River Rat316

The easiest thing for you to do is look at basstackle.com or bearsbaits.com and figure out what molds you want, then pick through your plastics and pull out anything powerbait (seriously you will get a headache if you try and melt it) tear all your plastics into little chunks, throw it in a pyrex measuring cup, and slowly heat it up in a microwave, start with 1 minute increments and pull it out and stir after every beep. once ALL the plasric gets to the consistency fo syrup it is ready to pour or inject. There is a ton of info on the this site and others about making your own plastics, you could even go cheaper and make your own molds from baits you like or by cheaper silicone one sided molds from Lurecraft.com, I have aluminum, silicone and have a ton I have made myself with durhams watter putty, they all catch fish!

Don't discount those larger bucktails for smallies, we have a couple sections of river up here loaded with both Muskies and big smallies, and seems like there is days that smallies will attack a 8" bucktail with a vengeance!

Never throw them back in the lake, its littering and unsightly. As far as the article goes the only studies I have seen always have fish in an controlled environment, tank, pond, or something of that nature. I doubt it is as prevelant in a natural lake or river, I think (or hope maybe) that their would be alot less chance for a bass to pick up plastics in a natural lake or river setting. If everyone discards there plastics after use, or recycles or whatever then the chance goes down even farther, its up to us to keep it out of the lawmakers hands, given the chance they would legislate against plastics, they need to justify their job afterall

Shimano, better quality, better blank, better warranty, and better color...lol

Usually the "ticks" that are fish are followed by a different feel, either no weight (the fish moved forward with the bait) slight weight, or a dead weight, the fish stayed stationary with the bait or moved off to the side. If you are dragging the bottom you will feel the lure bump a rock or whatever then almost instantly regain contact with the lure, when a fish picks it up you just loose contact with the lure and most of the time feel nothing afterward, that is when you need to regain contact, usually reeling down until you start to feel weight there and then setting the hook. Having a decent rod will help you get used to the feel of bottom contact lures.

Those look good, the only way they improve is practice, and time on the water so you know more of what you want, my first jigs looked like poo compared to those. That is the aspirin head correct? Have you checked out the new tear drop head from do it? I have been tying my regular bucktails on that now and really like that jig, I don't pour the trailer keeper in it when I am using it to tie bucktails

Buy xr-50's ... problem solved

When it comes to soft plastics the price of plastisol has nearly doubled in the last 5 years so yes it makes a difference. You guys also need to keep in mind that when you are buying a Japanese lure that there has been alot of companies that have had their hands in the profits. The Manufacturer, the importer, the distributor, and the store, each needs to make a profit to stay in business. Every business needs to turn a profit or they will not be around for long.

1/8 ounce finesse jigs, with skirt and trailer probably weigh around a 1/4 oz though. I also pitch 4" beaver style baits on a 1/32 weighted hook, but they also weigh around a 1/4oz total. A 5" senko weighs close to a 1/2 ounce for weight comparisons. I do have a true 1/8 unskirted jig with the hook cut off that I pitch in the yard to drive my cats nuts in the spring, I tell my neighbors I am cat fishing...lol I don't have any problems pitching that, usually on my lighter pitching rig which is a 7'6" medium and this year gets upgraded to a curado e series instead of the Daiwa 150h its been rigged with

If you would learn how to fish a river you wouldn't have that problem, last time we fished together I used the same jig all day, mainly because my hands were to cold to retie and I forgot my others at home, but I still made a whole day on the same jig.

Swim jig flippin jig and a hand injected beaver style bait Those three accounted for over 80% of my fish. I didn't get a chance to fish much last year but this year I am teaching Vinny how to tie so he can sit in the shop and I can fish every day....lol

Owner has some if you don't want to tie your own

Really anytime, just like a t-rig, or soft plastic,or anything else. It should be just as much as a staple, if not more so for its versatility

? Are you talking like a stinger?

One thing about jigs that doesn't get talked about much is fall rate, I would suggest instead of going and getting a whole bunch of different colors of the same size of jigs, get a whole bunch of different weights of the same 3-4 colors of jigs that work in your area, usually a black and blue, some type of watermelon, and some type of green pumpkin. I find that the fall rate is usually key to getting bit, most of the time fish are hitting the jig on the fall, or directly after the fall. Sometimes they want a slower fall, and some times they want a faster fall. I have actually done better in tougher conditions with a faster fall, you are getting more of a reaction strike at that point. Otherwise my retrieve pretty much mimics Flukes for 75% of my jig fishing, its either the small hops, a sit and soak with shakes, or a slow drag, and occasionally a slow roll along the bottom.

I have talked with Kevin from BassTackle about putting that mold out, hopefully he does, would be nice to have one in like 4.5" or around there

You can also get your raw jig heads from my site, or Seibert outdoors, and we are both site sponsors. I will be running monthly specials every month of 2012 and January the raw jig heads are going to be the first special, I will post details on the 1st.

Yep, no real short cut here, and believe me I have tried them all, I am currently still glueing and then coating with an epoxy after wards, and I do thousands of jigs and spinnerbaits a year with eyes. If you want your eyes to stay on for longer than a few fish or casts even this is the only way to go.

Rattle Strap Collars

Wow,horrible news,my thoughts and prayers are with his family!

Hahhh, I was just looking at those baits thinking that you must be a smallie fisherman, then I saw it in your profile under your avatar. I always love cleaning out the garage and finding old treasures and stuff you forgot you even bought!

Tin is more$$$$ per pound tungsten is $71 and can not be produced by the average home guy

$20 a pound for Bismuth, I get my lead for well under $1 per pound.

I agree, I don't think you are going to get to many unconventional answers, and if its pressured there probably isn't much they haven't seen, but that doesn't mean they won't bite. The things I would throw are hair jig, finesse jig, lightly t-rigged tube, jerk bait (pointer 78), if there is any open water, shakey head with a small 4' straight tail worm, and a small spinnerbait slow rolled along the structure. Some things they haven't seen is probably bigger jigs like mop style jigs and I would throw those also.

Lazy Ike is what I think they were called, the really old ones are the best, I don't throw them much but have caught a bunch of fish on them, including up until a couple years ago my pb largemouth.