There is a huge range of bibless wooden lures out there, but most of them are topwater lures like poppers, fizzers, buzzbaits and the like, which are all very effective fishing lures but are not the subject of this article. In this article I'm going to focus on bibless wooden lures that do their thing beneath the water surface.
Bibless wooden lures are a wonderful asset in any tacklebox. They will double your catch rates because they are used in different situations than bibbed lures, so having both bibbed and bibless wooden lures in your arsenal gives you twice the fishing options. In other words, bibbed lures can help you catch fish when bibless lures won't. And vice versa. You really have to have both, because if you don't you are missing out on a lot of fish!
Like bibbed lures, bibless wooden fishing lures swim with an enticing wiggle when they are retrieved, jigged or trolled. But that's where the similarity ends. For starters, the action of bibless wooden lures is quite different. A well designed bibbed minnow will wiggle because the head of the lure swings from left to right, right to left. But the head of a well designed bibless lure tends to swim in a straight line while the whole body tilts back and forth from left to right.
To illustrate this point, shake your head as if to say "no". That side to side wiggle is like the action of a bibbed wooden lure. Now do it again, only this time don't allow your head to turn, just tilt it toward you left shoulder, then back to the right. That's similar to the action of a bibless wooden lure. It may seem like a subtle difference, but in the fishes world this different action is huge! It is also the reason bibless lures can be used to catch fish that bibbed lures can not.
This unique action is important for a bunch of good reasons:
- The lack of side to side head makes a bibless lure more stable at speed, so many bibless wooden fishing lures are excellent for high speed trolling or for fishing in strong currents. Trolling speeds exceeding 15 knots are possible, so if you are a sea fisherman you can be prospecting for fast moving pelagic fish as you motor to or from your favourite fishing spot.
- The action often tends to be tight and fast (although this can be adjusted somewhat at the design stage). This creates a vibration that pelagic fish and predatory fish feeding on schools of bait home in on, because it is precisely the type of vibration that fast moving, panicky baitfish create.
- As these lures often have flat sides with substantial surface area, they shift a lot of water when the roll from side to side, which creates a very strong vibration in the water that can be detected by fish from a very long way off.
- The strong action and stability of this style of lure allows it to be fitted with relatively heavy duty hooks and rings or loaded up with rattles or weight that couldn't be carried by bibbed lures. You can pull serious fish from heavy cover with these lures.
Bibless lures are usually much more stable at higher speeds and/or in stronger currents than the bibbed varieties, can be cast further and can even be used as jigs when the occasion warrants it. Adding bibless wooden fishing lures to your arsenal will certainly give you a whole bunch of new options for putting fish in the live well.
Most bibless wooden lures sink, and so an effective strategy can be to cast them into deeper water and allow them to sink a little before retrieving with a series of sharp, violent stabbing actions with the rod. This style of jigging is as effective on kingfish lurking around beacons as it is on bass suspending in a freshwater storage.
Another great feature of this style of lure is the large, flat surface of the side of the lure. This not only mimics many baitfish such as herring and shad really well, but also gives a large surface area onto which foil, prism or chrome finishes can be applied. This creates a lot of flash, especially on bright days in clear water areas. Flash is far more visible than color, and when combined with a strong vibration is like a magnet to predatory fish.
Making bibless wooden fishing lures is easy once you know how, but is deceptively difficult until you work it out. The design has to be perfect for the lure to work effectively. Once you know the tricks of the trade you'll find yourself making bibless lures all the time, and your catch rates explode as a result!
If you haven't tried making bibless wooden lures you are limiting your catch, so get out there and give them a go today!
Dr Greg Vinall has been hand crafting custom fishing lures for decades from both wood and plastic. Why? Because he's proven time and time again that custom fishing lures allow you to catch more fish, bigger fish and have a HUGE edge over competitors and fishing buddies who use off the shelf commercial lures.
Greg now shares the substantial lure making skills and knowledge that he has amassed over this time through his web site and articles.
If you found the content of this article informative and would like to receive similar wooden lure making information via email, you can subscribe to Greg's weekly wooden lure making tips by completing the online form at http://www.makewoodenlures.com
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