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Posts: 127
Location: NW burbs of Chicago | Hi,
As ever the supportive wife trying to learn more about the sport her husband loves...
What exactly makes a good lure? There seems to be about a gazillion out there, judging from the shows last year, so what makes one stand out among the others? What makes you pick it up, buy it and keep it in your arsenal?
Crash McG |
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Posts: 8866
| Personally? I've just accepted the fact that lure collecting is a hobby that happens to go well with musky fishing, my other hobby...
Mostly I'd say its divided into thee areas for me
1. Well built
2. Good looking
3. Does what it's supposed to do
If you don't have all three you don't have a good lure |
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Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | Like esox addict said, it's just like what makes a good woman.  |
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Posts: 127
Location: NW burbs of Chicago | So then like judging a woman, well-built and good looking are subjective?
Seriously, what does good looking mean in a bait? I personally wouldn't think having a bunch of feathers and stuff on a lure would be considered good looking, but they catch fish.
Crash McG
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Posts: 8866
| LOL, never thought about that...
Reasons why the best lures are like the best girls:
Good looks
Great action
Nice big eyes
All the big girls want to clobber them
They do their best work when they're wet
They don't complain if you use a different lure for a while
You have to learn how to work them just right to get the most out of them
Your friends look at them and wish they had one
They don't mind being in the back of the boat
As long as you keep them in line they won't hurt you
Use the right hardware and you'll never lose them
Even if you throw them really hard you can reel them right back in
The small ones work as good as the big ones
You can replace them if they wear out
You can trade them if you don't want them anymore
The more they wiggle the better they look
You don't have to work very hard to make them dance
They don't cost a fortune
You can take them out in the rain and they don't care
They don't break easily
Sometimes they look so good in the water you want to jump in and eat 'em
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Posts: 8866
| I guess it's subjective, but mosly "good looking" is the same as "looks like something a musky would eat"
I've got some baits that were ugly until they got bit.
For me I gotta see it in the water and decide for myself. Like marabou -- the way it flutters in the water -- THAT'S good looking! And a crappie phantom -- zig... zag... zig... zag...
You look at that in the water and you just get that feeling, like a fish is going to come up and smash it any second.
Then there's those that you just see at the shows and you buy it because its pretty. Never mind if you've never heard of it, it's pretty and you buy it because it looks cool...
That's about it I guess. I'm a lure junky don't ask me! |
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Posts: 18
| the only thing that makes a lure good is a mukie on it. |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Use Attributes:
Good depth control
good speed control, anyway I decide to work it
good contrast
Physical attributes:
Tough construction
Good hooks, well thought out placement
Just because:
Pretty
Versatile
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | My take on it:
Ease of use and ability to tailor its' use to your specific needs
Durability (can be subjective - I use a lot of Spring Dawgs; mainly because I don't have northern pike...)
Value (lots of really really good lures out there that I will never buy new - just too expensive for me now)
Quality components; kinda goes w/ durability
Versatility
I'm as willing to jump on a 'hype' bandwagon as anyone, but proven performance is great too
Mojo - obtained after the bait is purchased via several possible avenues; getting a lure from a friend, etc. (there was a whole thread about this a while back)
Sorno
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Posts: 1086
| Great post!
I've got a buddy that's slowly getting into Muskie fishing. He's got a crab for a wife. She doesn't understand it at all and isn't supportive of him getting into this sport at all, either...which is a major buzzkill. She literally told him one day as we were on our way to the tackle shop to pick up some more "toys": "What do you need another lure for? You only need one lure."
I bit my tongue and held my laughter until we got into the car. Unreal. She'll never understand it and never support it...and for my buddy...I feel sorry...he's got a long, hard, ugly road ahead of him.
As for my requirements for a good lure:
- Good construction/quality: Meaning also durability. It'll stand up to multiple fish and take beating and still run true and correctly
- A bait that runs true and correctly, even if it needs a tweaking here or there to get it to run true...some baits..no matter how much you tweak 'em...just won't live up to the needs or expectations.
Remember...baits don't always need to be "pretty." As long as it's presented correctly, still runs correctly...it'll catch fish. I'm sure all of us have those baits that have taken multiple fish that are all beat to bloody heck but still catch fish. 
