Joshua Vandamm reply : 

The great mystery of what plastics worms look like to fish, seems pretty simple to me. 

 

What do Trick worms etc look like. Eels!! (Duh)

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DomQ reply : 

Looks like a good drop shot bait, hmmm

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 8:23 AM, DomQ said:

Looks like a good drop shot bait, hmmm

Yeap. Check out the life cycles. The glass eel stage is around 4” and mostly is free floating. Yellow and on in maturity and the are bottom dwellers mainly. Think shakeyhead. ????

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scaleface reply : 

I've caught lots of eels in the Mississippi and tributaries but not one in a reservoir .

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BassWhole! reply : 

And a senko is what? A Cohiba?

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burrows reply : 

Alright! Another senko thread sweat!

 

 

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BASS302 reply : 

American Eels are an East Coast species.  Your hypothesis does not apply to the West Coast.

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 9:50 AM, reason said:

And a senko is what? A Cohiba?

LOL. Eel also perhaps. Close enough. They all look like snakes or eels. 

There are lots of reservoirs with eels. Juveniles mostly. Doesn’t matter if they’re in all waters or not tho it’d be historically/instinctually hardwired. 

  On 3/18/2018 at 10:36 AM, BASS302 said:

American Eels are an East Coast species.  Your hypothesis does not apply to the West Coast.

See above. Many traits and behaviors go back milenia and eons. Even beyond that inherited from a common ancestor. 

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Delaware Valley Tackle reply : 

I don't think baits look "like" anything to a bass. They don't have the capacity to reason or think. They run off pure instinct. Anything with a profile, action, size and color to maybe be edible will draw strikes. 

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Raul reply : 

There ain’t no eels where I live, the nearest ocean is 350 miles away, our rivers only carry water during 6 months, the rest of the time they are bone dry.

 

So nothing applies .....

 

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MIbassyaker reply : 

There is no great worm mystery.

 

Or rather, there is only a "worm mystery" if lure-striking behavior occurs because bass are precisely-tuned to particular forage species, and therefore a lure that draws strikes must be something that mimics a particular species. But this premise doesn't make much sense given bass are notorious generalists in their predation behavior, and rather famously are willing to eat anything that (1) moves, and (2) will fit in their mouths.

 

It is true that Bass show preferences for fusiform shapes in general -- a long axis with tapered ends.  But this isn't very mysterious either, as that general body shape is common to most of what they eat, most everywhere, most of the time -- baitfish, crayfish, terrestrial critters, limbs and fins aside, all sport some approximation of the fusiform body plan. And this simply because the fusiform shape is common to most forms of vertebrate and invertebrate life of the right size to eat in a freshwater aquatic environment.

 

Artificial worms are another variety of the preferred fusiform body plan, and bass are just not too particular about the details.

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BuzzHudson19c reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 10:54 AM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I don't think baits look "like" anything to a bass. They don't have the capacity to reason or think. They run off pure instinct. Anything with a profile, action, size and color to maybe be edible will draw strikes. 

Exactly. Just look at all the creature baits out there.

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Jaderose reply : 

I was unaware there was a mystery

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jbmaine reply : 

I have no idea if this applies to lakes/ ponds, but when I used to fly fish for trout in rivers I would put a screen in the water, scruff up the bottom with my boot, and see what was on the screen to be able to " match the hatch". I was amazed how many worms I collected.

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scaleface reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 10:05 PM, jbmaine said:

I have no idea if this applies to lakes/ ponds, but when I used to fly fish for trout in rivers I would put a screen in the water, scruff up the bottom with my boot, and see what was on the screen to be able to " match the hatch". I was amazed how many worms I collected.

I wouldnt think   there would be any worms . Earth worms ?

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jbmaine reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 10:24 PM, scaleface said:

I wouldnt think   there would be any worms . Earth worms ?

 Yes, Just normal little earth worms

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RPreeb reply : 

Another point - if you have ever seen a free swimming leech, it looks a lot like a 3" to 4" black ribbon tail worm. 

