Lure selection

Is there any other species?
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Johnny A
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Lure selection

Post by Johnny A » Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:26 am

I’ve become quite a fan of OSP crankbaits, starting with the Blitz, probably between a 1.0 and 1.5 size in shallow, MR, new DR, EX-DR and the Max and Max DR covers from surface to 15’ or so. I use a shad type pattern, fire tiger and red craw. I have a few additional patterns, subtle differences in craw, shad and fire tiger.
With that little big of background, I guess you could plug in Lucky Craft, Rapala, Jackall, etc., you might begin to understand where I’m going. Should I being to reduce the overlap in baits? Am I reaching a point of diminishing returns in the tackle I carry? For example, my most productive baits in order:

1. OSP Blitz DR
2. Evergreen Justine 95
3. Zoom lizard
4. OSP Do Live Crawler
5. EG One’s Bug

Others include:
MB Ultra Vibe X, OSP Dai Buzzn, Lucky Craft SKT MR, OSP Blitz Max, OSP Blitz Max DR, OSP Blitz EX-Dr
Some of the info could be misleading. For example, the Vibe X was 1 fish BUT that 1 fish was over 6 lbs., one of the Dai Buzzn was over 4, one of the SKT MR was lost at the gunnel of the boat. I estimate the fish lost at the gunnel at 10+ based upon other fish I’ve caught.
Do I consider the larger fish may have been caught on a similar bait? I may never have known. Am I finally learning the most productive, large fish areas on the lake after 6 years?
What do you think? How have adjusted your tackle box based upon your experiences?

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uljersey
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Re: Lure selection

Post by uljersey » Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:27 pm

Johnny A wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:26 am
What do you think? How have adjusted your tackle box based upon your experiences?
I seem to go in cycles, my pendulum has swung back to the minimalist side for now. I’m back to my confidence baits (lipless cranks, squarebills, blade baits, tubes & flukes). I’ve been fishing out of a tiny Cabelas tackle bag that’s about the size of a six pack lunch cooler and I’m liking it. Eventually over time I’ll probably creep back to carrying too much stuff, start overthinking things and realize I need to step back and the cycle starts again.

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Johnny A
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Re: Lure selection

Post by Johnny A » Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:18 am

uljersey wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:27 pm
Johnny A wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:26 am
What do you think? How have adjusted your tackle box based upon your experiences?
I seem to go in cycles, my pendulum has swung back to the minimalist side for now. I’m back to my confidence baits (lipless cranks, squarebills, blade baits, tubes & flukes). I’ve been fishing out of a tiny Cabelas tackle bag that’s about the size of a six pack lunch cooler and I’m liking it. Eventually over time I’ll probably creep back to carrying too much stuff, start overthinking things and realize I need to step back and the cycle starts again.
My new home lake is broken into two parts, the main reservoir part and the upstream feeder part. After learning the sections of the lake, I’ve been trying to learn the shad cycle. If you don’t know how to follow the shad seasons, you can be lost except for the prespawn where crawfish become the main forage.
Being from NJ, I guess you fall into that junk fisherman groove of looking at an area weeds, wood, rock, veg and tossing a bait until something hits. Here, the first thing you need to check out is what the shad are doing and take it from there. I don’t pitch or flip like I used to, not a lot of docks, no standing timber.
It’s changed my way of thinking a lot and my tackle arsenal.

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