How Fish See Spinnerbaits How Fish See Spinnerbaits How do fish see spinnerbaits?
How does the unlikely combination of leadhead, skirt, and blades blend to become an appealing target? Biologists have observed that once juvenile bass experimentally strike at non-food items like leaves or twigs, they seldom strike similar objects again, even when wind or current move the item enticingly. We also know that juvenile bass routinely learn to identify specific prey species and to selectively attack them when they are vulnerable. Bass evidently detect some differences among prey and lures because at times they ignore some lures while striking other lures or livebait. Presumably, an adult bass that aggressively hits a spinnerbait thinks it’s attacking something edible. To understand the process, consider how humans see. Our eyes send bits of data rather than a complete picture to the brain. Some groups of rod and cone cells detect only movements or changes, others sense wave-length (color) differences between neighboring cells, and still others detect only vertical, horizont
