Munkin

Determine what you fish the most and start there. I started making jigs because I could not find the Eakins jig around here. Making my own 5/16oz finesse jig I save money because of the amount of them that I lose. If say you only lose 20 a year it is a lot cheaper just to buy them. Myself I have lost over 20 in a day so the cost starts to add up. Now I have about 15 molds to make various lead heads but most I may never re-coup the cost because of the low numbers of baits I actually use. The best and easiest way to start is just to buy the spinnerbait or jigheads that are already made from one of the links above and add your own components. If you decide it is something you like then get a lead pot and some molds. Soft plastics cost startup prices can be very low to high depending on what you want to do? I find that it is just cheaper to buy plastics from the classifieds forum than to make. The only plastics I pour are things I cannot buy like fluke with a ton of salt in them. Allen

I would not use the same microwave for soft plastics that you use for food. Allen

Did you fish or just walk around? I would have tried a black jig in those laydown ends. Allen

I like the way this thread is going as there is a lot of good information reguarding spinnerbait dynamics. Your original question; I like a 3/8oz hidden weight head on a 1/4oz .032 super stainless R bend frame. The heavier weight and smaller profile allows me to fish current and pressured waters more effectively. Allen

You have to look at the other attributes of the bait besides the wire size to understand how it works. The two features of that bait that make it work with such light wire are; twisted loop line tie, short distance between the head and line tie (which also helps it from getting hung in brush). Allen

This is the best time to use them, I have caught fish on hair jigs down to 33 degrees. Allen

And they copied the bait from a Japanese company. Allen

Working on my Masters thesis myself which sucks. Allen

Steal the blade and skirt off the bait and save for later. You could remelt the head and pour another but it would not be worth the trouble. Allen

Bear is what works the best around here for cold water smallies. I just picked up a bunch from a local fishing flea market but haven't had a chance to tie any. Allen

Being from this area you know you should be using bear hair. Allen

Season is coming soon! Organized some tackle already now i just need to dig out some more jigs. I will stock up on hard baits with all the ones you guys break off at the stickups in the back of Black Hills. For those looking for tournaments the early bird is out of Four Locks on Feb 24th (I have to double check). Allen

Like smalljaw said you cannot bend regular titanium wire without special tools. I have some soft titanium spinnerbait heads that were made years ago before Terminator but a stop to it. These you can bend but they are not snap back but they will return to their original shape. As for head type that is a personal preference and for most of my spinnerbait fishing I use a small frame hidden weight style. Allen

Almost forgot about fishing locally? Step one, take everything you read in Bassmaster with a grain of salt. Washington County, MD is not Lake Guntersville, Falcon Lake or some other big southern fishery they like to write about. The Upper Potomac river is dominated by smallmouth bass that average 12" so they techniques to catch them are different. For anyone planning to fish in the next month locally you need only a few lures; small tube in 2 1/2 or 3 1/2" and for colors green, black or brown would be the easiest to fish. Second would be a hair jig in 1/8- 1/4oz depending on the depth in the same colors as the tube. These are both very simple to fish; cast out, let it set for a long time, let it set longer then just lift up the rod tip on a tight line about 6" and repeat. Locations: The warm water discharges are great when they are running but terrible when they are not. The one at Williamsport is easy to see. if standing in the middle of the concrete wall it looks like the water is getting ready to boil about 5' about they are running otherwise it is flat. The two places I would recommend are Blairs Valley Lake (as long as it is frozen) fishing the riprap from the water discharge (the concrete and steel box sticking out of the water) to the corner of the lake. That area is like 18' deep a cast length out and fish are there year round. Place number two is McManns Mill on the Upper Potomac river up river from the Big Slackwater ramp. Park at the Big Slackwater ramp area and follow the trail NW until you see the mill. They just upgraded the walkway of the trail around the mill and you will see all the areas that can be fished right from the trail. If in doubt fish right where the stream from the mill empties into the Potomac as that area always holds fish as well. Enough of the novels for this evening, if anyone has any questions just contact me and i will do my best to answer them. Allen

