Downeaster2010

I started to bass fish when it was in it infancy in New England. At that time we used some selected top water baits, and WORMS. The club I belonged to all fished worms to a high degree of effectiveness. We were all really experts with the worm. One friend fished an 8 in Manns worm like we do the Senko's now. He won a lot of tournaments. He simply put the hook through the belly and out. The worm had a slower fall. Consequently with a 6,7, or 8 inch we all adapted to using that method in open water. In the brush we still used Texas rig. Over grass or thick veg, we used no weight, but Texas rigged. I was out yesterday while a lot of other boats near me were having trouble putting fish in the boat. I would have had over 20 lbs at the scale if in a tournament. And that was just the morning. Tips: Don't just assume hooks are sharp out of the package. If not sure put a stone to them. I resharpen all of mine, and keep them seperate from the unsharpended ones. Fish a light colored worm on a bright day, and a dark color on a dark day. Always let the Jig or worm fall until it hits bottom. Many people start to retrieve before the jig makes it to bottom. If I am looking at a great spot that should hold bass, I will cast a worm out and let it fall to bottom, and wait maybe a minute before I move it. The bass could be just over at the next stump, and returning to his hole. Like above Patience is key here. Fish no weight in shallow water, and if deeper got to a 1/8 or even 3/8 weight. I seldom use larger, because a 3/8 sinks pretty quick. Remember the slower it falls the better. Only use 1/2 in in thick vegetation to get the worm through the top mat. Almost any bass fisherman can fish open water, but it is another thing when you have heavy weeds or lilly pads. Bass love them because there are a lot of bait to feed on. I will methodically fish a lilly pad area until I have caught what is there, or pretty sure nothing else is in it. From that point I pull slowly right into the pads, and methodically fish along where the pads are thick. Most fishermen will fish the outside, but miss fish in where it is thick. They pass a lot of lunkers, and I catch them. Grass is the same. In the pads, and grass, cast out to visible holes or just beyond with your worm. Work it back and drop it down in the holes. Some times those holes you see are slightly deeper, or have a piece of structure. The worm is my preferred bait, but I have a lot of others that I have total confidence in. Don't get stuck on one bait. The slower a bait falls the more chance you have that a bass will take your offering. Bass like to hit when a bait is falling. If you miss or lose a good fish on lets say a black worm, recast with a purple or different color. That fish you lost may not hit the black again, but can be fooled with a purple, or different color. If fishing is difficult, drop down in worm size or jig size, the bass might not want a large bait. Move the boat along only when you are sure you have hit all prospects in the area. If you fish a downed tree, start at the tip of the tree and work in, then move in on one side hitting everything up to the stump. This way you don't spook a fish pulling one off the stump and there were four more out toward the tip that are now spooked. When I fish with a partner, and one of us hooks up, the partner cast to the vicinity of the hooked fish, sometimes catching a second fish following the first. A lot of times you catch one fish and see 2 or 3 others following trying to get what he's got. When working a shoreline, bring your partner up on the front with you. One work the inside, and the other just a little deeper, and maybe two different lures. After the spawn, and water warms up bass will move to rock piles in the coves, then to offshore ledges. Why is this. It is because the bait go, and the bass follow. As you know there are always some fish to be caught shallow on shorelines, but 80 pct are on deep rock structure, or vertical inclines. Of course deep is relative to where you live. I have caught small mouth bass in 80 feet of water, and largemouth in 40. I don't recommend this deep unless desperate. If you listen to a radio when fishing, and I do a lot. Keep the deep pounding beats to a minimum, and light on the volume. Learn to walk the dog. A spook will catch big fish, and pull them out of 30 of water. Plus its a blast. Fish shade side of structure first.

You will be spades for sure if you use too fast a glue in your project. Normal rod building glue sets up overnight. You have to keep an eye on your glue job because sometimes the cork or rubber tries to creep back down the blank taper. If you use too quick a glue, you could wind up cutting it off the blank as it set up in the wrong location. Rod builders glue can be used as a finish, sometimes when there is a nick, in the rod. I always used glue to glue down my guides once I had them in the proper location. Just a dab does the trick in the location. Rod builders glue is an epoxy, and cures slowly. I have used it for all kinds of projects, requiring epoxy.

You can add shaving cream the gel type to get the rubber to slide on the handle. Just make sure you pour glue inside the rubber prior to pushing it up on the rod. Get a push stick that rod crafters use if you don't have one. YOu can make one in a couple of minutes. Sometimes you need some one else to hold the rod blank as you push the rubber into location. They can push hard. Make sure you clean up all the old glue and shaving gel with rubbing alcohol when done. I use rod builder glue. Cabelas carries the glue.

