Are we really fooling the fish into biting?

In the world of fishing there are "rules".  Things that we are taught that basically build the foundation for our advanced understanding of the sport.  These are things that we don't really even think about because, well, EVERYONE knows them and every piece of media out there reaffirms them.  One of these "rules" is that our lures must be made to imitate natural forage.  A crankbait looks like a shad.  A jig looks like a crawfish.  A frog looks like....well... a frog of course.  This all makes perfect sense right?  If you're going to try to catch a fish what better way than to mimic it's natural food sources.  The problem with this theory is that we in no way actually achieve this goal.  Not by look, sound, vibration, taste or by any other means.  All those that have taught us this are wrong.  That's right.  Everyone's wrong.  The world is not flat.

Ok.  So it's one thing to say that everyone's wrong but what evidence do I have to back this up?  The same evidence that you all have.  Let's start with the most obvious the crankbait.  The idea behind the crankbait is that it mimics an injured baitfish.  Yet the bait doesn't really swim like a live baitfish.  With a little imagination maybe you could say that it does.  Our crankbaits are packed with rattles and create a huge disturbance under the water, yet a live baitfish doesn't sound or feel like that to a bass. Common sense tells you that.  Some of the best selling crankbait colors on the market don't look anything like the real thing and even the most expensive custom painted crankbaits, while they make us feel good, don't really produce any better than the standard colors.  And last but not least, let's not forget that to get a bass to eat a crankbait we need to crash it into something or it just won't work.  Hmmm......

Not convinced yet?  Let's move on to the spinnerbait.  This one really takes some imagination to see the resemblance to a live shad and yet that's what we believe.  All the same things apply to the spinnerbait as far as sight, sound and vibration go.  No where near duplicating the real thing.  But wait the blades give off flash that resembles that of a shad and that's why they eat it.....yet they rarely try to eat the blades and yet eat the skirted portion. ( It would be an awfully frustrating bait to throw if they continually tried to eat the blades.)  Add onto that the advice of all the best spinnerbait fishermen on the planet...."Always use a trailer hook".  Why do we need to do that if the fish are convinced that the bait is a shad?  Hmmm.......

Still not convinced????  How about the jig?  Well that, of course, looks like a crawdad.  Duh....  Unless your fishing it around bluegills....then it looks like a bluegill.  Or if you're swimming it then it looks like a shad.  Interesting.  Just by looks it doesn't really look like a crawfish.  I mean really, if I held up a jig for 1 second in front of 1000 bass anglers not a single one would be confused into thinking it was a crawfish.  Right?  We drag it on the bottom which is where the crawfish live, but that shouldn't automatically mean that the bass believe it's a crawfish.  Yet that's what we assume.  You know what they say about ASS U ME.

I could go on and on with virtually every lure known to man.  A red crankbait is considered crawfish pattern even though I've never seen a red crawfish besides on the dinner table in the bayou.  Smallmouth love pink flukes because.....I have no idea.  A senko looks like a dying shad fluttering to the bottom....Sure..  A spook, a jerkbait, a crankbait, a spinnerbait, a swimbait, a fluke, a spoon, and a buzzbait are all supposed to imitate  the same natural forage yet none of them look, sound or feel alike whatsoever.   There is a definite err in our judgement.

If we're not fooling the bass into believing our baits are natural forage then why do they eat our lures?  The answer is simple.  Our lures appeal to the fish's senses for what they are....a potential food source.  Do you think that smallmouth on the Great Lakes had to figure out what a goby "looked like" before they decided to eat one?  They don't know what a crankbait is but it's making noise and swimming through their environment banging into stuff so they react to it the only way they know how by eating it.  A worm has a seductive tail action that looks alive so they eat it.  A frog dancing above their heads means an ambush is likely to be successful so they attack..sometimes.  Even though our intuition tells us that our baits don't look like the real thing,  we still need to try and figure out what it looks like or we simply won't use them.  Tune ahead to the 1:04 mark of this video with Mark Zona for a perfect example.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz4q-isT6S8&feature=youtu.be



