50 last Sunday. I try to do what I can to make the bait hook up, including changing hooks out, ringing them, shrink tubing them, and adding stingers to designs that allow one. Overall, I lose way more on Gliders. Agree there, too. Temps don't really matter either. I have caught nice fish right to ice on a Snodlow, and on the opener, too. Color seems to be pretty insignificant on the top, perhaps because of the fact the fish is seeing the bait, surface disturbance, and all that goes with that? BIG buzz baits are under rated. Muskies don't give a hoot about baby ducks hatching. Anytime of the day is a good time to throw one. Chuck E Duck's insistence that " This is Not a toy" might just be a myth. That's ok, I like the thing. It makes a great conversation piece. My 2 cents, I guess. |
surface bait myths quiz