blazt*

Side note: anybody notice how nobody puts out a bluegill scent? Now that I think about it, it's probably because you aren't allowed to throw bluegill into your big industrial fish blender thing because they're gamefish.

You just sold me. I'm going to try it on your recommendation. If you say you believe in it then I guess I believe in it, at least for now. I usually fish Shad Assassins (rather than Senkos) and struggle to get more than 2 fish out of a bait. Maybe this'll help out with durability. The spare change saved is something...but the time I spend rigging these just right so they'll catch fish is something else! My garlic tolerance is low. My SK 3x lizards are bad enough. Might have to check out that shad/ anise flavor. Have you tried crawfish? If you have, does it stink? I always tell people you can't outrun a bass with your lure. One day, standing on the bank, I saw a small bass dart about 15 feet from a dead standstill, crush a minnow, turn on a dime, dart back 15 ft to his resting spot precisely, and come to a dead stop. All within the span of a fraction of a second - maybe 1/25 or so if I was forced at gunpoint to guess.

You see a lot of talk on forums and articles in bass rags about scents, and it usually terminates something like "bass can't smell oil in water, because oil is not water soluble" or "those droplets aren't small enough for bass to detect". Most admit that, with a good scent, bass will hold on longer. But isn't it possible bass and other gamefish can taste the trail of oil in the water as they take water into their mouths and it passes out the gill? I've notice bass tend to start doing this as they approach a lure (that hasn't been hit with scent), sometimes even snapping the jaws a bit. I have NEVER heard or read anything about this line of thinking...how bass might taste the attractant from a few feet away. Could this induce a strike? Because what really matters is results on the water: whether a good scent will put more bass in the boat. Not whether remaining in the "theory A" box would logically seem to lead to the probably of more bites. I've been thinking about maybe getting a bottle of Kick 'n Bass, or maybe some Bang or megastrike. Been having a hard time deciding because a lot of the talk on forums sounds like a paid endorsement for brand x, and I'm not sure how low brand x would stoop to boost their product. A lot of it just seems a bit suspicious, like they are actually trying to sell it for somebody!

NEVER buy a rod or reel made from soft plastic!

I wouldn't worry too much about 3d eyes affecting the action. I never have liked Rapala eyes. I would just drill the eye sockets a little deeper so the eye is nearly flush when installed.

Isn't the DT a through - wire bait? I mean is it made of 2 halves, glued together? Could they be seperated somehow at the seam?

I wish I could do the whole thing as well as you do. I just don't get along with the method. Maybe I'll give it another shot, someday. A long ways off from today.

Problem is you never see a top profile in run of the mill stock photos, which I would need. I spent a lot of time on working with profile pics before I gave up on it. Mega pain. I mean I'm an experienced am photographer but just found it too hard. Having a printed out photo of a traced outline was so much easier to work from because there was much stronger contrast and it just wasn't so hard on the eyes. My pics always seemed to be off center a bit compared to either a trace (photo'd , then printed) or photos of a split bait laid nicely flat on its side. I think I've seen the DT pics you're talking about - are they like an X- ray? Maybe if took the time to dig out my good camera I might get better results, but If you happen to run across the pic, could you post it? Do you know if the plastic ballast shell thing has a seam going around the center? Do you think splitting a balsa bait would be otherwise not a problem if it weren't for the plastic piece?

Sorry, no longer for sale. Thanks.

Heh Heh, just had to do a slight continuation of the old "Duplicating Plastic Cranks...Out of Wood?" thread because I have a Rapala DT and other wooden baits I'd like to copy. Splitting a plastic bait down the seam (left behind by the molding process) and tracing or photographing the profile is easy enough, but I'm not sure how to approach these wooden baits. What I want to do is split the bait lengthwise down the center, trace out the side profile, the split again down the side at the centerline to produce four quarters. This way both side and top profiles can be photo'd or traced, my choice, because stabilizing and centering a bait with rounded sides for a photo proved to be so tedious I gave up on it. Anyhow...is there a preffered method for splitting a wooden crank into quarters without removing so much material (as I'm afraid a saw would do) that the dimensions actually get a little smaller? I don't have any power tools to speak of. Probably need a redneck method here. I could sand down half the side of the bait until it reached the center, but that would eliminate the possibility of getting four quarters. Any ideas appreciated.

I think he's too good to burn out - probably just a slump.

Kids seem to have a born love for fishing and fishing tackle. I pull a jig out of my box, or a crank, and sure enough if kids are around they are mesmerized. Girls and boys. They forget where they were going! So what are we doing wrong, then? I'm sure most households with casual fisherman probably made the fishing license and all the tackle the first thing to go from the budget, so it must be at least partially due to the economy. But I do wonder to what extent our sportman heritage is sliding downhill. jerryg, VERY interesting reading on that link you posted. I read some, I'll have to get into it more later.

