boatnik13

Its a long process! Anything you can make can be replicated in plastic with perfectness and 1/10 th the cost. The chain stores have bins full of plastic lures at $1.99 each. How will you ever compete? First > many people buy according to what sells them by "eye sight" not what the fish want. #2 We tend to buy the most for less so at 1.99 I get 5 lures for one of yours > what do I pick 5 or 1 ? 90% of your buyers are not after quality > meaning a solid wood lure that will last a life time providing they don't snag it is not on top of there list. I made solid wood lures for a few years starting out with broom sticks in order to get that perfectness. To perfection it I bought wood dowel, a mini lathe and a airbrush. I rap out a dozen lathed lures exactly alike to the eye. I used the best hardware and hooks and do a great paint job for about $6 and i figure its worth over $12. $12??? who's going to pay that much when it can be found in plastic for $8? Now I know this lure is tough as nails and quality but the only way anyone else will understand it is to see it work and catch fish at a better rate then what they have. Its not going to pay you for what you put into it but you might start with local fish clubs as to test your lures ( so to say) to get the word out. Remember that your either a hobbist or a Mfc. at making lures and you might get taxed as a Mfc plant . Your going to need to buy supplies in bulk to bring a $6 lure down to a $2 lure to be competitive. Alot of bulk dealers on line. You can do so much more with wood lures but that shop that makes the same lure in plastic is pressing 1000 to 1 ratio to your quality lure and flooding the stores and making you 'CHOKE". GOOD LUCK!

We do have DCNR park rangers and they will cite for anything against the books . even if your boat trailer is over the line in a parking stall and your the only trailer on the lot. They are out in bigger force than the PFBC in PA. ( assigned waters).

Speaking for the X65 > If for any reason the connection to the transducer is disconnected via (nicked,short,crushed,bent or not seated properlyin the bus)> The depthfinder will automaticly goto the TUTOR mode and all your seeing is the recored display used to train you on learning the features. I've had this happen a few times while underway and I really thought the lake was that dam good till I could see bottom as the depthfinder read 33 ft.. Don't buy a used on without a warranty or unless its given to you free. Also you need a min . of 3 ft. depth of water for the X65 to operate correctly. So check your connections! cause you can't repair a transducer.

First Mid-Mo ! in our state (PA) we have what they refer to as blackbass nesting boxes and they sound very much what your describing. Pallets (4' X 4' skid) except they have a over hang on top (boards stick out 18" or so on each side , giving blackbass a place to hide. The center of the skid is weighted with blocks. Its put in a depth of 5-7 feet. If you ever anchor on one or cast over it > there is NO getting it back untill a lake draw down. Now for other suggestions by others> Whats the twenty year plan? I've seen the end results of tires . (tires become scatterd after the bands brake over the years (15+ years) making the bottom a junk yard. I see what Christmas trees do also after 10 years.(a pile of sticks scatterd and criss crossed on the lake floor offreing nothing but a place to snag your anchor or lure on). Most of theses Items have been removed from the PFBC (PA) structure list and no longer permitted. It did offer a few years of good structure before becomming a dump site and NO fish. The state has moved to better manmade structure and placement. Placement is a big factor.

Based on a 20 degree cone transducer you are roughly seeing 1/3 of the bottom so 30 ft will be about 10 ft coverage and 12 ft will be a niddle in a haystack. I use a transom mount so I always know what position my transducer is sending and recieving without the movement of era of the motor being raised . A level will keep it in line each trip.

Members from your club or from Lancaster??? Does the club fish any of the South Central lakes? Pinchot,Redman, Holman ???

DID I see "TACKLEUNDERGROUND" in a above post? Are they back up? I haven't seen hide or hair of them in months.

Try www.mudhole.com Not sure but I had there magazines on rod building. they specialize and I think out of Fla. Big supplier and has it all. Let me know if you can't locate them and I'll search it. MARK

So whats up with Tackle underground ? Was it a virus? Your right ! without them were in trouble. There is dozens of supply companies out there besides stamina and barrows and in time you'll learn who has the best quality and yet its never the same vender per each item.

I'm anti balsa(soft wood) but here's my input. "SIMPLE BABY STEPS". Buy a lure you want to make as a model to copy and thats a starter. You might want to invest in a dremil. Cuts so easy and shapes real fast. Unsure of a cut > use sand disks (full size or dremil) to get perfection. I started out with broome handles making Zarra Spooks and now I can make almost any lure I see out of solid wood. (No I don't still use handles) my investments increased to items like diffrent dremil cutters. used mini lathe & a air brush. Buy supplies on line in bulk. Not everyone has a nack for lure making.

First > What make and model did you buy ? so we can understand what you see. Sounds like your reading the range NOT the depth. Is your transducer adjusted in to the correct angle ? Are you in auto operation and NOT simulation mode.

Not good ! Thats about how long I've been trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Tried from diffrent webs and no live response. VIRUS ? I hope not.

I had togo to my book "WHAT FISH SEE" for this answer. BASS QUOTES > "BASS can hunt,swim,fight and establish territory without vision" "BASS can see color and details well" Chartreuse is a "FLUORESCENT " type color. (Same family color). When Fluoresents are used , they are usually used as an accent to set off the color of natural bait. This was mentioned in above post about panfish flashing colors. By the way . since bass are of the sunfish family > blue gill and sunfish prefer red and orange colors on flys . Just thought I'd add that. The book > WHAT FISH SEE " is a study of color and fish types response used in making mepps spinners. Nice book to study if you make your own lures.

What happen to tackleunderground web site? any one know? Can't latch on to it.

