Been busy in the tackle lab.....

[ourway77]

Put eyes on all my baits no problem OK stupid question beautiful baits where are the hooks

 

[MrTom]

These get fished on jigs.

 

[fishdfly]

Put eyes on all my baits no problem OK stupid question beautiful baits where are the hooks

Thanks for asking, I did not want to ask.

 

[fishdfly]

I normally do not make or use jigheads with eyes and I only put eyes on the baits shown for the camera. We did a little test by fishing with the baits in the top photo with and without eyes side by side and it made little difference, the fish were all over both. I suppose on some days eyes might make a difference but for the most part I don't use eyes on anything I am fishing and have outstanding success most of the time. I'm more inclined to think that color and profile and action have more to do with the fish hitting. Most recently water temperature has been a huge denominator. With the persistent cold temps the water doesn't get much time to warm. When we get a nice day with sun the water temps rise right up. The next morning, early, has been the best time to fish while heat remains in the shoreline rocks and bays and the fish are undisturbed by anglers yet.

99% of the water I fish is stained from high levels of tannin in the water from decaying vegetation or darkened by run-off from melting snow [pretty much gone now] or from heavy rains. I feel eyes are a moot issue. Now if I was fishing very clear water I may have a different opinion.

Huh, no eyes, that sure knocks a hole in things I have read.
Learned something.

 

[MrTom]

Huh, no eyes, that sure knocks a hole in things I have read.
Learned something.

No two waters are the same when it comes to fishing and fish. I've fished a flowage where two entirely different lakes are separated by a road but connected by a large culvert. For all intents and purposes, the two lakes appear the same as far as water clarity and all. One lake almost always will require a plastic or a jighead with eyes to get hit while across the street the fish hit anything without eyes.

 

[fishdfly]

I have read that fish key in on the "eyes" when going to get dinner.

Had a friend who wrote an article in fishing and his thought was fish make a decision in a nano second on whether to strike a lure or not. He said fish do not sit around deciding whether to strike a lure based on what color, what specific outline it has, amount of noise it is creating as it moves through the water, etc. He said it's dinner time or not.

Lures are painted totally incorrect, they are painted as a fish is. They are painted dark/black on top and white on the bottom (anatomically correct) which is to hide them from larger predators. To catch fish, the lure color should be reversed, white on top and black on the bottom which would make them easier to see be seen predators.

Traveled a lot fishing and folks said you have to have this specific lure to catch fish. Most times a yellow curly tail will work.

Most times lures are made to catch a person's credit card.

Your lures do look very good.

 

[MrTom]

I'll disagree with the white on top as most all fish in fresh water have eyes oriented for seeing straight ahead or up. I've never seen a fish feed down. I've been using the dark over light concept since I started making flies and jigs about 58 years ago, started at the ripe old age of 13. One thing I do not get too huing up on is realism, I'm more of a color guy and rely on just a few color combos for about 99% of my crappie, panfish, and walleye/sauger fishing. For my Lake Trout and Salmon in Lake Superior I can get by with anything gold and orange....spinners, blades, lures....unless I am jigging then its a plain white 4" tube or a white 4-5" soft plastic swim bait on a heavy jig. The jig gets zero paint and definitely no eyes.

I do agree with the credit card quip though. I add eyes to baits that I make for taking pictures of. No eyes on personal jigs or plastics unless I toss those I took pictures of in the tackle bucket.

Everyone has their own go-to lures, but mine do not need eyes.

 

[fishdfly]

How many fish bypass a lure because it has or does not have eyes?

Fishing worms for bass, how many have eyes?

Night crawlers seem to be missing eyes.

 

[MrTom]

I catch plenty and never worry about how many pass me by.

 

[ported45]

I am starting to fish crappies in Indiana as the weather allows. Spent the last week of march fishing lake Enid Mississippi. My favorite fish to eat.

I live very close to Glendale in Daviess County in southern Indiana. I'm hoping to go after crappie for the first time Friday if the forecast holds. Always have been relegated to bank fishing, but bought a boat later last year.

 

[MrTom]

Most times lures are made to catch a person's credit card.

