Give me any new lure straight off the shelf and chances are that before it hits the water I have to change something or customize it. For those of you that know me, you may merely assume "That figures, it's Hainers way, he can't leave anything alone" but the fact remains that due to overhead costs manufacturers keep their final production cost at a minimum making their product more marketable to you. As a matter of fact, they expect you to play with their product to increase its fish catching potential.
I have seen and adopted many lure tricks over the past decade which I feel have helped me catch more fish. That's why we are anglers, isn't it? The more fish we catch, the more fun we have, the more we want to go fishing, we spend more money, we have to work more therefore we have less time to fish and must resort to reading about it. Vicious circle isn't it? Anyway, I could literally write a book on improving the fish catching capabilities of lures, space limited here are a few of the most overlooked and simplest ones.
Sharp, sharp hooks catch more fish consistently! Rule number one. Almost every new lure whether it be a spinner, bodybait, spoon or just a plain hook, sees my hook file before its first cast out. Such a simple thing to do and most people refuse to do it. Maybe its too time consuming or you might assume that new hooks are sharp. New hooks are shiny but with a few upward strokes from a fine flat file you will be surprised at how much sharper they can be. I keep a few files randomly scattered about my Ranger boat. They're always there and gosh, it only takes five or ten seconds to sharpen a hook!
While on hooks I'll mention the stingers. A stinger is simply a straight eye, long shanked hook that can be slipped over the point of the first hook and be allowed to trail behind it. Applications may include any type of jig, a spoon such as a PT, Silver Minnow or Weedless Demon or a spinner. For me, stingers are a must on safety pin type spinner baits. I have lost far too many Bass, Pike and Walleye because they took the offering just a little to far back and missed the hook.
Vertically jigging with something like a Rapala ice jig needs a stinger as well too. Place the stinger on the small treble that adorns the middle of the jig. While fishing for walleye on the Thames River through the ice, one of four fish are caught on that stinger only. That's 25% of my fish!
I prefer to use "Tru-Turn" stinger hooks on many lures especially if the lure is dressed with a buck-tail, rubber skirt or curly tail rubber worms.
Dressing up a lure, especially a wobbling spoon like the Silver Minnow or PT Spoon with a curly tail worm is a natural thing for me to do. You have the wobbling, flashy attraction of the spoon, now hang a curly tail rubber worm off the hook and watch your action double. More action, more fish! The Weedless Demon actually adds a curly tail worm in the package for you to use with such. The hook on the Demon contains a small pin-type skewer which you stick the three inch worm onto.
I'll take this lure one step further and instead of using the curly worm supplied, I opt to dress the spoon with my personal favorite curly tail worm. The Pepper Worm has the wildest action tail I have found on any worm. It's a double twisted curly tail that really churns up the water. Because this worm is six inches long, I simply chop it in half and use the tail. Be imaginative and get some better results, right?
Fact - silver, brass, copper and gold plated spinners catch a lot of fish. They do so because partly due to the fact that they reflect light and flash tauntingly in the fish's face. Fact - all of the above tarnish and discolour. Don't sell yourself short and go fishing with a dirty or tarnished spinner. You may catch some fish for other reasons but you will catch more fish if all the points are in your favour. All metal spinners polish up nicely with a soft cloth. Cheese-cloth works the best. If you use something like Brasso on them I suggest you cover the lure with Fish Formula or some other fishy scent to mask the polishing compound smell.
Putting eyes on your lures is something that is often overlooked. Mr fish uses only a few basic reactions when he determines whether or not to take a wack at your lure. One of the triggering mechanisms in a fish is if he believes that what he is about to eat is true or false. Eyes are prevalent on most edible creatures. Most lures already have eyes. In some cases such as big open water fishing, I will intentionally increase the size of the eyes on the lure. You may paint them on if you wish. I like to buy the self adhesive ones that come on a card. If you cast your own jigs or purchase them, paint eyes on them. Big eyes-big attraction!
When you start playing with colors, try adding a little red on your lure about where the gills should be. Baitfish or forage fish when threatened tend to flare their gill covers exposing the red gills underneath. Assimilating this onto your lure just may trigger that one or two more fish into your creel daily!
So, so many small things that seem insignificant individually, when compounded together can dramatically increase your overall total catch. Playing, practicing and experimenting will lead you into higher stages of angling.
