Lure Speed

 Lure Speed Is More Important Than You Think

By Buck Perry

Fishing Facts, April 1983

Excerpt:

At times the term "speed" is not fully understood. Quite often it has been asked why I used this word instead of the word "velocity" when talking about how fast the lure is moving through the water. There's no doubt the term "velocity" would be a more accurate word, but those who have studied our material (books, Home Study Series, etc.) should recall it said: "FOR THIS STUDY, we will use the term 'speed' to denote how slow or how fast we move the lure through the water."

Many fishermen have a tendency to fish too slow at times. This is especially true during the hotter parts of the season and when working the shallows. Most of them have been told so many times in the past to fish "slow," they give no thought that a lure moving faster may do the trick when all else fails. One thing for sure, most of the food a game fish takes isn't "lounging" around!

In order to get the fishermen thinking "faster," I figured the word "speed" would do the trick. When hearing or seeing "speed control" in fishing, many would be thinking of a lure moving at a FAST rate. (Although he should know if he worked a lure in such a way as to let it remain still for a spell, without movement, the speed would be ZERO!

Do not get the idea when I talk about "speed" it means you and I are to go out and race around like some maniac. When I'm talking about speed, I'm talking about speed CONTROL. This control should be from zero to the point where you may think the fish can't catch the lure.

It is important to keep in mind, in order for our speed to be effective, we must control our "depth" AT THE SAME TIME. If we try to check out speeds in a particular depth, and a different speed causes the lure to leave that depth, we haven't accomplished very much as far as "speed control" is concerned. To put it another way-if our speed (how fast our lure moves through the water) is so slow or so fast we lose control of DEPTH (where the fish are), then our speed is "off" one way or the other.

Most lures will fail to maintain a certain depth long before the speed is too fast-or fast enough. Some lures will not keep a desired depth if moving too slow. To handle speed and depth control, you and I must select the right fishing gear and learn to use it in such a way that the CONTROL of depth and speed (at the same time) becomes automatic. We never forget that all our questions about fishing successes and failures should be answered in terms of depth and speed control-NOT in terms of size, color and action of lures or baits.