Finding lure actions that catch fish fascinate me!

I started out as a live bait angler but after watching fishing shows and reading magazine articles about fishing lures - no more float & worms or minnows. Bass fishing was a step up to using more types of lures. I never considered that lures represented anything to fish including plastic worms and caught bass on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, skirted jigs and trailers, spoons, surface lures, just to name a few. Even started making my own skirted lures using different color skirts and trailers.
 
A new world of fishing opened up a few years ago when I started making soft plastic lures and started modifying them as you've seen in some of my posts. Molded lures are fine but that's only one shape and size per mold plus how many lures do I need of one shape before I get bored, regardless of how well it catches fish?  Enter soft plastic modifications or hybrids if you will.
 
Catching fish on modified lures is a whole new challenge to catching fish and emphasizes lure action and whatever enhances that action such as specific retrieves. If I catch fish on newly designed mods, fantastic! I don't care how small the fish as long as it catches over a dozen and the more species the better.
 
Today I saw a young newbie fishing using the wrong rod, reel, lure and line. I rigged a leader of my braid to his old curly monofilament, a light jighead and a small lure to be used under his float. In no time he caught a few sunnies and was thrilled. I had him watch the lure he was using while swimming it in the water and had him pay attention to its action on the slowest retrieve. His style of fishing has changed forever as well as him realizing the importance of lure action.
 
Here are some recent discoveries using parts of molded lures and melting them to other lures using a candle flame and a steady hand:
 
 
 
    

 
The retrieves were different for some of the baits but the actions were different for different shapes. I realize catching large fish is important to most anglers but for me catching fish on lures I modify and test, opens doors to which lure actions-by-design provoke fish to strike. It doesn't matter the size of the fish caught because I can increase the size of the design to provoke larger fish to strike. Of course, the action must be the same as the initial action per the shape discovered that caught many fish. So far I've identified different actions that provoke fish. Here are a few as represented by the above lures:
body waddle
flapping tail (like a flag)
flutter
tail quiver
body darting-with-pauses
body quiver
 
Most or all of the above actions you've seen using plastic worms and sticks, plastic jig trailers, Zara Spooks, curl tail grubs, jerk worms, etc. And no one is saying you shouldn't stick with fewer lures in your arsenal that catch fish, but catching fish on a variety of lures opens your mind to what works, when and where. The whole point of catching fish more often is knowing what works more often and why.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ya mean like this 7 lb catfish?

...or this 14" bass?

or one that's a bit larger?

..... and larger still.

How about these nice bass caught on the same day using different shapes:


...caught along with these 2 and 3 lb pickerel - also on different shapes/ actions:

Of course 12-14" crappie are noth'n to sneeze about after bending a light action rod in two:

14"

 
Works for me and especially on days when many other lures don't cut it!