Mattlures

Wow nobody said the #1 lure yet!! It is obviuosly the simple plastic worm. My personal favorite variation would be a 7in hand poured curly tail. I have caught more on that bait than any other. Original Rapalas would have to be up there.

A lot of the touring pros will throw my bluegill on beds of smaller fish because they simply dont have the time to be too picky. They will throw my gill on them for a minute and get them so riled up that they will hit anything that you put in there. This is how it works for catching little 2lbers. if you actualy want to catch them on the gill you realy should run a stinger hook just behind the top fin or on the top of the tail. This is also a good idea for big bed fish but it is a must for small ones. Funny thing is I havent caught many small bed fish with the gill. The only time I will swing is if the female has it, not the male. I have had a couple get the hooks stuck in their mouths by them thrashing the bait back and forth like a dog toy.

I have never heard of this. i have big fish in just about all the common species out here. I wonder what would be considered master for cali

hat is a spotted Tilapia check this link http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sofia.usgs.gov/sfrsf/rooms/species/invasive/focus/tilapia.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sofia.usgs.gov/sfrsf/rooms/species/invasive/focus/&h=287&w=432&sz=30&hl=en&start=5&tbnid=-vpG-HgKsVx2VM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTilapia%26svnum%3D50%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DX

When ever I or my partner dropshot small worms like 4-5 robos we always catch those stupid trout. Its usualy my partner cause I dont dropshot much but I swear its at least 1 trout per trip. I have had them hit my 6in baby trout swimbait. I was frustrated because I couldnt figure out why I wasnt sticking any of my bites until I saw about a 2lb trout follow up behind my swimbait and hit it. I took my swimbait off and put this little 1inch white swimbait I bought at walmart on and caught a fast limit.

Out here we had a new lake open up a few years ago, Diamond Valley. A few had fished it and had incredible days. When the lake had its grand opening and there were tons of boats on the lake hardley anybody caught a fish. The lake went from 50-100 fish days per man to 1-2 fish per man. It took a little while for the fish to get used to all the boats and now the lake is normal. My point is if those fish have never seen or heard a boat in a small pond there is a very good chance it spooked them. It is very easy to test your theory though. Fish from shore and if you still cach nothing or get any bites all your fish died or you suck.

I have a moto chug and it works. I dont use gimiks and I havent fallen for any other tv lures but I bought one cheap on ebay becuase I knew the aplication I would use it for. It worked just as i thought it would. I still think the braid is a weekness becuase it gives you a little slack when you set the hook but you just need to adjust your hookset with a wide swing. I use mine in smaller ponds after I have covered the are with my buzzbait or top water swimbait. It is a good follow up to missed bites. I also only use it at night.

Those fish are cool looking. We dont have many bass out here that are that yellow

If you glue your baits down and pour the pop on top you wont get any bubbles. If you are pressing them into the pop, hit the container on top of your counter a few times to help bring all the bubles out. You can also do thid if you are pouring the pop on top of your masters. the consistancy should be similar to ketchup

Do not listen to muddy. I have treid that and although the baits became straight they were far to stiff and would not wiggle as they fell. This only worked for a few hours and after that the baits were crooked again.

They might be right. Might be. I would be careful about heating the tungsten in a microwave. that might be your only problem. Instaed of asking if it would work you should just try it and find out. I am guessing if you heated your plastic on a stove or something similar instaed of a microwave it should work but since I have not personaly tried tungsten powder I am only guessing. Experimenting is the fun part of lure making. You will lern so much more from doing your own experiments than you will from other people. the exception is when you are first starting out. i would learn as much as possible from other pourers but that will only take you so far.

what he said. you can purchase floater bubles from the same places you buy your plastic suplies. They will turn your baits a very opaque white.

you can straighten non salted impregnated worms by boiling them. Boil them, lay them straight to cool. If you boil your senkos you will dissolve the salt and ruin your baits. .

fivebasslimit, a lot of the statements were in fact wrong. Opinions are neither wronr or right. Your post actualy backs up one of my ponits. If you try and go the cheap route you will get inferior quality. Low buget, I am familiar with Lake Fork taxidermy and I recomend them. They do outstanding work. lyons and Ohaver and Roberts fish mounts do world class mounts and Lake fork taxidermy isclose behind

