troutgnat

Thanks to Ham I second the Nano!!!

Folks, something to think about.........The government continues to steal from our pockets more and more every day in ways unimaginable, yet what have we the people done about it??? Did you all hear about the gentleman in Washington state a couple weeks ago who was arrested for collecting rain water on his own property??? Now were thieves for collecting rain water! When are we going to quit accepting our fate as it becomes of us and start making a stand?!

Here's one of my re-paints that will get thrown a lot again come this fall....Peach Orchard Craw, named after a particular little honey hole I'm sure none of you know of.....lol

Job well done sir, paying it forward....may you reap what you sow my friend.

Fished Wednesday afternoon in the Bear Creek area......went looking for the whites that were up there a mere few days ago....ran the Ranger up as far as I could take her and we worked our way back out...never saw a white nor had a bite....we were throwing the old reliable smoke colored swimm'n minnows...got out towards the bluffs and decided to start throwing the A-rig to see if we could locate some deep a little easier...still couldn't catch a white, the've moved out with the front that was coming in(we met that front full bore headed back to the ramp, arrgh!).........however, the good news is I had a solid 14 lb stringer of blacks on the A-rig....I lost my kicker fish at boat side when I was getting ready to lip her, a good 6lbr.

Fished Wednesday afternoon in the Bear Creek area......went looking for the whites that were up there a mere few days ago....ran the Ranger up as far as I could take her and we worked our way back out...never saw a white nor had a bite....we were throwing the old reliable smoke colored swimm'n minnows...got out towards the bluffs and decided to start throwing the A-rig to see if we could locate some deep a little easier...still couldn't catch a white, the've moved out with the front that was coming in(we met that front full bore headed back to the ramp, arrgh!).........however, the good news is I had a solid 14 lb stringer of blacks on the A-rig....I lost my kicker fish at boat side when I was getting ready to lip her, a good 6lbr.

Ham is good on those trout!.....No doubt he can pull over hundred an outing. I've seen him do it

GNS, yes I am pouring the heads on those and they are lead. The wire thing took me a long time to figure out. I toyed with this for some time, making all kinds of bends, twisties, putting loops in, etc. and never came up with anything I liked until I finally found it. I do sell some of these so I don't want to give away the farm but I did let out a hint in my former post up the page a ways. I'm sure other guys have their ways too and I'm sure they work. But yes, my wires are locked in the head however where the wires come out of the back of the head allows them some flex.

Balsa, I believe I found it at Wally World of all places. It's made by Plano and is designed for A-Rigs. However, it is not big enough to hold rigs with baits on. As you see, I just use it for storage of extra rigs. I haven't started doing this but I've noticed a couple of rigs now have a large split ring right behind the head that fits around all the wires. When your done fishing you squeeze all the arms together and slide the split ring down over the middle of the rig and walla it stays put. My buddy started doing this and claims he can fit quite a few with baits on in a 370 box. I should of thought of that along time ago before I made all these. However, some open weld rings and a pair of round nose pliers and it's a quick fix.

Thought I would chime in and offer a couple of tips. After much trial and error over the last couple of years I finally got the A-Rig down. It works for me anyway. I use a Do-It spinner jig mold that I modified. I spend lots of time researching the best deal on components to keep my cost down. Example.......Jann's Netcraft sells sampo ball bearing swivels for around $86 per hundred. I've seen others in the $90's and even one supplier wanted a $112 per hundred. I purchased some over the internet a few weeks ago for $15 a hundred. YES, you heard that right! I bought all he had......500 premium sampo ball bearing swivels w/split rings for $75 . Of course they came from a far away land and took forever to get here but at that cost I can practice patience. As with others, I used to do the pliers and bruised fingers technique but finally wised up and bought a Twistech wire bender. For $75 bucks this will save your arse as Bill mentioned. Folks, this isn't rocket science. A small initial investment, yes, and time, but the cost and reward of doing your own as Bill mentioned is well worth the effort. There is great satisfaction in spending $40+ bucks on a Do-It mold and taking a dremel tool to it . I spent hours researching the internet, watching videos, checking out other rigs at the store, then hit the tackle bench at the house and tinkered, tinkered and tinkered some more. One day while loading a rivet into my rivet gun in the garage the light bulb went off and I figured out the method that worked for me. Don't be afraid to do your research and be a little creative. Some of you guys have some great looking rigs on here.

