Does the popularity of a lure cause it to lose its effectiveness?

[Steve K]

I have been thinking for a while about whether or not a lure loses it effectiveness the more popular it becomes. I think that the needlefish is a perfect example. Over the past few years its popularity has exploded. For example, I was in a shop on the north shore of MA and I overheard someone who works there and has worked there for quite some time tell a customer that this was the first year that he tried a needlefish thanks to the rave reviews on the internet. This is someone who has been fishing the area for at least 10 years.

So what do you think? Does a lure lose its effectiveness the more popular it becomes? If you see a bunch of people throwing the same plug do you switch to something else? Does anyone have any specific experiences where by switching to something different he as outfished others around him?

[Saltheart]

I don't think it does. Nothing more popular than a bucktail jig yet they keep catching year after year after decade after decade!

[Pete F.]

I read an article at some point in the last couple of years that said Largemouth bass do avoid lures after they have been caught on one. It even went into how long they remembered and the time I believe was in months. My guess would be that if you had a static population of bass, landlocked maybe, you might have that happen. But seeing that stripers are a migratory fish, a locally popular lure would only have that effect for part of one season. My SWAG

[fishweewee]

As long as sand eels are around and plentiful, one would think that needlefish plugs should continue to do well.

It all boils down to how hungry the fish are, and how well the needlefish does its job of imitating forage.

[TunaCell]

I think that the lures that are too "specialized" tend to be short lived in popularity. By specialized I mean that the lure resembles and acts like one bait species. Lures like the popper, needle fish, and bucktail that behave like any one of the bass' forage species never quite fade away.