Senkosam

Nice, what did you use for the body? I may cast the hybrid (shown) in plaster because it has been so successful. The 'ringworm' ribbing may not be as important as the obvious taper at the mid section. Sam

Recently I've been trying out hybrid shapes (2 lures fused to one another to make a different lure) and doing well. The hybrid shown is used either nose-hooked or rigged on a jighead, and has caught 5 species. Sam

LC's stick molds do fine and none have ridges. The ridges are a texture-thing and reflect light a little differently than smooth surfaces. Nice, but not necessary for the action you want. You're on the right track balancing softness with salt content. I've found the same thing about the effect salt has on a bait once completely cooled. It hardens the plastic somewhat. A slower fall isn't a bad thing unless you're fishing in 20' or more but I usually do best in 6' or less and don't mind it. Plus, as a jerkworm, softer is better and you notice that a small turning of the reel handle causes a great side-to-side front tip action, which is just as effective as a quivering drop. I make and pour two part molds, which I think contributes to the quiver. Flat sided lures quiver, but only with rod-tip action. Completely-round sticks body-roll and tip-quiver as long as the bait is soft enough. Both catch bass consistently regardless of different actions, but Senko's action is to be strived for because even a tiny difference in action can be significant in producing a unique lure. Sam

Spike-It's chunk paint has it's own brush. The paint stays on the surface, is opaque and won't bleed. White undercoat is best for chart. colors. I use a pipecleaner for Spike-It's dye for more control, less mess or waste. The dye infiltrates the entire plastic and will bleed into other plastics. Sam

And I thought those things were only used to prevent burning my pasta sauce! Sam

Creative Beginnings gets their glitter from Meadowbrook Inventions which is primarily a craft glitter that doesn't hold well up to high heat . The size is limited though the color selection is not bad, especially the color premixes. I find them useful as exterior flash colors which will stay on the surface of a soft plastic if you heat the plastic's surface with a candle and then lay the lure on top of some glitter. I especially like it for large curly tail grubs with large wide tails or the tips of small double tails. Black worms with surface glitter sparkle far better than impregnated glitter. Sam

Nice design! Kind of like a lizard-reaper. Good luck with it and report how it did. Sam

The pickerel went after the spinnerbait yesterday.

Chris, until the vegetation is in full bloom, my standard rig is texposed with a 3/0, 4/0 or 5/0 wide gap, weightless. The size chosen should insert 1/3 to less than 1/2 the worms length for the best whip of a 4 1/4, 5 1/4 or 6" stick. If saltless, I use the rig in less than 5', but in deeper water, will split shot (of fixed Carolina rig) or use a weighted hook. Salted-weighted worms can be used in any depth for the horizontal drop versus the jerk, so no-weight rigging is my favorite. I don't insert a nail like some used to for the Slugo. I would just as soon use a 1/32 bullet weight for sink-&-jerk persentations where two planes of action occur: the drop or vertical and the jerk or horizontal - similar to imparted, grub-actions or that of a sinking jerkbait. Yesterday I fished with a friend and caught bass and pics on a strictly horizontal jerk presentation adjacent to wetland shallows and emerging veg. The fish were stacked in 4' of less all around the lake feeding on perch fry and the whole food chain going into the spawn. I even caught a few 9" bass and 12" pics on 5" sticks! For some reason, I get better Wacky-action in late summer or fall. Sam

The great thing about fusing plastics with a candle or glue is that you can use your surplus junk to make unique combos that work. Still have about 20 more new designs to report and today is supposed to be 87. Sam

Sounds good Jim.

(Repeated from fly-tie forum) For those interested in a completely artificial skirt. I'm kind of new at tying and the quality of the tie stills leaves much to be desired, but I decided to fish some jigs with only Krystal Flash and artificial hair. Last week, in 49 degree water, I caught bass, pickerel and panfish on silver flash, green/orange irridescent flash and, pearl/green irridescent flash jigs. The action was amazing and the skirt could be made to flutter, ripple, dart and glide. The skirts were double the length of the hook and full enough to simulate a large body or small school of bait fish. This week I'll try the spinnerbaits shown which are actually panfish spinnerbait forms in 1/8 oz. Also pictured (poorly) is a black Krystal Flash jig with blue flah and a bit of dyed bucktail. I've attached a craw trailer that has worked with living rubber jigs on standup heads. I'll get back to you if this one produces. Sam

I have large rolls of flat, medium living rubber (about 30 yds. each) of many colors that I don't use - brown included. Will sell it for the last LR.com price. Most are a little less than 8 oz. per roll and the brown (pictured) is only about 4 oz. Here are a few colors. Sam