My top ten fish all came by way of the swimbait

WOW I CANT BELEIVE HOW WRONG SOME OF YOU GUYS ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First off replicas are fiberglass not graphite. 2nd you get a generic paint job because you went the cheap route(Bass Pro) who does thousands of mounts and does not care about matching you fish. If you go to a good taxidermist (which most are not good) they can match your fish. Colors, body markings, fins and any other thing that makes your fish unique. 3RD A REPLICA IS A MUCH MORE ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF YOUR ACTUAL FISH !!!!!!!!!!!! Now of course your thinking that I am wrong becuase a skin mount is a real fish and is much more accurate than a molded replica, especialy since it is your fish, Well your wrong. Let me explain. A skin mount is just that. Its only the skin. its preserved and wrapped around a foam manikin. all areas that have had tissue and muscle and bone removed now need to be built up with clay or other material. Over time the skin warps and shrinks and rots and cracks and yellows and distorts. after all it is an actual piece of skin wich is slowly rotting away. The position of the mount is up to the taxidermist. Verry rarly are skin mounts mounted in natural positions. The mouths are usualy over extended, the throuts are usualy pushed in instead of flairing out. The fins are usualy over streatched and the eyes are usualy set incorectly. Also if you think skin mounts look beter because they arent painted well thats wrong to. Replicas and skin mounts are both painted. The quality of the paint job depends on the taxidermist. I will admit for a les skilled taxidermist a skin mount is easyer to paint, that would explain why some people think they look beter. but like I said earlyer most taxidermist are not very good. So to sum up a skin mount, usualy it is possed in an unnatural pose. It will yellow, it will warp and if you take measurements of your mounted fish and compare them to the actualy measurements of when you caught it you will most likely be suprised. A Replica is superior in every way. They are more natural. They are more anatomicaly correct. they also eliminate most of the errors that taxidermist make. The are molded from actual whole fish in a natural postion. They are not shrunken in around the head. They dont have incorectly positioned throats and over extended mouths. there fins are not over streached. Replicas are also much more durable and they are easyer to clean. They can also match your fish's measurements better than the streched skin. Here is a morbid way of comparing the two. Think of a wax replica of a person. If done right it looks just like a real person. now think of a mumified persons skin wrapped around a manikin. Which is going to look more like the real person? The wax replica of course. Another thing to consider is this, most world class taxidermist will not do a skin mount. They only do replicas. I have done many fish mounts in my time and many other big game mounts. I am good enough to recognize great taxidermy when I see it. I can aslo spot poor taxidermy easily. I know what I am talking about. I no longer do taxidermy because its too time consuming I am already too busy as it is but I can definatly recomend some great taxidermist. One thing you have to consider. If your getting a fish mounted it is most likely a very special fish to you. DO NOT TRY AND GO CHEAP!!!!!!. in Taxidermy you absoluty get what you pay for. dont expect beautiful customized mountes from Bass pro. it aint gonna happen. spend the extra $100 and get a mount that you will love fore ever. GET A REPLICA. Oh yeah, you also get to release the fish! I apologize if I have made anybody mad for saying they are wrong. My intention is to educate not chastize. I just cant help but get fired up about this subject.

This one kinda looks like a bluegill

Randall you got robbed! as great as that fish is, I feel sorry for you. Had that fish been healthy it would have been a mid teen. had it been healthy and spawning it would have been a high teen. Had that fish been here in CA and spawning you would be famous!

I have had a big fish eat my swimbait as it hit the water at least 3 times that I distinctly remember. Each time the bait made a big splash and my spool kept taking line. It always takes me a second to realize whats going on. Not only do I not care about making a big splash I have the advantage of watching guys like Mike Long and Butch Brown when they happen to be at "MY" lakes. The only time I have seen Mike not making a splash is when he was pitching to the shore under and along trees. he was able to lay the bait in there from about 50yrds without making a splash using a side arm cast. Every other time he is throwing the bait extremly far and making a big splash. I believe it only spooks the fish if they are already aware of you and are nervous to begin with. Also I think off my baby bass as a tiny bait. To me it barley makes a splash. You should see the splash a 10 inch 9oz trout swimbait makes and it gets bit.

You can always add a little super glue in each of the potential weak spots. Anyplace that has metal sticking out. Use a toothpic so you dont get too much glue on the bait. I sometimes will run a stinger hook on top behind the dorsal fin. I will tie braid directly to the bend of the hook and imbed the treble just behind the dorsal. I like small trebles. Size 4 is good. I do put a treble on the bottom when I am fishing where I wont get snagged. Also LRod is right. Make sure the bait is lubed up good.

The record will be broken in Cali. I know of 3 diferent lakes where a big enough fish lives. I know of two others that have fish that are verry close and could get there this year. These are all in southern Cali. The record will not be brkon by sombody getting lucky or by a regular bass guy. It will be broken by somebody who is hunting for that fish. I do believe if that Dixon beast is caught again and is still around 25 that record will stand forever or untill someone can grow one bigger in a controlled inviornment. Will it fall in 07? probably but maybe 08. I know alot of the guys who are hunting her and they all seem to think its coming. most think its coming from the lake Capt Cali' didnt mention. I will be hunting her about 20-30 days this year so my odds are not nearly as good as my competition but you never know.