You may be asking yourself if they are reacting to our lures as a potential food source, then how can I be so sure that they don't think they're native forage? That video for one but also this became clear to me on an outing last fall on the Pool 8 of the Mississippi River.  The backwaters were full of shad and bass gorging themselves.  Fish were busting bait continuously in about 6 feet of water.  I threw literally every "shad imitating" bait that I had and was only able to coax a few fish into biting.  Traditional wisdom would lead you to believe that by mimicking natural forage I should have been able to clean house, but that wasn't the case.  Later that day a buddy of mine was in the same area and he too went through the same ritual of switching "shad type" baits trying to get bit with the same results.  However, the guy that he had fishing with him tied on a dropshot with a pink roboworm and started wrecking them.  Even though the fish were clearly feeding on shad not a single shad style bait tripped their trigger, yet a 6" pink wacky-rigged roboworm smashed them. That's not a unique experience.  It happens all the time, all over the country, but we have this idea that we need to match the hatch to get bit.  That cemented the skepticism I had about our lures actually tricking the fish.  I believe that certain baits on certain days simply appeal to the fish's senses more than others.  Not because they're more realistic but because of some reason that we simply cannot understand.  This explanation might not be appealing to our psyche but I believe it to be the case.

I understand if you think I'm crazy for going against the grain on what's believed to be one of the simplest rules of fishing.  I'm sure you're not alone.  It'd likely take someone far more influential to make these assertions before it would become the mainstream way of thinking.  In my future blog posts I'll talk about how I believe these misconceptions came about, as well as, what it means for the way we fish and potential lure making opportunities in the future.



Think I'm crazy?  I want to know what you think.   Feel free to comment in the section below.

Bass under attack once again

This past week the MN DNR has decided to ease the smallmouth harvest regulations on one of the midwest's greatest trophy smallmouth waters.  While Mille Lacs is best known as a walleye fishery, the fall survey numbers are showing a drastically shrinking walleye population especially in the smaller year classes.  So what better way to deal with this situation then to blame the lake's trophy smallmouth fishery.  That's right.  The smallmouths are eating all the walleye.  C'mon man.

It seems that whenever there is a short-coming in the DNR's management strategy, the blame gets pushed to other outlying factors.  Let's blame the tribes, the cormorants, the smallmouths, the largemouths, global warming, etc.  You get the picture.  The real problem is the DNR trying to have their cake and eating it too.  They want to create a trophy walleye fishery by imposing slot limits to protect the bigger fish, but what this does is focus the harvest on the smaller fish.  Eventually when those older, larger fish die and you've harvested far too many smaller fish you're left with the crash that we're seeing today.  Is this a surprise?  Common sense people.

Smallmouth and walleye have thrived in harmony in many of the best fisheries in the country.  Lake Erie, the Bays de Noc, the Bay of Greenbay, and yes Mille Lacs all have had robust fisheries for both species.  You don't see efforts on these other bodies of water to remove the smallmouth population.  Why?  Because smallmouth aren't the problem.  You need to address the real problem which is the management plan.  Let 'em go and let 'em grow.  Remove the slot limits.  Create a minimum size limit of 14-15 inches.  Supplement with stocking when needed.  Stock larger numbers of prey species.  Adjust harvest quota's regularly.  All of these would allow for greater harvest and happier anglers.  I know it may be hard to admit that a specific management plan isn't working, but I think we've seen these restrictive slot limits have their downfalls.  It's time to stop playing the blame game and go back to the drawing board.

FLW vs. B.A.S.S by the numbers

I've heard the question asked many times, "Which ones better, FLW or B.A.S.S.?"  There's been varied response to this question.  Some say B.A.S.S. is better for sponsorships but FLW is better as far as the money goes.  It's tough to get an accurate answer when it comes to sponsorships because it's really unknown to most how FLW works its sponsorship contracts for anglers.  As far as the money goes, well, that question can be answered.  I ran the numbers from the 2012 season and this is what I found.

