mark poulson

Take it to a local gym, and just tell the person at the desk that you want to take your 12 incher for a swim. Be sure no one else is in the pool. It's important to test with the hooks on. My son's friend is a lifeguard at the local YMCA, so I can do testing there if it's slow. All it costs me is a ton of food everytime he comes over. Bottomless pit!

If you screw up a lip slot, stop, cut a dutchman (a small, snug fitting piece of wood), and glue it in the bad slot. When the glue sets, it'll be ready to cut again. The exterior wood glues available today, like Gorilla Glue, or Tightbond 2, are so strong if you make a good fit, that the wood will fail before the glue. Remember, if it's made from wood, it can be fixed.

Always cut away from yourself, and make sure your hand tools are sharp. And don't rush. Just like life in general, it's the journey, not the destination.

I looked at the Barlow's springs, and I agree with Bruce. They look too small for larger plastics. You can make your own by wrapping some spinnerbait wire around a 3/8" lag screw. That makes a coarse spring that works well for swimbait tails.

I let my wheel turn all night. The Etex is still slightly tacky in the morning when I turn the wheel off. I don't really handle it until 24hrs have passed. I don't know the exact cure time. It probably varies, depending on temperature. Go to the Envirotex website, and email Hilary Stephens there. She's their tech person, and can answer any questions you have. hstephens@eti-usa.com

Do you paint the lure lying on a flat surface? How do you hold the frame in place?

Jed, I meant the relieved area immediately behind the rear hook. As soon as you mentioned tail action, I figured out it must be relieved to give the back hook more room to swing. Beautiful lures.

I use something like the blue part of the bobber stoppers Dinkmaster posted. After I screw my hitchhiker into the ribbit, and clip it onto the hook eye, I slip the bobber stopper onto the point, and push it around until it's just past the bend. Then I texpose the hook through the ribbit's bottom, and push the bobber stopper back down around the bend until it snugs up against the underside of the ribbits bottom. I push it up until the ribbit has a sway back a little. That seems to force the nose up so it swims right side up without adding any weight, and it also makes the legs a little more active, since they're forced up as well.

Clemmy, This is getting pretty deep. Better break the rubber boots. Next thing you'll tell me the motion causes morning sickness. )

Jed, How does the "scallop" of the bait behind the last hook hanger affect the bait?

Bruce, That's great! My older kids go out with me now when they're visiting (probably afraid to miss the chance before I croak), but my soon-to-be 13 year old daughter, who used to go, says she hates fishing, and will never set foot on the boat again. I guess I'll have to wait until she goes to college before she'll go out again.

I read somewhere that a short piece of the fiber optic cable is glued into a through hole, from one side of the bait to the other, to allow passage of light through it, creating a shifting eye flash. I read it, but I haven't done it.

I know this isn't a hardbait issue, exactly, but Lake Casitas in Ojai, CA., is probably the premier big bass lake in SoCal, and that's where I, and a lot of my fellow nutcases, throw big hardbaits for big bass. The Ventura County water department, in their infinite wisdom, are proposing to close Casitas to public boating to prevent the introduction of the invasive Quagga mussel. The mussel has turned up in some other SoCal lakes, and the Ventura people think this is the way to stop it from coming to Casitas. Here's an article from a local paper about it: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/20/quagga-mussel-threat-puts-focus-on-lake-casitas/ As the article points out, all of the other SoCal lakes are watching what happens at Casitas before they make their decisions concerning whether or not to close their lakes to stop the mussel's spread. There are only a handful of bass lakes available to fishermen in SoCal as it is, so the danger of having nowhere to fish is real. The guy mentioned in the article, Ron Cervanka, who has spearheaded the keep the lake open movement, such as it is, has been fishing for bass competitively for ever. He, Dick Trask, and Don Iovino (the godfathers of finesse fishing and sonar use) used to fish together. He's no alarmist. He's a cop. And if he says there's a real danger of the lakes all being closed, then the threat is real. He's started a "Clean and Dry" campaign with all the bass circuits in SoCal, to spread the word about our responsibility as anglers and boaters to help prevent the mussels' spread. But it may not be enough. The next public meeting of the water district, during which they may vote to close the lake, is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb.13th, at 4:30 pm. The site is not confirmed yet, due to the huge amount of attendance of local opposition people to the last meeting. They say they're trying to get a larger hall to accommodate everyone. But there's a chance that the water board members are going to have a private meeting before that, or at least one that's open to the public but announced with so little lead time that no organized opposition has time to present their case. They could well decide the lake's fate, and, with it, the fate of the local economies as well as boaters and anglers, without any meaningful input from the stakeholders, other than their own side. I don't think this is fair, or the right way to go about this. If you want to participate, you can email me at mpoulson47@sbcglobal.net and I will give you some contact info so you can make your feelings known.