 

I know that back in the early days of plastics, they sold a worm (brown) and an eel (black), both otherwise nearly identical, pre-rigged with 2 or 3 hooks, red beads and a prop.

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Wurming67 reply : 

Bass are predators they see an opportunity for food and take it,lures are made to catch fishermen, bass react they don't think.

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Gundog reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 9:53 PM, Jaderose said:

I was unaware there was a mystery

Well now you know but its too late because the mystery has been solved therefore there is no more mystery. 

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Paul Roberts reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 8:41 AM, Joshua Vandamm said:

Yeap. Check out the life cycles. The glass eel stage is around 4” and mostly is free floating. Yellow and on in maturity and the are bottom dwellers mainly. Think shakeyhead. ????

One big hole in this theory:

 

-American Eels are catadromous -the opposite of anadromous. So Eel larvae/elvers live only in saltwater, the adults migrate to the Sargasso Sea and back to FW. They must have access to the ocean. Elvers are free-living in the ocean until maturity, then migrate into FW.

 

Sorry.

 

 

 

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MIbassyaker reply : 

 

  On 3/19/2018 at 12:15 AM, Paul Roberts said:

One big hole in this theory:

 

-American Eels are catadromous -the opposite of anadromous. So Eel larvae/elvers live only in saltwater, the adults migrate to the Sargasso Sea and back to FW. They must have access to the ocean. Elvers are free-living in the ocean until maturity, then migrate into FW.

 

Sorry.

 

 

 

 

There is a funny old story of an attempt to plant eels in the local river here back in the late 1800s:

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/News/2013/02/11/3-000-eels-dumped-into-bayou

 

“I planted about three thousand at the Crockery Bridge on the Grand River, which was Jubb’s Bayou,” Jennings wrote. “There I procured a boat, took my young snake-lets, and with tender care, planted them in their western home in one of the finest bayous on the Grand River.” 

 

Jennings was living in Cadillac, Mich., when he wrote this recollection.  He noted that he never had the opportunity to fish for the eels, as he had departed Crockery Township soon after planting them. 

 

“I did not remain there long enough to have the pleasure of landing one of my black beauties,” Jennings wrote, “but have been told by those who caught some that the bayous in that vicinity were alive with eels.”    

 

Apparently, most of the fingerling eels were eaten by fish in the bayous and river, and those that did mature did not flourish for very long.

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MassYak85 reply : 

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 9:53 PM, Jaderose said:

I was unaware there was a mystery

Oh yea. Even the Berkley guy (forget his name now) calls it a mystery. 

 

  On 3/18/2018 at 11:17 PM, jbmaine said:

 Yes, Just normal little earth worms

Worms don’t swim. They’re hardly ever in water unless there’s a mud slide. 

 

Leechs yes. Small worms could like like them, or minnows. Larger worms...

  On 3/19/2018 at 12:15 AM, Paul Roberts said:

One big hole in this theory:

 

-American Eels are catadromous -the opposite of anadromous. So Eel larvae/elvers live only in saltwater, the adults migrate to the Sargasso Sea and back to FW. They must have access to the ocean. Elvers are free-living in the ocean until maturity, then migrate into FW.

 

Sorry.

 

 

 

Untrue here. Or rather not entirely true. Half of their early life is still in fresh water. 

They wont last long in reservoirs but I’m sure they wind up in them more than we know. 

 

The pic above is from Rock creek. A freshwater tributary.  

  On 3/19/2018 at 12:36 AM, MIbassyaker said:

 

 

There is a funny old story of an attempt to plant eels in the local river here back in the late 1800s:

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/News/2013/02/11/3-000-eels-dumped-into-bayou

 

“I planted about three thousand at the Crockery Bridge on the Grand River, which was Jubb’s Bayou,” Jennings wrote. “There I procured a boat, took my young snake-lets, and with tender care, planted them in their western home in one of the finest bayous on the Grand River.” 

 

Jennings was living in Cadillac, Mich., when he wrote this recollection.  He noted that he never had the opportunity to fish for the eels, as he had departed Crockery Township soon after planting them. 

