Jan 25 - List your lure modifications

[Fishaholic]

Pop-R

Hang a 12" leader off of the back screweye for the treble hook, attach a small wet fly...sometimes you can not only hook up a nice bass, but get some nice gills too.

[Ron Fogelson]

I take a rappala lure, remove the rear hook & add the hooks with feathers.  That addition will cause the lure to pulse & move with the water movement even when you are not putting any action into the lure

[Ron Fogelson]

I take a c-rig bead & place it between the hook & the weight when working a craw tub TX-rigged in muddy water, the extra noise gives the fish a better chance & finding it & also sounds more like a crawfish's movement

[Fishaholic]

Hawaiian Wiggler

Attach a 4" steel leader to your line just ahead of the Wiggler...to this leader, attach in a wrapping bandage technique a piece of gauze, tieing it in several places...the leaders should be soaked in pigs blood the night before and allowed to dry...this is an awesome bait for catching big pike...looks like the minnow bait is leaving a trail of blood...well, it is!

[Fish-N-Fool Lures]

When the bite is slow on soft plastic jerk baits I sometime cut the tails up about 2 " with a knife or razerblade. It gives it a little more action.

[Yitbos78]

Good evening all! Thought I might add a post or two. A little tougher of a conversation this week

I like to take a red marker to all of my Rapala crank-baits, not only do I like to color the hooks with a little red (given  ), I also like to put a mark under the gills to give it a little more the look or a wounded minnow. It also is a lot cheaper to color your hooks than buy new red trebles.

[Ron Fogelson]

I like to take a buzzbait right out of the box & crimp the rivit to give it a little extra squeal, the noise drives the bass crazzy

[Fishaholic]

Age Old Live Nightcrawler

Condition the nightcrawlers overnight in a cooler filled with 3" of water and 1/2 a bag of ice...rig your line up with a number 12 long shank hook...completely bury the hook inside of the nightcrawler leaving no part of the hook exposed...if fishing 4' of water, set a float at 6' when the float disappears, wait for it to reappear before setting the hook.

Never fails

[Yitbos78]

Laurie, wonderful to see you on tonight! Where's the hubby at right now, he on too?

I also like to take my Rebel Pop-R's and retie the feather on the back hook with actual feathers (longer length) aprox 3" with a white and a red feather up the middle (fly tying supplies). I find that this gives the lure a little more stability in the water as well as leaves a longer trail behind the lure when moving it. Also this works great replacing that torn up back hook without throwing the lure out or taking forever to find a replacement feathered hook!

[Fish-N-Fool Lures]

With soft plastic sinking stick baits like senkos, mine and others,  if I want to fish deep water or in the current in a river I add a few small split shot to my line from about 3" to a foot in front of the bait.
It helps get it down and keep it down with hurting the action of the bait.
For river smallies in deep water this is killer. They love the Chartruse pepper color

[Yitbos78]

Yes actually, with the wounded bait look/(extra red on the bait) I seem to get many more hookups/hits than with the standard hooks. (SRY)

[Fishaholic]

Tube jigs

I like to bend the hook, opening up the gap to a more obtuse angle...this causes the bait to get hung up less in timber and hooks up to fish better than the conventional bend on the original jig.

[Ron Fogelson]

I take the big blade off of the midnight special spinner bait & change it to a say #4.  Still gives you the thump but more subdued also lets you fish it faster without ridding higher in the water

[Fishaholic]

Cordel Big O

1. remove the front treble hook; 2. take off the back treble hook and slip a piece of fluorescent tubing over the shank of the hook and replace the hook on the back of the bait.

Sometimes, this can be more effective than the red hook deal, especially in stained or muddy water.

[Ron Fogelson]

Take a red spinnerbait shirt & use the strands to red the bleeding color pattern to the.rest of your spinnerbaits.  You can get the same effects without the extra money.

[Yitbos78]

Good Evening MIKE, nice to see you on tonight as well!

Now I'm not sure about the alka seltzer (gonna have to try it) but this past year I picked up some Mega Stike (great scent) and I like to put it on the inside of my Schuberts tube baits/ Bite Rite tube baits as well. It gives it longer release on the scent so you don't have to apply nearly as much 1/5 as many times! This helped me hook up with some lunkers this year!


           Thanks Mega Strike!!!

[Ron Fogelson]

Take a red spinnerbait shirt & use the strands to red the bleeding color pattern to the skirts of your buzzbaits.  You can get the same effects without the extra money.

[Fishaholic]

Tender Tubes

Several tiny splitshot weights 18" or so up from the tube, with the tube on a 1/64 oz. jig...this allows the jig to drift through riffles at a slower clip which in turn gives the fish a longer look at the presentation.

[Yitbos78]

As sick as this may sound to you all, they now make tounge rings with a little light in them! They work great in not only tube baits but also in larger soft plastics in really stained water. You put it right into the plastic and clip the other end shut. In the stained water I have found it helps me get a higher number of reaction strikes, especially in shallow water!

[Fishaholic]

Tube baits

With a 4" tube bait, use the insert type jigs making sure to leave around a 1/2" gap between the front of the jig and the front of the tube...this air gap allows even a 1/4 oz. bait to sink slower than the conventional rigging...this is great in the pads.

[Ron Fogelson]

Buzzbait,  take the blade and bend the flaps out a bit, gives more splash @ a slower speed keeping the bait in the strike zone longer & works for those cold days when the bass are more sluggish.

[Fishaholic]

Little Cleo 1/3 oz. Spoon

Add a 3" piece of orange yarn to the treble hook ...this is just a different look that gets me more hookups than the guys using the bait straight out of the package...it changes the wobble of the bait ever so slightly.

[Yitbos78]

I like to take a Culprit worm (6-7") and split the tail all the way down from aprox 1/2" behind the hook back. You have to make sure that you split it evenly but when you do you get great back action from the lure. (along the same lines of a double tail skirted jig). Also works great dragging across lilly pads (like a frog). The action off of the tail really gets spawning fish moving some more. It is a little harder on the hookup, you have to let the fish take it about a 1/2 second longer than normal.

[Fishaholic]

Johnson Silver Minnow

To a 1/8 oz. Johnson Spoon add a 10" plastic worm and fish the bait slowly across the bottom it adds more action to the worm when it's warranted.

[Ron Fogelson]

Buzzbait,  add a willow leaf spinner blade to the hook with a swivel and split ring, gives off flash that is unseen before.