Thread: Lure Making

A few years back, I watched a video of a gentleman in a bait shop somewhere in Louisiana fashioning up jigs to be sold. He was using rubber legs and would take an individual leg and twist it in his fingers. Then he would move both ends towards one another and the rubber would wrap it self up, forming a tail.


Like this here.





This tail has a very nice action to it and I suspect the jigs in that shop fly off the shelf. It took him some time to get one finished. I have made a few up but never really tried them out.

Well this morning I wondered what would happen should I twist a piece of flashaboo in with the rubber. Hmmmmmm…..




It is interesting in that it shimmers and sparkles. Not easy to do and I imagine different materials would wrap better or worse, depending.

I also made up some more plastic bait lures. Found the Loctite Super Glue Gel Control on Amazonian for $2.50 a bottle. Got six of them. Any old ways I use that for securing the bait to the head. Most of the baits get a little trim off the head so they stick better. The plan is to make up a half dozen or so of several kinds for a tackle box. My problem is selecting which bait to use. I have way too many on hand and every time I scratch through the containers, I see old familiars that I want to add to the mix. Bought way too many of these baits. A man could start out with just a few designs in the various colors and do just fine. Provided that he selected the designs that would work best with his technique.

I been watching videos on catching SkipJack Herring. These are used for catfish bait because they are so oily. I wouldn’t imagine folks would want to prepare such for a meal. Maybe dare I say pickled. Anyways, they were using rigs they casted out below damns, that had three jigs attached. Dropper loops, and some had a spoon on the end. These jigs were mostly curly tail grubs, but some were hand ties. They were interesting to me because they were so sparse. Some used Sabiki rigs.

I was thinking that I could tie on a jig, then come up and add a dropper loop. Then if I wanted to try a different jig, cut away the line from the bottom jig and the dropper loop, and use the dropper looped jig for the bottom, and add a dropper loop above for the new jig I want to add. I also considered creating heavy line leaders and such if I experience serious wrapping issues.

So I got to wondering why I don’t finally try trolling lines with multiple jigs on them. Most use two jigs and that sounds reasonable. I picture them tangling up and wrapping around and being a major pain. I shall see of course. Nobody can wrap up a jig like I can. One quick touch and I have created a masterpiece of macrame.

I also watched videos on Bird Teasers. These are plastic things that are shaped like birds with wings. When trolled off shore, they create a ballyhoo upon the water’s surface, and that attracts predators thinking there is a school of baitfish being hammered. They come up, then the old bait and switch, and they grab the lure following behind. Important that the bird lead the way. LOL

So I wondered if crappie could be similarly fooled into striking. A provocation. I could add a bird to the line of an extra rod and pitch it behind the boat and see what happens. I worry that the speed will be insufficient to generate a real commotion. They sort of rock back and forth to the sides. Maybe I will get a mild action. My lakes are really only about five or six feet deep so a mild action might be perfect. Not drawing them up from the fathomed depths you know. Just getting noticed.

Fishermen dial in these sorts of things to target a particular species. That is the trick you see, adjusting and adapting until the best result is obtained.