Edited by MACK 9/16/2005 10:10 AM
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Posts: 8866
| Mack, tell your buddy that as long as she lets him go it's all good.
I fished TWO TIMES in four years because of my ex girlfriend. She had this attitude that fishing was something I shoudn't even want to do anymore because it means leaving her at home with nothing to do. To her it was a sign that I didn't love her because if I did I would want to be with her instead of out on a boat with my friends chasing a stupid fish. I tried fishing a few times, spend the whole day thinking "****, we're gonna have a hell of a fight when I get home tonight" didn't have a good time, sure enough when I got home, first words out of her mouth were "I thought you said you were going to be home at 7:30!" ... "Honey, it's a 4 hour drive, we hit traffic..."
"Great, did you catch any FISH?? Did you have fun with your FRIENDS? Want to know what I did today??"
(yeah you spent the whole day on the phone with your mother crying about what a rotten boyfriend I am because I took a day off work to go chase a stupid fish)
Anyway...
There's something critically important that I forgot to add about what makes a good lure:
It's DIFFERENT. How many of you guys have 4 or 5 of the same bait but only one of them you'd ever throw?? Something about the way THAT lure works that's different than the others that just does it for you. And fish love it.
And that's the thing I just don't get -- some of the most beat up, no paint left, cracked, nasty looking hunks of wood with hooks are the BEST. The lure's just got mojo, man. Fish dig it. |
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Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | With me it's all about the mojo, meaning, in a nutshell, I have confidence in it. I have lot's of baits that are total bling that never get tossed just because I'm stuck on the idea of throwing that mojolicious spinnerbait.
Be one with the bait.......... |
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Posts: 1086
| esoxaddict - 9/16/2005 10:37 AM
Mack, tell your buddy that as long as she lets him go it's all good.
That's the problem...she DOESN'T let him come up and fish much anymore. I think she too, like your GF from back then, is jealous. I personally don't think she trusts him. There's deeper issues between the two of them that aren't good.
He was going to buy a summer cottage up at our lake too...but...she changed his mind and had him put a pool in down at their main house instead. Now she holds that pool over his head that "why go to the lake when we have a pool in our backyard? We paid for this pool, we'd better use it!"
I think we've only seen him at the lake three times this summer....oh well.... |
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Posts: 8866
| That's too bad Mack. You shouldn't have to choose between the things you love and the person you love.
Any woman I marry is going to know ahead of time that she's marrying ME, which includes musky fishing...
Tell your buddy to say "Until I walk out in the yard and see muskies swinning around in our pool there's ALWAYS a reason to go to the lake!" |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | If it swims right, darts correctly and you can count on it over and over again.
Paint jobs are not that important, I think very very little actually....
I like lures that can catch a lot of fish, and still work like the first time you threw it.
Good hardware is a must to.
Can it stand the test of time, and can I use it over and over again. |
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Posts: 127
Location: NW burbs of Chicago | Wow, I so didn't want to start a thing about wives. Truth of the matter is, I personally don't understand why you need so many lures, throwing the same one all day suits me fine.
But... here's another question: Most of you mention running well... how do you know that until you purchase a lure, esp. the new ones being introduced? Do you go to shows for the lure-throwing demonstrations? Just take a chance?
Crash McG |
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Posts: 8866
| Well, that's a woman for you...
Content to throw one lure, with the (presumably correct) assumption that it will work sooner or later...
Crash, (Mrs. Crash??)
We don't necessarily NEED hundreds of lures. What we NEED is the comfort of knowing that we can cover the entire water column with a variety of different presentations, AND with a variety of colors.
So let's say your boat partner is getting follows on a white 7.5" phantom... Ok, is it the type of bait (glider) or the color of the bait? You need a white jerkbait and a glider of some other color or type to be certain, because if it's white, than your white reef hawg might just be the ticket, but if it's the glider than your crappie phantom might be it. AND, you need different sizes. Maybe that 7'1/2" phantom would be getting bit if it was smaller, so you need the 6" version as well.
Maybe you're fishing the North side of the lake and the water is really green, and it's a cloudy day, so you need orange. Orange lures that cover the entire water column, maybe a bulldawg, depthraider, suick, phantom, pacemaker, and a bucktail with orange in it. But you move to the South end, and the water is a LOT clearer, and the clouds break up and the sun comes out. Now you want black...
