Customising your Lures |
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The choice of lures available to bass fisherman today is mind blowing. There is just about a lure for every situation you´ll ever be faced with on the water. Notwithstanding the choice, have you ever felt that a lure is just not performing or producing fish as it should? Don´t despair, you don´t have to spend a fortune replacing ineffective lures. With some practice and a lot of" trail and error" you can customise your lures, thus saving yourself thousands of rands and enhancing the effectiveness of your lure! The Crank baitLet´s start with the common crank bait. Not many people will take the time to fine-tune a crank bait fresh out of the wrapping. It is a common mistake to accept that a new crank bait will always run true. Keep in mind that most of today´s crank baits are mass produced and thus prone to misalignment. Before your first cast take the time to test the crank next to the boat with about 3 meters of line out. If the bait runs to one side, use a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the line tie eye toward the opposite side it is running to. Make small adjustments until the lure dives straight down. This little effort will ensure that your lure reach it´s designed depth. Knowing how to correct misaligned crank baits could also be used to great effect when you want to swim the lure in a specific direction. Have you ever fished right next to a cliff and wished that you could knock your lure into the rock a few times to get that reaction bite? Well you can! Just tune your line tie in the direction you want the lure to swim and voila, you´ll be enticing many reaction bites that weren´t possible before! If you have a lot of time and a few old "useless" crank baits to destroy it´s worth it to experiment a bit. You can successfully modify the action and purpose of a crank bait by simply filing a round bill into a square bill. It will change the running depth as well as making it a little less prone to "hangups". By drilling a hole into the body of a floating crank bait and filling it with liquid will change it´s character and turn it into a "suspending" lure that will stay in the strike zone longer. It´s always useful to test your modified lures in a swimming pool before you hit the water, this way you get familiar with the lure´s new action and also gains confidence in it´s performance. Customising your PlasticsMost bass fisherman has used a lighter or matches to melt and mend a favourite worm. Keep in mind that you can cut and join various worms and shapes into a brand new fish producing monster! Do not hesitate to experiment with matching colours as well as the length of worms. By joining two or more trick worms you can easily create a snake lure that will draw the attention of some lunkers. I often experiment with the way in which I rig my plastic lures. Again it is useful to test the action of your lure in the swimming pool. One way of giving an old trusted rig that extra edge is to add a bead to it. I have even increased my success rate on my shaky head rig by adding a bead to it. I prefer glass beads and tungsten sinkers because they give a crisp clicking sound not possible with lead. Experiment with various sizes and colours of beads, you´ll find that certain colours are more effective in different water colours than others.    The uses of beads are endless and could definitely increase you strike rate. Do not hesitate to experiment with these useful ornaments! Another way of customising a normal rig is by rigging it "wacky style". I have found a useful tool (Owacky tool) to fit a normal O-ring to senkos, trick worms, finesse worms and just about any worm you can think of.  Fitting an O-ring to a Senko with a "O-Wacky tool" By rigging your hook through the O-ring instead of the traditional way, you can drastically modify the action of the lure. Feel free to experiment with the spacing of the O-ring. There is no right or wrong way, just the way the bass tells you it should be! Do not forget about weights and rattles. These standard pieces of terminal tackle can also create various different actions for normal plastics. Take your time to experiment with the insertion of different types of weights into different parts of plastic lures. You´ll be surprised how the action of a normal trick worm is changed if you insert a "nail" weight into the tail. Sometimes this is just the difference you need to unlock a locked jaw bass!  Add a "nail" weight to trick worm  Add a nose weight to a fluke There are also custom weights designed to insert into the nose of your plastic lures. By inserting a nose weight in your standard fluke, you will create a definite diving action that replicates a feeding minnow. Do not hesitate to experiment with the way you insert the hook into the body of the fluke. You´ll be surprised by the different actions you can create and how "alive" your fluke suddenly becomes. I have recently begun using soldering wire to add more weight to my hooks. By experimenting with the amount of wire and where you apply it to the hook can make a lure actually swim into a certain direction or create a unique action. The possibilities are endless, go out and try them!  Soldering wire as a weight  Using rattles to liven up creatures Much has been written about the senses of bass and how they use the different senses to detect prey. In dirty water I always keep my rattles close by. If smell and sight is lacking then make use of a rattle to attract that elusive bass! There are various types and sizes available. Ask your local tackle dealer to show you the variety of rattles that are available. Here again your imagination is the only limit, experiment with different types and sizes on different lures! With this article I have only touched the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If you loose trust in a lure or it simply does not produce fish, don´t get rid of it, customise it! I hope you have fun customising your lures and developing new techniques and patterns for catching big bass. Happy Bassing Ruffneck Discuss this article: Customising your lures |