Swaping Skirts

Here’s a great & simple modification to the Hula Popper. During a tournament my boater was filling the boat with a black Spro Bronzeye Popper. The closest thing I had to it was a Hula Popper. But by the time I put it on, the bite had died. Although I didn’t catch anything, the Hula Popper had better action than the Spro Popper. The Hula made splashing bubble noises while the Bronzeye just merely splashed. To my surprise the treble hooks didn't get all fouled up when in the grass. I just merely tugged the popper free of the grass and the treble hooks came out clean most of the time. To make it look more like the Bronzeye I replaced the stock skirt with a black silicone jig skirt. It actually looks great in the water.





Modified Hula Popper (top) compared to the Spro Bronzeye Popper

I pulled the stock skirt off first.  Then I moved the band to one end of the skirt by lubricating half the skirt with soap and sliding the band to the end.  The skirt will stretch while doing this but don’t worry about it.  Rinse the soap off the skirt.  Using a pair of needle nose pliers, shove the point into the band and spread the band by opening the pliers.  Press the band and skirt onto the popper and make sure the skirt is spread evenly.  Then trim the excess around the band and the other end of the skirt.

The Forgotten Spinnerbait

I’m amazed at how many seasoned bass anglers turn their noses up at the black spinnerbait.  When I first started using black, a lot of anglers rolled their eyes.  When I was observing for the Mr. Bass Championship, I threw the “Midnight Special” spinnerbait.  I caught 3 bass within 10 minutes before my boater told me not to fish anymore, since I was only an observer.  I told him what I was using and he said,
“Bass must be hitting at anything”.  Meanwhile, he hadn’t caught a fish yet and ignored my suggestion.  Yet another angler asked “Aren’t you embarrassed throwing that?”

The general theory behind using black is it makes a better silhouette in dark conditions, and it stands out more in stained, murky water.  In short, any condition where it is difficult for bass to see/find your lure.  I strongly favor black spinnerbaits armed with Colorado blades, which create a lot of vibration.  The Strike King “Midnight Special” sports a single Colorado blade with an additional rattle. 

In my location, stained water has a light color; white and chartreuse spinnerbaits blend in with the suspended silt.  Black in this situation is seen by bass as a shadow, which is more visible than the lighter colors which are camouflaged.  So the strategy is to attract bass with vibration, close enough for her to see the silhouette, and finally the kill.

Here’s another viewpoint; what is a spinnerbait?  To me it looks like a jig with spinners.  Remember when you used to fish with beetlespins to catch crappie and bluegill?  Black bass are in the same family.  So if you use a trailer with a heavy black spinnerbait and a small single blade you’ve essentially have a beetlespin for bass.  This is called slow rolling. 

Keep a black spinnerbait in your box.  You may be surprised.

Silence of the Cranks

I've been reading how the pro anglers have been silencing their crankbait rattle by drilling a hole and using silicone as an adhesive to keep the rattles still.  I've been searching for detailed instructions on how to do this but have come up empty.  I actually cannot believe no one has written something about it since this seems common.  The procedures seems simple enough but I wanted details on where to drill the hole.  Anyway, here is how I did it.  If you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve on it please do.

I selected an old crankbait that I almost never use.  This is a Matzuo crankbait which dives to about 8-10 feet.  When I get this procedure down and tested, I'm going to have a rattle and a silent version of the same crank bait so I could switch back and forth.  Silent cranks are often effective on highly pressured fish.  Lots of pro anglers switch between rattle and quiet cranks when the other stops working. 

1) I took the treble hooks off the crankbait and located where the chamber is by shaking the lure and feeling where the most vibration is occurring.  In this case, it seemed to come a little less than half way between the front and trailer hook eyes.  Mark the drill point with a Sharpie.

2) I put the lure in a small vise.  I put a block of wood in the bottom of the vise to keep the lure body from falling through.  The vise is actually clamping down on the wood block rather than the lure body.  The lure body is actually held in place by the wood wedges that I had handy.  I just slid these wedges on either side until it held the lure firmly with no play.

2) I selected a 7/64" drill bit.  I took the drill bit and put a dimple where I wanted to drill.  I did this by pressing the drill bit into the spot I wanted to drill and then turning the bit with my other hand.  Since in this case the plastic underneath the paint appears to be clear.  I chucked the drill bit in a hand drill and drilled the hole.

3) I took the lure body out of the vise to see if I could see the BB's.  The BB's could be seen if held a certain way.  Then I re-secured the lure body in the vise.

4) The pros say they used heated silicone on their silenced lures.  So I used standard kitchen and bathroom silicone and warmed it up in a hot water bath.  The reason for heating the silicone is to soften it so it would flow more easily.  I used hot water from the tap, which is about 110 degF.  If I were to do it again, I would put the water on a stove and heat the water to about 150 degF.  The silicone did seem to flow easier, but I think if it were heated more it would flow a lot better.

