fish-fighting-illini

Catt, I didn't check out Barlow's all that well the first time but I went back and checked it again. I did see a name brand section this time. I checked out 4" Senkos vs BPS and same price. I ddin't see any crank baits or spinnerbaits unless I'm missing something. I did se some topwaters and some swim type baits. I don't fish a lot of plastics other than swimbaits so I'm not well versed on good deals for those.

Ok OK we got way off track compared to what I was originaly asking about. Perhaps the title was misleading so I changed it. What I was wanting was not opinions on good lure values. I was wanting to know if someone had found a particular place(s) (preferedly online for equal availability) that seem to sell namebrand or knock off lures or any fish producing lures consistently cheaper than buying at your average place. Somebody mentioned Barlow's that's probably legit as a source for some soft plastics but most of their stuff is for building lures. I just figured as an example that somebody might have found soemone who sells Fluke's cheaper than somebody else maybe. The_Natural metioned Academy for instance but they are not in my area but that might help out someone else. Why pay $10 for the exact lure that someone else sells for $6 all things being equal of course. Does this make more sense?

It was at a very small lake in the QC's. I'd rather keep it at that for now as the lake is extremely small. Everybody and their brother would be up their fishing for a trout and I'd like to keep it quiet so pops can go their quietly in the spring and maybe catch a bass or 2. Sorry about being greedy just wanting pops to get out and have some fun. I will tell you though that he caught it on the Storm swimbait that I bought him with the new rod. You ought to try those in 3 or 4" out at lake George. I don't think a lot of people use them and they are only around 50c ea.

Hey Natural I've got a dumb question what's Academy? I've never heard of it.

I was fishing from the bank with a Mitchell 308x with about 8lb test and a Berkley ML rod. Something hit my Smithwick Rouge and made a hard parallel run with the bank then back the other way. Then takes a right turn and heads straight out toward the deep. I was on a cell phone with no hands and my buddy could hear the line zipping out. I panicked thinking I would run out of line and started to feather it with my fingers. Shortly after the line broke. I never got a look at it and don't know how big it was but this lake does have several 8 & 9 lber's in it. My pb is only 4lbs so I'm still bummed out over it.

I *** you as you have your own personal fishing buddy. We had 5 and all were girls. So far 4 out of the 5 are not into fishing. Oh well with 6 females in the house fishing is a must to get away from the nuttyness. Congrats.

From Andalusia I see JT. I am in Washington IL near Peoria. but I grew up in the QC's in MIlan. I used to work at the Cinemas and umpired a lot in Milan. We got to know a lot of kids from Rockridge. We were up in Moline visiting my parents yesterday and just went to a small pond for dad to try out the reel. Neither of us had ever caught or even seen a rainbow trout before so it was cool. I'm determined to get back someday and fish Lake George. Now that I know how to fish a little better and have a small boat it might be a little easier. Is that lake still tuff? We could never get squat out of that lake.

Illinois dead of winter 52 deg day - free Gander Mountain guide series rod and reel for 70 year old dad's christmas present $50 The look on dad's face as he reeled in a 16" rainbow trout while trying out the new rod / reel - PRICELESS!

Has anyone found an online supplier who seems to offer decent lures at a bargain basement price? For lets say spinnerbaits & crankbaits and in general.

I made 100 spinnerbaits to sell and I bought everything from Barlow's. Watch the total cost shipping can kill you so you only want to order all your stuff from one place and only 1 order if possible.

I'm not a huge Crappie fisherman but when I fish for them I use the Berkley gulp crappie nibbles, Roadrunner or RR type spinner jigs ( small mariboo 132 or 1/16 oz type jigs with the spinner that rides under the jig. I also use waxworms at certain times of the year.

Well I broke the jinx. Went today and bite was slow but caught a 2lb bass and one respectable crappie. At least the winter jinx is off, now with added confidence who knows what can happen. It did get to 53 deg air temp so that is cheating a little but much better than I've done on mid winter warm days before so I'll take it.

I don't believe he works on Pflueger's because neither parts nor schematics are available to him. Check with him before you go sending it in.

Hillbilly your reply for the record was very tactful and definately "the high road".

Hey bow3022 I don't mean to blast ya but I've had 3 Mitchell 308's and 2 failed almost right out of the package. I still have one and it does cast smooth and I have caught quite a few nice fish on it. The Mitchell sounds like a meat grinder compared to my Pflueger President. I think the Mitchell's retail for 40 or $50 so for $10 more I go with the President for $60, or a Symetre or a Medalist in the $80 range. I think no matter what reel you have their are going to be some lemons. I think a lot of people have had success with Pfluegers and I think it was MKtrout and another or 2 who had a bad one. Their have been a post or 2 against Shimano quality as well. Sometimes its the luck of the draw but I'm on my 3rd Mitchell gone bad or running noisy so I'd steer clear.