You would not believe how many inquiries I've had from three different web pages like this at MM wanting to buy the baits with eyes. When I respond that no eyes will be on the perspective baits without increasing the cost, the interest in the order drops off. Some reality here is that eyes all come from China and we all know where the Chinese container boat are at. I have a very few eyes to put on baits and the bait's size dictates the eye size and most all of the eyes I have right now will not balance with the current call for popular baits.

Apparently your credit card comment is true. If I show baits that are smoking fish but have no eyes, the only interest comes from seasoned anglers that know the eyes are just a magnet for those who want pretty. When I am asked about eyes on jigs, I tell people I use two colors of jigs, plain unpainted lead or purple. And no eyes on the jigheads. Its amazing how many people won't order if eyes are not part of the equation.

And crappies, sunfish, perch and walleyes have all been seen on underwater cameras and locators studying a lure or bait for minutes before deciding to hit even when the lure or bait has been jigged or otherwise put in motion and created "noise". My experience over several decades of fishing has been that color or profile or action, maybe in combination of two or the three, is responsible for most crappies and panfish being caught.

I might take only a few orders a year anymore and most of those come from long-time friends who also know from long-time experience that eyes simply don't matter.

 

[fishdfly]

I go to a large fishing store and watch folks buy lures, they want the "pretty" lures, holographic lures are a magnet to their basket.

There was a large antique fishing lure show/sale in Houston years ago. The majority of the lures were rather mundane colored lures, they resembled real fish.

I use to fish a lot, the schedule that I worked allowed me 12 days off using 4 days of vacation. Person can go a long ways in 12 days to fish with commercial airlines. Going thru Miami immigration the guy said, you don't work much do you?, as he was processing my passport. Fishing won me a trip to divorce court.

I have noticed that fish have a preference for chartreuse lures and tend to use that color.

 

[MrTom]

My favorite lure is anything with a chartreuse tail. Walleye, sauger, crappie.....anthing with a chartreuse tail.

 

[MrTom]

fishdfly....

Here are some baits I did back a while ago using color shifting pigments dry-brushed across the back of these baits. The back's plastic color is a thick dense smoke, almost black.

The baits on the left shift colors from gold to orange to green, to red depending on the angle the light hits the baits. Those on the right shift from gold to green to orange to pink, again depending on the angle light hits them.

If one looks carefully they can see the different colors each one will shift through. The color shift pigments used in making these is horribly expensive but makes for a supe attractive bait. When I posted these baits, this picture, originally I had something like 90 requests for them. All were declined simply because the baits would not be the same without the eyes and if I made them with the eyes , the eyes would be the fist thing to get peeled off the bait. People would have been pissed to no end even though the eyes missing would not have had any influence of the fish hitting them.

 

[JimD]

Are your lures for sale?

 

[MrTom]

Sorry, but no.

 

[DEEREHUNTER]

They are beautiful !

 

[fishdfly]

fishdfly....

Here are some baits I did back a while ago using color shifting pigments dry-brushed across the back of these baits. The back's plastic color is a thick dense smoke, almost black.

The baits on the left shift colors from gold to orange to green, to red depending on the angle the light hits the baits. Those on the right shift from gold to green to orange to pink, again depending on the angle light hits them.

If one looks carefully they can see the different colors each one will shift through. The color shift pigments used in making these is horribly expensive but makes for a supe attractive bait. When I posted these baits, this picture, originally I had something like 90 requests for them. All were declined simply because the baits would not be the same without the eyes and if I made them with the eyes , the eyes would be the fist thing to get peeled off the bait. People would have been pissed to no end even though the eyes missing would not have had any influence of the fish hitting them.

Very nice, do like the ones on the left, look like a real fish.

Also like the exaggerated tails, they should make plenty of noise and vibrations going thru the water.

You have one big advantage over me. I am extremely color blind, red/green and blue/green. When I was in school I would have to take a girl with me to shop for clothes to get pants and shirts that matched.

You do have talent.

 

[mnoland30]

I believe that most lures are designed to attract fishermen, not fish. I've caught more fish on a silver spoon than all the other lures in my tackle box put together. But your lures are so pretty, I want to buy some.