JBlaze

A-man smalljaw. As far as I am concerned, the black Nickle VMC is the only spinnerbait hook out there. I use it for all my spinnerbaits. John

Hardware dept @ Lowes, Home Depot, or just about any auto parts store should have them. hope this helps. Good luck. John

I have used it a few times in a large jig mold for making a slow sinking jig. It was hard to get the mold full before it starts setting up because the stream was so thick it would clog the narrow section of the pouring hole and not let the alumanite get down into the cavity. It is a little tuff getting it to release from the mold and it always left a very thin film of alumanite stuck to the walls of the cavity which was hard to scrape out and there is a lot of flashing to trim off most of which you can just scrape off with your thumb nail. Not trying to be discouraging and it will work but It was too much of a PIA so I don't mess with it anymore. Hope you have better luck and or more patience with it than I did. John

Well, Iv'e done about all I can do to this one except take it fish'un. Weight as is, 1.33 oz. Still can't make up my mind as to whether or not. it is legal in Tennessee.

Ben, thats a good one. I have thought many times about ordering a screw eye bit. I actually tried making one by cutting a slot in a piece of round stock but it would slip off the screw eye every time. Being hollow, yours would be self centering and eliminate that problem. Thanks for sharing. John

Very inspiring, I think that is every lure builders dream, to make that magic lure that fish can't resist. John

I suppose that in someway or other, we are all duplicators. Look at crankbaits, how many different shaped bodies are out there. I would think that any shape you could whittle, saw or form in anyway would have already been done by someone. If I used a duplicator to copy someone elses bait, that would make me a duplicator. Look at spinnerbaits, Inline, R-bend and Twisted-eye. what else is there? Does building one using these wire shapes make you a duplicator? I don't think so. To me the joy and sastifaction of building a lure is the fact that, I thought of, or looked at one and thought to myself, I can do that. I made it. I painted it my own scheme. Maybe, I tweaked it to make it a little different and or better but it is still just a crankbait or a spinnerbait etc. Improved? Maybe, maybe not. But I made it and its mine. The other thing, it feels good when I or a pal catches a fish on something I made. That my friend is what all the Hoop-La is all about. If that makes me a duplicator then I am a duplicator. John

Thanks Ben, I have no idea what the tensile strength of this wire was, I still have about 50 pieces of it so I am good for a while. I have looked at all the different wires at McMaster-Carr hoping that one of them would identify itself as Super Stainless. Here is a link to Mustang wire, they do advertise as having super stainless. John http://www.mustangwire.com/wiretypes.htm

Ben, I used to get super stainless spinnerbait wires from Barlows Tackle. A couple of years ago they quit carrying it. It has a higher tensile strength and is stiffer than regular spinnerbait wire of the same diameter. It seems to increase the vibes you feel when throwing a spinnerbait made with it. I too would like to know where to find super stainless wire. I am not sure but I think that Mustang wire advertises that their wires are made of super stainless. John

Hello everyone, Would my lure be classified as an Umbrella Rig By TWRA? Here is how TWRA defines an Umbrella Rig. What do you think? TWRA Clarifies Umbrella Rig Regulations Released on Thu, Oct 27, 2011 - 3:16 pm under Wildlife Resources NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency would like to clarify the existing regulation concerning all apparatus classified as umbrella rigs for fishing. TWRA is taking this proactive step in the best interest of the entire fishing community. Umbrella rigs can be legally fished in Tennessee waters as long as they comply with the regulation as described in the proclamation. An umbrella rig is defined as an array of more than three artificial lures or baits (with or without hooks) used by a single rod and reel combination. Each blade of a spinner bait would be considered a lure. If the hook sizes are 8 or smaller, all lures or baits may have hooks (single, double, or treble). If any hooks on the umbrella rig are hook size 6 or larger, then only one lure or bait in the array may have a hook and that hook must be a single hook. The Alabama Rig can legally be fished in Tennessee waters following the restrictions set forth for umbrella rigs. If an angler reduces the number of baits attached to the Alabama Rig to three or less it would not meet the definition of an umbrella rig and could be fished with any size or style of hook. “We didn’t just make this regulation up to ban the Alabama Rig in Tennessee. It’s been on the books for almost 10 years” says TWRA Chief of Fisheries Bobby Wilson. “In effect since 2002, it was established over concerns about catching too many fish at the same time and foul hooking large sport fish, primarily striped bass and hybrid striped bass.” One of the primary goals of the TWRA is to protect Tennessee’s resources on behalf of all its residents and non-residents alike. While protecting resources is TWRA's number one responsibility, in doing so it also wants to promote tourism plus enhance business initiatives. Having clear, well-defined regulations help create such an environment. The Agency, in conjunction with local governments, welcomes individual fishermen as well as national, regional and local fishing organizations, regardless of angling species preference to enjoy fishing on Tennessee’s waters. ---TWRA---

