Oddness

[JohnF]

I'm sitting down in my dungeon looking at this mess of stuff I've accumulated in trying to become a fisherperson and my mind started misfiring, coming up with these bits of oddness, and even took control of my hands to put things together that don't really belong together. I've been snipping the heads of little creature bait thingies (which in itself is weirdly satisfying) and sticking hooks in 'em to see what the effect might be.

 

I used a few floating jig hooks that I've never really figured out another decent use for, cut the heads of some of the creatures and stuck the hooks in 'em. They're too light to cast more than 5' ------ unless I use a flyrod , which is probably gonna bring down the wrath of all purists, especially when I try the teeny Rapala minnow or the Cotton Cordell bumblebee on flyline (they're too lite to cast even downwind - well, mebbe a real gale).

 

I only got to test the one in the pool just now before the rains came, again, the reddish critter with white head. He sets up beautifully on the surface like a dragonfly. The big lizard, the yellow forktail and the green wavetail worm are probably heavy enuf to cast with a spinning rig and I'm not certain if they're gonna float, sink or just wallow on the surface with their little butts dragging towards the bottom. The two on the left are just regular panfish tubes with little bitty weighted jig hooks in 'em but I thought they'd maybe be ok on the flyrod too.

 

 

If the weather clears up a bit I'll take 'em down to the river to see what happens on the flyrod. What the hey. The bass are being finicky around here anyway, so I've got nothing to lose. Tossed everything I could think of Friday nite and attracted nothing but one scrawny little hammerhandle who spit the hook at me when he got close. Lots of surface boils and nudges but nothing taking a serious bite and no sign of smallmouths anywhere. I think the boils where all pike debating whether or not to try out their new teeth. Apparently the pike have started to feed at Wildwood though.

 

JF

[Leecher]

The dungeon... always a good place to be when the weather is crappy out there LOL That's a good assortment you have created John!!! I'm assuming that they are all plastics.... Have you thought of trying gulp products for those jig heads?? or just dip them in the alive juice for a little while before using them.

 

I really think that Gulp would increase your chances of getting a strike with those finicky bass.... It's always my go to bait when not using live ones

 

If you go down to the river... let us know the results.

 

Leechman

[JohnF]

The dungeon... always a good place to be when the weather is crappy out there LOL That's a good assortment you have created John!!! I'm assuming that they are all plastics.... Have you thought of trying gulp products for those jig heads?? or just dip them in the alive juice for a little while before using them.

 

I really think that Gulp would increase your chances of getting a strike with those finicky bass.... It's always my go to bait when not using live ones

 

If you go down to the river... let us know the results.

 

Leechman

 

Most of 'em are out of a $10 box of 200 Mann plastics. No salt, no scent, no nuthin'. But the worms worked great for bass, and the little curly tailed grubs are excellent for rock bass jigging. I hadn't figgered out any use for the rest of 'em till today in the dungeon so I paired 'em up with the floating jigs for which I also had no use.

 

I have some Berkley scent and some other kind of Mike's anise gel that I picked up at Basspro last spring. It seems to work fine for sunfish & rockbass so perhaps it'll help these plastics. I had it in mind to juice 'em up when I try 'em. For some reason I keep forgetting to take the scent with me when I'm going to the river.

 

I got out to the pool again between downpours. Turns out the heavier ones float pretty well and have great swimming or twitching action.

 

If the sun comes out at all again today I'm heading down to the river for a test run. I can't seem to catch anything in my pool at home.

 

JF

[ozaibak1]

The pink and white jig/tube combination is the #1 crappie / panfish tube I've ever used, it will also catch other larger species if they are finnicky.

[splashhopper]

hey thanks for the pics,....

i hadn't thought of putting a jig head inside the lizards I have in my box..

[JohnF]

hey thanks for the pics,....

i hadn't thought of putting a jig head inside the lizards I have in my box..

 

I got out to the river between bolts of lightning and didn't catch any fish but discovered that the lizard has great looking topwater action and the split tail grub does a nifty walk the dog thang. I can't wait to get them out to the Thames to tempt some smallmouths up outa the depths, or mebbe some hungry pike. I wasn't surprised at the no catching part. A lot of other guys had the same idea as me about sneaking out in the lull between lightning bolts and they were using worms etc and getting bupkis too.

 

I even got to do some real estate networking while prowling the river. Business is always good, especially when ya can do it in shorts and teeshirt with orange crocs on yer feet.

