Modifying soft plastics or using the originals in different ways

[SPOONMINNOW]

Warning: the following is a loonng read.

I just can't help myself. I got to modify baits weekly especially when the weather keeps me indoors. Retired, I can only fish some of the year - no more ice fishing for me - and must stay in touch with anything fishing related. (No TV shows thank you.)

Molds are okay but unless I sold lures made from the many I have, I can only use so many of the lures poured. Thought of selling them, but not worth it nor the air pollution in my basement from 275 degree heated plastic. Modifying soft plastics is the closest thing to making something no one sells yet catches fish consistently.

Now, for a mod to work, action speaks loudest to fish. That is, the way a lure moves using one or more retrieves and speeds. The thing that defines all of the thousands of lures ever made that provoke fish to strike, is action and action is dependent on many things that involve lure shape and bulk, tail shape and other moving parts. Color can be important when it emphasizes those physical elements and contrasts with the background.

Are fish fooled by lures into believing they are a particular prey animal? Don't know/ can't know. All I do know is that certain lure actions have proven themselves since the first lure caught fish. Match-the-hatch IMO is myth yet an art form when it comes to all of the fly tyers that produce specific flies patterns. But the action of flies is the same regardless of pattern or color.

What are examples of lure actions that get strikes but that also crossover into other lure types? Here are a few:
Remember the Zara Spook? A surface waddle waddle waddle using rod tip jerks. But guess what? I've found a shape that does produces the same action but subsurface. I call it the bulb or rounded tail:
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Even sunfish jump all over it:
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Here are other versions that produce the same action:
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The waddle is key! Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

Note: the Kut Tail and Softie worms are not modified except for two, but are used on 1/32 and 1/28 oz jigs with 1/0 hooks.
Another version of the waddle / jerk action is the jerk worm but not just any jerk worm. I found out that Yamamoto's Kut Tail worm's action was incredible when jerked back and forth - zig zag if you will. Fish jumped all over it from the surface to mid-depth in 8'.
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The worm is poured using the same mix as the Senko - not too buoyant/ not too soft.
The tapered body-to-tail is also key to the the lure's jerk action.
Another that has the same action is the Softie worm:
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Same taper to tail and plastic that is firm.

Speaking of the Senko, what about the Senko action when wacky-rigged? The weight of the plastic allows the dual-tip action to quiver on the drop. The same action can be applied using the rod tip twitch at different depths. Again, even the smallest stick wacky rigged can produce the same action or various versions of it. Here's one:
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This one can be wacky rigged or used like a quiver stick:
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Another wacky rig shape, I refer to as whisker because what it looks like attached to a fish's lip.
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Note the various species that can be caught on any of the above and it's all because of the combination of rod tip and lure action combined. There are many more but you get the idea. But note this:
Humans are creatures of habit - fish are not when it comes to being provoked without regard to danger and fish far more when it comes to lures and lure action.

JMO - but take it for what it's worth from someone not inclined to use live or store-bought bait (except the many lures stored for 30 yrs. in my basement).

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Another thing on lure shape. I assumed all lures had to have round bodies until I figured - what the H, why not cut a segment off a French Fry stick and add some different tails to it?

Note: the stick in cross section is rectangular, not round and the ribbing is far from smooth like you find on live prey. Man did it produce with different tails attached!
examples:
FF segment with straight thin tail:


curl tail added:


Crappie Magnet tail added:


fork (fin) tail added:



Joker tail added:


claw added (cut from a craw bait):


Note also that most mods are the ultimate in finesse lures and as with all finesse lures, line diameter is key (I only use 8# test braid.)

Anyone can make mods using a candle flame to slightly melt the ends and hold together for 3 seconds. I use a battery-powered soldering iron to smooth / strengthen the seam. Try copying any of the above and catch fish with it. They're even great for kids to catch fish with.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

The above is based on:
The mystery why fish strike lures focuses on lure action. Lateral line sensitivity plus a fish's magnifying lenses in both eyes overload a fish's meager brain coupled with a bit of territoriality. I believe the last thing on a fish's brain is seeing a lure as a meal, but I can never rule it out nor wouldn't since my emphasis regarding lure design is provocation-by-design. Lure hue and brightness may enhance shape and action at times, but does not matter for a majority of tried-and-true lures in my experience.

In one day I caught 5 species of fish using 8 different lures with 8 different actions. Total caught that day - 107 fish. The before that in April, 66 fish in one afternoon. Knowing what works in my tackle box is as important as where I find fish. Confidence is key.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Not meaning to be contrary, but I'm doing OK relative to the limited resource here with a baitfish appearance and movement mindset. Primary target walleye with smallies, white bass, wipers, catfish, drum bycatch. Since fish are running smaller at the few early season spots that actually have fish present, 2" Bobby Garland Baby Shads in Blue Ice and Pearl White colors do well enuf to make other softies unnecessary, Also tried a newly available white pearl color 2" Creme Scent Ring Shad which also gets bit well. All are available at reasonable prices at Walmart.