I don't know about that. America is chock full of sportsmen. But what we need is awareness, then action! But awareness must come first. Like I said: a watchdog group. Sounds like we fell asleep a bit, and were tied to the ground whilst napping.

Wow. Sh*t.

Dunno. I just cut up whatever sinkers I have on hand and stuff them into the belly. I am the mad hacker. 1/8 oz, give or take? Doesn't work real great.

If you are set up to do repaints, you might strip one of your LC jerks down to clear plastic to determine where the rattle chambers are and how many. Then, drill out another identical model with the paint and clear left on (since both affect buoyancy), taking away as many balls as needed from each chamber, so you don't mess up the balance. You may have to swap the stock size balls for a smaller size or some combination of removing and swapping sizes. If you don't have an industrial supply try a good bicycle shop, they often sell them by the piece. You might want to mark the temp the bait suspends at on the back, it will only suspend within a range of a few degrees. A bait that suspends at 45 might sink slowly at 50. Colder water is denser, so it "holds the bait up" better. A bait that floats very slowly at 45 might suspend at 50. Now, if you just want them to run shallower, I don't have the answer to that. I have replaced jerkbait bills with my own to make them run deeper with good results, converting shallow models to 15 foot runners, cutting bill slots at different angles than stock. But I've never just shaven down a bill. Have you tried adding weight to a square bill so that it has a very slow rise? My experience is they hardly get bit out of the box in cold water, add weight and you're catching bass. They really thump it, too. A lot easier than getting a jerk to suspend!!! A weighted square bill will get hung a lot less than even a floating jerk, too. You'll like those lure retrievers. If you don't attach a line to it you'll prolly get 4-5 baits back for every plug knocker lost in the lake, but that's a lot of lucky craft money.

Why jerkbaits? I would shift my strategy a bit. If the water is stained, not muddy, and the fish are that shallow the bite can't be too bad nor the water too cold. If the entire pond is that shallow it probably holds no bass. If it were me I would throw square bills, slow sinking lipless cranks (lift and drop - for some reason this catches bigger fish). Maybe a chatterbait. Soft jerk baits such as the Lunker City Fin-s Fish or Shad Asassin by Bass Assasin as the water warms near 60. I like to rig them with both the hook eye and knot buried in the bait for fishing through scum. If you have a scummy bottom in your way, and your cranks are always getting slimed, lipless cranks would probably work well. Just lift the rod tip before they hit bottom. I apologize if this veering off topic, as you probably want your baits to suspend anyway, but I would save the Pointers and whatnot for deeper, clear water. The only time I would fish those is when you have murky water and a warming trend. The bait and bass will suspend in the warm top foot or three of water, sometimes near the middle of a cove, and you can kill them with a shallow diving jerk during these times. If you want a lure retriever that will work from the bank, get some of these. I have tried them and they work: Also you might ask local bass pros and see if somebody can teach you the bowstringing technique - once you get the hang of it you can get 90% or more of your stuck baits back.

You might go to predator baits and check out the pics of unpainted cranks. Most of them are transparent, and the ballast can be seen through the plastic. Good way to get ideas.

Sounds like I just got shot down. But I still can't ignore the siren call: 1) Were you able to get the bait to run right? Or did you drop the project for some other reason? 2) Was the lip pretty much the reason for the trouble - ie; it wouldn't swim without a countoured lip? Because I don't want to get into the heating-lips-and-bending-them business, either. Maybe I should just aim for a DT copy. But I still need a good deep to midrange crank for stained, cold water. Could be modifying the KVD to go deep is the answer, instead.

Hmmm. I'd like to make some basswood Wiggle Warts. The Series 6 I had talked about just isn't getting bit right now, and I'm throwing it where I know there are fish. But I wonder about the "Original Wiggle Wart" that Rapala has on the shelves these days vs. the vintage baits produced under the Storm name - minus the hunt, is the action the same? Would the new "Original" be worth copying, as I could probably make it hunt and they are easily had? It seems to be common knowledge that there are numerous differences between old and new, such as the density of the plastic. So I must wonder if they wobble the same. I'm not sure which one I'd be better off working from, but I want to work from a bait that will give me a clear idea of what to aim for, behaviour - wise. I've only fished or tested fewer than a half dozen of these, all silent models. The 2.5 autopsied for this project hunted the least, requiring a faster retrieve to get it going, although the entire handful of 1.5s and 2.5s I've thrown have hunted. I have the feeling Strike King is building a conservative range of instability into these, without getting too close to the edge. I really can't say whether there are many duds that blow out or nonhunters, because it's not like I have gone through a hundred of these. Maybe the rattling version might be more prone to untuneability out of the pack.

Yes the Brush Baby has a somewhat bulky bill. Not really that big but there are "brush cams" (little lobes on either side) that may increase the resistance and the end of the bill is bent at an angle. Ballast is right behind or right beneath the hanger.