Mbirdsley

I have had good luck doing that exact thing with ned rigs

What’s a BFS?

Luckily the state of Michigan is not closing any of the 1000’s of public launches, camp grounds or state land. The vast majority of the boat ramps are just dirt or pavement ramps with no or little docks any how. Only thing they are keeping closed are any bathrooms that maybe located on or near the launches. However, that is all subject to change at a moment’s notice

I’m getting ready to make some red ones my self. I think I’m going to use my horizontal Hook eye arkie mold though

I bought two of them Too off of eBay from a place in Alabama About a month ago . Your right there is barely any info on them. I only have 3 other flat sides square bills and these are my first lucky craft. So decided why not

I’ve actually been slowing down on tackle purchases. Except I did pick up 2 packs of banditi bugs. One in summer craw and the other in okeechobee blue , I guess that’s what that color is. everybody talks about googan either good or bad so decided to finally bite the bullet and see for my self. won 2 separate 2 packs of war eagle spinner baits on eBay. I won them for about retail however, nobody really sells them up here. eBay shipping is usually cheaper than buying them from a online store. The chartreuse/white is 3/4 and the black and gold blade is 3/8. I’m kinda gitty to try these out. They are very well made for a production lure.

No they are just the rubber collars. I have not ventured down that rabbit hole yet. I’ve been doing some research on it though.

Yeah, I think those are the blades that tackle ware house is selling also. I was looking into them. I may still get some. It’s a interesting concept. I wonder once you get the hook eye open enough how they will preform. If it works, I like that idea better than double split rings on a vertical line tie hook.

First run with the do-it poison tail mold. I bought the One that does the larger sizes 1/2-1oz. Mold poured really well right out of the box. Only thing I didn’t do that I want to do in the future is coat the jigs with devcon 2-ton epoxy. I did epoxy the eyes but, just used house brand 5 minute epoxy. I don’t know why the images are sideways. On my phone they are right side up

Good hooks and line are worth the extra money. With hooks the Hook up rate goes up and they last longer with out bending when un-hooking or fighting a fish . I would buy the eagle claw laser sharps if they didn’t rust just looking at water. with rods and reels depending on what technique you are using. Sometimes the rod is more important and other time it is the reel.

I’ve never really noticed a difference between the plastic and balsa models. except it seems like the balsa ones held up better And a dollar or two more. Is there any real difference between plastic and balsa?

It came along with hooks for this and my Arkie mold. Bought some 3D eyes. Havnt use them yet. Need to get some epoxy. Might play around with it tommrow night or Monday.

Jointed rapala J-7 black and silver. The big smallie smashed it. I think I had caught that fish a year earlier on a plastic rapala floating minnow Size 7 clown. The silver jointed j-7 kills it on my local river. The clown colored one was good for cloudy days. Size 5 rapala plastic floater in black and silver red body with red diving lip is good also basically Anything size 5-7 should natural colored darker lures when it is sunny and the clown, white and chartreuse when it’s over cast and or rainy.

This is what I use. I bought it in a fly tying kit from gander mountain. I think I paid maybe 20 bucks for the kit 7-8 hrs ago. Other than the book that came with it this is the only thing I have left from the kit. I’ve used it to tie Steel head jigs, buck tail jigs, dress trebles hooks, and what ever else fishing and tying related. Is it top of the line? No it is not. For what I use it for a couple times a year it is fine. It did produce a one time order of about 30 buck tail jigs though .

I would be just looking for sales or clearance. Than you can get a variety to try with out breaking the bank. last year was the first year really using them and I’m a believer in them now. I just won a 2 pack of war eagle 3/8 black single gold Colorado’s off of eBay. About this time last year cabelas was blowing out booyah spinner baits in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2spinner baits I think I bought 6 of 3/8 And 6 of 1/2 oz

The inline spinner bait looked cool and is a neat concept I think. I had a “ why didn’t I think of that “ moment when I saw the jolt spinner bait. It’s just a spinner bait with out a skirt and a kietech on it but, it looks good with the matching color plastic. If I get some free time and bored I may try and make some for personal use.

That’s preatty simple

I saw modifying the mold to make spinner baits on Facebook. How hard is that? Obviously you have to do some aluminum Milling ?

Actually, I do know that my home owners policy does cover the boat in case stolen or damaged I just didn’t know about the liability part. So basically I just go to a insurance Agency and say I’m looking to get liability insurance for my boat and I need xxxx amount. Once I get it do I need to bring proof to the tournament? How do other tournaments handle that.

So I’m going to try and participate in a couple local tournaments. These allow smaller boats to participate I just have to make a live well. also in the rules it states that I need liability insurance. Do I have to put liability insurance on the boat it’s self or will my home owners liability policy cover it? I’ve tried reaching out to the powers that be about it but, I have gotten zero answers. my wife is a under writer for one of biggest personal, commercial, and liability insurers in the state of Michigan and the country. She seems to think the home owners policy should cover it. She is however, not 100% as this does not come up much. anybody have some insight on this?

I finally pulled the trigger. Purchased the bigger poison tail mold PTJ-3-AFM from LPO that makes 1/2, 3/4, and 1 oz. Hopefully be here early next. I would think it would make a decent punching jig at the bigger sizes with its pointy face. They are the verticals line ties so I may buy the blades from TW that allow you to connect directly to the eye. I don’t plan on selling any so I should be ok. Also lucked in to a crap ton of skirts for 40 bucks off of face book. I’d say rough estimate of 15-20 tabs per colors and I think there were like 8-10 colors. Also bought some black with red fire tipped skirts from LPO. In my mind I have an idea for a good looking red chatter bait, I think Never really used swim jigs before but, should have enough now to not have to worry about losing any. Sucks when the nearest store that sells that stuff is basically an hour away. Main reason why I make what I can.

So far I’m trying to find the jerk bait that I like. I’d like to find it and buy them exclusively. So far I have rapala’s in husky jerks, xraps, and orginal. Bought a lot smithwick rouges Last year in different styles year. They worked alright I think they have a wide wobble and work better in the summer. however, by that time I’ve moved on to cranks. So far I like KVD deep diving jerk baits. Seem to be a decent happy medium between quality and price. Chrome/blue back was my most productive one. i want to try the mega bass and other higher end ones but, we have a lot of toothy critters swimming around in the north country

This is only my opinion but, I hate stren mono. I’ll use the flouro carbon for leaders though. The mono To me is just stiff and doesn't like to be tied. It’s the only mono that I had horrible wind knots and tangled in my spinning rods during my river days.

I usually go about 50-60 % backing of the cheapest mono I can find IE zebco, eagle claw, the stuff you can buy for $1.99 for 300 yards. Spinning rods I will go maybe 70-75% mono backing. On my mono bait-casters I use berkly big game. Beginning of the year if it’s the first year I’ve had the reel And using I’ll pull about half the spool off and than splice in new mono and fill it back up. like the spinning rod I use for wacky worms I may only put 30-40 yards of pp on it. So far it hasn’t burned me. All depends on The test strength and line dia on how much backing you need. I bought 300 yards of 30 lbs PP 2 summers ago and have spooled my 4th reel with it about a week ago.

Flo Green head with white and green/chartreuse skirt. Caught a lot of fatty before the water got abouve 50 degrees last year. Black and silver was also good. I was using mister twisters curly grubs for trailers. all this red talk has me wanting to make some red chatter baits