OR maybe you're just KILLING them with a Lac Seul Perch pattern Super Shallow Manta. Suppose you lose that bait. Suppose a musky smashes it, suppose your friend doesn't have a manta... If that's a hot bait on your home water, you're a fool to only have one in the boat, better buy a backup. Maybe the holo perch will do, but what if it doesn't??
Making sense? |
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Posts: 323
| Easy answer...................TEETH MARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Posts: 7119
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Just a point of reference here for all of you....I have about 90 lures total, and Crash thinks thats alot. Though she cant understand it, she isnt totally adverse to me buying new lures (within reason). However, when I get new lures, I tend to give others away for no discernable reason (Sorno, Boron, Tommie, and others seem to have lures that I said 'hey, take this') and then replace those with new ones.
Crash is happy chucking a topraider or spinnerbait all day long, with little or no results, and is still happy as a clam.
And, to all of you with lady problems, or no others that do, and it revolves around fishing:
-she hates you fishing, and you keep fishing - she'll hate you. DIVORCE/BREAKUP
-she hates you fishing, and you stop fishing - you'll hate her. DIVORCE/BREAKUP
So....either get lucky and marry a woman who will fish with you and understands that sometimes you want to fish with the buddies, or when you meet a woman you let her know that as much as you like/love/lust after her, fishing was there first, and will always be there. You'll maybe change your fishing times/habits/frequency but if she thinks that you're going to stop because of her, see the above conditions for "DIVORCE/BREAKUP".
AND, learn the concept of "saving your silver bullets". |
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Posts: 8866
| Slamr, I think "hate" is a pretty strong word, but I will say this:
Guys, if you're having fights with her over this sort of stuff, what's going to happen when you need to talk about big stuff like moving, changing careers, how to raise the kids?
And you're right -- find someone who accepts how you live your life, or do what I've done -- accept the fact that some people aren't cut out to be partnered up, and you may be one of them. It sounds wacky, it IS wacky I guess, but after so many years and dozens of failed relationships I realized something... If all those relationships crashed and burned because we weren't "compatible" enough to have a life together, maybe it's ME that's not capable of being someone a woman can have a life with. Doesn't make me love them any less, I jsut realize that I can't be what they need me to be. And that's ok. |
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Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | Wow, I think I've created a monster of this post.
Some advice from the perpetually single:
WHEN, not if, you meet a girl, and talk about fishing, if she says "I like to fish, I even put my own worms on"
Run like hell.
Trust me, it's been proven time and time again. |
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Posts: 7119
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | weren't we talking about lures? |
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Posts: 2112
Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | I have 200+ lures and a wife that loves to fish muskys as much as I do. IN YER FACE BASS FISHERMEN! |
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Posts: 5230
| Lets be honest they all catch fish just good fisherman promoting the lure.bill |
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| Number 1. A lure builder that cares about what he is selling to customers;
Number 2. Consistency from one bait to the next;
Number 3. Durability;
Number 4. Function;
Number 5. An angler that knows when and how to use it.
Jed V.
Bikini Bait Co. |
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Posts: 1438
| I'd have to agree with 0723-
eventually they'll all catch fish. I believe you just have to be able to pick the times that will maximize when that particular bait will be "most likely" to catch a fish.
As far as picking baits?
Durability, action, price and to a lesser degree color.
Durability. Check wire, hooks, and splits. One thing that p's me off is bucktails that come with the hooks tied direct to the through wire. First thing that happens with those when I get home is cutting the hook and adding a split.
Action is a word of mouth thing. I'm not usually one who goes out in the show season and buys a dozen of the new x-bait to see what happens. I'll wait around and listen for the scuttlebutt first then end up with one or two.
Price. Although I have bought some expensice specialty baits on occasion. Normally I don't buy a whole lot of 25-30 dollar and up baits.
Color. I've started to get away from color choices being the determining factor. I lean a lot more towards dark versus light baits now. If a bait is supposed to have a belly roll to it there should be a contrast change from top to bottom. Also, I look alot more for vertical stripes on baits. I think it makes the movement of the bait pop out more.
Scott
Edited by theedz155 9/17/2005 5:20 AM
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