 

“I did not remain there long enough to have the pleasure of landing one of my black beauties,” Jennings wrote, “but have been told by those who caught some that the bayous in that vicinity were alive with eels.”    

 

Apparently, most of the fingerling eels were eaten by fish in the bayous and river, and those that did mature did not flourish for very long.

My take away is fish eat them. Basically nothing else to the story. 

  On 3/18/2018 at 9:11 AM, scaleface said:

I've caught lots of eels in the Mississippi and tributaries but not one in a reservoir .

Proving again, they are in fresh waters. 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:27 AM, MassYak85 said:

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

That’s certainly a big factor. But I don’t think entirely explains why to seem to love almost motionless worms even. 

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

I’ve seen DNR surveys of local tributaries. Many have juvenile eels as the most prevalent species. 

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scaleface reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:35 AM, Joshua Vandamm said:

Proving again, they are in fresh waters.

Not only  that they have to go through several lock and dams to get   here . They are not rare at  all . I   hate catching them . They are difficult to get the hook out because of all the slime .

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Paul Roberts reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:35 AM, Joshua Vandamm said:

Worms don’t swim. They’re hardly ever in water unless there’s a mud slide. 

 

Untrue here. Half of their early life is still in fresh water. 

 

The pic above is from Rock creek. A freshwater tributary here on the Potomac. 

My take away is fish eat them. Basically nothing else to the story. 

There are quite a few aquatic worm species. But guess what? (My son would respond 'chicken butt!'; He's just about cured me of saying 'Guess what?') Nightcrawlers are not even native here! 

 

Oh! Yes, I remember "black/brown eels" being in ocean tribs. But... I wonder when and how far they move inland. It's true that bass were originally from the backwaters of the Ohio River/Great Lakes and tribs (post-glacial, when the waterways were bigger). Possibly some could have had access to elvers?

 

"My take away is fish eat them. Basically nothing else to the story." That's something we can all agree on! But, there's always more to the story!

 

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MIbassyaker reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:35 AM, Joshua Vandamm said:

My take away is fish eat them. Basically nothing else to the story. 

 

Oh, for sure -- its just funny: "my little snakelets"..."my black beauties". He seems to have been looking forward to the day when a dinner of eels was only a few casts away. It's not clear the population ever reproduced here, however, whereas anadromous transplants and visitors -- both desired and undesired -- have, including steelhead and sea lamprey.

 

In any case, I don't share the puzzlement over worms, given the variety of things bass will so readily eat. It has never struck me as a difficult problem in need of a special solution.

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Mobasser reply : 

I think plastic lures look like the basic shape of bass foods. They don't need to resemble anything exactly.Bass are predators and eat anything that looks good to them. I've caught lots of fish on a bucktail jig with pork rind or plastic trailers. It resembles crayfish in length and size,  but that's it. It doesn't look exactly like a crayfish. The ned rig is a great lure for bass, but doeasnt look exactly like anything. Bass hit plastic worms because the move slowly,  look alive, and are an easy target for predator like bass.

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FishDewd reply : 

I'm pretty sure around here the bass think that worms resemble... well, worms! We don't get eels.

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jbmaine reply : 

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Raul reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:27 AM, MassYak85 said:

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:27 AM, MassYak85 said:

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:27 AM, MassYak85 said:

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

 

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WRB reply : 

Leeches not eels.

Lots of dermasel bottom dwellers that are bass prey that include worms.

Tom

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Darren. reply : 

Man, some feisty little nuggets on this thread, LOL.

 

It is a "theory", after all  

 

My local reservoirs here in VA have an abundance 

of the slimy critters. I've caught some. Too many!

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BassWhole! reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:48 AM, scaleface said:

They are difficult to get the hook out because of all the slime .

We use them to live line for striped bass, cobia, and even tuna. A rag and a little sand makes handling them a whole lot easier. 

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

I’m just curious about this stuff. Anyways Berkley’s official position...stumped. They say bass don’t eat worms often if at all. 

http://www.berkley-fishing.com/Berkley-ae-why-do-bass-eat-plastic-worms.html

 

 

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Darren. reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 8:57 AM, reason said:

We use them to live line for striped bass, cobia, and even tuna. A rag and a little sand makes handling them a whole lot easier. 

