Ya really thing bass think about what a lure is as the primary reason it strikes

[saltystick]

Nice articles. If the information is true, it makes me wonder even more whether fish can identify a lure as something alive regardless a prey species.

Those bass are feeding actively and hitting artificial because they are hungry not irritated by me.In this situation I am indeed fooling those bass with each cast one of them hits on. Irritation is not even an issue from what I can tell.I would say that irritated bass strikes make a smaller percentage of reasons why bass strike. I think hunger and compulsive instinctive reaction strikes make up the largest percent of reason why bass strike.

Definition of compulsion:
   Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.

Not a word that applies to fish just before it bites, but compelling a fish to strike is one word that may be a better one than irritating fish to strike. All I know from watching many videos (Glen Lau especially) is that much of the time bass are just hanging out until an object of interest enters its space, holds its attention long enough for the fish to act like, enough is enough! and then strikes it.

Once the object is found to be less than tasty, it spits it out. If it attacked it as if it was something it was convinced to be some kind of food, that fish would continue to swallow it.

Some lures I have found part way down into a basses gullet and had a hard time pulling them out without damaging the fish. (Using the word hurt would suggest half a brain and not in line with this from the article:

Professor James Rose from the University of Wyoming in the US, who led the study, also found that the fish brain does not contain the highly developed neocortex needed to feel pain, so do not experience it in any meaningful way like humans. He concluded that fish are able to experience unconscious, basic instinctive responses, but that these did not lead to conscious feelings or pain.

)

So, anglers in my opinion compel fish to strike whether or not actively feeding and, based on what I've believed for a long time, struggle to get off my hook or get away based simply on instinct and not because I'm ugly.   

[SFL BassHunter]

I was fishing a jerk worm in a bass tournament and caught a pickerel. Came back to the area after an hour or two and caught the same fish with my lure still in its mouth!

I'll do you one better. I'd forgotten about this one...
At the local park I was using 8lb line which is lighter than I usually throw. So when a bass not far from the bank in a little grass field wacked my stick bait as I was reeling in really fast I panic set too hard and line snapped. Hook, worm and weight gone.
About 10 min later I went back cast to the same spot and burned another stick bait across the top same exact way and same exact spot bass wacks it. I reel it in, catch the fish, retrieve the hook and stickbait he had stolen 10 min prior.
It still had the worm and hook stuck to it and it fell for the same trick.


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[Oldfart9999]

Guys, we're talking about a critter that has a brain the size of a little pee. Don't overthink it. If a bait "thinks" it maybe food and not dangerous, or run a bait by the fish fast enough so it has a "choice" to make eat or not or protect it's nest. all natural acts. Studies show that you don't need a realistic looking bait, just a rough shape. The better question would be "what do I want the bait to do", you don't run treble hooks through heavy grass, you have to find a bait that will work in it, or you may need to pick one that suspends, or sits in one spot, etc. Do you need or want noise or vibration or quiet and stealthy, those are important choices.
Rodney

[saltystick]

Couldn't agree more Rodney!

Too many anglers emphasize what a bait should represent versus what it should do in the water. The old saying form follows function is just the opposite when it comes to lures. Form (or lure design) determines function whether it be suspending, punching through heavy weeds or twitched on the surface. Lures do as much if not more to find bass as does sonar and in my experience I can use a few lures to cover large areas slowly or faster. That to me determines which lures to use and not be concerned what prey animal they might be targeting.