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A tale of two lures.

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 7:00 am
by ronje
Have a look at these two lures. Both from the same stable.

One I've found to be very successful and the other not-so.

Being a bit more clued up on hard body lure action these days, I thought I'd have a look and try to find out why one was more successful than the other.

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:27 am
by NinjaFish
Top one catches more because it targets more fish mid to top depth and chances are it has a more exaggerated movement over a 'slower' speed and distance needing less effort than the larger deeper diver?

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 8:18 pm
by ronje
Agree whole-heartedly Ninja about the top lure.

I have some info about the physical differences between the 2 and how they seem to affect the action but got diverted today onto something else more important (apparently). Mowing etc. Will follow it up tomorrow.

Meanwhile, look at the bibs.

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:16 am
by ronje
Essentially they're using the same bib with exactly the same attack angle (when viewed with my failing eyes).

Here are the dimensions of these 2 lures.

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 7:34 am
by ronje
What's the effect of these differences?

Luckily the body shape is the same, colours the same, bib attack angle the same, hardware is the same (although not shown - the same hooks and splitrings) so we can really compare apples with apples.

So.…… (remembering that the bib is the same) the bottom lure is:

27% longer;

66% heavier;

16% longer to the towpoint.

But uses the same bib.

Do you think that the action might be different if that little bib has to drag all of the larger mass of the bigger lure around the place?

Of course its different. Nowhere near as tight at slow speed. Its more "s" like and needs to have speed cranked up considerably to even look like getting a shimmy up. Once you go too high on retrieve speed, the lure tends to become unstable.

The lexan bib on the bigger lure is thicker where it goes into the head to reduce chances of bib breaking off on bigger fish. Problem is enticing one of the bigger buggers to have a go 'cos the action is less attractive. So far the smaller lure outfishes the bigger one by about 10 to 1 (with me anyway).

And the only difference is the lure action 'cos everything else is the same.

To me that demonstrates that lure action is the prime characteristic to look for and you'll need to be a bit better informed about the subject to give yourself more chances of being successful.

I call it lateral line fishing 'cos you're targeting the barramundi's main food sensor (vibrations detected by the lateral line).

Colour and hearing are simply enhancements in support of the predominant sensor.

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:16 am
by NinjaFish
Have you tried swimming them both together alongside the boat to see the difference?

I'm definitely not an expert on lures and I'm glad both yourself and others share so much info here.

I rarely waste my time with the bigger lures unless trolling nowadays and always swim every lure along side the boat before casting or trolling so I know exactly what it'll do. The more tail wag it has the happier I am. I bet your smaller one has more tail wag too.

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:11 pm
by ronje
Have you tried swimming them both together alongside the boat to see the difference?

Yep. Have had both types for about 3 years. Been catching fish with smaller one and when swapped for bigger one in same water, the catch rate dropped significantly. Same water. Same session. same time.

That's how I know that there is a difference in action. It's different to look at as it swims. Just took me a while to work out why and it was staring me in the face all the time.

Another lure maker has transitioned a lure in size successfully.

Started off with a Halco poltergeist 80 mm with 5m bib. They wanted to go the reverse to the 2 above. They wanted to go smaller and retain the action and they did with a poltergeist 3 m 50 mm.

The smaller 50mm one has exactly the same action and catches just as many fish (for me anyway). Not only was the size changed but so was the bib reduced in surface area as you'd expect.

The smaller lure still had the same head-down "shuffle" as the bigger one.

Anyway, I'll give the bigger Jackall's bib some thought with a view to modifying it. Maybe a stick-on bit of lexan to give it a bit more surface area in front of the tow point. Plus a bit of shaping of the bib just in front of where it joins the head.

Luckily I've got a Jackall that I split lengthwise to check out its inside construction and its still got the bib on it.

Might take a day or 2.

Re: A tale of two lures.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:15 am
by ronje
Here's what the insides of one of this little monsters looks like.

Lots of little compartments and a couple of weights and ball bearings able to move around.

Construction is of thermo-setting plastic but not to the brittle stage. Tail treble mounting is reinforced as is the bib tow point reinforced into the lure body.

Surprisingly strong actually but I sure don't feel confident on a barra over 90cm.