GEAR
THE TACKLE JUNKIE
THE
TACKLE
JUNKIE
sean ostrUsZKa
52
sean Ostruszka is a lure
designer whose baits
have been sold by various
tackle companies. He’s
also a freak for tackle
details.
WHAT’S THAT NOISE?
DIGGING DEEPER INTO HOW SOUND IMPACTS A LURE’S PRESENTATION
I
t was one of the weirdest things. Yet, it
also made sense.
I was chatting with a friend and fellow
lure designer one day, swapping stories
about different things we’d experienced
while tinkering with lures. He shared with
me a story about a lipless crankbait he’d
helped design for a prominent company.
They were testing rattles in the proto-
types, messing with various metals, sizes
and numbers of the bearings to get dif-
ferent sounds. Then, something strange
happened.
As my friend described, they had some
prototypes that worked perfectly and
caught a ton of fish. The only problem was,
the only fish they caught were crappie. They
changed colors … crappie. They switched
spots … crappie. They swapped presenta-
tions … crappie. The things were the best
dinner-catchers since worms, but they
weren’t worth worms to a bass fisherman.
so, they tried a different metal that cre-
ated a different sound. The result? Go to
the previous paragraph and replace “crap-
pie” with “bass.” The lure was a hit, all
because of a slightly different sound.
On the face of it, that doesn’t make any
sense. Why would one rattle pitch sound
like a 100-decibel death metal concert to a
bass and the other a dinner bell?
My friend, having a fisheries biology
degree, figured it had to do with what the
bass were eating at the time. shad, cray-
fish, bluegills – they all make noise, and,
just as importantly, they all make unique
noises under the water. so, one pitch
might’ve sounded like a minnow or some-
thing the crappie were eating, while the
other may have sounded like a shad or
crayfish, which made the bass perk up
and take notice.
All that to say: sound matters when it
comes to fishing lures, which is obvious
to most bass fishermen. But how impor-
tant is it, and how do you dial in sound
for the best results? I’ve heard of anglers
spending more than $100 on an older
model of a particular topwater lure
because of claims that it’s louder than the
modern version, or buying out a store of
a particular crankbait, then keeping only
the ones with the “right” rattling pitch
before tossing the rest.
It seems ludicrous. Then again, when
you hear stories like what I outlined at
the start, you kind of get it. sometimes,
sound is THAT important. Here are a few
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