smalljaw67

It is something you have to really want to do because you will go through some waste as you figure it out. If it were super easy there would be even more guys doing it. I don't want to be a buzz kill or anything but I've been pouring spinnerbaits, jigs of all shapes and sizes for over 16 years now and I got into plastics a little bit helping out a friend and my first pours didn't go so well, I had dents and voids and it was just a little more difficult than what I imagined. I've had my share of problems with pouring lead and tin when I started and after all these years I still get problems from time to time and that is my point. If you think you can simply melt it down and pour it in a mold and done, well you're in for a big surprise, if you don't want to get involved any deeper than that, then I suggest not even starting it as you will waste your money. Now, if you are a problem solver and like creating things, well it may be right up your alley, plastics guys all have their own plastic recipe or formula and that is why there are so many different kinds of plastic, some guys like to have a super durable bait, others want a super soft bait, and then there are the in between when guys will sacrifice some durability for a little softer bait and some will sacrifice softness in order to get a little more durability. That is the plastic formula and then colors, you can make standard colors or you can invent your own recipe book of colors by adding different pigments and colorants and glitters, there are endless combinations and if you are into doing that kind of stuff it will be a fun rewarding hobby but you have to be dedicated to it to a certain degree because it is more involved that melting and pouring.

Yes, you can put them on any spinnerbait but that specific brand, Terminator Quick Skirt, can split trying to be pushed over a hidden weight type spinnerbait. If you have one of those I suggest a little Vaseline to help it. A tackle making friend got a bunch of them on close out and he had a tough time on hidden weight heads but they are great on any other head.

This is spot on, $32.88 for a 6' Fenwick Eagle GT 1/4 - 3/4 medium power fast and the Eagle series of rods have soft tips, this should work really well for you.

I think that is a misprint, it is a medium power rod and it should be 1/4 to 5/8oz 8-14lb line, if it is a MH it would be too stiff at that length for jerkbaits and topwaters.

Gamakatsu 474 hooks and Owner hyper wire split rings.

I like having a more stout rod for square bills and lipless cranks because the added backbone makes it easier to rip the bait off of cover. That said, I have a Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 6'10" MH-MF casting rod that is very stout but it flexes further down the blank for added control over the fish but it is not a soft rod and I found that I did lose a fish every now and again but it is pretty awesome. I went and picked up another rod for those baits, a Fenwick HMG 7'2" M-MF casting rod, that is the bomb of a square bill and lipless cranking rod and if I didn't know any better I'd say it was made specifically for those techniques. It is a medium in the sense that is just a tad softer in the tip that a medium heavy but it is rated for 3/8oz to 1oz and it can handle that weight range no problem. The softer tip section transfers over to power very fast but then still has a little extra forgiveness in the power range so when you are fighting a fish and it makes a sudden surge at the side of the boat, it will give just a little more than my previous rod. I have had a bunch of different rods for those techniques but none fit the bill as much as my HMG, but I'm curious as they added a 7' MH-MF casting rod to the Aetos line which might be good, the mod fast taper from Fenwick isn't as soft as it is on other brands so don't expect a deep flexing type rod when you see the mod fast taper.

The HMG is more responsive and is a better rod than the HMX or the Silver Hawk. I have a 1st generation Vendetta and I believe the Silver Hawk is made on the same 30 ton blank because they both feel quite similar to me with the edge being the Silver Hawk feels a tad lighter but it is probably due to the better guides and reel seat. Trust me, I have Fenwick rods in the Elite Tech Smallmouth series, the Aetos series, and the HMG series. If you like the Silver Hawk then the HMG you will love, it is a much better rod in just about every category.

Yes, he told him that if the reel is uncomfortable after a few minutes of palming it, it will get worse feeling after a few hours, he gave him the right advise.

If you want a medium power rod the G.Loomis CR 722 in GL3 or IMX, both of these will fit the bill. If you don't mind a 6'2" rod, Cabelas XML C624, I have an old version of this rod which is a killer rod for jerkbaits and poppers but I've also liked it for spinnerbaits and throwing Senkos and flukes under overhangs. These worked great on the jon boat when the river would get low and we would do float trips, it was hard to have 7' rods so we would use 6' to 6'6" rods.

The action is more subtle and that also makes them effective in cold water. I put them in the same category as a Mann's Sting ray grub, very little action with a natural profile. I'd use them in place of the drop shot worm in cooler water or after a cold front or basically anytime the fish are in a more neutral or negative mood.

Listen to BassinLou, I really wanted to like the Tatula when it came out but it just felt clumsy to me and I had people tell me it is just an optical illusion but my hands say different and I have large hands, Daiwa may be done for me if they keep this T-wing system as the reel won't get any slimmer.

Ok, I can tell you haven't been at this long, Eagle Claw has a premium line of hooks out called the black platinum series, these are black nickel hooks that you and most other would have a hard time telling the difference from other brands, they are very good. That said, just about any heavy 60 degree hook will work like the Mustad 32786 or the Eagle claw black platinum equivalent the 786BP. You can use the Gamakatsu 2014 too but here is the problem, if you are going to use the 1/8oz size, you got 2 hook choices, the Eagle Claw 410 which I don't care for either, or the Trokar TK-835 because the 1/8oz cavity calls for a size 1 hook, most of the other 60 degree hooks start at 1/0, but there is a saving grace, most Do-it molds let you go up or down a size so you may very well get a 1/0 in the 1/8oz cavity. Go to Barlows Tackle online, just type it in search engine and look up jig hooks, heavy duty 60 degree and you'll see all the hooks that will work for you. I'd put a link here but if it isn't a board sponsor they won't allow the link.