I'm no expert but if I'm not mistaken don't spinning rods have larger guides than casting? At least the first one is quite a bit bigger I think. The reason I believe is becasue of how the line comes off of the reel. As far as action I'm not sure of the difference. reel placement might be soemwhat different as spinning is usualy a lot longer reel than a BC. I'm guessing that it throws off the balance. Great question always wondered myself. It'll be interesting to read the feedback.

Thanks after I replied I did a little checking online and your spec's sounded about right. I would still like the Minnkota deal though for reference. So pm it is. I never could get to a spec page when I went to their page a while back. Thanks for the input case closed.

Stratos something just doesn't seem right. Are those actual spec's you posted for 12v trolling motors? I don't have anything to go on but from my motor repair background they seen somewhat high. My trolling motor is original and I'm positive that the wires going through the foot switch are 12-14ga or less. These things are just basicaly very small motors untill you get up to the 48v 65lber's I would think. The 48v's in theory have to draw much less current than a 12v for a given thrust rating. I just wouldn't think a battery would last long pulling a constant 30 to 40 amps but maybe so. Do they list recommended fuse or breaker size for a given thrust motor?

man was I off track the whole time. I've been talking spinnerbait colors and your first post said jigs. Sorry about that but I bet it still applies as every bass fisheman talks about blue/black Mice job on the baits

Black and Red did do well at one lake. I sold lures to like 4 different people and all of them did best on Red/Black. I have also had grreat luck with Blue/Black the biggest fish by far. It seems to depend a lot on the lake just like for any other bait. Depending on your skirt material they recommend sometimes using a half section x 2 colors or even 1/3 section x 3 to make multi colored.

Dink has a point about the ball bearings but some of it comes down to budget. If you just want to make a some for yourself that is one thing. If you want to make something to sell it is another. A size 10 roller swivel is 3.89 for qty 50 plus $1.75 per 50 for split rings, a size 2 ball bearing is $20.44 for 50 . When I did the split rings I bought standard gauge and I could not put them on by hand. I sent them back and bought Barlow's fine gauge and I installed all 100 with snap ring pliers that I already had. The heavier gauge is for say the pull eye of a crank bait. Their is a website somewhere that has a list of approx what size components for what size lure. I will try to hunt it down if it still exists. I made all 100 of mine single colorado to hold down the cost. I bought pre-made, prepainted spinner bait heads with built in wireforms. I just bent the wire through one end of the swivel and attached the other end to the blade via a split ring. A quick look at Jannescraft looked like they were cheaper on the heads but I ran into that this place cheaper on something and another on something else but might have expensive shipping. Watch it as the bait monkey bites hard with types of blades, finishes, head colors, skirt colors etc. LOL In my opinion you need to sit down and decide what you want to do, IE make for profit or just some for yourself. Then what do you want to make 1/8/ 1/4, 1/2 oz ? Then do your homework. You might want to buy enough to buy 100 and maybe just pick up other blades to experiment with. Gander mountain and many others has some components but they are way more expensive to do volume. Another option is to just buy some mid or low priced units and just buy some blades and skirts for experimenting. I found the website or one that is close enough. http://www.luremaking.com/catalogue/download_guide.htm Let me know how your project turns out.

Their are some questions you need to ask yourself first. What ype of waters are you going to fish? If it is fast moving rivers then the answer is different than small tiny trolling motor only lakes. Do you have room for a boat with a trailer? Is it going to be stored indoors or out? make sure if indorrs that you have room for the boat plus the trailer's tounge. And so oon. Don't forget the small stuff adds up. Boat reg, lisc's, trailer lic, maybe yearly lake fees, ropes, anchors, batteries, lights (?), paddles of some sort, extinguisher (s), trolling motor, fish finder etc etc. Just make sure that you do your homework. just my 2cents worth ( more like $500 worth) LOL

No offense but one thing it says is I'm selling the spinnerbaits I made at a very reasonable price. Even at the outdoor places if you don't mind generic you can buy some decent color choices. Then just buy your own blade if you want ( easy to change) and save quite a bit. You can buy and change skirts easy as well. I'd bet money tht the pros do this with top quality spinnerbaits more so to save space but yet to have any color available at any time. If cost is no problem then that website is very sweet.

I did a lot of research looking at making these for a profit. Barlow's to me was the most cost effective hands down. Make sure you watch the shipping costs they can make or break you if it matters. its easy to get carried away on color combinations on skirts, blades, jig heads you name it. I personaly wouldn't mess with the molding as that sounds like a lot of work. I just bought the ready made wire forms already painted with the hook and jig already made up. One of the sites above I think has a chart for size of blade for size of lure etc but Barlow's did me well and had quality product. Tip#1 watch the guage/ dia of the split rings for holding brgs and blades it makes a huge difference in ease of assembley. Tip #2 based on my experience I'm just going to probably buy Walmart $1 lures and buy from Barlow's the skirt combos I want and change out, but that's not for everybody.

Blue and Black I've made and sold quite a few spinnerbaits and I use blue/black and have caught my biggest fish on them. I've sold quite a few colors and the people with the blue black have done the best including 4 4lbers and 1 6lber in only the first 3 months. A lot depends on the lake but the blue / black has worked for several people all at different lakes.