Many years ago, I was fishing a tournament with a partner. I had located bass during the week, so we were in fair shape. The bass had moved into an area where a small brook provided cool and clear water. The entrance was maybe 100 ft wide and continually narrowed and getting shallower. The water was maybe 5 ft deep to start, and where the fish were congregated it was 18 inches. We both used a topwater Devil Horse, making long cast ahead of us until we hooked up. We held the boat at a distance of 30 to 40 yds, not daring to move closer. The bass were schooled up heavy as far up the brook they could get. We caught a 10 bass limit that day all from that brook inlet, and at the weigh in only one other boat had a fish. We were culling. I learned a good lesson that day. We had to throw the Devil Horse up as far as we could and let it sit without moving it. The bass would eventually hit it. We would work the fish back to the boat without moving forward.

I used to purchase some Anise from my local grocery store, and mix it into some vegetable oil, and put it in a spray bottle for bass. I don't know why you couldn't do that with other concentrated scents. Another scent I use to purchase is Bunker, and cod liver oil. We used to use them on tuna lures. All that is just fish. I don't know why cod liver oil, and bunker wouldn't work on bass. It does smell, thats for sure.

I thought everything was going good, when I poured in the second batch of resin. The first part of my mold looked great after sanding, and coating with veg oil, and replacing the worms back in their slots. So now I am ready to pour. I measured out the drops carefully, stirred the resin for 2 mins, the slowly poured the new resin over the first. After 1 hour I decided the mold looked cured, so removed it from its container, and attempted to seperate the two mold parts. Nope they would not seperate, and with a little more force, I did get them apart, only to break the top portion. I wound up saving the bottom, but had to take a chisel and remove some of the top that adheared to the bottom. Bottom part saved. I am sitting back no taking a deep breath before I make any more moves. I think may I should have coated the bottom with vaseline, instead of veg oil. What do you think.

If you have the insert, absolutely super glue it or epoxy it.

That is a very poor mounting position. Looks good that is all. I have a better plan for you. Where your transducer is will never ever give you a good reading. Look at it this way, when to boat is on plane your transducer is 2 to 3 inches out of the water. It needs to be mounted below that. When on plane the only part of the boat that is in the water is the part where the drain plug is and your intakes for the livewells. To make it simple you can try in this case just setting the ducer inside the hull flush against the bottom just forward of the drain plug. It must be located on that lowest part of your hull. For a test: Put a little water in the boat and place the ducer just forward of the drain plug. No mount or anything. Just lay it bottom down and add some water inside the hull. It should read good. If so open your drain plug and dry out the area and you can get some epoxy and mount in that location inside unexposed to damage. You have to coat the bottom of the ducer real good with epoxy and work it a bit when you press it against the inside of your hull. You will see a dramatic improvement. The simple two part epoxy you get from Walmart will work fine. The epoxy on the transducer mounted to the inside of your hull acts as a direct connection to the water outside. A lot of people think that a transducer cannot be mounted inside an aluminum boat, but if this method is tried they most likely will find it works quite well. Fiberglass works good.

What you have is actually air/bubbles coming under the hull giving you this reading. Lower the transducer 1/2 inch, and tilt it forward to catch more water, and you should be good.

I bought a 1978 Glastron 178 bass boat. I kept it for 6 years, and caught a lot of bass. Unfortunately it was not the fastest and had a max of 140hp motor. Many Rangers were coming out that could beat it with only a 115hp Merc or Mariner. So I upted to get a new Ranger with a 150 hp motor. Two of my friends went right down (100) miles and bought my Glastron. Two Rangers later I still missed the Glastron boat. It was the best of my bass boats. It lacked high speed, but could go on plane in any weather condition, when other boats were shelter bound. It lacked a decent rod storage, but was hands down the best bass boat I ever owned. It was a big mistake of mine letting it go. I watched that boat get passed around in my bass club from one friend to another.

I pulled the resin mold out of the pan at 10am this morning, and immediately it was a far easier job than using pop. The detail is far better, and almost perfect. I think I will sand it down maybe 1/8 of an inch to clear the top slag off. I was thinking I would continue on making this a two part mold. I will pour a couple of worms and see how I like them. I can always make it atwo part mold later. I am pretty happy and the next time I buy resin it will be by the gallon.

I bought a couple of aluminum molds for bassresource.com website a month ago. Open pour. I haven't jumped to the injection molding but can see that is the way to go. The worms come out great, just like you buy in the store. Unfortunately mine only make 4 baits at a time. With a glass mold I can make 7 or 8 at a time. I don't really care if the worms are perfect, but I would like to have them be very good. Bass fishing is just starting here in Maine. We have been having a slow warmup this spring. Water temps are still holding in the high 50's approaching 60. A few warm days will change all this. I got slammed all the way around on the resin from Walmart. Not only did I pay too much for the can, when I opened it up there was only 3/4 of a can of resin. When I get stung, I pay close attention the next time. Next time I want resin I will get it from somewhere else. The mold is poured, and looks good so far. I will be pulling the mold out of the pan around 10am.

