August Freshwater Lure of the Month: ZMAN ChatterStick 5” Blue/Silver
August Freshwater Lure of the Month: ZMAN ChatterStick 5” Blue/Silver
An excerpt from GearPatrol.com's "The Art of the Fishing Lure" to read the rest of the article on our blog at www.FishingEnthusiast1.BlogSpot.com!
I
f
any item holds special mysticism among fishing gear, it’s the lure.
Some anglers spit on them for good luck; many have favorites (my dad and
I still call one spinner, which will be kept secret to protect innocent
fish, our “secret weapon”); rules abound for their use, like “light on
dark days, dark on light”. Or was it vice versa? There are spoons and
buzzbaits, tubes and cranks, jitterbugs and streamers (and dry flies,
wet flies, and a million other flies) to choose from. It’s a lot to keep track of. It's
understood that at their basic level, lures are deceptions meant to
replace live bait, which are hard to gather and often expire
prematurely, escape or are used up before the day’s work is done. But
beyond that, a surprising majority of fishermen don’t really understand lures
— and in this vacuum, myths abound. So we spit on them. And worship
them. And generally pick them from our tackle boxes without much sense
of why they’re the right choice. And
the lures (the good ones, at least) tend to work, maybe not every time,
but on the whole — which, given recent findings about the intelligence
of fish, is more impressive than we might have realized. In a recent
study, biologist Culum Brown found that “fish perception and cognitive
abilities often match or exceed other vertebrates.” Turns out they don't
have
five-second memories. More like a year, and maybe more. Brown has even
written that certain fish species like the wrasse show similar tool use
to primates and corvids (birds). Fishermen
have long known that fish are often smarter than they. But the rest of
us probably haven’t given the lures used to catch these clever creatures
their due. In fact, the best lures are really works of inventiveness,
science, utility and even art. Along
those lines, this month's selection, the ZMAN ChatterStick is a very
rare, hard to find, but devlishly effective bait. ZMan's better know
Chatterbait is heralded, but the Chatterstick is an equally effective
bait for bass and other freshwater fishing. Take em out on the water
and try it out! Hopefully you can outsmart some fish!!