FLW Everstart Central division

Entry fees in 2012 were $1000 for pros and $400 for co's.
Pro division payout was 126% 
Co division payout 135%.
Each division paid out to approx. 33% of the field.

Bassmaster Opens

Entry fees were $1250 for pros and $350 for co's.
Pro division payout was 97%.
Co division payout of 141%.
Each division paid out to approx. 40% of the field.

FLW Tour Opens

Entry fees were $4000 for pro and $700 for co's.
Pro division payout was 131%.
Co division payout was 99%.
Each division paid out to approx. 48% of the field.

FLW Tour Majors

Same entries as FLW Tour Opens
Pro division payout was 131%.
Co division payout was 102%
Each division paid out to approx. 41% of the field.

Bassmaster Elite Series

Entry fees  $5200
Payout was 124%
Payouts to approx. 51% of the field.

Based on these numbers I'd have to conclude that FLW and B.A.S.S. were very similar.  FLW got the edge with payout percentages, however B.A.S.S. paid deeper into the field at the highest levels. 

It's worth noting that some significant changes have occurred for the 2013 season.  FLW has changed it's format for the top level and have done away with the Open/Major format and gone to a single six tournament tour schedule.  The payout structure has stayed much the same as in previous years.  B.A.S.S, however, has made some drastic changes to the Opens.  Entry fees have risen by $250 for the pro division and payouts have shrunk noticeably.

Bassmaster Southern Open #1

Entry fees are now $1500 for pros and $425 for co's.
Pro division payout dropped to 79%.
Co division payout dropped to 95%.
Payouts still go to top 40 anglers.

These are significant changes.  If the rest of the Opens follow this same trend it will result in a $580,000 rake imposed by B.A.S.S on the Open competitors.  Is this a sign of troubled times?  Or is it a "robbing Peter to pay Paul" scenario?  Either way, I think it's short sighted and ultimately will damage B.A.S.S.





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Scale fraud in B.A.S.S.?

This weekend I read an interesting post from Timmy Horton on his Facebook wall.  It was vague but it suggested that there needs to be a change in the scales that B.A.S.S. uses to weigh fish because there's the possibility of hacking into the system.  He contends that because the scales are digital and the fact that the current system allows us to see the anglers next to weigh that there is time for someone to hack into the system and manipulate weights.  Either that or he's suggesting that the weights could be manipulated by B.A.S.S. staff which is an even more scathing charge.  You can  read his post in its entirety on his wall from March 6th.    https://www.facebook.com/TimmyHortonBass?ref=ts&fref=ts.

I don't know what you think, but I've got to call this one of the most far-fetched charges I've seen in the world of professional bass fishing.  Do the anglers really have nothing else more pressing to worry about?  Is there that much distrust in the B.A.S.S. organization?  I don't think so.  I think some guys are suffering from a severe case of paranoia.  I wonder if some of  these guys making these charges also suffer from the munchies.   That would explain a lot. Or maybe this is just their way of explaining KVD's dominance.  Either way I think they're barking up the wrong tree here.

Can made in the U.S.A. tackle companies survive long term?

If you read yesterday's post, you know that the majority of bass fishing tackle in our big retailers today is manufactured overseas.  Why do companies look to manufacture their products 6,000 miles from there intended consumers?  To gain a competitive advantage that's why.  What does that mean?  Let's look at how the tackle buying system works.

All the large tackle retailers in this country have tackle buyers.  These tackle buyers purchase the product that will be displayed on their store's shelves.  They make these decisions based on a couple key points.  Is there local demand for the product?  How much can they mark it up?  Is it affordable?  Does the product have broad market reach?  Boil this down and you're looking for a product that is relatively inexpensive and has been marketed to the largest amount of people.