Sand! That's an idea I haven't heard before. Then again, I 

haven't used them in the salt yet (for striper). Probably all

the striper fisherfolk here in VA know that trick. I'm new to

the striper game.

 

I scoffed at my buddy who offered me his rag when I caught

my first eel in one of the reservoirs I frequent. That was a

mistake.

 

Mistake yet to be repeated. Sand is a great idea.

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 10:54 AM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I don't think baits look "like" anything to a bass. They don't have the capacity to reason or think. They run off pure instinct. Anything with a profile, action, size and color to maybe be edible will draw strikes. 

They do think. Not like we do but they have fairly long term memory. 

  On 3/19/2018 at 3:05 AM, Mobasser said:

I think plastic lures look like the basic shape of bass foods. They don't need to resemble anything exactly.Bass are predators and eat anything that looks good to them. I've caught lots of fish on a bucktail jig with pork rind or plastic trailers. It resembles crayfish in length and size,  but that's it. It doesn't look exactly like a crayfish. The ned rig is a great lure for bass, but doeasnt look exactly like anything. Bass hit plastic worms because the move slowly,  look alive, and are an easy target for predator like bass.

Bass especially big bass, learn what to eat and what to avoid from instinct and experience. I agree about 50% but I do think there’s a prey image engrained for every effective Lure other than reaction strike baits. Caddis fly larvae looks like a ned rigs imo. 

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RB 77 reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 12:05 AM, Gundog said:

Well now you know but its too late because the mystery has been solved therefore there is no more mystery. 

 

Just one more thing...

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Gundog reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 2:27 AM, MassYak85 said:

The reason bass eat worms is the same reason guys catch bass on 12" trout lures in lakes not stocked with trout....it looks alive and it will fit in their mouth. 

^^^^Bingo. Bass don't have large brains. They think about survival and reproducing. They would hit a beer can with a hook on it. Its us who over-think things. 

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BassWhole! reply : 

  On 3/18/2018 at 2:14 PM, Raul said:

There ain’t no eels where I live, the nearest ocean is 350 miles away, our rivers only carry water during 6 months, the rest of the time they are bone dry.

 

So nothing applies .....

 

No anguillas? One never knows how fish get around, true story, dad had another of his ideas in (I want to say) '73. We drove down to South America (Actually to Panama, and flew the rest of the way, darn Darien Gap). Did a lot of fresh water fishing all the way down, but that's not my point. Anyway, somewhere in the Mexican desert, I forget where, in the midsts of the mountains and cacti, there were these tiny creeks and puddles and I saw a couple of small, maybe 2" fish. It took a while, but I managed to get one with a makeshift net, and I kept him in a jar. Now the rest of this is hypothetical and heresay, but I may or may not have kept it alive, and traveled across several international borders with it, and it may or may not have turned out to be an endangered pup fish, and it may or may not  have been released in or about an engineering marvel.

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Joshua Vandamm reply : 

  On 3/19/2018 at 11:45 PM, reason said:

No anguillas? One never knows how fish get around, true story, dad had another of his ideas in (I want to say) '73. We drove down to South America (Actually to Panama, and flew the rest of the way, darn Darien Gap). Did a lot of fresh water fishing all the way down, but that's not my point. Anyway, somewhere in the Mexican desert, I forget where, in the midsts of the mountains and cacti, there were these tiny creeks and puddles and I saw a couple of small, maybe 2" fish. It took a while, but I managed to get one with a makeshift net, and I kept him in a jar. Now the rest of this is hypothetical and heresay, but I may or may not have kept it alive, and traveled across several international borders with it, and it may or may not have turned out to be an endangered pup fish, and it may or may not  have been released in or about an engineering marvel.

Good to save an endangered animal. Maybe not so good to transplant it... point taken tho. How do bass end up in little ponds with no streams or nearby lakes? “Life finds a Way”. 

I promise you eels are no different. They just arnt equiped to survive as long. 

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