Wow, I don't check out this thread for a couple weeks and all of a sudden there are a ton of new people in the area. Where to start? Someone mentioned tournaments; Rocky Gap Lake Habeeb has an open trail that starts the first saturday in June that you are allowed to keep bass. The tournaments are then every two weeks from like 6am to 1pm or 4pm to 11pm and they alternate. These are team events and cost $40 for the year for the overall trail and $40 each tournament with like a 90% payback. Two years ago I won the first event and it paid like $450? They pay first, second and lunker, maybe third if there are enough boats. This is a decent event and the guy you have to watch out for is Mark, he looks like Abraham Lincoln and has an Xpress boat. Cabin Creek show: There are a lot of deals to be had at that show if you know what you are looking for. I bought four packs of tungsten worm weights for $2 that were unopened which sell for like $5 each at BPS. The other thing I always get at the show are bear hair jigs, bear hair jigs are what any serious cold water river fisherman use around here. Butch Ward went out on New Years day one year and caught 10 SM over 4lbs on these out of Williamsport. Next year I recommend everyone to try the show even if you are not looking for anything just to talk to some of the other people. Most of the best fishermen in the area will be there, Aaron is an FLW touring pro and every year I just try to BS with him because how many professional bass fisherman are from Washington County? Black Hills fishing get together: We really should have a meeting day there and since Basser89 basically lives at that place he can organize. I have room in my boat for someone else as I am sure others do as well. Black Hills was on fire last spring and 8 of the 10 biggest bass I caught came on two trips there in April. Bring; creature baits, jigs, white flukes, your favorite shallow diving crankbait, white spinnerbait and some senkos just in case nothing else works. Allen

The area under the bridge is actually a lot deeper compared to the rest of the canal. That section use to be great for LM but I think the bucket brigade hit it hard. Allen

If I were fishing Williamsport from a canoe I would try below the dam around the bridges. Blairs Valley is easy to pattern just use dark colored baits and fish the riprap. This year my 3 best baits for there were; black/red flake baby brush hog, 5" Junebug senko and a chart./blue SK 5 series crankbait. Allen

What do you consider "cold" water? All the lures mentioned work in different water temps but when I think "cold" water it is sub 40 degrees. For my definition of cold water the best thing I have found is a small bear hair jig. Allen

This has been an odd year for me fishing compared to the last couple. First Black Hills was on fire this spring with every trip there I had 25+ fish gooing up to 5lbs. Four Locks in March was the best I have ever had and I have been fishing there for 20 years. Big Slackwater which is usually 5 times better than Four Locks on any given day has been a bust. The Lower Potomac was better than average and I even caught two red drum between Mattawoman and Chic creeks on a spinnerbait. Cunnigham falls and Blairs valley were better than usual but Greenbrier isn't worth the gas and I live 15minutes away. Allen

RI Smallie Beavers in Green Pumkin or Watermelon depending on how clear the water is. T-rig them using a 1/8- 1/4oz bullet head and you are good to go. Flyseagles is correct about the tubes but personally I do not like tubes. Allen

Yes, his name is Scott and he use to work for Bowers Marine in Hagerstown. I lost his number but I am working on contacting him about replacing my water pump. I will contact you once I get his info. Allen

We arrived right as you guys were still putting in. My club is small and we only had 4 boats for this tournament, I was in the in my silver Xpress. Not a bad day but when the sun came up they went deep and I had to find another pattern about 11am. I did win our tournament and while we use some paper weight calculator I had about 16lbs. Allen

So what was your clubs winning weight today? I have never seen an armada of bass boats like that at Black Hills before. FOB shirts slinging green finesse worms all over that lake today. Allen

This is what I do as well. From personal experience I would stay away from the amber collars as the dry rot quicker than any other ones. Allen

They are all floating docks and I like to be different so I stay away from them. Allen