Thread: I’m Getting Better

Went yesterday and the water was smooth as glass....well at least until that whirl wind started up. LOL

Managed my best fish yet- 12”



I also caught eleven of his little bitty buddies.

Entertainment was provided free of charge.



I started out using two planer boards with spinner jigs, two long rods long lining out the back with jigs that have no spinners, and two long rods pushing out the front with no spinners. As everything progressed waves started interacting with the boards, but no biggie really. Then the wind started screaming and I switched tactics. Motored over to the protected side of the lake and set all four long rods pushing jigs out the front, with two rods pulling crank baits out the back.

I am mystified as to how a crappie can see the differences in jigs in stained water, but somehow they do. They were liking orange but the best one liked a gray Powerbait minnow. Anyone know anything at all about what they see ?

I think I have kind of solved the issue of scent application. First time I used Slab Sauce I sprayed away and basically made a horrible mess. Then I tried dipping and dribbled sauce all over everything. So now I have it in small plastic vials and have those rigged to sit open and up right over the side of the boat. Now they are at the ready whenever I want to increase my confidence a tad.

Obviously, the key is to present a jig the fish will want to attack. Bunch of bushwhackers looks like to me. So I have decided to explore different shapes of jig heads to see what happens. I bought some pill head shaped jigs and they have an aggressive hook for the sizing- 1/16- 1/32 - 1/64 ounce. I want to see if they swim better. I read that aspirin headed jigs are favored by river men because they can fall faster in running waters. Maybe that means they can swim faster, too. Makes sense kind of in that they present a skinnier surface to penetrate the water.

One of the discoverable moments for me was just how easily these aspirin headed jigs slip into my tube baits. I flip the tube upside down, use the jig head to wiggle the legs out of the way, rub it on them to lube it up, squeeze the tube to make an oval opening, and in it goes. I really like the tube baits for some reason, and they certainly are cheap enough. My orange body with yellow legs tube got three fish yesterday. Anyways they don’t mangle the jig body during the insertion process.

I used to make custom sinkers for surf fishing. Legs that extended outward and gripped the sand to hold, then released when a fish bit the bait. I discovered lead residue was accumulating on my fingers from fingering my lead weights, so I started powder painting them. I decided to make a fluid bed back then, about fifteen years ago or so, and it worked but man what a mess. So I wanted to see what modern day fluid beds look like and the design is pretty much unchanged- go figure right. I saw where a member here added a vibration machine under his to get extra fluff with less puff, and ostensibly less mess. So I made my new fluid bed to sit atop of a vibration table that is being delivered to me later.



A simple reducer at the bottom
TJ’s Tackle canister
Nifty little thingie set atop to keep the powder down inside

Having played around with filter media before, I wanted something better than coffee filters and postal envelopes. The TJ’s media seems better but many of the same issues exist, mainly that some powders just seem to do better than others. So hopefully adding vibration will help, although I imagine some powders might not like to be juggled about.

Does anyone know what to buy and where when it comes to the filter media stuff as I want to make canisters for all my colors and don’t want to pay premium pricing ?

I painted these 1/16 ounce pill heads. I went with no collar design so I can tie them with yarn for soaking up Slab Sauce. Also hopeful they will balance a little better. For soft plastics I can lay down a layer of thread and glue the bait to that.



The yellow and the green are UV reflective and the dragonFly and pink are not. I also have some glow in the dark powders which I plan to test out as well, even though I am not sure they will be of much use. I suspect the color will be all that the fish see and the glow not so much.

Anyways I would have fished longer but my wife came home from work and called to say that there was no water. Nice huh ? Well I diagnosed it as the pressure switch on the well having gone bad and I called my big brother to come over and fix it. I bought a new one and he came over and attached it. Now she has water again and all is well. I gave him a Plano box loaded with my creations and he loved it. All manner of jigs inside and a few of his all time favorites- Beetle Spins.

Can’t fish today as it is pouring rain and lightening. I can always tell when a thunderstorm approacheth....the hounds become very eager to interact with me. Terrible to be afraid of thunder when you live in Florida. LOL. At least they think I can save them from that terrible noise.

My kid brother is down from Washington DC this week with a friend I have had since childhood. Each year they come down to surf fish. They even bought a trailer in Welatka/Satsuma area for this purpose.

So I have to go surf fishing again.....BOOOOOOOO.

I want to get in the boat instead !!!!!