The sky's the limit when making new lures from old soft plastics - even bass lures !

[Spoonminnow]

As usual, I retreated to my basement workshop for the last three days with air temps above 90. And, as usual, started searching soft plastic storage boxes for baits that might be used for parts or just shortened for use on small light jigs.

The fact that many hybrid lures caught so many fish indicates that,
1. lure action depends on design and
2. the same retrieve can be used for any design no matter how different to catch fish.
3. Many lure designs are equal in their ability to generate strikes from all fresh water species that bite lures.



In the past I displayed these surefire designs that easily caught 5 or more species:



Other than the hand poured lures, the brown lure was obtained by cutting off the tail end of a 4" finesse worm and rigging it on the same jigs pictured. After having caught many fish on it, I figured - why not check out what I already own to come up with other possible designs fish would bite. The following allowed me to catch 80 fish the first time I went fishing / five different species.! (ignore the paddle tail shad that was used as is.)












I'm sure most of you have a bunch of plastic worms lying around. The worm grubs above were cut from the tail end of such worms - IE 1 1/2 - 2" long cut from worms 4-6" long.

The craw claw was taken from a craw worm and attached to a Bass Assassin grub body and also to piece of finesse worm using a candle flame.



The Slider grub paddle was added to small worm bodies also using a candle flame and then a battery powered soldering iron to smooth the exterior. They actually worked better than the Slider Grub.



Did I mention that a turtle started chasing one of the the above lures and would have nailed it if I hadn't taken it out of the water.

This channel cat had no problem snapping up one of the above grubs:





The rest were sunfish, bass, crappie and perch.



Do yourself a favor, especially when taking child fishing. Take a piece of a thin plastic worms and rig it on a small 1/32 - 1/16 oz ball head jig. Use a light leader of 6# test (1.5' should do) attached to your line so as to allow the best lure action and the least amount of line bow.

The retrieve:
Alternate 1/4 turns of the reel handle with slight rod tip twitches and pauses after letting the lure drop mid depth. The strike is usually a slight tick of the line transmitted to the hand holding the rod. I caught fish in 3' and also in water bordering 14' under overhanging branches. Even slow retrieves can cover quite a bit of water and slow retrieves are what most of us use anyway.


What all this proves is that fish aren't fussy when it comes to attacking many different lure designs - but only as long as the above requirements of finesse fishing are followed. Don't get me wrong, different designs have slightly different actions, but variety is the spice of fishing and no lures sold can outfish the above.

[CrappiePappy]

Yes ... but, from what I see, all you've done is copy 4 of the 5 more popular bait shapes from baits used for other species/purposes.

The only thing I don't see is a tube jig clone. I see a stinger shad, paddle tail, modified curly tail (straightened to a "ribbon tail"), and a "carrot" body shape.

Nothing wrong with any of those shapes, as we're already using them to catch fish with. I routinely catch 4 or 5 different species on many of those jig shapes I use (& Roadrunner's too) ... Bass, Crappie, Hybrid Striped Bass, Catfish, Warmouth, Green Sunfish, Bluegill, Drum, & White Bass.

But, you do make a valid point for those with "old Bass plastics" lying around, or found in the "clearance bin" ... that they can be trimmed, shaped, or otherwise modified to resemble the plastics designed for Crappie and save some cash. Plus, you get the reward of having "created" (in a sense) a bait, yourself ... much like those that tie their own jigs.

[Spoonminnow]

Cloning suggests copying exactly another design. Making lures that are even slightly different I believe may have that something others may not - something fish notice and respond to. Take the ribbon tail lures (top picture) for example. They are copies of no lure made and have unique qualities curl tail grubs don't, namely fluttering under a stationary float or paused on the retrieve as well as the ability to slowly dart back and forth with rod tip twitches. Curl tails must move in order to flutter and are prevented from darting due to the resistance of the tail.

The claw tail design may have something in common with some other lure, but the profile is entirely different as is the action, again, using rod tip twitches. If I saw them on the rack, I wouldn't buy them.

Thick and thin tail worm ends exhibit different actions between the two as do stick worms of a different plastic hardness. Could it be fish detect the knobby surface which may contribute to a strike?

I'll give you the Slider Grub imitation in action.

The old argument of matching what fish are feeding on is IMO something anglers want to believe and make up to justify using certain lures. I on the other hand also want to believe and make up the reason fish bite lures which is based strictly on their senses of sight and vibration detection via the lateral line. As some lure designs work less in most situations, some lures work better in my experience most of the time and in most places because fish senses transmit an image of something it must strike. I began using more modified plastics yesterday and many got slammed/detected - not the slight tick of the line one might feel using slow moving lures. Even the colors were unique which may or may not have made a difference in those designs.

Even the slightest differences in design, appearance and action IMO can make all the difference that fish sense and are involuntarily provoked into attacking. Whether to eat or kill, I leave for others to fill in the blanks, which matters not to one that is a strictly lure design/presentation angler. Whatever I take in the boat I want to have the highest probability of getting hit regardless fish activity level, though it is fun to catch fish on some limited use lures at times.

[Ttexastom]

I bass fished for 30 years. Have a bunch of worms, that been looking at, to make into crappie lures. Great idea!!!

[Spoonminnow]

I bass fished for 30 years. Have a bunch of worms, that been looking at, to make into crappie lures. Great idea!!!

You'll catch all species! A ball head jig is the best way I've found to present the lures mentioned and get the most bites in water from a few feet to 15'.
In fact, any lure a crappie will bite, all species bite.