If you know what you are doing you can catch the male using a rock with a hook on it. There is realy no challenge. Now the female is a diferent story. Ther is no 1 technique. Each fish is diferent. you must learn to "read" the fish. My only two baits for females are jigs and my bluegills. I always start with the gill on big fish and my tecniques vary. Some fish will go on an aggresive presentation and some will spook with it. You just have to figure each fish out. One other thing, i often hear guys say that a certain bed fish was not catchable so they moved on. Well if it lets you fish for it its catchable. If it spooks when you get within casting range its still catchable you just have to find a better way to set up on it. The big question is, is it worth your time. I will not spend any more then 10 minutes on a fish unless its BIG, or I have covered a particular lake and now I am going back to the best fish I previously seen. Catching males is fun and can be good practice if there are no females up. But dont go into it thinking there is one bait. Throw everthing you got at it and watch his behavior. You will see that some baits get more responce than others and some will spook. I apologize for this tip sounding like a comercial but the easyest way I have found to catch a tough male is to throw a bluegill swimbait in the bed for a few minutes and get the poor male all fired up then thow something small that sinks fast witha good expossed hook and he will usualy take it the first shot. The females you guys will just have to figure out on your own.

I get asked on a weekly basis for free baits. Guys want me to sponser them or their events. They usualy send some sort of resume listing all their fishing acomplishments. They usualy say they won this one and that one and how they like my baits and how they tell their frinds about them etc. If they only knew how many of these I (And I am sure every other fishing business and Co.) get. I will be honest, The only thing a business cares about is will you make them money. Unless you are one of the top 10 anglers in the world I have nodesire to sponser you for your fishing abilities. I relay dont care how good you are. BUT.............. I recently recieved an email from one of the members here. He said he talked my baits up durring a seminar he gave. He used a slide show and showed them on the screen to his audience. He also sent me pictures from the seminar showing my baits up on the screen with a packed room watching. Guess what That impressed me. I am sure he is a good fisherman but I still dont care if he is or isnt. The point is he did this with out asking for anything. AND HE DID IT FIRST!!!!!!!! I plan on sending him some baits just as a thank you. When your deeling with small companies like mine use his example. do something first. Go to some stores and get them to call the manufactures about carring the product you wish to be sponserd by. For example you get 3 stores to call Robo Worrm and palce orders. have the stores mention your name as the one that told them about the product. then send your email and resume to the company. Tell them How great of a fisherman you are but stress how you already got them a couple of new accounts. Then ask for some freebies. At that point you have already sold your self and made them money. They arent realy freebies anymore. Also dont be greedy. just ask for a little. i am sure when you show that you are an aset to them they will be more generous. Another thing you should do is make sure you know the product. If I ask a bunch of questions I am going to have a pretty good idea if my potential sponserees even know how to fish my baits. This will aply with all fishing related goods. Know your stuff! I hope I have not affendid anybody by sounding harsh but its just the way it is. If you use some of these tips you will get a lot more willing sponsers. just remember you have to do somthing for them before they will be willing to sponser you. One more thing. make sure you have proof. I have gotten tons of emails from guys saying they did this and they told them etc But how do I know there telling me the truth? look on the bright side, you dont have to be a pro to get sponsered, but you do have to work for it.

Fin S , I am not totaly sure I understand your list but it seems like you listed them by how many ways a bait can trigger a strtike. I like everybody else agree with the too many varaibles. I do have an interesting bit of info for you though. It has been my experiance that the order of your list was made for poor visability. As far as fish catching abilities, out here in clear water CA the baits with the highest scores are the worst. And the baits with the lowest scores are the best. Now fish the same baits at night or in a dirty water lake and they are reversed. Now Of course these only apply to smaller average sized fish. Big fish act diferently. Conditions determin how and when to use a bait. Also on any given day there are many diferent succesful patterns hapening at the same time. Just because your wacking them on spook doesnt mean you wouldnt have caught more dropshotting.

There is no diference. A swimbait is a soft plastic fish. All the hard baits are something else. They are called swimbaits because they are usualy made by the same guys who make swimbaits and they are usualy big. The term swimbait has become very generic. almost anything that is big is being called a swimbait. I got nothing againt hard baits. I might even release one real soon but the original term referred to a rubber bodied fish with a boot tail. (sassy shad)