How to Pick the Right Lure for Gulf Coast Fishing

When picking a lure, focus on what is known about a fish's senses. Whether a fish will strike, ignore, or flee is triggered by its ability to see, hear, smell and feel. Yet fish senses do not work in the same way that ours do. Fish also don't reason. You can think of a fish's brain as a computerized program designed and modified by millions of years of evolution. If a lure triggers the right sequence of reactions, the fish will strike.

Things You'll Need

  • Internet
  • Books about fishing lures
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Instructions

    • 1

      Know that there are only three main categories of lures. These categories are surface, shallow and deep running. There are literally hundreds of types of lures in each category and often a lure will fall in two or even all three of the categories. While this is a good marketing strategy, don't fall for it. One lure from each category will probably catch as many fish as a whole tackle box of different lures. The real trick is not which lure you use but being at the right place at the right time and having your lure in front of a game fish.

    • 2

      Understand that fish are not into style. For example, the belief that this year trout are biting on watermelon-colored lures and last year they preferred purple has nothing to do with fish changing their preference. It is a matter of marketing. The word went out that watermelon is in and thus more fisherman begin using watermelon-colored plastics.

    • 3

      Accept the premise that the primary effect color has on a lure is related to the ambient light in the water. A game fish must be able to recognize the lure as a potential meal and not be scared or turned off by it. Why would a fish strike a fluorescent pink lure when there is no natural bait of that color in its environment? The answer is that the lure stands out in the environment, doesn't scare the fish and the fish is hungry. The lure's movement and vibrations are far more important than its color. A general rule regarding color is that more subdued colors can be used as the light decreases, providing the lure is still lighter than the environment. Color really has little effect.

    • 4

      Disregard the advice of professional fisherman on television regarding lures. Everything they are telling you is true but has very little to do with the number of fish they are catching in front of the camera. They are at the right place at the right time and trying to sell boats and lures. Do pay attention to whether the lure is a surface, shallow or deep running lure and to the movement techniques the professional is using.