Why Use Marabou Feathers on Fishing Lures? Preface: You bass guys need to start using marabou like musky/pike guys have been doing for decades. Marabou Moves! First, 4" of pulsation that plastic skirts can never provide. Second, a body behind the movement that signals to the bigger fish that this is a meal for the day! The average size of your fish will go way up. You're going to catch big fish consistently. Period. Why marabou: In one word: The "edge". A predator's trigger to pay attention to something is keyed on one thing: Edge, or silhouette. By the way, prey's trigger is exactly the same. You have probably seen crows scatter like crazy and get very agitated whenever they see a hawk's silhouette 300 feet up in the sky above them. But they don't give a moment's thought if the silhouette is that of a Turkey Vulture. To the untrained eye, these two silhouettes look identical. But Mother Nature has imprinted into the brain of the Crow the big difference. One silhouette represents the difference between life and death to the Crow. You may also have seen cut-outs (silhouettes) of owls hanging in buildings to keep birds from nesting in those buildings. One look at the edge, and they scatter! The point here is that predators not only are triggered by the edges they see, but they can "tell" what the prey is by its silhouette. A lion can tell exactly whether an edge it sees walking along is that of a 100lb antelope or a 500lb zebra. Depending on the lion's current "needs", it may go beyond taking note; it may rise up and stalk to kill. But it is not the size of the silhouette that triggered this response - it is the edge, the silhouette. Proof: Think about the newer goose decoys that are the size of small cars that geese can see from ¼ mile away. The birds don't think, "Cheese and crackers, guys! Look at the size of those geese! We gotta go take a look at those monsters!". No, they see the unique silhouette of that decoy that has been imprinted into their brain and it triggers their response: "Others just like me on the ground - they must be feeding or it is a safe place to rest. Let us head that way and check it out." So how does all this relate to "Why Use Marabou?". Because for the very simple fact that marabou puts off one very beautiful and perfectly natural edge. Like all bodies (fish, birds, mammals, humans, etc.), there are body parts or flesh that move in conjunction with the overall movement of the body. Birds have necks, heads, legs as well as feathers that move apart from the body. Fish have tails, and several different fins top, bottom and sides. These body parts make up their unique edge. Each marabou feather pulsates individually, but then the body of feathers move together at the same time and in an anatomically perfect and random manner. No plastic skirt, and certainly no stiff deer hair (bucktail) can reproduce this action. Sure, plastic skirts wiggle, but there is no "edge"; no "body" to them…it is just movement without body. Skirts may trigger curiosity at times, but only rarely do they trigger hunger or aggression. Fish want to eat marabou. Luckily, for those that fish with plastic skirts, the animal kingdom is such that even something not anatomically correct (as to anything Mother Nature has imprinted into their brain), can trigger an attack if it moves just right at the right time. But the edge that marabou puts out as it shimmies thru the water is very, very correct. It simply triggers predators more often. And triggering fish more often is what we want. And moving bigger fish is what we want as well. Marabou. But not just any marabou! Meat and Potatoes Tackle Company selects only the "liveliest" marabou. There are several grades of marabou quills, and we select the most expensive quills that move most freely. These quills pulsate and shimmy much easier than lesser quality quills. And, to make our lures appear to offer the highest food value to the predator (i.e. this is a meal, not just a snack), we use longer quills. We have found nobody else using this more rare and a bit more expensive quill. If you have not seen Meat and Potatoes Tackle Company marabou lures in the water, pick one up today. You need to see the difference before you "waste" another minute throwing anything other than marabou. You will immediately see the answer to: "Why Marabou Feathers?" More and bigger fish fall for "The Marabou Edge". One important note: Marabou, like most other natural feathers, has a waxy finish to it that causes raindrops to bead off a bird - keeping it dry and warm. The first time you throw a quality spinnerbait with a lot of marabou built into it (i.e. Meat and Potatoes models), you'll need to prep the feathers in order for it to run straight and true on the first cast. Repeat: This is something you should do only on the first time you throw it - once done, you will not need to repeat this process. So, here's what you need to do. Slosh the lure on the surface for 15-20 seconds to thoroughly soak all feathers. Or, I actually prefer this method: Dip the lure into the water and squeeze the feather mass with your hand like it was a sponge. Repeat this dip-squeeze process about 3 times. Now your premium lure is ready to go! Set the drag for big fish because it just may happen on the first cast.... |
