Posted 10/3/2011 11:55 PM (#519220) Subject: Clear water lakes and lures with rattles
Posts: 1295
Location: WI
A lot of the cranks I own have rattles in them. I don't fish clear water lakes very often, but when I do I just don't have any confidence in those baits working. I'm sure they'll work eventually, but are my odds drastically better with rattle-free lures?
Kodiak
Posted 10/4/2011 12:12 AM (#519221 - in reply to #519220) Subject: RE: Clear water lakes and lures with rattles
I also had this conception when I began fishing lakes with really clear water. I also thought that I needed to run natural looking baits. Should you run baits with rattles in clear water? The answer is always and never. It seriously all depends on the specific body of what and the specific day. They're days when I troll and the only thing that gets bite are baits with rattles. Other days they won't eat anything and some days they want anything that doesn't have rattles.
What I have found, especially with trolling, is that there are just certain baits that get bit all the time. For whatever the reason they must just sound a tad bit different and the fish like em. I have a couple baits that put the majority of fish in my boat and some of them are bright and some are natural and some have rattles and some don't. Its a mystery but some baits are just a tiny bit different and it makes all the differences. The best thing you can do is experiment and let the fish guide your decisions. I know its a vague answer but I went through the same thing. I was listening to everything I was told and read and I really got stuck in a rut for awhile. It wasn't until I just started fishing and doing what I know works that I got out of it. If they aren't moving on rattles, put on a bait with no rattles. If naturals not working, try bright. Gotta be versatile. One thing that I've learned is that baits that work really well, usually work really well on most bodies of water.
Posted 10/4/2011 8:37 AM (#519236 - in reply to #519220) Subject: Re: Clear water lakes and lures with rattles
Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario
All baits make noise. Those large hooks swinging around taking the body and the hooks bouncing around in the slip rings make more noise than you would think. So the difference you are asking more "loud vs really loud".
As kodiak said, experimenting is key. I beleive that profile size, the audible tune (tight wobble vs wide) and presentation speed has more to do with it. It is impossible to understand what a fish wants until they show you.
