smalljaw67

Why not simply buy one? Rat-L-Trap makes a floating version and I know there are baits out there with no rattles as well.

No!! Travis doesn't know that river good enough that time of year as he has only been out with guides during decent conditions. If water is high it is very dangerous if you don't know the river extremely well. It is one thing when you

When I make bass size jig spinner (beetle spin) wire forms I use .031" diameter wire most of the time.

When you see a 3/16oz jig or a 3/8oz jig, it is just referring to the head size.

I'm interested in your report as well, I now think the long drop blade is just a full cupped French blade. Awesome work!!!

It doesn't matter as long as you scuff the bodies. The thing is with nickel the plating will flake off when you scuff it so get the brass and you don't have to deal with that. Also, make sure you know if they are lacquer coated, if they are then you will need to soak them in acetone or paint stripper and rinse off first.

I don't mean to pile on as the others have given you great insight of what to expect but I can add to it a little bit. What you need to remember is that even if you want to sell them on a small scale it isn't as easy as getting money for your product. You said it would cost like 35 or 40 cents to make and you'd like to make a dollar per bait profit. You need to know you have to pay an FET (Federal Excise Tax) of 10%, plus quarterly taxes on the income you make not to mention your local zoning requirements and how much you can manufacturer before you need a commercial property or how much you can make as a home based business before you need to move to a commercial building or area. That is what needs to be addressed, it is more complicated than most realize and trust me, you don't want the IRS to estimate what they think you made if you get caught selling without being fully compliant on your tax forms. It doesn't have to be scary but you need to address all that stuff before even thinking of patents and stuff.

That isn't the tube jig he is asking about. The 300S uses a flat eye hook and doesn't have a weed guard, the jig in the video has a wire guard coming out of the top and a regular vertical eye hook. So the OP wants to know what weedless jig did you use in the video, not the Bite me jig that you linked.

I make my own and it looks almost identical to the BPS version. I like the blade to be close to the body because it lets me fish it better. What has worked for me was reeling just fast enough that the blade was spinning and it was ticking the bottom every now and again. With the blade being close to the body it lets me know when I'm going too fast because the blade will hit the trailer and so far it has worked great. I got a couple to try before making my own, I found I didn't do really well in warm water but in water temps from 60 down to low 50s it is killer. The one issue I had was the Buckeye Lures Su-Spin had enough gap between the blade and the body that I had a tendency to fish it fast and I didn't get the strikes I was getting from the Swarming Hornet. So I decided to make my own and got a modified mold from a friend that was close to the original swarming hornet as the blade would ride close to the body at the perfect speed but if I go too fast it hits the body. I do so well that it has become my best fall lure and does well at certain times during the spring as well. The larger gap will give you more retrieve options since you will be able to fish it fast or slow but I had a tendency to go too fast so making it so I can only go so fast was perfect for me.

I will echo Munkin and Bluebasser86, the grass jig is a very good swim jig. I use the Trokar Pro Swim Jig for bladed jigs as well just like Bluebasser86 does.

The idea of the short shank is for upsizing, not because a hook has the extra wide gap (EWG). As far as which treble to use, go with what your experience has told you. If you are missing a lot of fish, try using the traditional round bend style, if you are hooking fish but losing them then an EWG will work.

I have bent beetle spin wire forms in heavier wire diameters for a lot of tournament anglers. I know of a couple guides on Smith Mountain lake that use them on a regular basis when the bite is tough. There are two parts to bass fishing, the first is fishing the second is tackle collecting. If you are into both aspects then a beetle spin isn't very sexy but if the catching fish part is what really makes you tick then that kind of lure is usually on board every trip. I don't consider any lure a "kids lure" as they are all tools to catch fish but I know why it has that reputation. When teaching youngsters to bass fish with lures, the beetle spin is one that is easy to use and will catch fish on a regular basis. Don't mind what your co-worker's opinion about that lure is as long as you're catching fish. By the way, if it is something that know one throws well Bass Pro Shops still carries the old original and most lure making supply places carry a multitude of different size jig spinner wire forms to make your own Beetle spins.

Almost all of my spinning is done with medium power rods but I do use light and medium light spinning rods. I use the L / ML for ned rigs and hair jigs, basically anything with an open hook. My light rod is a G.Loomis Bronzeback 811S, it is a 1 power rod rated as a light but is closer to ML, it has a fast tip section with a pretty powerful backbone. My ML was what I use for small tubes and Ned rigs, a St. Croix Avid X 7' ML-F but the Loomis covers them as well and the slight difference in power is made up in the Loomis having a faster action and getting into the backbone faster while the Avid X was a bit more parabolic. The thing is there is no industry standard so look at the rod ratings, my ML Avid X is rated 1/8 to 3/8 while my 1 power Loomis is rated 1/8oz to 5/16oz, not much different yet one is ML and the other is light.

Very nice Allen!!!! I have only done hand pour stick worms and never injected plastic, I've wanted to start but I have so much now that I just don't have the time, or money to learn a new skill. That said, tell me the size of the ringed bait and the jointed bait on your fingers. If they are under 4" would you consider selling a few to me? I'm always looking for swim jig trailers, I make a small 3/16oz swim jig that is a killer on the Susky but it needs the right trailer and as of now I'm using the Kalin's Sizmic grub 3.8 but it is hard to get good colors.

The Lightning Staysee 90 SP is a Lightning pointer body with a Staysee bill on it. The lightning pointer body has a different taper on the tail part of the lure, I never used that version pointer or staysee.

