Ben Eipert

I have not tried surgical tubing but I have found that hot glue works well. I heat up the foot and run it across the glue stick. Just stick and when you are done wrapping adjust as needed.

I highly recommend Zoom Speed Worms in Junebug Red

Build them! You will never want to buy a store bought rod again. The quality you can get for the price is crazy good.

Masking tape will make your life a whole lot easier. Get the half inch and trim as needed.

You should not have any trouble getting a rod made in that time frame. You will probably end up re-wrapping it multiple times though. I think I redid mine 3 times on my first one. Feel free to contact me also at beneipert@gmail.com. I might not be as much help as DVT but I can throw in my two cents and I was in the same situation as you with not much time or tools when I first started. Just be warned you will never want to fish a store bought rod again once you start building.

I believe Barlowes offers them with a skirt collar both painted and unpainted

I am in Berea just south of Richmond

Alright thanks everyone I am gonna give these a shot.

What color spooks would you guys recommend. I only have two of the clear puppy spooks now

http://www.lurecraft.com/Plastic-Mold-056/productinfo/5X056/ I have had great success with molds from here. This one looks close. It took me a couple tries to get where my pours were fishable also

Thanks all. Also when I mean I see them busting shad I mean I sea one or two shad jump out of the water then a splash. Does all that still apply even though they are not ¨schooling¨ for lack of a better word?

Sport Fish of Freshwater is easily the winner. It is by Vic Dunaway

Thanks for the help! I will give it a shot this weekend. I will let you guys know how I do.

You might just not be able to get enough pressure on the plastic to push it through. I would coat the mold with a hard smooth finish like epoxy or fiberglass and make sure it is a REALLY thin coat. It shoul help slide the plastic along and give you the option to lubricate it with some kind of oil to help it get in there. Canola oil works fine. If none of that works just make an open pour mold. Those are fool-proof and are way quicker to make. That little hump at the top isn't worth the effort. The fish don't care about the fine details as much as we do. You can also alter molds more that way. I highly recommend adding a tiny little paddle or ball at the end of it. That little tail moves just a little bit more and drives them crazy

That makes sense because the tubes I use are smoke colored about the same size as the alewives down here. I was catching them around noon when they were running them along the banks. Just so I am getting this straight fish brush, rock piles, docks etc. early and then fish structure like points and dropoffs later in the day.