want it to run a little bit to the left . This allows me to cover water a lot faster .”
In recent years , Omori has studied vibrating jigs and swim jigs in his pool , experimenting with a multitude of different line sizes , trailers and head sizes to see how they affect the depth they run . “ Just changing the trailer style on these baits can change the depth it runs by 6 inches to a foot ,” Omori said . “ That ’ s a big deal when fishing over grass . I would never know any of this if I couldn ’ t see exactly how deep they run in the pool .”
David Dudley candidly notes that seeing his lures in a pool for the first time was a sobering experience . Dudley ’ s most shocking revelation was discovering what lures do – or don ’ t do – at the end of a long cast .
“ Lures are always on their best behavior at the finish line ,” Dudley said . “ In that last 10 feet that we see with our eyes , they ’ re always thumping , vibrating and wiggling at their best . Even if you pitch out there 10 or 20 feet for a ‘ test cast ’ and watch it come back , it looks great . That ’ s why testing lures in a standard backyard pool is not a real test .”
Dudley would know . Several years ago , he secured access to a college ’ s Olympic-size pool ( 164 feet in length ) and spent dozens of hours casting different makes and models of common lures a true distance like he would in a tournament . He wanted to see what the lures looked like where anglers never see them – at the end of the cast . The results were not always pretty .
“ The last 10 feet is not the test ; the first 10 feet is the real test , which is usually where the target is ,” he explained . “ That ’ s when you ’ ll see just how lazy a lure can be . Swimbaits that run on their side , jerkbaits that roll over and wacky rigs that fall like a stick with no wiggling . We have no idea this is happening because we never see our lures that far out where line drag is hindering the lure , so we just assume they ’ re running fine .
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MAHLER
“ Some lures are liars . They tell you they ’ re doing their job at the boat , but when you send them out there to work , they ’ re goofing off .”
So stunned by these revelations , Dudley is in the process of completing his own “ lure-testing facility ” that will be next level . The dimensions will be 50 by 70 feet and he plans to line the bottom with real-world bass cover like stumps , pilings , rock and gravel . The testing facility will serve as the center stage for his new YouTube series where he ’ ll run all sorts of lures through the facility and film them underwater for the world to see .
Ott DeFoe is another pro who has identified the benefits of backyard lure testing . At his home , he took a normal family-sized pool design and stretched out the corners to make it a little bigger .
Like Omori and Dudley , DeFoe claims that one of the most critical lessons about pool testing is seeing just how long it takes a lure action to totally engage after the reel handle has been turned , especially with winding baits like crankbaits , swimbaits , swim jigs and vibrating jigs .
“ Sometimes lures don ’ t start really running right until a couple of cranks into the retrieve ,” he said . “ If you ’ re fishing isolated targets , that ’ s critical .”
Following DeFoe ’ s logic , a reel that takes up 25 inches per turn and takes two turns to get the bait running right equals 4 feet of movement needed to get the presentation right .
DeFoe has also run hundreds of crankbaits through his pool and has been surprised at the variations in the descent speed .
“ I test my crankbaits by casting from the shallow end into the deep end to see how fast it dives to contact the bottom ,” DeFoe said . “ Some baits don ’ t dive as fast as we think , especially on little short casts . To remedy that , I ’ ll now go to a 5- to 7-foot runner when fishing tight targets in 3 to 5 feet , just to make the bait dive faster to hit the target better on less line . That was a big key to my Bass Pro Tour win at the Harris Chain last year – using a deeper-diving bait on shallow targets just to make faster contact with the targets .”
Just another little trick he learned from watching lures in his pool … or , uh , lure-testing facility .
APRIL-MAY 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 19