Pepe

Do you know if Triton does factory re-skins like Ranger does?

The twin wire ones take a little longer to make but if those work best that is what I will be making. I will be happy to make some and let you all know when they are ready. I'm curious what you guys do when the wind picks up? do you go to a heavier head or just switch to something else?

That is good to know. I may need to get some more purple powder. Thanks. If you get a chance, please send me a photo and I will make some more.

This is a great thread and I appreciate the tips about eliminating the barb and the smaller hooks. I was trying to shoehorn larger hooks into my molds. I will stick to the #2 going forward and knock of the barbs. Here are some made with twisted wire guard and with two thinner wires formed in a V.

Glad to hear the jigs worked for you. Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on a new batch now.

Mid April 2012 we saw some beds but no bass on them. Cloudy skies, just a bit of wind with water about 60 and no hint of surface action. We started the day by throwing a wake bait and it worked all day. Lily followed with a fluke and seemed to catch every fish that missed my wake bait. Nothing real big but great fun.

Great day, Bill. I'm sure those guys will remember yesterday for years. Wish I had been there.

I found that pre-rigging baits with a lot of salt causes my hooks to rust

This video shows a simple and amazingly effective knot for tying on leader.

When you are chucking 1/2+ jigs you don't need to go to 8lb test IMO and are better served with 12-14lb as you should still be able get good distance on that jig. Makes sense to me.

What is your favorite line for fishing a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig on TR?

Very nice work. Great idea to flatten the head that way. Thanks for sharing

Thanks, guys. No rush at all.

It's hard to tell from the picture but the jig is a 1/2 oz brown FB head with equal parts GP, & Brown skirt with a few strands of black and a few blue. Trailer is brownish GP with large (electric) blue flake. Lily said there was nothing subtle about the strikes. She has the patience and ability to fish slower than me. I will cast ahead of the boat and then be moving towards my bait. She casts slightly ahead and then ends up dragging it behind the boat for awhile, so she stays in the strike zone longer. Of course she also gets hung up more by dragging it. I plan to get busy in the shop this week. My new vent hood and lighting system is up and working, so plastics are the first order of business while I wait for some feedback on the jigs already out there.

Well Mama was happy, and as we all know, that is never a bad thing;)

With the nice weather we extended the weekend and fished close to home today. There were a few chores remaining related to our golf cart, hot water heater, the boat and spring cleaning, so we got a late morning start. We headed up the White a short way and started fishing a pretty steep main lake point with some timber. In Mill Creek, we met a gentleman yesterday who told us he had good luck fishing this type of structure and we watched him release a 6+ lb LM that he had been carrying until he could fix his camera phone. He was a very nice guy who had been fishing with his dad in a Ranger, and he was a pleasure to talk to. My recently retired buddy, Ron, my wife Lily and I all tied on jigs from the Skunkworks. Lily caught a 6+ LM and a 5+ a short time later, dragging the jig slowly. Ron & I both switched to what she was throwing and Ron promptly caught a nice K. The guy on the trolling motor? nada, LOL A few short fish later it was time to head for home. What a beautiful day!

I do know that the annual pass I get every year covers all USACE ramps. It is about $30 ?

Ahhhh. Thank you for that tip. I replaced all the fuel hose up to the engine because the previous owner used ethanol gas that did not play well with the rubber lines. I had not thought of the internal line weakening and collapsing. We will fish tomorrow close to to home to avoid running it above idle and then have a pro look at it. I will put that bug in his ear. Thank, again.

Ohhhhh SON! that will make yo belly tummy happy - I guaranteeeee

I thought there must have been more than one tournament. We were peacefully fishing in the cold mist this morning when, at about 7:30. the boats tore by us like Greyhounds at the track. The rabbit must have been up the White River because that was the popular spot. We caught 7 bass in the first hour, on homemade finesse jigs, and 6 were keepers. One was a beautiful golden colored K with side and belly spots almost like a rainbow. We couldn't make the phone camera work though. All the fish we caught were in about 18 ft of water on steep banks near timber. VERY light bite. We went in at 8 for breakfast and to work on the motor. When we hit the lake again about 12:30 the north wind was blowing and we fished an hour and 1/2 without a bite. We changed the twist on fuel filter/separator but the 225 Opti is still stumbling when the throttle is opened up.

It was a GREAT feeling to be on the lake today, plenty of sunshine, very little wind and enough bites to keep things fun and interesting. We even managed to catch a picture of the ghost of Old Man Winter as he was leaving

Yes, that is the same Matt Reed. He is a great guy and a lot of fun to fish with. The fishing was tough but Matt kept us laughing and we learned a few things to boot.

I will let you guys know when I make a new batch. Currently focused on some other projects and re-tooling my shop with a better ventilation system for making plastic. We do plan to get to the lake late Thursday and fish the weekend. YAY!!

It is a type of tuna and I am told it is very good eating.

This time Lily had to help because I am a menace near a sewing machine. Not long ago we fished with Matt Reed for a few days and were impressed by his simple, but effective, tool for keeping line spools under control. Attached are pictures of a couple we made this evening from elastic material. The tab makes it easy to remove or move the band. It keeps the line under control but it's easy to pull some line off. Thanks for the idea, Matt.