Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Have you ever stopped to consider how many a bass fisherman has to make for any given trip? Let's make it "easy" and just talk about the ones pertaining to a selection of lures.

Face it: There is no single lure--or so it is with me--that will produce fish after fish, time after time. So we're left to choose constantly from among many different lures for many different situations. We have to decide which one or ones likely will produce "best," given such factors as cover, structure, water clarity, temperature, depth, and the effects of seasons and weather.

How a lure's design features interact with these influences and best enable it to draw strikes determines which will be the best lure colors and the best lure size to be fished. Of course, the angler's presentation technique contributes as well. And don't forget the kicker involved here--these factors are always changing.

Choosing a lure first entails identifying a lure category, such as spinnerbait, crankbait, topwater, jig, swimbait, soft plastic, or spoon. Then it becomes a matter of drilling down to the specific features of a lure within a category that promises the best chance of success when presented in the situation and/or circumstances in which you're fishing.

In short, if you think bass fishing is a no-brainer sport, you'd better think again. Here's why I say that.

On Wednesday, May 20th, I had a day in which I boated seven bass, with all but two of them being solid keepers, and all but one coming on soft plastic. Those five keepers added up to a total weight of 9-10. And I know that's nothing to brag about, but it's a tick better than the current average required to take 2nd place in this year's Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series.

I went back Tuesday, May 26th, with a game plan to use the same soft plastics in the same stretch of water that had produced that earlier satisfying day. All the conditions were nearly identical, but at day's end, I certainly couldn't say the same for the results. All I had to show for my efforts were a 1-2 bass, along with two dinks and a big grindle. As you probably remember, that's the day when I first encountered the problem of fish grabbing the tails of my soft plastics.

Through a little Internet research that evening, I learned that some anglers had solved this problem by adding MegaStrike fish attractant to their offerings. They claimed this attractant caused the fish to hold onto the soft plastics long enough to eventually gobble the whole thing into their mouth. So, armed with my two tubes of MegaStrike, I headed back to the water again the next day--Wednesday, May 27th.

Insofar as the length of time a fish would hold my MegaStrike-coated baits in their mouth, there's no denying they didn't seem to want to let go. You probably recall my telling you I let one fish simply pull off about two boat lengths of line with my baitcaster in free spool before reengaging the gears and attempting a hookset. At this point, the fish went airborne, and I saw him turn loose of--you guessed it--nothing but the tail. Come late morning then, the fish simply started ignoring my soft plastics all together.

With my game plan shot in the butt, I had no choice but to start digging through my tackleboxes. I skipped over everything chartreuse or chartreuse and white because those colors haven't worked for me since winter ended. The same has been true of crankbaits in general.

I stopped, though, when I came to a 1/4-oz., tandem-bladed Booyah spinnerbait like the one at right. Given the day's bright sky and that deep black color of the water, I figured the flash of this spinnerbait ought to attract some fish. Five bass, two white perch, and a pickerel later (plus a few missed strikes), I knew I had made the right decision.

Incidentally, I fished that spinnerbait "Dewey's way." His philosophy always was never to add a trailer to a spinnerbait (or buzzbait), unless you find the fish won't hit the bait without one. I've lived with that advice for a lot of years now, and it has worked well for me.

A staple of tackleshop walls and shelves everywhere, spinnerbaits continue to be confidence lures for many anglers, and for good reason. The flash, vibration, profile, and overall versatility of these lures make them deadly on largemouth bass.

They worked for me this past Wednesday, but experience has shown I'll probably be back to the drawing board sooner, rather than later. That's just the nature of this sport--making one decision after another, because nothing seems to be forever.