 

JF

[Leecher]

Most of 'em are out of a $10 box of 200 Mann plastics. No salt, no scent, no nuthin'. But the worms worked great for bass, and the little curly tailed grubs are excellent for rock bass jigging. I hadn't figgered out any use for the rest of 'em till today in the dungeon so I paired 'em up with the floating jigs for which I also had no use.

I have some Berkley scent and some other kind of Mike's anise gel that I picked up at Basspro last spring. It seems to work fine for sunfish & rockbass so perhaps it'll help these plastics. I had it in mind to juice 'em up when I try 'em. For some reason I keep forgetting to take the scent with me when I'm going to the river.

I got out to the pool again between downpours. Turns out the heavier ones float pretty well and have great swimming or twitching action.

If the sun comes out at all again today I'm heading down to the river for a test run. I can't seem to catch anything in my pool at home.

JF

 

Thanks John for the update!!!

This is awesome that you had though of dipping the plastics into the juice but not so good that you forget to bring it with you LOL

 

I think that the added scent will yield results in your hunt for them bass.... I like to hunt them wacky style with the added scent of the Gulp product.... I used to use the following hooks, wide gap with a 7" minnow worm in cherry seed which produce phenomenal results but can't seem to find those worms any where this year

 

 

So I got looking and came across those better hooks (Mustad Octopus) for this setup and since I could not find the bait that I wanted, chose the 5" sinking minnow in black

 

 

A real deadly combination that I think will produce.

So all this to say that I'm a firm believer in the Gulp products.... Give it a try, you'll be surprised

Leechman

[splashhopper]

I got out to the river between bolts of lightning and didn't catch any fish but discovered that the lizard has great looking topwater action and the split tail grub does a nifty walk the dog thang. I can't wait to get them out to the Thames to tempt some smallmouths up outa the depths, or mebbe some hungry pike. I wasn't surprised at the no catching part. A lot of other guys had the same idea as me about sneaking out in the lull between lightning bolts and they were using worms etc and getting bupkis too.

 

I even got to do some real estate networking while prowling the river. Business is always good, especially when ya can do it in shorts and teeshirt with orange crocs on yer feet.

 

JF

 

i like the action of the lizard too... been "Texas rigging".... nothing caught yet.. .but i think it is just a matter of time with that one

[JohnF]

The pink and white jig/tube combination is the #1 crappie / panfish tube I've ever used, it will also catch other larger species if they are finnicky.

 

I know. I learned that one from Garry2rs. The first time I saw it my first thought was "not only pink but small and wimpy" and kept hurling my manly 6" worm into the water. Garry delicately flipped his dainty pink 'n white grub and hauled in some dandy little perch which outweighed my zero macho bass by at least 10 ozs. (altogether) but hey, fish are fish. I wuz sold. Bought 'em on my next Bass Pro forage and forgot 'em each time I have had a chance to use 'em. Gonna start carrying them on all my river excursions just for fun. If the real bass don't wanna play mebbe the WGSF's will. Heck. If it'll help I'll wear my pink sweatshirt and orange crocs. Catching nothing much with effeminate little girly baits is pretty much as good as catching nuthin' with manly big jerkbaits and 18" tubes, even if the tubes do cast a might farther and make a manly splash when they land.

 

JF

[JohnF]

Thanks John for the update!!!

This is awesome that you had though of dipping the plastics into the juice but not so good that you forget to bring it with you LOL

 

I think that the added scent will yield results in your hunt for them bass.... I like to hunt them wacky style with the added scent of the Gulp product.... I used to use the following hooks, wide gap with a 7" minnow worm in cherry seed which produce phenomenal results but can't seem to find those worms any where this year

 

 

So I got looking and came across those better hooks (Mustad Octopus) for this setup and since I could not find the bait that I wanted, chose the 5" sinking minnow in black

 

 

A real deadly combination that I think will produce.

So all this to say that I'm a firm believer in the Gulp products.... Give it a try, you'll be surprised

Leechman

 

I've been using the big worm hooks but just the other day I bought a pack of Gamakatsu 1/0 hooks to try. They call 'em finesse wide gap hooks. I want them for Crawfish plastic and leechs. The bigger hooks kinda overwhelm the bait I think.

 

I'll get a bottle of the Gulp. What flavour do you recommend?

