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Surface lures can be used anywhere, regardless of water conditions, light levels, or depth, but to ensure they?re effective?and not counterproductive?you need to know which factors to adjust.
There are 3 criteria to consider:
- Color
- The sound
- The volume
Ambient noise
The key factor that will help you determine which surface lure to choose is the ambient ?noise? of the environment. By ?noise,? I mean not only auditory disturbances but also visual ones. Therefore, you should take into account the light conditions, the water?s clarity, the waves, the wind, the foam, and the depth.
Noisy environment, noisy lure
So, following this logic, the ?noisier? the environment I?m fishing in is, the more likely I am to choose a lure that stands out. In fact, a very discreet lure?like a small shad rigged Texas-style for buzzing?will never be noticed amid the surf and foam forming around a rock pounded by the swell. So under these conditions, I?ll choose lures that displace a large volume of water (i.e., large ones), that make noise?such as those with fairly large, low-pitched rattles?or that produce loud sounds, like a popper or a propeller lure. Similarly, especially if the water is slightly discolored, I?ll favor bold, visible colors. In this regard, the most visible colors are, on the one hand, those that are flashy, but also those that stand out from their surroundings?in other words, colors that contrast with the surrounding environment, in our case, the color of the sky.
However, it?s also possible to choose a lure that blends in with its surroundings for a very specific purpose: If your lure is noisy and can be spotted and located by predators, using a color that doesn?t contrast with the sky allows it to partially ?disappear.? As a result, predators will want to strike as soon as they get a chance to attack, for fear they won?t be able to do so later!
In the same vein, the deeper the water, the more effort and time the fish will have to expend to attack it. So it has to be worth their while, and they need to have time to do it. So you need to slow down your retrieves and take regular pauses. That way, the fish will have time to come up and pinpoint the lure?s location so they can strike it. Otherwise, they?ll quickly realize they won?t have time to do so and will lose interest.
A quiet environment, a discreet decoy
On the contrary, the calmer and shallower the waters where I?m fishing, the more I?ll use discreet lures. In fact, these conditions are often stressful for predators and reduce their activity because they aren?t conducive to hunting. So, using a lure that?s too big and noisy can simply scare them away.
So I'll switch to small, quiet lures and play around with how opaque my lure is. Using transparent lures will make them more discreet and might result in more strikes.
The goal, then, is to send low-intensity signals to predators and leave a fleeting trace on the surface.
Try something daring
While the rules I?ve just outlined are a basic approach?and the one I?ll start my fishing with?it?s still possible to try the opposite strategy when nothing is happening. In fact, if using lures and subtle retrieves isn?t working, you can try to provoke the predators by using lures that make more noise or are more visible.
It may also be time to fish just below the surface with weighted soft lures or plastic wobblers...
