Under the sea - lure action visualization

[Bucho]

Howdy!

in my never ending quest to make fellow european anglers develop a taste for hair jigs, I now tried to sink an action cam in the shallows and take some pictures. Didn´t even stabilize it, it just seemed worth a shot with the sun, the clear water and all those cute little gobies in it.

I was surprised how easy it went with the "movie maker" free ware. These are the first tries.

Plenty more stuff to try, s.a. chumming or catching real game fish´s responses in the move like those excellent videos from John Skinner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv9-k1wuRMc

 

[smalljaw]

Those are awesome and it really gives a great perspective of what your jig is doing in the water. I watched the guys here tying "boolies" with the props since I joined and I thought about giving them a shot but I never did thinking the props wouldn't spin and the jig would be junk but your video made me look at it differently, it appears that even when the prop isn't spinning it is still providing a ton of flash, very nice job on those, thanks.

 

[toadfrog]

The gobbies were going a long yelling , Where you going mama ?.

I can tell you how to put a ball bearing swivel on those and not modify your mold .

 

[JSC]

that was really good ... kept expecting some thing to come out of no where and eat them

 

[Bucho]

Those are awesome and it really gives a great perspective of what your jig is doing in the water. I watched the guys here tying "boolies" with the props since I joined and I thought about giving them a shot but I never did thinking the props wouldn't spin and the jig would be junk but your video made me look at it differently, it appears that even when the prop isn't spinning it is still providing a ton of flash, very nice job on those, thanks.

I´ve been catching even the most sluggish fish on dead drifting boolies and spinner jigs from the start. A still standing piece of metall never bothered me nor the fish.
I find it a great combination since the metal part action kicks in at a speed that straightens the soft hair. They supplement each other so to speak. Furthermore, I need some moving parts to make my customers go like "ahh, that´s how it attracts the fish"

What I found out that day is that first, the large spinner jigs make for a neat crab imitation when you drag them over the ground with the small parts clicking on the gravel like a crustatian shell. Second, the light tin version of the 1/4 banana - marabou boolie shakes its behind like a real swimmer. I couldn`t really catch that in the shallow water, looked like the old Star Trek trailer. But the guy I was with wanted to buy one instantly.

With the ball bearing swivel - thanks, but that sounds pricy.

Since I am concerned about corrosion in the salt, I bought only brass and fully coated blades. Found that the brass blades spin much better since they are thinner. Furthermore, the coat tends to chip off and expose bare steel that rusts imideately. Right kinda blade and a clean swivel should do. You can always tell me, of course

 

[Hawnjigs]

Those vids are an astounding success in showing jig design performance. I've never fished the Roadrunner, and the vid clearly shows why its so effective - surprised how upright stable it is bouncing bottom - a deep bow to the designer. The UD Wobble performs like a blade-less Roadrunner, and should have the advantage of slower fall for shallow apps.

Observing my Boolies swimming from above, they seem to spin better than the vid version?

Its possible to mfg a crane swivel that is as smooth spinning as a BB version. Around 10 years ago I was getting Korean mfg cranes that were just so, but quality slipped when the factory move to China. Tried others, but none were acceptable, and I had to discontinue production of my best selling local item trolling sinkers. Recently settled for Eagle Claw but they are gritty. Maybe they've improved recently, but Rosco was even worse.Some stainless crane samples I recently got lowered the ruff spin bar even lower - I don't understand how anyone could sell or buy them.

Luckily I kept a few of those vintage smoothies for my own use, and they are irreplaceable treasures. Top of the line Japan mfg McMahon cranes might still be available, but last time I checked they were expensive and not available in bulk. Worth samples I got years ago were decent, but cost double what I was used to paying for the Koreans.

How is the quality of your swivels, Bucho?

 

[Bucho]

For the boolies, they could spin better indeed. Then again, like a bar spinner, they need a little bit of straight retrieve to get started. You have to bear in mind that i was standing in the water, dangling the jigs around the camera. It was far more difficult to get them going than it would have in running water or a kayak. For my ground-hopping zander jigs which have to start instantly, I just received pin blades that spin much better. For the trout and perch jigs however, I actually like it that way. What works for the fish works for me.

With the swivels - I have to admit I haven`t payed much attention yet. Most of the local stuff here doesn`t really fit, so I was glad to get them in bulk from Do-it. They fit perfectly, spin alright and don´t rust, which was good enough for me. Looking at the footage again I am starting to get second thoughts about that. I´ll have an eye on it from now. If you have a good source for better ones I would be glad to hear about it.

Once I get people to use them, I sell the entire jig with a good margin, so I don´t have to care to much about small part prices as long as I get a high-end product out of it.

@toadfrog: I might have been a little quick refusing the BB, how much are they and where do you get them?

Edit: with the USD wobble head - that thing planes down as much as the RSU planes up. Thats what qualified it to me as a flounder jig in the first place, to reach depth with the lowest weight possible. As neat as it is to stir the bottom without snagging, it has no value in slow fall/shallow water apps.

 

[Bucho]

Here´s a new toy for visualisation. It retails at a healthy 285$ and doesn´t ship to Germany, but the principle is worth consideration. I once tried something similar in my bath tub. Back then, the water flow from the pump only pushed the lure aside - which is why this one features an extra tube within the tank:

http://flymenfishingcompany.org/products/fish-skull-products/fly-tester/

Seems like a nice gadget for shops and fairs. Thinking of the chlorine needed to keep my shop tank clean I wouldn´t buy it for home use though.

 

[Shoemoo]

Nice looking product, but the price is completely ridiculous. It's a molded plastic aquarium with a powerhead at the bottom. You can buy an acrylic aquarium about the same size at the pet store for under $100. Different shape, yeah but the manufacturing costs couldn't be that much higher.

This must be from the same school of thought where fly shops charge $15 for a dubbing comb while the store selling cosmetics down the street charges $3 for the same thing in a different package calling it a mustache comb.

 

[hookup]

Nice vids. When I lived in Germany, I never saw water so clear. A true gem

 

[Fatman]

Cool video's but ridiculous price on that fly tester

 

[AtticaFish]

I noticed that in a recent sales add received recently. Thinking FeatherCraft was selling them.



How about this for a testing tank?

[video=youtube]

The actual construction of the 'tank' using the 12" PVC pipes would not be all that expensive or tough to do. Just need a big enough pump (or electric trolling motor laying around) to move that amount of water. Make sure it is on a heavy duty table too, got to be HEAVY!

 

[Shoemoo]

You know, now that I think about it, it may not be that difficult to build your own tank like the Fly Tester if you have the right tools. You could make the curved back section and bottom out of wood and the sides out of clear acrylic or plexiglass. It's not as crazy as you might think. People have been building large aquariums out of plywood for a long time, and this is a lot smaller. As long as you seal the wood with waterproof paint it won't break down.

 

[Ron Don]

Looks like a great product to me. It would be a nice addition to some tackle shops.