 

JF

[Leecher]

I've been using the big worm hooks but just the other day I bought a pack of Gamakatsu 1/0 hooks to try. They call 'em finesse wide gap hooks. I want them for Crawfish plastic and leechs. The bigger hooks kinda overwhelm the bait I think.

I'll get a bottle of the Gulp. What flavour do you recommend?

JF

 

Can you say "Gulp flavor" LOL just J/K

I'm not sure if they sell the juice by itself but you can surely buy a bucket of minnow grubs or leeches etc for that... what ever you do, don't discard the liquid.... it's the only real genuine taste that any fish can't resist LOL

Leechman

[JohnF]

Can you say "Gulp flavor" LOL just J/K

I'm not sure if they sell the juice by itself but you can surely buy a bucket of minnow grubs or leeches etc for that... what ever you do, don't discard the liquid.... it's the only real genuine taste that any fish can't resist LOL

Leechman

 

Isn't it Gulp that makes the squirt bottles in Garlic, Crayfish flavours etc? I'm sure I've seen Dave Mercer squirting his baits liberally with something, or mebbe he was just washing their windows.

 

JF

[Leecher]

Isn't it Gulp that makes the squirt bottles in Garlic, Crayfish flavours etc? I'm sure I've seen Dave Mercer squirting his baits liberally with something, or mebbe he was just washing their windows.

JF

 

Yes John, you're right and so many flavors to choose from, it's unbelievable LOL but when it comes to flavor, I've only use the ones from the buckets and the smell of it is not something I would use for an aftershave LOL but all I know is that it works pretty great!!!

 

A bucket of that stuff will last you a whole season and after using a grub or leech can be put back into it to re-energize it!!!

Leechman

[JohnF]

Yes John, you're right and so many flavors to choose from, it's unbelievable LOL but when it comes to flavor, I've only use the ones from the buckets and the smell of it is not something I would use for an aftershave LOL but all I know is that it works pretty great!!!

 

A bucket of that stuff will last you a whole season and after using a grub or leech can be put back into it to re-energize it!!!

Leechman

 

I've smelled the stuff that they soak their 3" leechs in and that's enuf to put a hungry dog off a gutwagon, so I'm really glad fer yer wife's sake you don't douse yerself in it. Mebbe I'll just git me a pail of whatever looks tasty and soak everything in it. My problem is that I do most of my fishing wading and it's a tad awkward carrying a pail of bait let alone changing stuff in 4' of water without spilling.

 

JF

[Leecher]

I've smelled the stuff that they soak their 3" leechs in and that's enuf to put a hungry dog off a gutwagon, so I'm really glad fer yer wife's sake you don't douse yerself in it. Mebbe I'll just git me a pail of whatever looks tasty and soak everything in it. My problem is that I do most of my fishing wading and it's a tad awkward carrying a pail of bait let alone changing stuff in 4' of water without spilling.

JF

 

John when you get yourself a bucket of your choosing, put some juice into a small plastic container with a lid so that you can carry it in the pockets of your waders.... that way you don't have to log the bucket around all day!!!

Leechman

[JohnF]

John when you get yourself a bucket of your choosing, put some juice into a small plastic container with a lid so that you can carry it in the pockets of your waders.... that way you don't have to log the bucket around all day!!!

Leechman

 

With my luck the lid would come off and I'd smell like Bass bait for the next week. The neighbourhood cats would all be trying to lick me.

 

JF

[steve barrett]

John. When are you going to crawl out of that river and come up here and I will show you how to fish the right way. I just got back from the river after nailing two brookies. We use worms up here not them plastic thingies. Anyhow my boat is fired up and ready to go and if you yap a lot like Dave Merser I guess I will have to maroon you on the first Island we come across. Good luck down in the dungeon with that plastic stuff. Steve

[JohnF]

John. When are you going to crawl out of that river and come up here and I will show you how to fish the right way. I just got back from the river after nailing two brookies. We use worms up here not them plastic thingies. Anyhow my boat is fired up and ready to go and if you yap a lot like Dave Merser I guess I will have to maroon you on the first Island we come across. Good luck down in the dungeon with that plastic stuff. Steve

 

I yap a lot. but I'm bigger than you and will chain myself to the tiller so whither goeth the boat, so go I. Where you go is up to you. You name the time. I'm free until I teach again in October, with a few short commitments in between times.

 

JF