Labor costs, in many industries, are the largest expense that companies have.  How do we cut labor costs?  Find a country with lower labor standards and you can lower your production costs.  How much cheaper is it abroad?  Let's look at China as an example.  The minimum wage in China varies from around $90-$180 a month.  Chinese workers put in 50 hours a week or more.  200 hours a month making less than $180.  That puts the hourly wage at somewhere between $0.50-$0.95/hr.  Federal minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25/hr.  That's a cost savings of over $6.25/hr or an annual savings of $12,500+ per employee.  Of course, the shipping costs and taxes associated with shipping the goods over seas are higher, but in the grand scheme of things it's a no-brainer cost wise.

Now they have a product that they can offer at a lower price and extra money to spend on marketing it.  Lots of extra money.  More exposure in the media = more retail locations and on goes the cycle.  What does that mean for the companies manufacturing in the U.S.A.?  It means that cost will likely not be their competitive advantage.  It means that most will need to find a place outside the "big box" stores.  It means that they will have to learn to compete with one arm tied behind their backs.  What's the best way to survive in a sea of sharks with one arm tied behind your back?  Don't try to swim with them.

Do you know where your baits are made?

If you've spent any time watching the news lately, you'd have seen the scrapping in Congress over this country's financial situation.  It seems that the only thing Congress can agree on is that we need to create more jobs.   We know that the economy has sucked the last few years, but where did all the jobs go?  They've been out-sourced.  No,  not just the large Fortune 500 companies in the tech industry, but also in the very companies that play such a large role in what we love to do.  What I didn't know was how prevalent this trend had become.

This past weekend I decided to do a little research at the local Gander Mountain store.  What I wanted to find out was how many of the brands on the store shelves were made in the USA and how many were made elsewhere.  What I found was really disheartening.

Let's start with crankbaits and spinnerbaits:

Booyah spinnerbaits                      Mexico
Z-man Chatterbaits                        China and USA
Rapala                                            Estonia
Terminator Spinnerbaits                 China
Excaliber                                        China
Bandit                                             China
Strike King                                     Costa Rica
Bomber                                           China
Spro                                                 China
Rebel                                               China
Heddon                                            China
Storm                                               China
Luck-E- Strike                                 China
Manns                                              USA

Jigs:

Terminator                                      Vietnam
Strike King                                      Costa Rica
VMC                                                Phillipines
Booyah                                             China

Plastics:

Zoom                                                 USA
Reaction Innovations                        USA
Yamamoto                                         USA
Strike King                                        Dominican Republic and USA
Berkley                                              USA
Big Bite Baits                                    USA
Trigger X                                           Taiwan

Line:                          

Berkley                                              USA
Power Pro                                          USA
Suffix                                                 Taiwan
P-Line                                                Japan
Seaguar                                              Japan
Sunline                                               Japan


While these are the products in my local store, I think you'll find this trend in "big box" stores across the country.  Only one USA made crankbait company made it to the store shelves.  Tomorrow we'll talk about why this is so.

I don't care who you are this is funny

An old man rocking on his porch sees a young kid and his fishing pole walking down the dirt road. "Where you goin' with that pole?" he calls. "Gonna git me some fish with this here fishing pole!" answers the kid. Sure enough, as the sun is setting the old man sees the kid going home with a bucket of fish.

Next day, old man rocking on his porch sees the kid walking down the dirt road with some duct tape. "Where you goin' with that?" he calls. "Gonna git me some ducks with this here tape!" answers the kid. "You can't git no ducks with tape!" hollers the old man. But sure enough, as the sun is setting the old man sees the kid going home with the tape strung out behind him and ducks stuck all over it!

Next day, old man rocking on his porch sees the kid walking down the dirt road with some chicken wire. "Where you going with that?" he calls. "Gonna get me some chickens with this wire!" answers the kid. "You can't get no chickens with wire!" hollers the old man. But sure enough, as the sun is setting the old man sees the kid going home with the wire strung out behind him and chickens stuck all through it!

Next day, old man rocking on his porch sees the kid walking down the dirt road with some pussy willows. "Now hold on just a minute" calls the old man, "wait while I get my hat!!"