5) I then squeezed a small amount of silicone (about the size of a pea) into the hole and worked it in with a tooth pick.  I took the lure out of the vise and shook it to disperse the silicone and get the BBs coated.  I heard the rattling decrease to a mere muffle.

6) I then whacked the lure against the workbench to seat the BBs on the bottom of the rattle chamber.  I gently shook the lure and it was silent. 

7) I filled the hole up with some more silicone and set the lure back on the vise right side up, to keep the BBs on the bottom of the rattle chamber, and let the silicone set overnight.  I used silicone instead of epoxy because it was handy, its supposed to be waterproof, it matches the lures underbelly, and I was too lazy to mix up some epoxy.

UPDATE:  The hole really has to be filled with epoxy, or something durable.  The hooks from other lures poked a hole right through the silicone.  To minimize the mess of smearing epoxy all over your bait, I would advise to tape the lure before drilling the hole.  This way, the silicone and epoxy will stick where it needs to and not stick to the outside of the bait.  After the epoxy has firmed up some, remove the tape.  The thickness of the tape may also help with the epoxy "shrinking" into the hole.  I got a divit in the epoxy and I think this was caused either by the air cooling off inside the rattle chamber after I had handled the crankbait, or the walls of the bait relaxing after being pinched.  The epoxy sagged into the hole.  I followed up by putting on gap filling cyanoacrylate.

About Treble Hooks

I found out the hard way that the treble hooks that come with your lures aren’t really good enough to hold a fish.  A good way to test the hook’s ability to hook and keep a fish is to run your finger down all sides of the lure and see the hooks catch your finger.  If you want the best chance to boat/land fish you’ll have to replace the stock treble hooks with better ones.  But what makes a good hook?

One could improve hooking ability by merely using a bigger treble hook.  By using a larger hook size the gap between the point and shank is wider and increases the hooking probability.  Longer shanks also improve the hook up by decreasing the angle of the hook when it rolls away.  The straighter the point is, the easier it will penetrate.   The disadvantage of a long shank is when it is used in tandem on the short body of a crankbait.  The front and trailer treble hooks will come in contact and become entangled during the cast, or being retrieved.   A short shank model will prevent this fouling from happening.  For longer stickbaits, Zara Spooks, etc., a long shank treble hook can be used to hook fish which slap at the bait.

There are different shapes of hooks.  Probably the most used shape is the Round Bend treble hook.  These hooks tend to roll away when applying pressure at the point, making the hook point end up going in at an angle, requiring more force to drive the hook in.  These hooks need to be very sharp to hook in to fish.   Also, since this angle will also promote bending the hook, the hook must be strong as well.  Since a weaker hook bends, the bending action will increase the point angle preventing further penetration.

Another hook shape is the Wide Gap which has the points turned inward to maintain its hook size designation.  These hook shapes are found in the Mustad Triple Grip, Gamakatsu Extra Wide Gap (EWG), and the Bill Lewis Set-Lok line of treble hooks.  At first glance, it would seem the points would not catch as much as a Round Bend hook since they are turned inwards.  However, these hooks minimize the point angle when pressure is applied to the point.  As the hook rolls itself away from your finger the hook point is set up making it easier for the hook to penetrate.  The hook point is going in straighter, minimizing the required force to drive the hook and bending.

VMC Sure-Set treble hooks have one long hook which acts as a stinger hook.  These hooks are stock hooks on some Rapala lures.  That said, this variety of hook could really only be used as a trailer hook on a crankbait unless it has a long bill.  This hook can be very effective on short striking fish.

Hook strength plays a large part in how well a treble hook works.  Basically, the stronger the hook, the stiffer it is, the deeper the point goes.  If the hook flexes at all, that means the point is not driving itself deeper.  The penetration angle also changes.  With this angle becoming larger, this makes it even harder to drive the hook point.

So, what does this all mean?  Well, on the market there are several choices.  I'll talk about my top 3 choices.

1)      Mustad KVD Elite Series – I really like this hook!  This treble combines all the advantages that a crankbait treble hook should have; the extra wide triple grip design, extra short shank, and 1x strong.  The shank length is ideal to use on short body crankbaits.  This allows using a larger hook size to increase the likelihood to hook up.  The point geometry favors a straighter penetration.  The wire the hook is made from is thicker making it stiffer to drive the hook point.  This is a great hook to use on crankbaits.  Because of its shortness, it probably would not be the optimum choice for poppers, jerk baits, or longer bodied hard baits.  I would probably opt for a standard length shank to increase the probability of hooking up on a fish which slaps at the bait.

