Winter tinkering ideas

[fissure_man]

Check these rigs out.  Think they’ll work?

 

Full disclosure: I have not fished ANY of these, other than in my bathtub (I didn’t catch anything).  I'm sure none of this is ground-breaking, but they're new to me.

 

1. “Jika Jig”

This one needs work, but I really like the idea.  The weed penetrating power of a jika rig, with the profile of a jig. 

 

I want to avoid tying to a split ring with braid, but I think it needs a better (“freer”) linkage between the hook and weight (and must be tough enough for flipping duty).  I made another one using a Gamakatsu ‘ringed’ superline EWG hook that looks good, but I usually prefer a buried hook point (not skin hooked EWG) in grass… ideas?

 

2. “DIY Bait Keeper”

I ordered a bunch of Trokar TK130 flipping hooks on clearance but they came with no keeper barbs.  I made these using shrink tube and a piece of a bobby pin.  The shrink tube is adhesive lined and the hooks have a small barb on the inside of the shank, so I think these will stay in place well.  The bobby pins have a nice epoxy ‘blob’ on the end, so there’s no exposed sharp metal.  We’ll see how that ‘blob’ holds up.

 

3. “Weightless Jig”

I bought a pile of these “Cobra Blackheads” when TW cleared them out for pennies.  They’re basically a plastic screw-in cone that you can put in front of a weightless senko, horny toad, etc to help it slip through cover.  Turns out they’re garbage for that application, as the spring falls out with the slightest tension lol.  Here I popped the spring out, and used the cone in conjunction with small segment of a stir straw I melted into a ‘skirt hub.’  To make the hub, hold the straw in a cordless drill and turn it slowly next to a lighter flame until the end curls over.  Use some kind of mandrel to hold the straw, so you don’t burn your drill :-P (I used a toothpick).  This is the same kind of ‘hub’ I used to hold the skirt on the Jika Jig.

 

It doesn’t need to be weightless, you can pop the plastic cone out and use with any bullet weight like a regular punch hub.  Instead of a flipping hook this would be great with a belly weighted hook, swimbait…

 

4. “Anti-Gravity Neko”

This one is dumb; obviously just neko-rigging a floating worm is a more elegant solution But I have piles of dingers, stick-o’s, trick-sticks, etc that I’ll never run out of, and none of them float.  This rig is ‘tub-tested;’ a piece of ear-plug is enough to float the worm, and the action is good.  You can probably use a smaller piece than I did.  I kind of like the ‘fire-tip’ look of the ear plug on the worm.

 

The neko weight is just a split shot clamped onto a corkscrew hitch hiker.  I know from wacky rigging that the clear shrink tube really holds the hook well and preserves the worm.  The stuff I have is actually too tough, it's hard to get the hook out.

 

5. “Anti-Gravity Jika”

This rig is born out of a need to use up the hundreds of V&M hula bugs I’ve acquired at prices too low to resist (I have a problem ).  Same idea as above, also tub tested.  The piece of ear plug barely floats the bait+hook, but with the ‘free’ hook on the jika rig it gets a really cool action when deadsticked.  It just sorta floats and sways in the slightest “tub current,” with the tentacles fluttering a bit.  Many use jika rigs in weeds, but I also like them for smallmouths in clear water, sandy/rocky areas.  I hardly ever bed fish, but this rig with its ‘fire tip’ visibility and deadstick action might be a winner. 

 

The hook is an actual Owner jig rig EWG, but I normally just use a regular EWG or VMC xl wide gap with a split ring.  I don’t mind tying to a split ring when not using braid.  The weight is a ‘quick change’ walking sinker for walleye rigs.  Good design for dragging around rocks, and the ‘quick change’ aspect lets me get away with not needing to add another split ring to the rig, and of course you can change weights easily.

 

6. “Hula Slider”

I’m a big fan of the reverse-rigged GYCB Fat Ika, but I have many hula bugs to use up As far as I can tell in 10” of tub water, this rig gives a similar action as the Fat Ika, with a slightly quicker fall.  It does do the “glide away” thing, and playing with the size/location of the shank weight might make it even better. 

 

7. “Tail Spinner”

I think this kind of tail spinner corkscrew is commercially available somewhere.  I just used an owner CPS spring to hold it (a knock-off, actually).  The hook is a Damiki D-Hold – I like the keeper but the hook gauge is too light for my taste.  I have a bunch though, so I want to find applications for them (common theme here).  The weightless punch skirt is the same as described previously.

 

PS.  The names are open for suggestion  I figure if the "Damiki Rig" (jig head plus plastic minnow) can have it's own name, these can too lol.

 

Anyone else bored this winter?

[SwampLife]

Nice! What size heat shrink for the homemade bait keepers??? 

[jr231]

I seen you posting on another thread and found your posts very informative. 

 

And you have cool stuff on this thread. So kudos. And thanks. 

[Kyhokie]

Nice, how do you connect the earplugs to the plastic? @fissure_man

[Smelter96]

The place i work you're required to wear those foam earplugs so i have hundreds. Definitely going to try out stuffing them in tubes like that! Neat idea

[scaleface]

The insulation on electrical wire can be stripped to get tubing . I do that for   carp rigs .

[Darren.]

Tinkering is good. Like the ideas!  

[webertime]

Put a paycheck nose job in front of your tail spinner...  

 

 

PS you're welcome

[fissure_man]

On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:50 PM, SwampLife said:

Nice! What size heat shrink for the homemade bait keepers??? 

 

The stuff I have is 3/32” (2.4 mm), 3:1 shrink factor, adhesive lined.  It's nearly too small, but I think that's a good thing - you probably want the smallest that will still fit.  I think 1/8” would work too.

 

22 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

I seen you posting on another thread and found your posts very informative. 

And you have cool stuff on this thread. So kudos. And thanks. 

 

Thanks man
 

21 hours ago, Kyhokie said:

Nice, how do you connect the earplugs to the plastic? @fissure_man

 

I just sort of ‘hooked’ them with a corkscrew bait keeper, then twist the corkscrew through until it’s hanging from the end.   Then screw it into the plastic.

 

Edit: on the 'Hula Slider' the ear plug is just threaded onto the line like a bullet weight, held in place with a bobber stopper.  The bait is rigged upside-down (tentacles up). 

 

 

19 hours ago, Smelter96 said:

The place i work you're required to wear those foam earplugs so i have hundreds. Definitely going to try out stuffing them in tubes like that! Neat idea

 

 Lots of options with tubes, I tried that out too (I’ve read about c-rigging a floating tube+ear plug).  With a translucent color tube, the bright color of the ear plug shows through and looks cool .  I’ve also played with stuffing floaty things into the ‘void’ of a paca craw/yum craw papi so they stand up.  You can use rig floats from walleye spinner rigs, they come in all kinds of colors.  

 

16 hours ago, webertime said:

Put a paycheck nose job in front of your tail spinner...  

 

 

PS you're welcome

 

Funny you mention that – I’ve been playing with this setup with is a similar concept:

This is V1.0: just a small colorado blade and bell sinker.  It wobbles like a chatterbait but seems like it will be too finicky on the retrieve (as best I can tell in a tub lol) and sometimes it sort of “seizes.”  I imagine it doesn’t help that I drilled the hole off center   It’s a work in progress. 

[razor6570]

That is some cool stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[Pacoac10]

Took a yum mini A-rig removed snaps put on a matching shad pattern skirt. Put snaps back on replaced little jig heads with 2-0 ewg hooks, and put on kietech sight flash easy shads. 

Meant for the short strike fish by giving the head a little more action with the skirt. Its a bit hefty but should get down in the water column quickly.

[Pacoac10]