Fish rely on their five senses to detect food and avoid danger just like humans do. This means that the best fish attracting lure will look right, smell or taste right, make noise or vibrate right and it will feel right too. Think carefully about the fishing lures that you have seen or used, which ones cover all five aspects?
Many species of fish have well developed eyesight that is finely tuned to see in dark and murky conditions and detect the slightest movement or reflection of light off a stressed prey species. Underwater videos of fish interacting with live prey show that often the predator decides to attack while the prey is still a long way off and once the decision is made it moves in very fast. The predator seems to notice the prey in the distance and determine that it is vulnerable then strike.
Lures from Glowbite contain a flashing light
This suggests that the best lures will be highly visible and they will move or flash in a similar way to a wounded fish. Most lures in fishing shops are highly reflective. The latest lures from Glowbite even contain a water activated flashing light that is designed to get the predators attention from a
distance. To determine whether a lure moves like a stressed or wounded fish you will need to observe it in the water. Choose a day when the water is fairly clear and borrow your mates lure if you can. Watch how it moves through the water column and follow any tips that you can find on the action that is required to make the lure work. Sometimes a subtle difference in how you flick your wrist or wind the reel can make a big difference to your catch rate. Do any of your lures have provision for adding smell or taste? Glowbite have created a fish scent dispenser system (FSD) to most of their lures so that you can add your favourite fish scented paste. Depending on the lure this can give you between 10 and 30 mins of “scent time” where the smell of bait fish is slowly released behind your lure. It is an interesting fact that fish breathe with their gills but they still use their nostrils for smelling and this can lead them to the pheromones given off by a stressed fish or any other food source.
Many Glowbite lures have a fish scent dispenser that can be filled with your favourite fish scent
Fish do not have external ears but they do have an inner ear and they can also sense movement (vibration) via the lateral lines that run the length of their bodies. This means that any lure which moves in the same way as prey is likely to be attractive to a predator fish. That said, sometimes all that is required is a sound or vibration that gets the attention of the predator. Remember the decision to rush in a check whether your lure is dinner is often an instantaneous one. There are many lures on the market that contain a rattle or a spinning blade designed to get attention, even if they don’t closely approximate prey. It is worth checking these on the fish that you are targeting because in many cases they work a treat!
Last, but certainly not least, the feel of a lure is important. Remember, fish don’t have hands so they will often check whether you are offering them dinner by mouthing at the lure. In this instance, hard body lures need to hook up instantly because they don’t really approximate the feel of another fish. Whereas fish will often a hold soft plastic lure in their mouth for some time while they try to consume it. If they drop the lure then stop and count to three before winding again because the fish will often think the lure is wounded and come back for another go. In developing the Grumpy Fish lure, Glowbite filmed the way that many snapper interacted with prototypes and found that the fish would often run their mouth along the tail of the lure, trying to work out what it was. The lure tails are soft and they have a spiral which makes them move in an interesting way. Grumpy Fish lures are not designed to move fast so the key to making these lures catch heaps of fish was to use small hooks and design a way to keep them hidden in the lure skirt. The result is that curious fish hook themselves while they are trying to feel whether the Grumpy Fish lure is real.