2)      Mustad Triple Grip / Gamakatsu Extra Wide Gap – These are the hooks I would use for top water baits, and hardbaits with a long body to prevent hook tangling.  These hooks feature the geometric advantage of having the points turned inward which positively affects the penetration potential.  These come in the standard shank length enabling these hooks to “reach out” at slashing fish.

3)      Gamakatsu Short Shank – This treble features the Round Bend design and the patented Magic Eye.  The wedged top of the Magic Eye makes it easier to install the hooks on split rings by pushing it between the split rings.  No pliers needed.  The shank is not as short as the Mustad KVD, however the strength is there and Gamakatsu is renowned for its sharp hooks.  This is the hook I would use if I couldn’t get the KVD.

Honorable mention: The VMC SureSet treble hooks have a great concept of combining the advantages of a worm hook with a treble hook.  However, since its use is limited, these would be great as trailer hooks to snag short striking fish. 

Gary and I were fun fishing during the Spring River Ratz Open Tournament. We stopped at Furnace Bay first and things were kinda slow. We heard last week that 25# were pulled in this bay which won the tnx. I wouldn't have believed this since we only pulled 2 fish. Gary scored his first bass on a blue-purple T-rigged worm off a laydown. Then we went into this shallow area that didn't seem to be underwater in normal conditions. I caught a 2.5# bass on a white/chartreuse spinnerbait. This lure was modified with a #5 hammered nickel willow blade. This fish came off a fallen semi-sunken tree. We tried one more area in the bay and there wasn't anything happening. Then we went to the mouth of the Suskie by the railroad bridge with the sunken pilings. Right off I had a bass on the line with the Rebel craw crankbait, but it got off. I was cussing. The treble hooks have got to be changed out. Gary caught 2 more from the same general area on the Rebel craw. He had Gamakatsu trebles on his crankbait. I realized that I could've scored at least 5 more pounds in the Conowingo tnx if I had good trebles. I thought it was all about technique that I lost the 2-3 fish I had on. But after some research I realized it must be the hooks. I brushed my finger on the crankbait with the old hooks and my finger just slid by. I got a whole host of trebles from Dick's including the Gammies, Mustad KVD, and SureSet. For one thing, just increasing the treble one size up made a huge difference. With just a plain set of Eagle Claw #4 my finger was being stuck about half the time. Gammies and KVD faired better, but the KVD seemed the most consistent.

At the weigh-in the winners of the Open were fishing in Furnace Bay and pulled 25#. They said that they were using spinnerbaits and they pulled their limit by 7:30 and culled the rest of the time. Gary admitted there was one place we didn't try in the Bay.

A couple weeks ago I was fishing with Gary in the Conowingo tournament with the River Ratz. I learned a lot from this one tournament. Gary was using Spike-it to tip his plastics. He probably caught 6 good sized bass within half an hour. He also replaced his hooks on his Rebel craw crankbait. Bass were killing the cranks all day long. It was so good that one time we both caught a bass at the same time. I caught 3 bass before I started to lose them. I'm thinking it may have started when I lost one bass by trying to turn the bass into the net. It probably did something to the hook or the bait. I brought another to the boat only to lose that one too. There was yet another that I lost early in the fight. So I lost at least 2 fish and another that neither of us saw. That was a potential 9 pounds, or 6 pounds according to the paper.

I went out again with Tom later in the day since the fishing was so good. We went over to where Gary and I were fishing and Tom was slaying them! He caught a 19" bass before we left for Broad Creek where he caught his double limit to win the tnx. I only managed to catch a baby smallie and what looked like a 2# largemouth which got off. At Broad Creek, Tom caught some more. Within 2 hours, he caught about 7 bass.

Dan and I went fishing on the Bush on the friday afterwards. Right from the start, Dan's overheat alarm on his engine kept sounding off. He took off the weed guard and somehow the engine was working better. We went over to the boat works and there I caught a 3-4 bass on a watermelon jig with a Zoom watermelon Fat Albert 2 tail trailer. I was eating sunflower seeds and probably wasn't paying attention to the line. This bass ate the jig! There was a lot of blood coming out and I ended up cutting the line and letting her go. She seemed to be OK and would probably survive. then we went further into the Bush and fished this small cove with a dock. I caught one 2-8 bass on a tree stump with a BPS Tournament 4" Mag tube in Roadkill (greenpumpkin/red flake) rigged on a 3/8 oz jighead. An hour later I had another bass on a 5" green pumpkin/black flk wacky rig. This bass got off but we both saw it and had the potential of being a 4# bass. It caught me by surprise and I didn't give a hard enough hook set. All the fish I caught that day I used Chartreuse Spike-it Garlic Extra Salty.

I shot my first PA Steel fun match at SLCFSA in awhile with Tom, and his friend Tim. It was really good to get back out and do some shooting.