Feeling the bottom with heavier heads isn't a bad thing at all nor is fishing the rig in cover. The issue is you aren't fishing a Ned rig, you are fishing a shaky head or jig worm and there is a big difference. Bluebasser86 is correct, it is a "no feel" presentation and while some of the standard retrieves for the rig require you make bottom contact, it is just barely on the bottom with a light weight, not digging or hugging the bottom. I know a lot of guys like weed guards but if you need a weed guard you are fishing the rig in areas where other techniques will work. I had some correspondence with Ned through email and he summed it up perfectly, if the fish is positioned in, or close to cover, a T-rigged worm or the heavier jig worms and even crankbaits will probably work. The reason for the rig is because of the waters the originators of the rig fish, they are often trying to coax bass, that are cruising in open water or suspended and not relating to anything, to bite and a jig worm is too heavy and moves to fast and a shaky head is too large to get these fish to bite. So using heavier heads to maintain contact with the bottom isn't wrong, it is just a different technique, you are fishing a jig worm and calling it a Ned rig.

If I were you I'd go 5 and 5 or 10 and 10...LOL!! Seriously though, split the sizes and not because of the trailer but instead water depth. You will want that 1/2oz for deeper spots and times they want the larger profile. The 3/8oz will be good for shallower spots and when you need to slow it down like post frontal conditions or clearer water.

I like flat sides even in warm water!! The waters I fish are pressured and you would not believe how many bites you can get on a flat side crank when you couldn't even get a follow with a round crank. Now in cold water LonnieP hit the nail on the head, a flat side bait will still rise but a lipless will sink and you can keep it down and you can slow hop it. If you want to fish both a lipless and flat side at the same time then try yourself a Bomber Flat A and Deep Flat A, absolute killer in water 45 to 55 degrees. What works is it practically suspends and when it rises it does so very slow and it vibrates but it has a lip but you don't need to hit cover with it.

My list is very similar to A-Jay's, just replace the Strike King models with Rattlin Rogues and it is the same. That said, I fish a lot of jerkbaits and having the nose level seems to work better for me than nose down but not always. I have some discontinued Xcalibur XS4 jerkbaits and the EEratic Shad jerkbaits, these are the same bait but the EEratic shad was tuned specifically for Edwin Evers. The difference is slight, they both run the same depth range and have the same action, the difference is the XS4 sits level, the EEratic shad has a pronounced nose down attitude. What I can tell you is most of the time I don't see a difference in bites but there are days when one isn't getting bit and switching to the other will generate strikes. Me and my friends have fished both baits side by side and as I said previously, it doesn't seem to make a difference most of the time but there are definitely days in which the fish show a preference for one or the other. That is a good reason to have multiple types of jerkbaits rather than sticking with just 1 brand.

I fish a lake that has 2 shallow rock flats, there is little depth change with no vegetation and just scattered rock. It is tailor made for a Ned rig but I have a bait and technique that really works. I use a 1/4oz finesse jig that I make, it is basically a light Eakins jig and I pair it up with a Conquistador finesse pro craw. I make a cast and let it hit bottom and give the reel handle 3 quick turn and stop for a second or two and repeat. If that doesn't get a strike I'll work it slow by letting it hit bottom and then use the rod to slow drag it a couple of feet and then let it sit for a few seconds before beginning another drag. Believe it or not those two techniques have accounted for some good fish and decent numbers on flats that didn't look like a single fish was on them. I think it works because the fish that are up on the flats are actively looking for prey and will really hit a small craw.

Lakeland size #8 Musky/Pike blade. Lakeland has regular willows up to a size #8. That is larger than a regular size #8 and Lakeland once made separate sizes for Musky and Pike. I'm not sure if they still make them but a size #4 Musky blade was like a size #6 regular blade as they ran like 2 sizes larger so that blade looks to be a #9 at least.

A 3/8oz is what I would choose if I could only have 1 size. The reason is simple, it is big enough to draw strikes from large fish yet isn't too big to deter spooky fish from hitting. It is heavy enough to get a good cast and I can still fish it effectively from the surface down to 8' or so without any issues.

The wacky, Ned rig, and a light finesse or micro jig are my mainstays. Like Bluebasser86 said, I don't consider any a favorite but the micro jig is the one I like to use most.

I'm a big fan of the old Bagley Balsa B2 square bill and being down to only 2 I was always worried throwing them. I got a few of the new Balsa B2 baits and they work well, in fact I bought 6 more after my 1st experience with the new ones. Team9nine is exactly right though, some swear by the old brass hardware but the new HCM through wire baits seem to be more consistent. All my Balsa baits will catch fish, but there are some that are just a tad bit different that seem to really catch fish. I have 2 of my new version B2s and 1 old one that will almost blow out when you hit a certain speed, they don't blow out all the way though, they just about get there and then they right themselves, that is a killer action. The funny thing with that is every one will do it at a different speed, the old one does it when you burn it, the newer version seems to do it when you are reeling pretty fast but not quite burning it, and then I have the ONE, it does it at any speed above slow reeling. My Rapala balsa baits are really consistent in that they all work incredibly well but I've never found one that had that little bit extra and I never had one that didn't get bit, and that is a good thing.

It depends on the size jigs you are doing and how much you want to spend. I do a lit of hair jigs and finesse jigs with thread and I seldom go over a 4/0 hook but I have done 5/0 and 6/0 hooks as well. For that purpose I really like my Griffin Odyssey Spider but if I was going to do mostly heavy jigs with large hooks I'd go with an Anvil Apex because it is rated up to a 6/0 hook versus 4/0 for the Griffin. Most larger bass jigs I tie with wire so I don't need a vise for that but for the jigs I do the Griffin is fine, for jigs a super expensive vise isn't required but a good vise that rotates really helps so look at the $100 and up price point.