Lure Modifications

[papajoe222]

I still have some time on my hands before the season gets into swing and was wondering what the most wierd (or is it wierdest) modification you've done to a hard or soft bait that worked so good, you've done it to more than one lure?  I'm not talking changing out hooks or dipping plastics in SpikeIt.  I'm talking drilling holes in crankbaits to add weight or glueing two curly tailed worms together at the heads and hooking the result wacky style  and buzzing it accross the surface. 

I've tried cutting the diving lip on a crank to reduce it's running depth, adding a buzzbait blade and arm to the front of a Spook to give me a buzzer I could use a stop and go retrieve with, drilling holes in a buzzbait blade to add bubbles to the trail, and many others.  Some caught fish, and some were just a waste of a perfectly good lure, but other than shortening the spinner arm of a spinnerbait, I haven't attempted to reproduce any of those modified baits. 

So it's time to share your secrets. Don't be shy, you'll only be sharing with a few thousand die hard fisherman and if nothing else, you gotta give a penny to take a penny once in a while.

[Shoalamfishin]

I tweak my lures and do some fairy unorthodox things from time to time in attempts to get the fish to bite. I have had success adding a suspend strip to a squarebill crank bait; I suspect because it causes the bait to rise slower after deflecting off of cover and appears more natural. I also had some odd almost freaky success when I added a 5" hollow body swimbait to a spinnerbait. Roughly a month ago I was having strikes but not hooking up but once I added the swimbait (rigged with the tail towards the blades) I boated a nice 2+ pounder. 

 

I salvaged and scrapped a lot of old tackle to make use of this past year and in the process of doing so I came across what looks like some old 1/2 ounce "Arkey style" jig heads that have the weed guard cut pretty short ( they aren't rounded on the bottom, but they most closely resemble Arkey heads). I had some skirts on hand that I customize into massive 80 strand custom color skirts. I ended up with a pb&j color, a red-black and pumpkin seed color, and another bruise colored jig. I haven't had the opportunity to fish them yet but I'm expecting good things; I left the skirts long so I can trim them at will. 

I had some cheap $1 walmart spinnerbait from year ago that I made into something fish-able by replacing the absolutely crappy "swivels" (junk) with real swivels and tying the skirts in place to give them more flare and hold them in place better. 

 

I modified all my buzzbaits as per some common methods and Glenn's tips to get more of the squeaky sound and to get them to run slower, but I haven't drilled holes in the blades YET.

 

I have melted an glued soft plastics together in all kinds of configurations, one of my favorites into insert bait of choice into a tube. 

 

I have a fishing buddy that actually took off the rear trebble of a crank and added a small blade and caught as for myself I don't want to risk not hooking up with a fish lol. 

 

I know I haven't done many radical modification I'm sure this thread will get pretty interesting; I'm interested in seeing what other on her do.

[slackdaddy]

I take about 1/8 inch off of all my strike king 4 crankbaits to make them run 4-8 feet. They are advertised to run 5-9 but they usually run 10 or deeper about the same as a 5 series. That's gives me size 4s; 2-5ft, size 4; 4-8ft, size 5; 7-11 feet, 5xd; 10-15 ft.

 

I lay a quarter on the bill and guess about 1/8 and mark it. I have probably done 10 and have never had any trouble truing any of them.

[RyneB]

iv put a #3 willow blade on the back of a swim jig. Iv gone away from it due to its lack of weedlessness, but iv caught fish on it.

[CPBassFishing]

SOOOO much thump. Good for really muddy water.

[jhoffman]

Change the dive angle on a crankbait by heating the lip and bending it. Thats nothing new though or ground breaking. I feather trebles with all types of materials, guess its not just feather then. I have a black paint pen that I add shad spots on baits that dont have them. I tie large flies to use in my rigs as well not just plastics. I can make things like sculpins out of deer hair that will suspend on their own.

[papajoe222]

SOOOO much thump. Good for really muddy water.2013-02-25 22.31.04.jpg

I did this one time when I lost my LittleGeorge and didn't have a replacement.  The blade I used was an Indiana and now where near as big as that monster. Guess you don't have any trouble feeling the blade thump and the fish don't have any trouble knowing it's coming their way. The question is; Do you catch anything on it and OMG, where did you find that blade?

[A-Jay]

[CPBassFishing]

I did this one time when I lost my LittleGeorge and didn't have a replacement. The blade I used was an Indiana and now where near as big as that monster. Guess you don't have any trouble feeling the blade thump and the fish don't have any trouble knowing it's coming their way. The question is; Do you catch anything on it and OMG, where did you find that blade?

I have only thrown it twice, I got a 2 pounder on it the 2nd time out. It is a #10 colorado from one of my grandpa's musky inline spinnerbaits. I can't wait to throw this in the summer. They should smash it if I burn it on top of the water over weedbeds.

[CPBassFishing]

that's awesome! Really good idea.