The Chatterbait color thread got my mind working and it brought back a recent experience I had that I keep pondering over. Giving credit where it's due: I would've never thought of this if not for Jeff Hahn planting the seed when he talked about using his trips to Canada to break in his bladed jigs for the upcoming season and how having one broken in makes it hunt much more readily.
Since Jeff said that, I've suspected it to be the case before but have noticed it really obviously lately. It seems like on several occasions a bladed jig just won't feel "right" and/or won't catch fish until it's been thrown for a while. The one experience that sticks out in particular was with a Picasso Shock Blade I was throwing to test it out after having heard really good things. I was night fishing and throwing a black and blue one and, though it seemed like it was running pretty well, I just wasn't getting bit. My buddy was kicking my butt out of the back of the boat throwing a spinnerbait, something I hadn't seen happen for a while. The spinnerbait, not my buddy kicking my butt!
Because I'm stubborn (and too lazy to tie on a different bladed jig, apparently), I kept throwing it over the next few hours, mixing in other stuff at the same time. After a while, I started to notice that it was feeling different; that it was feeling "right" for lack of a better way of putting it and for having no idea how to explain what that means. Sure enough, I started getting bit on it pretty soon afterward. Now I've had that happen in reverse before, where I start getting bit on something and it feels like it's "right," but here it was absolutely the opposite. I know because I actually mentioned it to my buddy. Also sure enough, it was after the head had grooves worn into it from the blade whacking it. Whether it was the grooves or maybe the blade loosening up over time I can't say, but the grooves are a definite tell-tale as I made it a point to look after noticing the bait feeling better.
Lots of people are probably sitting there nodding and thinking, "This is why I pay for Jack Hammers." I'd be right there with you, except the other recent example that sticks out really sharply to me was with a Jack Hammer that I wasn't getting bit on until suddenly I was. This was over a series of trips so it wasn't like the bite just turned on. This one was also accompanied by the grooves worn into the lead, and that thing hammered the fish for me over several more trips after that until I lost it to a damned pike. Tied on a new one right away and, where I was getting bit every 5 to 10 minutes before, could NOT get bit at all.
I can say that I didn't notice the bait "hunting" any differently while I worked it in either case, though one experience was in the dark and the other was in stained water so I'm not confident on that.
At this point it seems way too convincing for me, but at the same time maybe it's just a confidence thing since I've got it in my head? Anybody else experienced a bladed jig needing to be "broken in" before it starts working as well as it should? Or am I nuts?
I'll say this: I put that Picasso off to the side only to be taken out on tourney days while I work on breaking in some others. I joked with Jeff in the past about tying them off to the cleat on the boat while I'm idling around, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I'm going to do, along with some wire leader just in case Mr. Toothy tries to take a bite. I might also try to throw one just enough to see where the blade contacts the head and see if I can't speed up the process with a file or cutoff wheel on a Dremel...