Ooh, just in time, I am going to be pouring the mold this morning. I have the pan with worms ready to go. 4" Senko's. I have a lure building center in my cellar. Set up very nice if I must say. I have never worked with silicone or resin. I am making a jump from POP to Resin bypassing the silicone. To me it seems like a logical step. I picked up my resin from Walmart yesterday, and didn't even bother to check the price. I got to the counter, and they dinged me for about $17. I thought it would be a little less as I had seen in the Lowes for $14. Next time I will pay a little more attention. Ok so the pour. I am going to mix the resin in a Pyrex cup. Hopefully it won't ruin the cup, as I use it for melting my plastic as well. If this works good, I will be making more molds right off, as I have some more baits I want to duplicate. This can become an addiction.

Well, I am going to jump and try making a mold with resin. I will use the same procedure as with POP, and hope for the best.

I had thought about a glass mold, and noticed the cost of resin in Lowe's the other day at $14. Do you make a resin mold like you would make a pop mold. One of the best things I see about a resin mold is that it can be sanded down some, getting rid of some of the crap on the top. I know that Pop molds are very basic molds, and a resin a step up. I might just try a resin mold but I have absolutely no experience with resins. It would be a first for me. Any tips I might use?

Good idea's. I hadn't thought of double sided tape.. I like the looks of the Oomoo, but can see that if I were to use it, I would have to order it online. That is the problem living in the willy wags. Plenty of ponds and lakes, but no conveniences such as easy shopping.

Anyone can fish shallow water while the bass are spawning, and holding shorelines. Once that is over and bass move from shoreline to offshore ledges, and rock piles it is the most logical way to get limits. 80 pct of the bass in the lakes are on these ledges during the warm months, doesn't it make since to learn how and where they are. I have a lake near me that holds a lot of underwater ledges, and rock piles that come within 10' of the surface, and most fishermen have no clue they exist. More fish will be caught off these during summer doldrums, than off most shorelines. Both LM and SM will be there, especially the fat cows.

I would have to add that a check for transom stress cracks on fiberglass hull boats. I always look to see if the bass boat was also used on the ocean, and salt corrosion should be visible. This would show on the rims of the trailer in rust. I have had Johnson's, Evinrude's, Mercury's, and now Yamaha. All served me well as long as proper maintenance is performed. Older Mariner motors, were pretty much Mercury's dressed in grey. A friend of mine bought a 1984 Ranger, with a 115 Mariner outboard. The boat and motor has served him well now for 30 years. Still uses it.

I used to work for Lowrance/Eagle when those units were introduced to the market. They were reliable depth finders but lacked a good pixel screen. It would sometimes fade out during sunlit days. Too much sun they could go black. If that happened, just turning them off for awhile and they would cool down and work next time you needed them. All in all they still cost a couple of hundred dollars at that time in the Mid 80's to 90's. They were the forerunners of todays pixel machines.

Boat launch is at the northern end of the lake. Watch out for hidden ledges, and you will have a good time. It is a great lake with LM and Sm.

Square has a good state launch off the west shoreline. It isn't big but does the job. Square has largemouth and smallmouth. Largemouth are in select spots. Smallmouth are in abundance. I have caught and released over 40 a day during the winter ice fishing. All were in the 4 lb range on offshore rock ledges.

I am sorry to ask that question. I did a lot of research on here to no avail. I did go to tackle underground today and found out that it is the common dap silicone in the tube for windows. I understand I can get the dap from Walmart and know which kind to get now. Silicone molds seem to be good, but a lot of trouble for the benefit you get out of them. None of the stores that carry the dap are close by to where I live in the Western Mountains of Maine. The Walmart is 20 miles, and HD, and Lowes are over 40. Sorry if I wasted someones time.

Well, I bought a couple of Aluminum molds, and they work great, and I made 3 more with POP. They work okay, but I wanted to try to makes some silicone molds. Earlier on here I read that Dap is Dap whether you buy it in Lowe's or Walmart. So today, I made a special trip to Lowes (45 miles from my home). I went right to the section that carried DAP products. I looked at everything they had a left totally confused. I was to understand DAP silicone that could be used to make the molds. Customer service was not very helpful. What Dap product do you use.

If you need I can post some pic's of my rod building jig. I don't use it anymore, as I have a hard time seeing the size A thread.

I make all my own stuff, and I like that. I believe I would add red flake to the swim jig to finish it off. But a very nice looking bait for sure.