Thanks GSD. I've been searching for a color alternative to LC. Sam

Will he offer 2-part molds? If so, I'd definitely be interested. Sam

Welcome back Nathan. It's my favorite forum because no one I know gets too excited about making their own lures. Sam

I forgot to mention that I wasn't rolling joints, but different shapes made from modeling clay, in case anyone got the wrong idea. I'm with you on that one Chris! The largest of 8 pickerel was 19" and the largest bass was over 2 lbs. - all on a stick of plastic measuring less than 3"! Sam

CJ, what kind of fish are they catching with 3' Senkos?!! LOL Once I poured 4 1/4" and 5 1/4" Senko copies and caught fish on them better than on any worm style, I figured I'd roll a few in the shape of a joint (like in the old days ). They're different than 3" Stik-Os, being slimmer and do well nose-hooked with a 1/0 wide gap. The worm casts 25 yards, no weight and darts back and forth or glides like a small baitfish. I originally intended them for dropshotting, but once I tested them in the water and saw actions that were similar to 3" Senkos (if ever there was ever such a thing), I knew that the bait would easily catch crappy and smallmouth. It caught 5 prespawn species in less than 15 minutes! Granted, they were on a feeding frenzy but the door is open for a bait that even kids could catch fish on. Next time I'll make them as soft as Craig's (MicroMunch) baits. Sam

Since it's a proven fact that the torpedo shape worm (Senko) works as well as more sophisticated designs, I decided to mold 2 3/4"-3" versions. A couple of days ago I got bit by 5 species on the same design, nose hooking and using 30# test braid for the multiple pickere bites. The baits had no salt but cast easily on spinning tackle. Something to consider, especially for youngsters.

Went fishing todayglitter and caught 5 species on using 'rod glitter' 3" sticks, nose hooked. Before the rain started, I caught 8 picks, 1- 2lb bass, 10 nice size yellow perch, 2 bream and a crappie. All were stacked in a cove, probably to eat the white perch newborns coming out of the wetlands. It didn't phase shallow active fish in 46 degree water. The hits were decisive and the mouth hold was as long as usual. I used 2 colors -the one shown above and silver 'rods with .15 silver glitter. I'll send samples of this glitter and hex (from a different comp.) I definitely value the this glitter in .092, any color. Sam

Today I fished with a friend who was using soft plastic grubs. I kept up to him with the green and silver jigs for yellow perch, but outfished him for bass and pickerel. The water temp was 47 degrees and tanin stain, under an overcast sky and the average depth was 6'. The retrieve was steady and slow, the bite soft. Time to tie more patterns and other colors. (The spinnerbait got no hits.) Sam

Thanks Markell. As usual with any new bait you make and try for the first time, it's like getting a hole-in-one when it succeeds at catching multipspecies. I know for a fact that crappie will jump all over it in a week once the water temp get near 50. Sam

I've found one more distributor that can save us even more on a specific-use glitter. Look at the flakes in the worm I poured today and tell me if the characteristics warrrent ordering and distributing. Here's the reason why I thought it a useful product. The downside is: 1.First of all it folds when added to 225 degree plastic. 2.Color bleeds slightly 3.It's useless as a reheat The upside is: 1. In larger sizes, it rolls into a rod of glitter 2. Bleeding into a same-color won't alter plastic color 3.It's cheap 4.the rod-glitter gives a different texture when used with hex. * note: the plastic's color is from added dye The higher quality hex will be the main glitter, but the 'rod' may be almost as useful as string because of texture. It also comes in about 25 colors, including holographic. Think about it and tell me if it's worth trying. Sam

I'm kind of new at tying and the quality of the tie stills leaves much to be desired, but I decided to fish some jigs with only Krystal Flash and artificial hair. Last week, in 49 degree water, I caught bass, pickerel and panfish on silver flash, green/orange irridescent flash and, pearl/green irridescent flash jigs. The action was amazing and the skirt could be made to flutter, ripple, dart and glide. The skirts were double the length of the hook and full enough to simulate a large body or small school of bait fish. This week I'll try the spinnerbaits shown which are actually panfish spinnerbait forms in 1/8 oz. Also pictured (poorly) is a black Krystal Flash jig with blue flah and a bit of dyed bucktail. I've attached a craw trailer that has worked with living rubber jigs on standup heads. I'll get back to you if this one produces. Sam

Craig, which channel - OLN, Outdoors, ESPN2? Sam