straight vs hunter

[Vodkaman]

The object of videoing this 20 minute session was to compare a straight swimming lure with a hunter lure. Ten throws of each lure with a constant retrieve.

The results are hardly conclusive; the weather varied throughout the test, the lures were not identical, I deviated from the constant retrieval plan on a few throws. I lost the continuity of the experiment by stopping the video, I should have shot it in one clip. Also, in part 3, I swapped out the original hunter for a different hunter with no paint. Lessons learned.

Obviously with only ten throws of each lure, I can hardly claim a case for hunters, even though I am biased. A better test would be a 4 hour session, alternating lures after each cast, or five casts, but time available and inadequate battery power prevented that idea. I will do better next time.

Still, given the limitations of the test, and my mistakes in continuity, I feel a lot more confident in the hunter’s ability to catch fish. I will be revisiting this test in the future.

Sorry a close-up of the lure actions was not possible, I will try to get a shot of the actions next time.

Here are the three videos for your perusal:

straight vs hunter part 1

straight vs hunter part 2

straight vs hunter part 3

Dave

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by Vodkaman

[Vodkaman]

Further to the first post:

The pond is called a 'galatama', a man-made competition pond, stocked with bawal varying in weight between 0.8Lb and 12.5Lbs.

Lure fishing is not permitted, and the bait is limited to a tapioca jelly, no limit on flavour or essence.

I did not weigh the fish in the videos, but they were between 4.5Lb and 7Lb. To put this into perspective; a 3 hour competition of 15 guys might only produce three fish this size. This just shows the power of lures.

Dave

[mark poulson]

The hunter clearly catches more fish.  Thanks for the videos.

[Vodkaman]

Tarheelfishing88 mentioned in another post; about searching for a more erratic hunting action if such a beast exists.

Well, let me tell you that it DOES exist, and is out there just waiting to be discovered.

In my very early days, experimenting, trying to find 'the hunt', I tested a prototype with an action so wild, I could not imagine a fish being able to catch it. This is no exaggeration, it was WILD!

It was 2am and I was so excited, and wanted to try another tweak believing I was on to something big. Instead of making a new prototype body, I butchered the hunter. The new test did not work and I was unable to recreate the wild hunter. It was lost forever, well I hope not.

At that time, I had ideas but had not solved the hunting enigma, I was stumbling around in the dark, literally.

The action was not simply side to side, the lure was also moving up and down. I am not talking about a few inches, more like a couple of feet. My thoughts were that hunting occurs at a transition between two movements, between 'yaw' and 'pitch'. I was close, but in fact hunting is not a true transition. I thought that the 'wild hunter' may be a triple point, somehow a transition between all three motions; yaw, pitch and roll. However, I could not get this straight in my head.

Obviously something was going on in addition to the hunter geometry. I don't believe that it is to do with ballast location, because the ballast was strips of copper sheet, glued externally to the lure belly on all my prototypes at that time. I do have a few ideas but I need to get my workshop back and start building again.

Dave

[mark poulson]

Wow!  I have never had a bait move up and down vertically!  You are a magician!!!