mark poulson Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I threw my triple fish copy yesterday at Lake Castaic in SoCal, in a rainstorm, and caught my first fish on it, a 6.77 beauty. What a thrill! I've caught bigger fish, but this is the biggest on one of my home made lures, and the first on one of my jointed baits. I am waiting for my friend to email me the photo, and then I'll try to post it (no promises, you know I'm internet illiterate). The lure is a 7" had body, 4 section, with a 2" triple trout tail, painted in pearl silver/ med green back/misted with pink fuchsia, and larger black spots. It floats almost completely submerged, and doesn't roll, even on a fast retrieve. I was using a med. fast retrieve, throwing it tight to rock walls and points. I caught the fish on a wind blown point. I was fishing yesterday because I am the weighmaster for Mike Iljin's Angler's Choice Castaic Trial, and I fish for fun after launch and before weighin. I was stoked. Bill Siemental and Troy Lindner won the tournament. Bill said he was throwing swimbaits, and Troy was "doing other stuff". They won big fish with a 6.5 lb swimbait fish, so my fish was bigger. What a kick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazmail Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Congratulations Mark, you're on your way, theres no turning back now.pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Great news! I hope you'll post photos of the lure too. Remedial question for you: just how exactly does a swimbait achieve its action? I just got a Spro BBZ-1 from a guy, and played with it a bit on the weekend. Looks awesome! But for the life of me, I can't figure out HOW it actually achieves its motion...any insights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazmail Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Vodkaman will be right onto this, hydrodynamics, pressure variation, vortexes, he's the man to tell us !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hang on to your hat and get out the calculator. pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Congratulations, man wish I could fish for bass, our water is frozen with 10 inches of snow on top of it! RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted January 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I think (dangerous, I know) that the water moving past the sides of the swimbait creates the movement, as the water hitting the joints deflects, like a sail, and makes the water swirl as it passes the bait. The pieces are pulled to one side or the other, and once the bait starts to move, the water forces each piece back the other way. A vicious cycle, kind of. I also have a BBZ1 floater, and have caught a lot of fish on it. It shines in the spawn and post spawn, when the bass are most aggressive or have their feed bag on. I can't burn it as fast as a triple trout, so I don't throw it as a reaction bait in the wind. I'll post a picture as soon as I can. I did find out that coating the faces of the joints separately from the main body is a bad idea. The epoxy peeled off the joint faces. I'm going to dig the hinge pins out, re coat the pieces completely using the coat hanger trick posted here earlier today, and then, when it's reassembled, I'll photo it and post it, if I can. Pete, I am not making these to sell, but it is a very compelling hobby. I used to make my own shakey heads, and paint them, but this is way more addicting. And fun. RM, If it's any consolation, last Friday I was a voluteer observer at the first Heavyweight Bass Classic, put on by Ron Cervanka, John Barron, and Ken Huddleston (the swimbait guy) at Lake Casitas in Ojai, CA. One angler and one observer per boat, 50 boats, $200 buy in, $10,000 winner take all for biggest fish. Almost all of the best big fish guys from California, North and South, were there. At safe light launch, it was 40+degrees, 20mph winds, and light rain. That developed during the day to 40- degrees, 35-30mph winds, driving rain and hail. I was never so happy for 2:45 second flight weighin to come! Seven+ hours standing in the back of the boat, watching someone else fish in lousy weather, and a tough bite (Floridas don't like cold fronts) was miserable. My angler caught eight fish, fished hard all day, and had a 10+ follower on a swimbait early, but his biggest was 3.71lbs. The winner was Don Osborne, from NoCal, throwing a 12" Castaic swimbait. He stuck a 10.5lb beauty. He said he caught it on his first cast, third crank of the reel. He also said he'd called the lake and found out that they were planting 12" trout. No one else threw a 12" bait. Sharp guy. Anyway, it was cold, but not snowing. My friend was an angler and was the leader in the hot seat for 45 minutes with a 7+lb jig fish, until Don weighed in. He said at one point his boat was white with hail. That's cold enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
338muskie Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Thats Great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicstick Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Congrats on the bait and the fish. 6 allmost 7 lbs thats a solid fish you must have been stoked. Hey if i were you i would let that bait be and make another one or six! Right on. Cant wait to see the pics. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjbass Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Congrats and great story..... Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Pete, I do have ideas on what makes the movement, but not totally convinced as yet. It would not be fair to publish until I was confident about the theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourbizzle Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Right on Mark! I was at the HBC too. That was a pretty cool event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 fourbizzle, It was a great event. Genius concept. I won't go up to Clear Lake for the next one, but I'll sure do it again if it's local. Were you a VTO, or whatever they called us? I rode with Kyle Grover and had a great time. Cold or no, it was a blast. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockjaw Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Congrats! Looking forward to the pic. And it's pretty neat that you got to be an observer at HBC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourbizzle Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 No I just went down to fish after the event. I ended up just hanging around the cafe and helping setup and launch and load people. i'm gonna try to fish the clear lake one if i can get a spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I've never been to Clear Lake. My buddy who fishes with me on weekends has fished it, and so has our club pres. They both rave, and say it has to be fished before I die. Like Mexico. If I drive all the way up there, it will be to fish, not observe, and I'll need the $200 buy in money for gas. I'm cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Hey Mark, Congrats. on the fish!!..If you weren't hooked on building baits before..I know you are now..LOL..Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smirkplug Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 My free theory is that the front section always wants to pull to one side for the path of least resistance, then your line retrieve pulls it to the other side, then the line turns the front section back to the other side. The back sections just follow the previous front section turn !! REMEMBER; You get what you pay for !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted January 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Nathan, What a kick! The rain was driving, and the wind was howling, but I yelled "Yes" so loud, two guys in a Ranger stopped to check out my fish. I was grinning from ear to ear. I was working the AC Castaic tournment that Sunday for Mike Iljin as his weighmaster, and he posted that I caught a fish on my own hand carved swimbait on WesternBass.com's southern forum. Now I've got all my "friends" calling me to get one! Man, it's he!! to be popular. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 That is some tough fishing Mark. I don't start bass fishing until May here, it's too much work until they really start chasing lures. Jed V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted January 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Jed, Those conditions are rare. I don't like cold weather fishing. Last year, we launched our Feb. club tourney in 19 degree weather, and I wound up with frost bite on two fingers. Man, they hurt when it gets cold now, so I try to avoid cold like the plague. But I had made a commitment to help, so I was there. And since I was there, I figured I might as well fish. Sick, I know. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Well, I finally got a picture of my lure. I had to recoat it. My brilliant idea of coating the joint faces with 5 minute, and then putting the lure together and coating the rest, wasn't so brilliant. The 5 minute started peeling, so I pulled it off, repainted the joints with pearl silver, and recoated the whole thing with Envirotex, using the separated joint technique I saw here last week. It worked like a charm. Anyway, here's my weapon. I am still grinning like a newlywed. C:Documents and SettingsMarkLocal SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5OPHA6TRW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Oops. I'll try again. My daughter is now here to help me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Here's my bass version. They're both 7", plus another 2" for the triple trout tail. They're floaters, and don't roll, even if I burn them. Beginner's luck. Man, it's great to have a kid at home who knows how to do this stuff! I'm never letting her leave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Bugger! All I see is a couple of red X's. Is it my computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 I posted the trout lure in the gallery. Try there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