I have that one just haven't had a chance to use it but I love my discontinued Mann's Waker Elite baits. While I can't give you specifics about that bait, I can give you some general stuff I found out about when it comes to wake baits. The crankbait type wake baits do really well when fish won't full commit to a topwater and they work at lower water temps than most other topwaters. I'm going to add the Yo-Zuri 3DS wake bait to the arsenal to go along with my Mann's Waker and the Storm Arashi, that will give me 3 different body sizes to see if I can find which size the fish prefer at what times but definitely a bait to have in your box.

I make my own and I paint everyone black and green pumpkin as they are the 2 most universal colors out there and will work with any other color.

Yes, the Mojo Reefer has been very good in place of a worm in a lot of different areas. I like using the 3" version in smoke purple pepper on a 1/16oz ball head jig with a size 2 hook and bouncing it along the river bottom for smallmouth, it represents a stone cat very well and it is one of the few finesse baits we use that constantly catches larger fish. My friend uses the 3" on a drop shot and C-Rigs the 4" ones, they are under the radar and seldom talked about but they happen to be one of the deadliest finesse baits around.

That is what finesse fishing basically is, so we have wacky rigs and shaky heads along with drop shots, pick what you use based on the area but what you are saying isn't new but there are times when that just isn't good to do. Try doing that during the post spawn period on a decent size body of water, fish are really spread out during that 2 to 3 week period after spawning andyou will need to cover a lot of water to get some bites. If you apply that technique you may end up with a goose egg, but there are definitely times when that kind of fishing is the best way to get bites but not all the time.

That is commendable!!!!!! If they had a forum member of the month you'd win hands down!!!! Talk about getting the youth involved, follow Bassin is addicting's lead and future will be fine, very nice thing you did and while you may not think it is, that young man will remember it and will no doubt help someone else and it will create a string of good deeds for years to come, well done sir, well done!!!!!

I used the AN40 for years, it is the best handling line I ever used and the abrasion resistance is remarkable but it has a little more stretch than the average line. I think you use Excalibur for casting situations only and while it is very strong I like Big Game better for the simple reason is has excellent abrasion resistance but it handles better than Excalibur and both have about the same amount of stretch. I love Silver Thread AN40 though and if you are fishing a drop shot or shaky head it is one of the best casting and handling lines out there and has better abrasion resistance than Trilene XL but handles just as nice.

I will always go with a Spook first but look for fish activity level, if you see them busting baitfish or insects on top then try a spook as the fish are in a more active mood. If it is dead calm and I see no ripple or any fish, I'll still throw the Spook but I'll do no more than 6 cast and then switch to a popper. Last year a single prop bait really came on strong, the Yo-Zuri 3DB Prop was beating both a spook and an array of poppers in both numbers and size.

Boat flipping a fish and then complaining when the rod breaks!!!

I was never big on moderate action rods for cranking until I got my rear handed to me in a team tournament. My friend, who also turned me on to a glass rod, found a great spot and we had an excellent crankbait bite going, it was the beginning of fall and at the time I based my rod choice by weight of the bait. I was throwing a Poes 300 series on a medium heavy fast action rod and my friend throwing a Norman deep little N on an old glass rod he had just for crankbaits and we were catching fish. I landed 2 out of 7 fish, and the ones I lost were nice, in fact one of the lost one would have won lunker, my buddy landed every fish he caught and after that day I began to use a moderate action rod for cranks. Now, the super big baits or any bait that uses a 1/0 and larger treble hook, that is when a moderate rod starts to not matter, at least that is the way I think because the larger trebles do penetrate but try using a flipping stick on a bait with size 6 or size 4 trebles, you will lose a lot of fish because they don't penetrate past the barb very much.

They never caught on because they are terrible in weeds and guys swore they were losing fish on them. I had one and thought it was neat until I snagged it on a dock, I was trying to make it go under a dock and it did but there was a cable onder there and my bait hung up until I eventually broke it off, and I never replaced it.

I think you better do some research over at Tackle Underground, the plastisol used for lures is specialized stuff and there is more to it than just heating it up and dumping in a mold. You will need heat stabilizer, softener, hardener, colorant and all that glitter and salt. If it was easy there would be more people doing it and it you are going to get in it to save money, well it will take awhile until you recoup your start up cost. I'm telling you this because I've purchased some lead molds cheap and I've seen aluminum molds for soft plastic baits get sold cheap from guys that wanted to start doing it and then became frustrated when they realized there was a lot involved. Research all you need to do and then decide if you want to invest the money and time, lots of time, into making some soft plastics for yourself.

Welcome!!! Most of the lakes in PA are Corps of Engineers flood control and they make for tough fishing, Nockamixion is better than what it used to be, should have tried it when there was no grass. That said, I do a lot of fishing in the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, the only problem is fishing the susky you need a jet boat or float fish in a kayak or jon boat.

Save your money until you can get something decent and the $30 Sienna isn't it. I have first hand knowledge with those, and from a bad experience years ago I said I'd never buy another Shimano but seeing I had a need for a decent spinning reel for my Grandson, I was looking hard at the Sienna until my friend's brother, who is a manager at our local Cabelas, told me they had so many returned that the store stopped carrying that reel so you have to get one on-line or another store. The gears were ok, bail springs and bearing gave up fast and he told me if you saw how thin the bail spring is you wonder how it manages being used for more than a trip or two but most people who buy that reel are worm dunkers, if you plan to cast and retrieve a lot then find another route or save some more money and get a reel that will last you.