Whether you fish a soft worm lure in a Texas rig, a Carolina rig or an exposed-hook Florida rig, the lure must be attractive to the fish. Early attempts with biodegradable lures as replacements for soft plastics lacked this.
That changed with the recent introduction of the soft 100-percent biodegradable lures from Pure Fishing (Berkley?s Gulp!), FoodSource and Carr Specialty Baits (Fishbites). The first two you can rig anyway desired, just as you would any soft plastic lure. Fishbitescome in sheets that are cut (use scissors) to make bait or lure trailer strips. They also come in “bloodworms” that local tackle outlets rank as top saltwater fish catchers.
The big advantage, aside from being nice to Mother Nature by using natural products, is that they rapidly release natural scent/taste that “chums” the quarry to the bait even before the fish eyeballs the offering.
Chemist John Prochnow of Berkley notes that water diffuses through Gulp! lures as they are being fished. This means, according to his figures, that these lures release up to 400 times more scent/taste than normally scented plastic lures. For a fish, this is like being a coffee-holic living in a Starbucks.
This also brings out one of the disadvantages of these lures. In time they lose their scent/taste, just like gum after a lot of chewing. Prochnow notes that Gulp! is best for the first four hours of fishing, while Mike Carr of Fishbites says that their strips last from 15 minutes to one hour. FoodSource claims that their lures continue to attract as long as they have not completely dissolved. But all these lures are environmentally good and definitely better than polyvinyl chloride (PVC) soft plastic lures.
This does not mean you are an environmental pariah by fishing vinyl lures. I?ve always fished vinyl and still do, along with a casting a bunch of the above. Do not discard damaged PVC worms into the water, where they hang around for a few hundred years. Take them home and dispose of them properly.
Or use a cigarette lighter to melt the torn parts and then fuse the damaged worm together. You can also use fishing super glues to cement soft plastics back into useable condition.
Then again, think of the money you can save with these repair jobs. With all that spare cash, you can buy gas to go fishing.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally-known sportsman and award-winning writer on hunting, fishing and the outdoors, and he has more than 20 books to his credit. He can be reached at [email protected].