Guys/Gals, I have 1/2oz Alabama Rigs for sale. I've been making these and fishing them the last two years and have had more requests from "buddies" this year so I made extra's. These are high quality 5-wire rigs at half the cost of retail. These are made on a modified Do-It spinnerbait mold. All rigs made with .035 stainless steel wire, premium black "non-glare" 40lb coastlock snaps and sampo ball bearing swivels for those with blades. The heads are powder painted, cured with hand painted eyes. I use a custom unique rivet process in the head to ensure a guaranteed "wire lock". This rivet process also allows the wires to hinge more inside the head giving the arms more flex for better action. I use .035 wire because it can still handle most baits I throw on the rig and it has better flex giving the rig more flare when you "kill it" on the retrieve. For those of you who like to throw the bigger swimbaits on A-rigs I have a very limited supply of .041 5-wire rigs with no blades. The cost on the plain 5-wire rigs is $7ea with a minimum order of 4. 5-wire rigs with blades are 3 for $28, again miminum order of 3 on these. Buyer pays shipping. My tackle making season is coming to an end so first come first serve on these. Thanks. Any questions just shoot me a PM. I do have a Pay Pal account.......Darren

Sounds like you are preparing to have a real nice fish fry

Great story. The best part of that whole entire trip was the fact that you took your dad and enjoyed it with family................I would bet that you probably have plans to take your kids in the future I bet your not sad at all that it was your Dad that caught that 11lbr and not you...His smile said it all!

If your lucky enough to find the Zoom Ole Monster in the Avacado color.............kind of a mix between motor oil& green pumpkin with red and black flake in it. I will stop grinning now

BTW................I've never seen that #85 catch a fish

Somebody needs to find Jim Morton(I hope I have his name right). He was the main Storm rep/pro staffer back in the day when the whole change over took place. At the time I was the MINK states Rapala rep and had worked a number of events with Jim. He taught me a lot about the wiggle wart and in fact gave me one of his own SP-90's from his stash. If I knew any better at the time and wasn't so foolish I would have pounded Jim for every ounce of information he could muster. MAYBE JIM KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL MOLD??? I was never told. I was just a newbie rep at the time and deemed non-important

Nice mold Dave! I am way too far behind in that technology but I did figure out a way to make an Alabama rig from a spinnerbait mold

Well thank you Trophy. Great minds think alike Pumpkinseed? Where? A pumpkinseed wouldn't catch fish, just watermelonseed will

And only about another 10 degrees water temperature for prime time wart bashing ....Everyone has their preference for water temp and warts but I absolutely love it in 45-50 degree water. That being said I have caught plenty of bass on the wart in the month of February but probably not this year unless it warms up quick. I don't think I could fish a wart that sllooooooow!

Jerry I believe a lot of it is also the fact everyone has a 'go to' bait. A lot of my fascination with the wart is personal and simply I have a lot of confidence in throwing it. It's my go-to bait when the conditions are right. I cut my teeth in forcing myself to learn how to fish it and have been rewarded in doing so

Here's some of my own personal repaints that I rely on in my wart box.

Who's a diehard Wiggle Wart fan??? I'll start..............I AM!, I AM!

Trophy, Very nice looking repaints! If you notice in my pic of my 370 wart fishing box my predominant colors are olive hues They work! Although, there are times a PB&J or phantom brown really gets em' going.

Dale I love some of those paint jobs, thanks for the eye candy!

That is correct DTRS