Mbirdsley Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) Along with making my own jigs. I also make my own inline spinners. These are with out a doubt my most consistant fish catchers all year round ( i dont really fish the rivers in the winter as it gets really cold here and they freeze up. Also, we cant use artificial lures from march 15th and april 15 to allow walleye and pike to spawn) in the three rivers that are near me that I fish, the Shiawassee River, south fork of the Bad river, and the Maple. I have caught numerous small mouth, large mouth, Northern Pike, Channel Cats, and walleye. Most of the componats are from mudhole, but im switching to somewhere else. Takes far to long to get what was ever ordered and shipping is costly. The painted fire tiger blades and the all white blades came from lure parts online. The black blades and bodies I have been dipping in powder paint but, I have only had limited success with this technique. So I bought all black blades from lure parts online but havn't built any of those. I dont have a wire jig so all of the bends and loops are done by hand as shown in the 1st picture. The dont look the preattiest but they get the job done. In the near future Im going to invest in a wire jig to clean up the bends and loops. hope you enjpy Edited February 3, 2015 by Mbirdsley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I think they look good. Love the color combinations and that your catching fish with your own creations. Really cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucktail2 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I like the fire tiger blades and the green tails. Those work well here. Do you tie your own bucktails and feathers? Also, if you're planning on doing your own powder coating, I have to say that it was not going well for me until I got the fluid bath. It's still challenging but the more I practice the better they keep coming out. I do brass bodies, blades, beads, worm weights... If you can heat it to 350 and it doesn't burn or melt, you can paint it. And what's really nice is if you mess up a body or a blade, you just soak it in paint stripper for 20 minutes and the paint comes off pretty easily. I love the painting part now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljaw Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I've been doing them as well, but I still have a lot to learn. Nice work, love the brass bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I like the fire tiger blades and the green tails. Those work well here. Do you tie your own bucktails and feathers? Also, if you're planning on doing your own powder coating, I have to say that it was not going well for me until I got the fluid bath. It's still challenging but the more I practice the better they keep coming out. I do brass bodies, blades, beads, worm weights... If you can heat it to 350 and it doesn't burn or melt, you can paint it. And what's really nice is if you mess up a body or a blade, you just soak it in paint stripper for 20 minutes and the paint comes off pretty easily. I love the painting part now. Yes i tie my own dressings on the treble hooks. the colored ones are maribou and the brownsih are sqiurrel tail. Best luck has been with squrriel tail. I have some tails from some squirrels I shot from fall that are drying and are the best i have found. Silver blades and bodies work better on sunny days and brass better on cloudy around here. the Fire tigers work during the summer in cloudy water for small mouth and Northern pike. No fluid bed yet I had been just warming up in the toaster oven and dunking them. Than, putting them back into toaster oven to cure. I mean they fish but, dont look the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I've been doing them as well, but I still have a lot to learn. Nice work, love the brass bodies. These are the first fishing lures that I built. Only reason i started doing it was becasue a number #2 or #4 mepps is $5-$6 dollars a piece and the river eats a lot of them. Im learnig all the time. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucktail2 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I've fished forever but I just started making lures a year ago, Feb 20. That's the day I quit smoking. I had been looking for over a year for a specific lure that had been my confidence lure but it was discontinued and I couldn't find a perfect replacement. I was looking on e-bay for the lure and saw that you could buy just parts I needed a distraction anyway so I decided to try to make it myself. I found my niche! Now I focus almost exclusively on inline spinners, 7" and bigger for musky. I'm trying to learn everything I can about how to make them AND how they're used. I figure the more I know about how to use them the better I'll be at building ones that catch. I say I'm self-taught but that's not true. Whenever I run into a problem that's more specific than just the general "how-to", I've always found the support and answers from the knowledgeable and helpful people on this site. As just one perfect example - if it weren't for "cadman" and the painting tutorial he created and generously shared, there's no way I'd be doing the things I am with powder paints now. It's also a great place to get the creative juices flowing. Check out the gallery. You'll marvel at the artistry and craftsmanship of the members. You can't help but walk away saying "wow, I want to try to make one like that". Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter1 Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Good looking baits and nothing beats a homemade bait that is getting bit. I used to catch smallmouth in Canada with inline spinner but haven't been able to get them to work on our Ozark reservoir fish. Not yet anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I've fished forever but I just started making lures a year ago, Feb 20. That's the day I quit smoking. I had been looking for over a year for a specific lure that had been my confidence lure but it was discontinued and I couldn't find a perfect replacement. I was looking on e-bay for the lure and saw that you could buy just parts I needed a distraction anyway so I decided to try to make it myself. I found my niche! Now I focus almost exclusively on inline spinners, 7" and bigger for musky. I'm trying to learn everything I can about how to make them AND how they're used. I figure the more I know about how to use them the better I'll be at building ones that catch. I say I'm self-taught but that's not true. Whenever I run into a problem that's more specific than just the general "how-to", I've always found the support and answers from the knowledgeable and helpful people on this site. As just one perfect example - if it weren't for "cadman" and the painting tutorial he created and generously shared, there's no way I'd be doing the things I am with powder paints now. It's also a great place to get the creative juices flowing. Check out the gallery. You'll marvel at the artistry and craftsmanship of the members. You can't help but walk away saying "wow, I want to try to make one like that". Ill have to check that out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don53 Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 not bad baits.i also make my own but get my supplies from Janns Netcraft,great products ,fast service.i also invested in the twistech wire former(75.00) and i use .31 gauge wire,order a catalog from Janns,its free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted February 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) not bad baits.i also make my own but get my supplies from Janns Netcraft,great products ,fast service.i also invested in the twistech wire former(75.00) and i use .31 gauge wire,order a catalog from Janns,its free. That is the very wire former I was looking at. Do you think it is work the 75 dollars? No, next time I buy componants for making spinners it will be through Janns. they are fast at shipping and shipping is cut in half. the reason i orderd through Mud hole is becasue you could by a kit for 15 dollars to make 10 or 12 ( they say you can make 20 but never ends out that way) and its just a hodge podge of componants of nickle and broze. which, was cool because it gives you everything. but, its like they will give you so much of one componant in the big size but skimp on the same compomant in the smaller size. Edited February 8, 2015 by Mbirdsley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don53 Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 yes sir i do think its a good investment if you are gonna make a bunch of in line spinners.i make a ton of them,and the twistech former is great and very simple to use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 yes sir i do think its a good investment if you are gonna make a bunch of in line spinners.i make a ton of them,and the twistech former is great and very simple to use That is good to know. I don't make a ton of them. But, as i need them. They fish the way I make them now. But, being able to clean up the bends would be nice. After i get my taxes back i plan putting in a substantial order to Janns and this will be one of the items. What length of wire works best if i were to use a straight piece of wire or closed eye-lid wire? Also they make kit to covert it to a higher gage of wire if need be? Only reason I asked this because I would like to make some big inline spinners for Lake Michigan lake trout. They would probably be about the same size as a muslky lure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Twistech is the way to go. I bent 3000 pieces of .040 wire last week for A rigs. I always wanted a Hagen's wire former and the guy I help out has one. I tried it and I'll stick with my Twistech. He's going to shelve the Hagen and go Twistech too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbirdsley Posted February 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Twistech is the way to go. I bent 3000 pieces of .040 wire last week for A rigs. I always wanted a Hagen's wire former and the guy I help out has one. I tried it and I'll stick with my Twistech. He's going to shelve the Hagen and go Twistech too. thats a lot of twisting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