Noteworthy is that the white pearl Ringer had only a single pack left at both my town Walmart and the larger store 50 miles distant in a bigger town.

So, have no need to expand into other designs & colors. The fact that they might produce as well or better than what I'm using is irrelevant since I'm satisfied with catches, as mentioned, relative to the limited resource of high pressure EZ access spots. Best catch was few days ago Wednesday 19, 21, & 23" + 6 short wallys, 4 smallies, 2 drum, 1 white bass.

For this application I too favor 8# braid. I've moved on from Power Pro being too twisty to supple Daiwa J-braid for long casting and more robust Sufix 832 for heavy duty apps where big fish are a possibility. J-braid is thinner and softer and the occasional wind knots can be fatally tight impossible to undo.

 

[hookup]

I fished grubs forever until I started expanding my lure choices. After running the gamut of just about every style of bass catching bait out there I've settled on a few also. Best catcher has been a swimbait. Or in other words a paddle tail grub. When asked how I fish it I say "Exactly like a grub". Have a tackle bag full of grubs, but always rig a swimbait on one rod.

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Some might ask, why use lures when live bait works just as well if not better?
For me, catching fish just to catch fish is not challenging. Catching fish on various lure shapes and actions is.
Today I caught 90 fish after 12:30 pm and on 5 different designs (mods), some on store-bought originals. All taken today.






I'll always wonder if fish individually attack some lures more than others which is why my lure palette is large.
Plus I like the variety of lure actions and shapes fish attack with gusto vs the ones they peck at. Did color matter?
Not according to the above shots and the many others not shown.

 

[hookup]

Some might ask, why use lures when live bait works just as well if not better?
Did color matter?

Live bait - I still believe I catch better quality fish using artificial baits

Color - Color only matters when color matters. But when color matters, color really matters!

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Didn't matter today. I boated 89 fish yesterday and my partner and I boated over 180 fish - all on different colors and lure shapes. Bass (one 3lb, 5 pickerel (one 3.25 lb), yellow and white perch, sunfish and mostly crappie.

(Always wondered about the term artificial baits:
Artificial definition: made or produced by humans rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.
The baits are the real thing though maybe copies of a prey animal.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Interesting how our available species are totally different, you catching none of mine and me none of yours. Today 18 & 19" + 3 short wallys, 4 white bass, a cat, and an unusual buffalo about 8#. No smallies or drum today. All on the same 2" Bobby Garland blue ice color Baby Shad. on a 1/14 head.

Big difference in habitat, mine mostly hard bottom running water from shoreline. Yours?

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Big difference in habitat, mine mostly hard bottom running water from shoreline. Yours?

Our waters vary from swampy wetland shallow lakes to rocky bottom mountain lakes/ steep shore dropoffs. The lake all the fish came from was the former type. Depth most fish were easily caught was in 5' or less. We found an interesting pattern: small-leaf floating vegetation had more school fish nearby than large pad areas! Few fish in open deeper water.

 

[Hawnjigs]

In moving water here baitfish prey tend to congregate shallow nearshore in calmer eddys so predators are in close also., except when the reservoir outlet controlled outflows are reduced & fishies can move into deeper mid channel water. Is your shallow lake forage mostly invertebrates? I'm GUESSING that your large catch #s indicate fish are hungry and perhaps stunted by predator biomass exceeding forage supply?

My moving water catches tend to be on the small side per species potential due to extreme harvest pressure, in fact I don't recall anyone else releasing keeper size wallys like I do. Even smallies are fair game for the table, along with stripey basses.

In moving water canals with scrubbed bottom and weedless shorelines baitfish are the only forage (I think) so I can stick with only a single or few appearance imitation options since the (very) few species of baitfish I can see look pretty much the shiny silvery same.

Since your catches are are also successful relative to availability you must have evolved a method to counteract the weed fouling problem?

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

you must have evolved a method to counteract the weed fouling problem?

When I get some on the hook, depending on whether stem or slime, I smash the lure on the surface a few times to get it off. No fish will bite a lure with even the tiniest amount on the hook.

Is your shallow lake forage mostly invertebrates? I'm GUESSING that your large catch #s indicate fish are hungry and perhaps stunted by predator biomass exceeding forage supply?

As you see from all the photos of all the mods that ALWAYS catch fish, I never consider that hunger, forage biology, whatever determines fish size, etc. Waters have a good mix of sizes and more than enough forage to support it.

IMO, fish are provoked or not and when provoked, attack again and again even during the same retrieve. Today was another one with large sunfish, perch and a few bass clobbering my many lure shapes. The sunnies were fat bellied indicating a good feed.


(Note the attached a 3" very thin wire leader with clip to prevent more pickerel break-offs. Worked line a charm for all species and all size fish.
Wire-shy fish didn't exist on May 9.)

 

[Arne]

Good times, keep on catchin them. Arne.