OOPS forgot one question. Will start off with 4½ willow and go from there. John

Bassnbrad, thanks for the compliment. I don't take it that you are trying to change my design. That is what this site is all about, sharing and exchanging ideas. I think its great that you typed out loud and expressed your thoughts. many of my ideas have come from thinking about what someone else has done or said. Sometimes I think I can improve a lure and feel like I have. Sometimes it turns out to be a disaster. This one will probably be changed several times before I am finished with it. I like your idea with the one large center weight and unweighted side arms for a couple of reasons. It would probably give the lure better balance, take some of the stress off those side arms and allow the side hooks to kick up and slide over brush and other obstacles without snagging. LittleRiver made a comment about having three arms with blades and calling it Rolling Thunder. I liked that idea too. But Ive never tried twisting that many wires. Not sure that my wire former could handle it. I think that it will run in an upright position as intended but I could be wrong. It may need some belly weight. Only a water test will give me the answer. Vodkaman might be able to look at it and know what it might do. I fly by the seat of my pants with lots of trial and error. The hooks are not interchangeable as is. This is something I have already been contemplating changing. With the weights on the hooks as they are this lure could be changed to a floater with no weights or a slow sinker , even a suspending version with a little time spent adjusting the amount of weight. Lots of possibilities for this one. I can see another version in the future with no weights on the hooks or wires with a bibbed and weighted crankbait body. Would it wobble, waggle and roll or would it just pull straight with no action but the blade or blades vibrating ? Come on guys, build on it. input, input, input. Make one up and show it off. Again, thanks for the interest. John

Ever since I first saw the Alabama Rig , I have been intrigued by it and have thought of several ways that this rig could be adapted to my style of fishing (shallow). I am sure that it would be an asset to be able to find those schools of deep suspended bass, but I don't think all of us have the knowledge or the electronics to do so. I know that I don't. I think this lure would work great in the fall when the bass are chasing bait fish or any time the bass are shallow. Like Rayburn Guy, I too have had those bass follow a hooked one right up to the boat and many time if he wasn't already cast out, my partner has thrown in a lure and caught one of them. So why not use a rig that would give those followers a chance to be caught. I am sure it would work. My son-in-law and I were fishing our club classic on Cherokee last week and he caught two bass on a single spinnerbait. One was a nice sized one and the other one was a smaller bass. He had one on the trailer hook and one on the main hook. Just before they got within netting range, his line snapped. This is the first time I have ever seen doubles on a spinnerbait. Maybe with this rig I'll see it again. With that thought in mind, I have made a couple of versions of it Tn. style. The first one is fairly simple and is posted in the Alabama Rig thread. It turned out to be a floater which suprised me but thats Ok. I think it will catch bass too. Acording to LittleRiver's research, in Tennessee we can only utilize a bait with three hooks if the hooks are larger than a size 8. I have adapted my Pivot Point Spinnerbait to resemble the a-rig but with only three hooks. It is inserted into a crank body. This one was a little more complicated than the first one as it is basically a through wire and has the blade and side arms extending through the back and sides of the body. It involved making three cuts in the body and and drilling all the way through nose to tail and reaming out the hole so that I could push the assembled wires into the body until the line tie is exposed. After making sure that every thing is pretty well lined up, I glued it all together, Next I added the foil. This is as far as I have gone. While I was applying the foil, I took all three hooks and hooked them together to keep them out of my way and from sticking me. I was looking at it after I finished the foiling and thought it looked like an airplane. I think I will call it a "737" - - - - - - - two lucky 7's with 3 hooks. I still have to clear coat with D2T. Paint and or color. Add the eyes and clearcoat it again with D2T. After it has cured for 24 hours, I'll tie on the skirts and add my swivel and blade. The three weights weigh 1/4 oz. each and total lure weight will be a little over an ounce. Sure hope it will catch a bass or three. Will post more pics when finished. Any thoughts on this one? The Photo's are in reverse order. John http://s253.photobuc...pinner%20Crank/

Nice looking lures and fish!

+1 I think you nailed it. John

I took this thing down to the topside ramp today and made a few casts to see what it would do. Much to my surprise, it is a high floater. It landed in the water with the wires and grubs hanging straight down and the nose and ½ of the body was above the water. on the retrieve, it looked like a small school of minnows swimming with the grubs rippling the surface of the water, even at a rather slow speed. this might be a good thing. Rather than add more weight to this one, I will make another and not finish it until I find the correct amount of ballast to get it down to the Denizens of the deep.

Juice780 on the body end of the wire, I did a hay wire twist then flattened the round eye drilled three holes just slightly larger than the twisted wire A snug fit. and pushed them in about 1½ inches secured with super glue. think of it as a long hook hanger that has been installed backward. I can't pull them out so I don't think a couple of fish could either. Hope this helps John

Made of 3/4 inch PVC Trim Board, 1/8oz weight in belly, foiled with aluminum duct tape, colored with sharpies, cleared with D2T, .035 spring temper stainless wires, 2/0 Gamakatsu wide gap, 3in. Kalins Grubs. Total Weight 1.17 0z. John

Diemai, I too enjoyed this. I am sure that many of us will find a use for this one. Thanks for sharing. John

I like your creativity. I have some corn cobs drying right now. Have been planning on making two novelties lures with them, a corn "popper" and a corn "dog walker". I guess all us hillbillies think outside the box ! :-) John

Vic, Thanks again for this info. If I read it right mine will be legal. My son-in-law is taking it for a workout tomorrow on Ft Loudon. I have another one on the dryer right now. Will post a pic wnen I get it off the wheel. John