hawghunters

I bought the green perch when it was on sale a few years ago and have caught several fish on it. It's action is pretty good. I think of it kinda like one of those wooden segmented snake toys. If you twitch your rod tip on a semi slack line it can have a pretty decent swimming action. I've only really used it fishing ponds though.

check out mytopo.com and their online topographic maps. I've had a lot of luck finding topographic maps for lakes I can't find elsewhere.

Leaving them out should help, that's what I do with all my skirted baits. I also have found that the older jigs that have sat in my box are more flexible than those that are brand new. Usually I make mine over the winter, and by spring they have softened up.

I really like lure craft. I do not buy salt or scent from these companies though. I just use a mortar and pestle to grind up regular salt, and just buy whatever cheaper scent from anywhere else. I use the berkley scent because it's by far the cheapest and is pretty smelly, but I also like to use smelly jelly. Also, when I first started pouring I looked at these beginners kits and found that they were not going to help make the baits I wanted. Therefore I decided to just order a quart of plastic along with a couple molds that I would use like a senko, creature, and swimbait. Then a bottle of black, green, and pumpkinseed coloring, and couple glitters. I also order a pearl power for swimbaits. I ended up getting more the molds I wanted and the colors I wanted for around the same price as the beginners kit.

I use fishingskirts.com because they have a huge variety of skirts you can make. They sell pre made skirts, but they mostly sell the tabs. Generally, a two tab skirt is what I use on spinnerbaits, buzz baits, and jigs. You can make so many different colors its nuts, and the quality is good too. To get started you just need the skirt tool ($10), pack of bands (cheap), and then you select your tabs. They come in packs of 10 for $2.50.

I buy most of my crankbaits from dicks. End of the year they're almost always on sale. I also scored Berkeley twitch drop shot minnows $1 a bag. I also hit up wallmarts sale where I got some cheap square bills so I won't care if I get it stuck in a tree.

It's pretty simple. The key for me is that I mix the epoxy inside the cavities. It saves from using a ton of epoxy. I then use like a Popsicle stick or something like that to spread the mixed epoxy across all of the cavity. If you mix the epoxy on a plate, or use a paintbrush you waste a lot of it. Mixing inside the cavity has been most effective for me.

I hand pour everything, and it with out a doubt saves me money. The thing I looked at when I started pouring was what baits are costing me the most? Swimbaits, craws, creatures, and senkos. I would have very little need to make my own tubes or finesse worms because I already buy them really cheap. I use lurecraft molds that run between 10 and 15 dollars. In all reality, you make your money back after pouring 5 packs including cost of plastic, colorant, and glitter. As far as the plastic, colorant, and glitter, I kept it simple. I use chemionics plastic $35 for a gallon. Colors I have 4: black, watermelon, pumpkinseed, and white pearl powder. I can make plenty of greens between the watermelon, and pumpkinseed. Glitter I kept simple to blue, gold, and red. I use a microwave for free from a friend. In all, the investment for 3 molds and plenty of plastic, colors, and glitter will run you less than $100. Keeping in mind that I have yet to run out of glitter or colorant and I've poured well over a gallon of plastic.

just keep in mind you will need to seal the mold when the plaster dries. Some use a 50-50 mix of elmers glue and water, but I use 2 ton epoxy. I find that the epoxy lasts longer.

I have ordered from them many molds and haven't had a problem. I order online, not by phone though.

I opt to using floro for that application because of its abrasion resistance, but I don't mind 17lb mono either. I like the stretch in mono for those applications because of a little more delayed hook set. However if I'm in any sorta cover I like the abrasion resistance and less stretch.

I too have an older accurist and have no complaints. The thing has been my go to fishing a jig in junk reel for years. The reel stays smooth and easy casting, but I must take care of it. I also have bps extreme reels that work well, but I take care of them. I own shimanos too, but struggle to see spending the money on them when others work fine for me.

WOW! Nice one

Welcome fellow Pennsylvanian sounds like you're no more than a hop, skip, and a jump away.

My suggestion would be look for the most bang for your buck. It will allow you to have even more crankbaits. Honestly I get a lot of my crankbaits at dicks sporting goods. The Excalibur crankbaits the have there are like $3 as well as miscellaneous strike king and bomber cranks will be on sale. Take on of those $25 off $100 purchased coupons and that will be a TON of crankbaits haha. I throw a lot of my crankbaits in cover so buyin lucky strike isn't much of an option. I only use their pointers cause most decent jerkbaits are over $10.

I've had the same exact issue. I'm a jig junky and went to this pond with a buddy of mine and struggled for while to catch one on a jig. It's very likely there aren't any crayfish and therefore do not really want a jig. That being said, when I tried swimming it, it likely looked like a bluegill or something and I managed a few more fish. My suggestion, try a senko or something more simple on pond bass.

If it's a baitcaster, I highly suggest it be a shorter rod, somewhere around 6' 6". You're gonna look for a rod with a softer tip, in order for your bait to load up well. Usually you're skipping to get back into harder to reach areas, which means theres a lot of potential for that fish taking you somewhere you don't want it to. Therefore, I also prefer a heavier action. It can be a hard combination to find, but you want soft tip, good backbone, but a lighter rod in terms of weight (Skipping can wear you out after a while).

X2 on doc irv. The guy is very easy to work with. Google his name and you'll find his website. You can send him your worm and he'll match it. He's a great choice with guys wanting custom plastics.

Had a similar experience on the Susquehanna River. We launched, and simply had to cross the river. It was a pretty wide part of the river, and was VERY foggy. We were running the outboard and drove around for half an hour and couldn't find land. Finally we found land, but then struggled to figure out where the current was even going. Finally we determined which side of the river we were on, and it was the wrong side. When we finally crossed the river, we realized we had run significantly too far south as we were in Maryland and not Pennsylvania. Also struggled with fog when I was fishing the Chesapeake and my boater zips away from the ramp, hits thick fog, and looks at me and says do you know where were going? It had been about my second time fishing that area. We missed the morning bite by the time we made it to our spot.

Ribbed baits are really tough with plaster of paris molds. Ribbed baits are tough to open pour. If you wanna pour ribbed baits, you're best bet will be to inject. I've open poured some types of ribbed baits, but they're really hard. In addition, sealing the plaster paris molds with the epoxy will be next to impossible to do effectively because of the ribs. If you wanna start making mold, you have to start simple until you get the hang of it. It's not something that just happens over night.

It really depends on your area. My area, aluminum boats are more of a demand than fiberglass. If there are lakes around that you run you can probably get $2,000 out of it. I would suggest trying to sell it in spring when people are thinking of wanting to use a boat. Winter is a tough time for selling boats.

I would recommend chemionics plastic. It is about as cheap as they come, one gallon for $35. It stays clear and doesn't smoke near as bad as calhouns. If you can't get chemionics, lurecraft is okay and, baitjunkies and caney creek is supposed to be pretty good. But as far as finding the best deal and good quality, chemionics is my choice.