I can remember catching my first smallie on a yellow Mr Twister 4″ curl tail grub years ago. What followed was me trying out many lures to catch bass: crankbaits, Texas rigged plastics, spinnerbaits with different blade sizes, surface lure (Z Spook, Pop R), just to name a few. I will go back to casting them this year, but for now the challenge is getting fish regardless of species and size to hit my soft plastics rigged on small ball head jigs.
Keeping fish on those small hooks is challenge enough – especially large fish – but searching for the ultimate designs all species attack is my obsession. I live for that slight tick transmitted up the line followed by the hookset that keeps fish (hopefully) hooked all the way to my boat. Keeping a photo record means a lot when it comes to – 1. water fished, 2. date fished and 3. the lures that caught fish that day.
Before digital cameras and computers, a written log was all I had to remember the above.
Answers to questions such as what colors of jig & pig caught bass; would a large willow leaf spinnerbait get slammed; how about 10″ plastic worms T-rigged and colors; etc. were answered. And yes, all caught bass! Mission accomplished.
But fish are fish are fish. They all attack many of the same lures regardless of size. Yesterday I caught a 2.5 lb pickerel and took a photo of it and a small creation that I put on a 1/28 oz jig. The braid broke just as I netted the fish and it was like winning the lotto! I caught fish (3 more species)on that same lure within the hour and then had to leave because the 30 mph hour wind was getting to me.
I caught 82 fish on May 9 and the same thing: many species and sizes starting with that little tick my hand felt – as sensitive as a fish’s lateral line. So cool was getting hit many times by the same excited fish – either on the same retrieve or on multiple retrieves to the same spot! Those fish were obsessed maniacs trying to clobber my lures!
One question answered by the caught fish:
are fish leader-shy? I had lost a few lures to picks and decided to make a few leaders, attaching my small lures using snap swivels or duo-lock snaps.
Another question: would a bright chartreuse curl-tail get hit?
A yellow perch said no to being leader-shy as well as a dozen other fish, and yes, a bright chartreuse, Berkly ribbon-tail was just what the fished ordered. The pumpkinseeds didn’t mind the leader or lure color nor did an assortment of sunnie species.
The week before my partner and I caught over 130 fish in the same lake and in water 5′ or less around emerging vegetation! He stuck with his white curl tail grub, me with everything else. We both had a great time hooking fish after fish schooled in many spots. In particular, I caught a trophy 2.5 lb pickerel taken on 8 lb test braid and a light action rod!
He caught all his fish on a white curl tail grub; me on everything else. 
(How do I delete a photo?)
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