New vs Beat Up

[freelancer27]

Hi guys,

wanted to get your take on this. 

I am pretty certain that a beaten up swimbait is more attractive to the fish than a shiny one. It makes sense, since a beaten up lure better simulates a wounded/old/ disoriented fish and therefore a easier target, while a new lure simulates a healthy fish that is harder to catch.

I am wondering if you have personally noticed a difference here.

If yes, I am wondering if it would make sense to even beat up a new lure in order to get this 'beat up' status going quicker than regular fishing would. Also wondering what the sweet spot here would be (I am sure that "break-even" point is a very subjective point that fluctuates between anglers and lures). 

Just curious on your guys' take on this.

Cheers,
Seb.

[rwp]

Truthfully, I don't think it matters much, especially with more aggressive fish.

I have caught fish on new and old lures, and lures that look absolutely nothing like anything a fish would eat for food.

I think the action/sound/water movement etc matters way more than looks.

[Bmurr7]

I personally like beat up baits better, ones I have caught fish with or not I have more confidence in them for whatever reason haha so therefore they work better cause I throw them more. On that note, pretty sure the fish don't care/know the difference.

[Mkel83]

Send me all your brand new 3:16, Pizz, DRT stuff and I’ll beat the brakes off of them for you. 
 

I personally think a ‘beaten’ up swimbait has that fish mojo on it. So we may perceive the fact that it’s physically ‘beaten up’ as a benefit when it could just be we have put in the time and gained confidence in that bait. Just my take. 

[MA Frog Man]

What matters more than anything is your confidence in a bait. You're not going to catch on a bait thats not in the water. The sweet spot is when your friends make fun of you for fishing that piece of ish but it still catches. I have 100 baits but I fish the ones that look like they've been run over

[WaterWolf44]

I think there might be something to it. I had a savage gear line thru that I caught a good number of fish on. It had teeth marks from pike some of the paint was wore off. I lost it in a buoy line. I bought a new one and haven't had much success. But maybe just a coincidence

[mjw2121]

I Don’t think it makes a difference.but in theory it makes sense

[SoCalBassBum]

My beat up baits are my confidence baits, I dont catch on shiney new baits because im not using them. I dont think bass get a chance to check out a paint job or check for hook rash before biting. 

[CG_Fishes]

Although it could make a difference, I think the main advantage of a beat up bait is the confidence. If you have a bait that has been beat to hell by fish you have confidence that it will work and therefore you will use it more often. That bait had to get beat up somehow, aka by the fish when it was nice and shiny. Just my take

[trevorjones13]

I think with hard baits that worn in squeak can make a difference for sure. 

[chefchris]

@swimbait_MA_kid would say beat up the better 

I let him fish my Go2 meany this season that was a little beat up from my season with it in 2019. He continued to fish the paint off it literally and it slayed all season. It’s beat way up now. 

I think the beat up, missing scales, flat spots, imperfections from hook rash help make the bait appear wounded or injured (easy target) 
 

I think a lot more of it has to do with confidence in the baits youre throwing and where/when you’re throwing em. 

I know @bassbass has had great success fishing his bruised/beat up Shad patterns so maybe there’s something to it 

[swimbait_MA_kid]

19 minutes ago, chefchris said:

@swimbait_MA_kid would say beat up the better 

I let him fish my Go2 meany this season that was a little beat up from my season with it in 2019. He continued to fish the paint off it literally and it slayed all season. It’s beat way up now. 

I think the beat up, missing scales, flat spots, imperfections from hook rash help make the bait appear wounded or injured (easy target) 
 

I think a lot more of it has to do with confidence in the baits youre throwing and where/when you’re throwing em. 

I know @bassbass has had great success fishing his bruised/beat up Shad patterns so maybe there’s something to it 

The more beat up the better, if my baits don’t have red resin the rash gets colored red. I’m not sure if it really increases the amount of size of bites you get but it definitely gives me confidence. My bigger fish came on the bait when it was beat up but that could just be coincidence 

[bassbass]

7 hours ago, chefchris said:

@swimbait_MA_kid would say beat up the better 

I let him fish my Go2 meany this season that was a little beat up from my season with it in 2019. He continued to fish the paint off it literally and it slayed all season. It’s beat way up now. 

I think the beat up, missing scales, flat spots, imperfections from hook rash help make the bait appear wounded or injured (easy target) 
 

I think a lot more of it has to do with confidence in the baits youre throwing and where/when you’re throwing em. 

I know @bassbass has had great success fishing his bruised/beat up Shad patterns so maybe there’s something to it 

The more beat out the bait is means the more experienced the person beating out the bait is, equals more fish

[Harshwaters]

Beat up is fine with me. Those are the baits that are being thrown for a reason. I would rather see a pic of a bait with missing paint and teeth marks than a newbie. You don't see many though.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Harshwaters

[bigpoppabass]

Chart don't lie! Ha.....I live in an area with lots of fish predators , ospreys and bald eagles, and we have a toothy critter called a pickeral. I think hook rash initiates a prey that got away........when you see a giant golden shiner it is rarely fully scaled.....also that rash adds a little different flash.