Oral baits: elegant solutions in wobbler design!

General

According to tests and general observations in the nature, pursuits of horizontally moving small objects, float up small objects and sinking small objects are stereotypical motor acts in the feeding behaviour of fish, predatory and omnivorous (Protasov, 1968). The foregoing feeding motor acts together with the typical feeding postures play in fish an important signaling role, both in intraspecific (like dace-dace or bass-bass) and interspecific (like dace-bass) relationships.

Krause & Godin (1996) exposed separately nonforaging, horizontally foraging and nose-down foraging guppies, Poecilia reticulata, to an approaching cichlid fish predator model in an aquarium. Nonforaging guppies responded sooner to and initiated flight further away from the approaching model than foraging fish did collectively. At the same time, horizontally foraging individuals responded sooner to the model than nose-down foraging ones. Comparing all test guppies, nose-down foraging individuals were the most likely not to exhibit any response to the predator model. Individual blue acara cichlids, Aequidens pulcher (6.5 cm), natural predators of guppies, preferred to attack foraging prey over nonforaging ones and nose-down foraging prey over horizontally foraging ones (2.0 cm all). An individual risk of predation for guppies foraging nose-down was greater than for guppies foraging horizontally, and all these fish were at greater risk than nonforaging guppies. This result was consistent with the differences in the guppy's responsiveness to an approaching predation threat depending on their foraging behaviour. It is important in our context that cichlid predators preferentially selected less wary and more vulnerable prey, this must be true for predators of other species (references in Krause & Godin, 1996).

Design

Taking into consideration the foregoing data, we modified commercial lipless wobblers adding to their fore parts an eyelet of some smaller diameter than main eyelets. Then the thread of red, orange, yellow or white colors (ordinary or more visible fluorescent) was tied to this eyelet, or the thin silicone worm was threaded (with equal left and right ends in both cases). Sufficiently long ends of these thread or worm undulated during sinking and vibrations of wobbler, mimicing all together foraging and thus more vulnerable prey.

Special chaplet-like or segmented silicone worms (bloodworms) of various colors must be made.

Field experiments

Orally baited wobblers, or simply oral baits, are much more effective than common unbaited wobblers.

Using spinning technique at the selected fishing locality, 20 presentations were made per ten presentations of orally baited and unbaited wobblers. Then an angler moved to the other fishing locality, where 20 presentations of the compared lures were made in reverse order, and so forth.

More than 75% of predatory fish (perch, bass, pike, zander and other) preferred orally baited wobblers (independent samples, P < 0.01, Student’s t-test). In addition, orally baited wobblers were most effective (60-70% of all strikes) when they were sinking in the nose-down posture (see Krause & Godin, 1996).

  

Basic References

Krause J. Godin J-G.J. 1996. Influence of prey foraging posture on flight behavior and predation risk: predators take advantage of unwary prey. Behavioral Ecology 7, 264-271

Protasov V.R. 1968. Vision and near orientation in fishes. Academy of the USSR. Science Publishing, Moscow, Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 1970, 177 p.