[senkosam]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I too have hundreds of lures of all kinds stored and it seems that once I've caught fish with them it's time to buy more. FORGET THAT! I found some old blogs I posted some soft plastic mods on in 2004 and must have been modifying even before that time beginning with replacing jig and spinnerbait skirts with different colored skirts.

The thing about modifying or making your own is learning new truths and unlearning untruths. For example: match the hatch
The more lure types you catch fish on in the same day, the more the expression doesn't hold water. Ditto for colors and sizes. Years ago I read every article about catching fish and still own Keith Jones book, Knowing Bass that goes into detail about fish senses. I've found correlations to much of it as to possibly why fish strike certain lures while not provoked to strike others.

The above photos indicate certain undeniable truths that will not change anytime in the future such as:
panfish strike mini-sticks

bright white and other fluorescent colors get bit (I'm assuming it's because fish are annoyed by flashy dressers LOL)

the Joker tri-tail also gets bit as does the Kut Tail worm - hybrid or unmodified' along with fishtail and claw-tail mods.

many colors work on the same day with different lure types

All of this brings me to the words preference and like. You and I have preferences when it comes to lures and tackle in general; we also like or dislike the same. But do fish prefer or like some lures and not others? My point is this: fish simply react to some lures (for whatever reason) and do not react to others - or at least not as often. When fish don't strike certain lures, much of the time it comes down to the lure's size and action or the wrong presentation for that lure.

The cool thing about the lures shown is that the retrieve can be the same for all, but the action is different for each because of differences in shape, size and plastic softness.