Clemmy, I must have been confused with the 10" triple trout. Yeah, that's the ticket! ) I see some of the swim baits my friends and other guys out here in SoCal are throwing, and mine look small by comparison. )

Borderbass, I stand corrected. I just went out to the boat and measured it, and you're right, it's not 10", it's only 8 1/2". I guess I just don't know what 10" looks like. )

Great action. How deep does it run?

Geez, you're a tough crowd. All praise to John, too. I am not worthy. Alright, that's it. Now it's back to being the usual jerk!

All dust collectors are noisy. Try to put one outside the work area, and run a duct back in that you can branch off to different work areas, with manual gates to isolate the machine you're working with. I know there are some pretty sophisticated automatic gates out there, and automatic switching that comes on when the machine comes on, but, for a garage shop, manual is much easier to install and use. I made a dust collector out of two wall mount kitchen ventilators that I got off the job, VR1000 units, that I mounted high on my outside garage wall. They each move 1000 cubic feet of air per minute, and are much quieter than the commercial dust collectors. I boxed in the corner with plywood and caulking, and cut out the bottom of the box to fit a plastic trash barrel for the dust collection. I used solid metal duct piping, 6" main line, branching to 4" at the table saw, radial arm saw, oscillating sander, and one over the main work table to vacuum up dust as needed. I used to do a lot of cabinet work in the garage, and this really took the saw dust out of the air. Not hard to do. Don't over think it. If the ventilator fan moves air, it will suck up dust. Just make sure the duct terminates vertically with the outlet over the plastic trash can, and a screen and dust filter to keep any stuff from migrating back up to the exhaust fans. And don't forget disposable dust masks. You don't need a respirator, just something to stop dust. Unless you're spraying solvent based paint.

I was putting a small piece of plastic worm on the hook before I rigged the back, and then pushing it tight to the underside of the frog after rigging to give the frog a sway back rigging. That kept it from flipping 100 percent of the time. My partner gave me a plastic bobber stopper to try, and it works even better. Just thread it onto the hook before you rig the rear portion, and push it back against the frog until it has a slight sway back. It also helps increase the leg action. I'd rather not use a weighted hook if I can help it. The Ribbit Bull Frog is heavy enough by itself, even in the wind. I will use a weight if I'm fishing the smaller Ribbit, and it's windy, or the water is super clear and I need longer casts. But, generally, I can throw both weightless with 50lb braid.

Super!

Your idea and lure are great. I use that furnace tape at work, and can't imagine the patience you have! Great job.

Thanks, Vodkaman. Captsully18, all praise unto you, oh hallowed tip giver. Your partial cut through method of making jointed baits is THE BOMB! )

If I were you, I would take a look at some of the successful jointed swimbaits on the market for ideas. Can't hurt, and it may help you with general ideas about shape, segment lenghts, and hook placements.

Ah, Magoo, you've done it again! ) Another great lure, Nathan.

I caught 1 1/2 lb bass on a 10" BBZ 1 swim bait in the spring. Big bass, and bass that want to get big, eat big baits. If you waters don't have trout, it doesn't matter. Bass eat anything they can get their mouths around. The general rule of thumb is 1/3 their body length, but, in the spawn, they will attack anything that gets near their beds. And out here in SoCal, where rainbow trout are planted during the colder months, big baits work. Guys out here throw 12" swim baits and get BIG fish. And those swim baits are perfect for big strippers.