littleriver

He was probably refering to his quest for a filament for the light bulb. He tried all kind of wild things before he found carbon filament.

I have never used the maple but plan on turning some on my lathe. I have even collected some from a few broken chairs. They use it for darters on surf lures for sure. Fir on your list of woods available would probably be better for carving and when a more buoyant bass lure is desired. Vic

Fred Young of OakRidge,TN was one of the first, if not the first, to use it on a modern crankbait in the 1960's &70's. His Big "O" set lure making in a direction of both shape and construction we are still using today. Check out the value of one of his handcrafted baits on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Fred-C-Young-Early-Big-O-Lure-RARE-Pin-Eyes-/280722153221?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415c581f05#ht_3555wt_754

Weight for one. Sensitivity when it hits something is another . Relative strength to thickness is a third. Great for many applications!

Ben, I am interested in purchasing some. How much depends on cost. But basically as much as I can afford. Vic

Dieter Thank you for sharing this great idea and taking the time to video it. Really answers many questions. I will be using it. I can never really cast far enough when chasing breakers or fishing from the bank. Vic

Thanks Patrick. I am hoping to catch a few with this.

Thank you. I hope your right. I will give it a go this spring.

Well put John. The "new" will always be exciting. Especially a winner. You know what I like best about this rig? The fact it has come from someone just like us. A little guy working in his garage or basement. Not some big lure manufacturer with engineers, assembly lines of mass production, sponsoring dozens of professional fishermen with millions of dollars at their disposal. No, just one man and an idea. He beat them all . How inspiring is that? Vic

Beautiful fish A-Mac! The expression on your face says it all. Good time for sure. Your "A- Rig" looks great and I bet even better when that bass was hanging from the end of it. Now that is confirmation. Well done! Vic

I use a version of these http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_13244_13244?cm_ite=15646&cm_pla=Hand%20Tools%3EPliers&cm_cat=Google&cm_ven=Aggregates I believe harbor freight has a version as well. They have been around a long time. I first used a pair in the Air Force 24 years ago. Army uses them to safety wire things on their equipment too. Probably every military branch uses these on their equipment. More expensive versions are available but the cheapies will do the job very well. You have a great deal of control with them. I have a nail hammered near edge of my work bench with head removed whose only job is to twist wire. I keep it covered when not in use. Vic

My experience is only a few months old. With that said, basswood is easier to carve in my opinion. No grain to fight while carving and is not as brittle and splinters easy while carving if your not careful. This means nothing to you until you actually have the knife in your hands with a piece of wood in front of you. I have tried cedar, balsa, oak, basswood and pine. I like basswood but it is very dense. BobP is exactly right on both counts. The wood used depends on desired bait and as a beginner it is best to pick something and stick with until you learn more. For me this wood is pine. Go to home depot or lowes and find the lightest , whitest, prettiest ( no knots ) pine 2x4 you can. Then proceed cutting it up as Gene describes. That is a lot of lures for $2.50 for a 8ft'er. Pine is teaching me carve. The wood has grain but is forgiving should you make a mistake. It is not as light as basla but much stronger and this is a good thing when you do not know what your doing. It does not smell as good as cedar but big chunks will not splinter off on you. Not as easy to carve as basswood but lighter, cheaper and nearly as tough. For the money, pine is a great buy and teacher in my opinion. I know you want to duplicate a lure but I have found it is ten times harder duplicating a lure than to just carve your own. Until your carving skills are improved, just carve some of your own designs close to the one your wanting to make. It is fun and you will be free to just carve and not under the gun to make something specific. You might even like the lure you create better. I just draw them out on the blocks of wood following Gene's tutorial. Much fun. Best of luck ! Vic

Gene your tutorial has helped me create many new baits. Thank you! I would like to add one little safety tip to it. As a beginner, I have learned the hard way. It is so basic that i hesitate to even post this but here it is. Recently I cut my hand while carving. Some cuts at the beginning may be expected but this one could have been avoided with good form. While carving with a knife it safest to carve just as Gene seen doing in his picture with arms resting on table. The reason for this is simple. If you should drop your knife while carving, it is natural to try and catch it. If your working on a table like Gene, not much can go wrong. The knife can not go far and neither can your hands. I was carving while sitting on a stool with nothing in front of me except my hands and the piece I was working on. When the knife slipped from my hand it landed butt down and blade up on my thigh. As i reached for the knife, I buried the blade in my hand. The sharpest longest carver i have. Luckily nothing important was cut. Only a flesh wound requiring a few stitches. I did however learn a very important carving lesson. Great tutorial Gene! I thank you every new bait i create with it. Vic

Hilarious! I could not stop laughing. As i was thinking four, he was pulling it out already. I too was amazed how well it cast. One of these would be great to have on the shop wall for inspiration and a laugh or two. Thank you for sharing the video LaPala. My wife still does not get it. Vic

I think so too. Looks great! Better than the original Alabama rig. Vic

Mine was a slow sinker even with nothing attached. Probably all that extra stainless. I also drilled a very large hole and filled it with stainless and two part epoxy. The body of my lure was made from Pine and for water protection was allowed to soak 24 hours in a 50/50 mix of linseed oil and mineral spirits. This too adds weight and there is a loss of buoyancy due to the oil being carried into the wood with the spirits. My future builds will be a smaller body. Not 100 percent positive but besides from being less buoyant, the fish chasing this lure will be more likely to attack the larger trailing targets. Vic

John the lure looks great! I have similar shape in the process to becoming a lure soon. My next build will be three wires too now I know the law. Those grubs are killer . Hope your son in law saves a few fish for me. Vic

Here it is. My first finished jerkbait. The lure is carved from pine. Untreated 2x4 before I cut it up. No ballast was used except for all those hooks and hangers. Thank you all for helping me make this lure and especially my lovely wife and children for being so patient. Vic

Your welcome John Just trying to keep my fellow Tennesseans out of trouble. It would be something called an Alabama rig to get me into trouble with water police. My friends would never let me forget it. Ft Loudon, your close. I live in Alcoa and am a Walland native. Look forward to seeing your lure. Vic

Found this today concerning Tennessee law on the rig. http://news.tn.gov/node/7994 According to the law only three lures may be attached with or without hooks.

How does it swim? Just a suggestion but you may want to put some swivels on the end of the wires. Free those grub bugs up a bit Love it ! Thanks