Eyes
 

the other day i picked up my first blind plug and i thought about this, do you guys think eyes really matter on a plug or jig. i know when people have a plane jighead some people paint eyes on. what do you think about it, and do you think it helps the injured baitfish look?

I have also wondered the same. Do eyes really matter?

If it matters to you then yes...

Do the fish care probably not but then again fish don't blink....

It can't hurt for a lure to have eyes. I would prefer my lures to have eyes, but if it's only available blind, I'll still buy it and fish it if that's what's available :btu:.

Eyes
 

An old friend of mine said " A striper can't stand anything looking back at it "

Neither can I, all those plugs staring at me makes me uncomfortable.

I always feel that eyes matter on swimming plugs....something that moves slow and the fish may follow to take a sniff first.

Plugs like Pencils and Polaris Poppers not as much....seems to me they are keying on the size/profile and the ensuing chaos that is the retrieve.

But that's just me......

that's funny you mention it
 

H.L.S.

because this is what i've just been thinking of lately :think:

to confuse the hell out of them...
or to imitate a school of bait fish
instead of say....trolling an umbrella rig

would it work ? i dunno :huh:
...a builder would have to make one and find out

i'll use an afterhours plug to illustrate this example

note: they could be installed in any spacing around the plug
and not necessarily in a straight line....but you get the idea

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c66/ravenob1/eyes.png

that being said........

striped bass would hate the concept plug above

I actually prefer blind danny's or ones with eyes. I dont think it makes a difference but we all have preferences. But I doubt Bass are analyzing the eyes on plugs.

I dont think having the eyes really matter at all. It comes down to what you are more confident in. If you caught more fish on lures with eyes you might probably say eyes matter but then again this is just what I think.

NO!

It could have some bearing on the overall effectiveness of the lure, but not too much.
Remember that bass tend to strike their prey head first, and the eyes on a plug/lure may give the bass it's orientation towards what it percieves to be the head.
Then again, since some of the action happens in a frenzied pod of fish, they may not have sufficient time to look for the eyes, and stike at what they "think" is food, like brook trout will do in a brook or stream's current. (They don't have a lot of time to be picky, so they hit the lure because it represents a chance at food, not a guarantee of food.)

That's my $0.02 for the day.

I think it may make a difference on slow moving lures, but in moving lures I think they aim ahead of them to intercept them. Unlike bluefish who try, and do, bite tails off.
I think the eyes can't hurt though.

the reason why i asked this question is becuase the plug i picked up the other day was a RM danny, and ive seen web sites selling his dannys with and without eyes and same with his swimmers along with beachmaster dannys. i just figured there might be a difference thats im not seeing....

there easier to make without..

the difference is miniscule in the scheme of things

I really don't know if eyes make a difference. Having said that, I prefer eyes on my lures.

It makes no difference in my oppinion.

Questions like this always make me think... until I am smacked in the face w/the fact that there are swivels/hooks/metal lips hanging all over the plug... What do the fish not see that stuff and focus on whether there are eyes there or not? seriously.

On a plug like a danny in it's purest form has lots of roll.This is not a bad thing.It adds to the great snake like action.The problem lies when one adds eyes to it.This emphasizes the roll and looks funny to the fish..Along the same lines I prefer my danny's painted solid in color or at least they should not have drastic color changes from one color to the next.A subtle blend of yellow top to a pearl belly is about as exotic as I get..
Other swimmers that don't go overboard with roll eyes are fine.
I see guys thro eyes on all kinds of plugs without them like A NB bottle darter..I guess this is ok.I now one guy swears by it..
I have read some things where they say the Japanese use eyes quite a bit on their lures.In fact they like big eyes..
Thats fine also..I don't add eyes to jigs..They seem to work fine for me.
On a pencil popper I like to put my eyes in the tail of the plug..
I can't say I invented that.but there was only one other guy doing it when I started using em there...
And it wasn't salty..
My philosophy on that is it's the only part of the plug that stays in the water.Sort of,I think the eyes in that location give the bass a better target..I like eyes on Needles.I put eyes on my Gibbs..

When I've asked the fish they slap there foreheads and say "I thought those were fins"

I think "back in the day", if eyes weren't available, eyes weren't installed. On the flip-side, I think in this day and age, it's just a way to offer a slightly different model of a plug you already have bodies for :blush:..one more way to corner the market

....it's just another reason to have more plugs tooo....

"yeah, I have some BM Dannys .... some with eyes, some without" -


I don't think they make much of a catching difference, unless you're counting fishermen of course ... :conf:

In saying that, If I'm looking to imitate a baitfish, obviously...I would prefer them to have eyes.

BM made a name ,,no eyes... My own needle I fish no eyes.. skin plug ,,no eyes.. They still work . But would they work better ? I could be missing the boat again ..