a while back to win ran a story About fisherman Adam Young, who was fishing in Florida when he caught a largemouth bass with, of all things, hotdogs and bread. The fish was only 16 inches long, but it came into the limelight because of a video Young shot of pulling a 22-inch garter snake out of its throat. Whenever a creature is found in a fish, it gets its 15 minutes of fame on social media, even though fishermen understand that fish are opportunistic and will at least attempt to eat all kinds of strange prey if they think they can keep their mouths shut. However, this attraction to fish-eating land animals is so strong that it has spawned a whole line of artificial lures that mimic everything. Bat To top water lizards To Parrot.
But are these lures really worth keeping in your arsenal? I don’t think so, except for frogs, which fish eat all the time. To explain it better, let us discuss the attractions of the three most commonly seen animals and their advantages (if any) and disadvantages. And yes, snakes are also included.
duck lure
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I can’t tell you how many emails and messages I’ve received over the years asking about duck feed. People want my opinion about them, or ask specifically where and when to use them. My answer is always the same: “Toss it 20 or 30 times, then cut it out and drop a bait you know will catch a lot of fish.”
I don’t mean to imply by that statement that duck bait cannot be used to catch fish. The reality is that, if you hook a pair of ear buds or a garlic press or a can of root beer and drag it around for long enough, ultimately You’re at least going to get a fish to swim with and look at. Sometimes, of course, this happens quickly. Case in point, I had a friend who threw a duck for muskie in Wisconsin, and he got hammered on the third cast. He thought he had discovered the secret sauce. Three days later, he waterfowl echoing on the surface Wasn’t sniffed again.
With rare exceptions and in the few places where pike, bass, or muskies are actually hopping around on year-round young ducks, you’ll only throw a duck bait because you want a photo of it hanging out of the fish’s mouth for Instagram. Most of the time, however, a less fishy popper or spook or buzzbait will catch the same fish that ate that duck. Does this mean that duck food is not good? Hell no! But anyone who claims to be the first to tie a duck because it outshines everything else throughout the season is crazy.
BBZ Bio-Rat
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Four or five years ago, rats infested the fishing grounds. Like mass produced models bbz rat Like for custom greed CL8 Water BlockIt appears that the fishermen were preoccupied with the idea of attracting fish that craved warm-blooded, furry food. I drank the Kool-Aid too, at least partially. I know for a fact that some fish won’t hesitate to catch a rodent, the question is just what kind of rodent is on the menu.
I am very interested in the challenge of fishing for trout after dark with rat flies. However, these patterns are very small, measuring less than 3 inches across. They are highly effective, although I will be the first to admit that I do not believe that the trout recognize the wake fly necessarily as a rat, but rather simply as a target. Its Some? alive and shaking it can Have food. They might think it’s a rat, but it could easily double as a toad, or a Dobson fly, or a minnow swimming at high altitude. What matters is that they eat it.
On the other hand, these surface wake rat lures routinely measure 12 inches or longer. Heavy rods were required to throw them. The funny thing is, there are a lot of sightings of these baits hanging out in the mouths of giant bass, far more than the ducks. The caveat was that these were often taken to places like California and Texas that were actually full of giant largemouth. In these locations, bass are already accustomed to hammering giant trout-sized swimbaits and grabbing big meals. So do they also like rats? I don’t think so, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t attracted to the sexy awakenings and wobbles of these attractions. If they had been created like iguanas or baby gators, the results would probably have been similar. However, what happened during the rat craze was that many fishermen became nervous thinking they were going to pull a 7-pound rodent out of their local lake. Did this happen for some people? Yes, but there are also plenty of rat baits collecting dust in garages across the country.
snake bait
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Every two years there is a slight revival of the snakes. Not long ago, I received a care package from a Southern soft-plastic lure manufacturer that said its 15-inch Snake was a secret weapon for monster bass. Last time I checked, KVD was not catching that cobra on tournament day. Similarly, when Savage Gear launched them 3d wake snake Hardbaits were all over the fishing media a few years ago. Measuring 8 inches and featuring 11-joints, this bait drops jaws as it glides across the surface in the promo video. However, how many fishes it opened the jaws of is a matter of debate.
I couldn’t even begin to count how many snakes I saw moving around in the water. I’ve seen water snakes in bass ponds, garter snakes in pickerel bogs, and even small rattlers swimming in rivers filled with big brown trout. Every time this happens, I sit in a daze, anxiously waiting for the snake to strike. To this day, I have never seen the deed expire.
Obviously, it happens. There’s a good chance you’ve seen a snake sucking at the surface, and Adam Young’s snake extraction landed him on USA Today. But the bottom line is that it’s hard to talk yourself out of using these bizarre critter lures based on their prevalence as food sources. They’ll all get bit at some point or another on the right day, just like the atomic beam solar powered motion lights will make your path a little brighter. It won’t be as flashy as Yankee Stadium as the advertising would have you believe.
