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Hold each end to be joined over a candle flame for a second. With a steady hand, I hold the slightly melted ends together for 3 seconds. The seam between the parts could be a potential tear once fish are caught so I use a battery-powered soldering iron to smooth it by melting the plastic on both...

John passed suddenly today. I loved reading his wonderful articles when he wrote for Fishing Facts Magazine. For over a year we've been corresponding and sharing ideas when it came to lure design and innovation. His emails were a pleasure to receive and I'm glad I gave him great pleasure sending...

John passed suddenly today. I loved reading his wonderful articles when he wrote for Fishing Facts Magazine. For the last year we've been corresponding and sharing ideas when it came to lure design and innovation. His emails were a pleasure to receive and I'm glad I gave him great pleasure...

I just figured out what it looks like John: a peanut. I came up with something similar a while back and the wobble action is the same as you described. The stick can be rigged from either end using a 1/64 oz or 1/32 oz jig: It has caught 5 fish species.

They ain't pretty John, but the proof is always in the catch'n. In my case, I'm obsessed with symmetry and smooth lines and curves when making lures primarily because I want to believe that pretty is as pretty does.

John, I have yet to use a Beetle Spin attached to any lure. Talk about maximum vibration and flash! But I have a feeling it wouldn't work being that as of now the lures I'm casting must drop slowly and be worked slowly either under overhangs or into weed pockets and channels. The Beetle Spin is...

Worked today as well as yesterday except in a different lake: Crappy and yellow perch were also caught on it. What a perfect day to fish: partly sunny, mild and a breeze not affecting the cast into weed pockets.

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The waters in my area always have that cloudy green-algae suspension which is worse after rain runoff from inflows. You might think fish with smaller mouths would stay clear of thicker body soft plastics, but fact is, they have no problem attacking them. I dipped the body of this 2.5" grub in...

I had a spike tail mold laying around and figured: why not attach the tails on either side of a worm or grub segment? I've wacky rigged similar designs and done very well for different species and figured the subtle quiver of the tips should do very well. I wasn't wrong: I named the...

Now that you say it, today I fished the Whiskers (as I now call them) with a light 1/24 oz jig. It caught bass, sunfish and a few crappie: I rescued a small, round, foam float laying in the water and figured I'd put Whiskers beneath it due to the small chop on the water. Didn't rig it today...

Mid-hook-wacky would probably get bit fine but would also snag more weeds. For weedless presentations, I usually stick with T-rigged jerk worms and jerk sticks - both with bare-hook points exposed or resting on and flush with the surface. But 95 % of my fishing is with bare-point-hook lures...

Thanks John You are my best (only) source for testing my ideas. Hope the lures I sent catch a bunch! Frank

no one got it

Words such as, "resembling prey seems reliable most of the time" and "When predators are in active feeding mode bait action will elicit bite responses", may be categorical descriptions of why a lure catches fish, but categories don't catch fish - lure action-by-design does. Line "vis" and "bite...

What about lure design features such as shape and action?

HJ, you're right when it comes to using larger lures for larger fish even in flowing water. This traditional bass jig has caught a lot of smallmouth in the river I fish: I routinely don't need to go heavier than 3/8 oz. - the same for spinnerbaits with or without trailers. My target areas are...

I would imagine all of the materials mentioned would trigger fish strikes and as many strikes as the soft plastics I design. The action of the materials is all the same: a billowing, flowing, all-direction, subtle swish. But here's the crux of using light jigs regardless the material: being able...

Excellent! Like the colors - most are my favorites.

There will always be aholes that distract others from content meant to help with suggestions, innovative ideas, observations and simple chat sessions not meant to get deep or polarized. Lure craft in my case is as important as catching fish, but I realize it's not so for many who would rather...