Tally Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 well, just my 2 cents for what it's worth: Anything you do to a bait that will help catch a fish is worth doing. When fish go on a feeding frenzy, just about anything will work. On a crank bait, most of the fish 5 pounds and better the fish hit on the pause, which I think the fish examine before they strike. Big fish are not dumb. As for worm type baits, I don't think I have seen a real worms eyes, but I have never looked that close either. Put the eyes on, it doesn't take that long to do. Tally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Enjoyable post so far. Yes eyes can make a difference but probably one of the lesser things to really focus on. Most lures actually are poorly designed to take of any advantage of eyes. Too many crankbaits have eyes too small for the body size of the crank. Just look at first of the year and juveniles. Eyes are very large in respect to the body and most eyes aren?t positioned on top of the head as many crankbait have them (Poe?s for example). As mentioned a lot depends upon overall water conditions if it is going to be observed or not. Many freshwater species have spots or darkened areas along the caudal tail region that loosely mimic eyes/vital areas. Predators typically do attempt to strike head region as mentioned. The likely hood of hitting vital areas is increased greatly and result in higher predation rates. A fish can always come back and get a disoriented minnow. Just nature at work. Along with the fact fish go forward to escape thus striking at the eye means the prey will be coming towards the mouth once again increasing likely hood of success. Of course fish will also grab anything any way they can also. The closer the bait size to fish the more critical the orientation of the fish. The smallmouth I had in college typically struck 80 percent of the feeders headfirst. Sure they grabbed some by the tail or the side but guess which ones easily worked their ways out or darted quickly to miss the strike? Now these smallies were only about 5 inches and the goldfish and guppies 1 inch. False eye spots can be also thought of as disruptive coloration in that it disrupts the overall pattern/silhouette of the fish and can thus decrease the likelihood of standing out. Many fish may have spots as juveniles, when they are more apt to be preyed on, these fade as they age. Some freshwater fish in many of our waters exhibit a darkened area/false eye spot. Some examples would be shiners and minnows for example alabama, tricolor, blacktail, tenessee, taillight, suckermouth, bluntnose, and bullhead or the central mudminnow and one of the most obvious the flier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overkill Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Movement must not be important either. Many bass I have filleted had snails in their innards. I have also caught bass on bluegill fillets while catfishing. So we have narrowed it down: Lure does not need eyes Lure does not need movement(or at least no more than a snail) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Movement is very important. It is amazing how keen bass are to the slightest movement. Both the snail and fillet both move either on their own or due to current. It is funny to see some of the stuff bass will eat. I picked through the stomach contents of one 10 inch bass that looked like it had eaten a salad. It was filled with filamentous algae. Sure enough as you picked away at the strands crawfish around an 1/8 of an inch were present. Also had a few small spotted bass from a creek that upon analysis had stomach filled with horsehair worms. We has siened a lot of them (horsehair worms) from the creek earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overkill Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Of course the fillet was moving, The Earth rotates on an axis doesn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Earth on an axis? I guess you are going to tell me it ain't flat either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finneous Fogg Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 In the new BASS times newsletter is an article on a 4 eye lure. It is a large swimbait and they have found that they are catching many small fish because the bass think it may be two fish instead of one because of the eyes. The Fish JC 4-Eyes lure is made by Joe Castro, a friend of mine. I can assure you that the 4-Eyes catches more than just small fish. I've given too much of my money to him! You musky guys should seriously give it a try. www.fishjc.com Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trick trout Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 my bro and i had an 8 inch bass in a tank about 2 years ago... we would feed it gold fish, crawdads, and nightcrawlers... but every once in a while we would do a test to see what the fish wanted... shad bait with eyes, shad bait without eyes, worm with eyes, worm without eyes... and 10 times out of 10 that little bass would eat the shad bait with eyes over the shad bait without eyes or worm with eyes over the worm without eyes. So to me bass will almost every time eat a bait with eyes over a bait without eyes when they are presented exactly the same right next to each other... but then we would put the shad bait without eyes or worm without eyes into the tank and the bass would eat it... so really it doesn't matter to the bass, but if there is a bait with eyes next to one without, usually he or she will take the one that looks more realistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overkill Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 I understand that the 4eyes will catch big fish. I was just making the point that medium size bass preferred it over some other big baits, possibly because the eyes made it appear to be several small fish swimming together. For all you non eye believers, try moving some eyes on a medium or large bait. Catch several fish with the eyes in a normal position, then cover those eyes and paint some near the rear treble hook. Take note of which hook the bass was impaled on, then please post your results here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishnDreams Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Lures look better with eyes. KingKarl, dont be chep. Put them on and go the 3D look. I have put them on my spinnerbaits and they look so much better the painted eyes. What rock are you hidding under, I've been calling you for the part week. Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingKarl Posted April 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2005 Dear Colin, do I know you????? M8 ever tried to call during normal hours :idea: If you bothered to read the original post it was about eyes and how importand they are in peoples minds when it comes to lures and fish perception Da King Ps I'll call you to save you a few bucks ya cheap scate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