I got a clue for you. I got a sears elct. 28lbs thrust back in 1978 and found out that it was made by shakespeare and Sears always did have there name on someone eleses model like the ted williams guns and so on. At a mercury dealer they told me its the same part as (prop) "MOTOR GUIDE".( interchangeable). So go to a motor guide dealer first and see if you can't match it. My 28 still runs today but its a back-up to my minkota max. 40 . Minkota just has so much more available in parts at the stores.

I like what the post said > because if I drive,walk,boat past a object and do it about 3 times > I get within a few feet of the object and i don't even have WAAS. If i make just one pass and jot down the #'s its going to be off ,up to 45 ft at times. Thats hell in water if your only in 10ft. depth!. So avg. ing is best. I agree.

To get out of this we need to hear from" BLANK". Blank did say 10-12 ft depth of water and with a avg. 20deg. cone thats about what > a 3-4 ft. span of coverage of the lake or bay bottom and that it self is like a needle in a haystack to find. also like BEN said > uses a 3 yr old magellan and I to use a magellan. (315) and no W.A.S.S. so getting a 15 meter or better return is ify. I do make lake structure maps that you can re-find the target by boat or ice but my lakes are small (under 4 miles long and 1 mile wide so a compass will aid in this type of water as well as a range finder that do put you within a YD +1-1 up to 800 yards. Getting you on structure is my game but I could never do this in BIG lakes and bays (miles). So I know what some of you are trying to say but this system that I talk is smaller lakes. I just not sure what BLANK is fishing!

Ok! then I guess post two was right ! just trash it. Your not going to find a repair kit that offers flex . Do you want the site for rod building? I thinks its www.mudhole.com they got every possibilities for repair or building. Mark.

I agree with that post! You can cut it down and put a tip on the end making the rod shorter and less flexy. Doit and use it for trolling. Don't throw it away. Then go buy a rod like the last post siad. They make good trolling rods or sell it in a yard sale after you shorted it. It sells.

Hey BLANKED ! Ok I see the depth but how big is the area your fishing? What I mean is > are there any land near by ? I use gps just to hone in on the area but I strongly use other help such as a range finder and compass for area's surrounded by land or within 800 meters. One more Item I use and could be used in large bays of no land in sight is markers. I lay out markers on my structure and let things calm down then go in and fish them area's that you used your depthfinder on as you may have spooked them the first time. I use poly foam markers with string and a sinker so I'm on the location and can work it my way. I mark my own waypoints and don't use someone eleses. Gps is a reference and a compass , depthfinder and markers are exactness.

So then my original conclusion was right ? that Blackbass, or Lm Bass live in the same water along with the sunfish as its the same family and the Sm bass also of the sunfish family lives and is found in slightly deeper waters . The preferd depths of a Lm or black bass is from 0-say 15 ft. depth ranges and Sm bass range can be 0-30 ft or so. We have mostly manmade lakes but one lake that is 30 miles long and 0-150+ ft in depths > you find the lake divided with bass . The deeper end holds more Sm bass and reverse for Lm bass and the middle is diverts with Lm bass 0- 12 ft range and sm bass below them down to 30 ft . Of course it has a mix bag of bass with land locked Stripers running the whole lake and some over 50Lbs but these are not true bass. ( sm= small mouth bass / lm = large mouth bass). Thanks again for them write-ups you guys. Intresting !

I like that reply and thanks for looking it up or whatever you did. Makes perfect sense since fish are just above thermoclines when they are present. I fish maily stained waters and under 50 ft. depth so the time is right on about the summer days. A thin layer is or found about 20 25 ft of 35. No structure at that level so the bass are either suspended or in the shore line structure and weeds in my area that can host springs. I like that right up thow and will copy it.!

Diffrent parts of the country will differ and the type of bass (strain). I don't however see any info on the subject "Thermocline" being the edge of oxygenated water of 5ppb +... I do know it points out a temp. drop in the water over so many feet like 3 degrees per ft. drop in temp. I'd have to look it up but thats what I find by biologists. This drop will be projected by sonar onto your depthfinder becuase of its density. That part is explained at the Lowrance site. The thermocline I can gather from the fisheries biologist. I think we all agree on one fact and that is the bass may be right under the boat but they are no dummies when it gets to the "MONSTERS SIZE " and you will need to do some experimenting to find these fish from shallow to deep.

I strongly agree with "nb1226" and looking at the posts I'll add this > I don't fish alot anymore becuase I now map lakes as a business and inturn learned a great deal about how fish relate with everyday pressure of fishermen/women ect. If it was so easy > no big fish would be left. I disagree about depth. Using underwater camera's and other electronics > I see big bass that don't budge till after the sun goes down and they are in water (weedy) less than 4 ft. deep. I watch fish back off into cover as a boat tip toes in under electric power yet making enough nosie that the big boys know so well and just fade into the weeds only to return after they pass. Structure fishing is the way to go but it must be in the correct area ? Thats right. If its in the water with a D.O of 4ppm or more > your good. If its less your wasting your time. Just because you locate thermocline does not gaurentee fish! The D.O. must fit and either you need structure or your going for suspended fish. Now this works for lakes and in rivers and streams your going to have to hunt PH levels. LM Bass traditionaly go for depths no grader than 15Ft. Sm bass go deeper. The Pike family goes deep especialy pre caught pike. Hybrid stripers like open water assco. to bait. So you got to do your homework. Remember this > The bass (sml / lm) are of the sunfish family. Thats the kind of water you want to start hunting in for LGM bass. They truely like the sunset hours!

Live Minnows ! now they will take them away and drop them away from the nest and this is when you stick the hook. Your right ! they don't eat much but they are defensive against small fish.