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#1 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Prattville, Alabama
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Ever modify a lure and be pleased with the results?
When I was a teenager all my fishing was in farm ponds. This particular summer the weeds were bad in the ponds to the point of frustration and the water was down. Out of frustration I took a hot knife and cut the bill off of a 2" Big "O". Created a bait that ran fairly shallow and very erratic action. I proceeded to catch a lot of bass off of the bait. Some were good fish. |
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#2 |
BassFishin.Com Active Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 464
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Probably a third of all my floater/diver lures have shaved lips. Florida water rarely needs more than a 6 foot dive, and many lures go that deep even if they aren't supposed to.
I'll shave the lip until it runs less than a foot under the surface. I am almost always pleased with the results. A few times, I've completely cut off the lip. Turning a diver into a top water offering that jumps, flips and sputters like nothing you can buy. In the right situation, that is just what the bass doctor ordered. |
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#3 |
BassFishin.Com Super Veteran
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Parkesburg, Pa.
Posts: 3,762
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Nothing major for me. Blades & skirts on spinnerbaits and hooks on cranks if they do not come with premium trebles. I aslo remove the split ring (tie) from all my hard baits as I use Norman speed clips with them. I don't like retying when switching those lures because I change up cranks often while fishing. When I had my boat I kept 3 or 4 crank rods on deck and just switched rods, now with a kayak I don't have that capability.
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#4 | |
BassFishin.Com Active Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
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I often tie material to my rear treble to give the crank a tail. I also remove the ring from the eye. I hate tying directly to those split rings. But I use a Berkley "Crosslock" snap on my line, and use that to change lures. |
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#5 | |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
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Location: Prattville, Alabama
Posts: 802
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#6 |
BassFishin.Com Premier Elite
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: IN
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I add a blade here or there, piece of plastic, shaved a couple lips. Nothing to get excited about. The best modification I ever did was removing the rear hook from a silver/black back Rapala lipless crank and adding a Colorado blade with a spinner bait swivel. That seems to work fairly well. Now that I have a Dremel tool, I plan to try other things.
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#7 |
BassFishin.Com Active Member
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I just thought of another lure modification I used to use. Actually, I don't know why I don't still use it, since it worked well. Take the hook of of a Daredevle Spoon. Put a large weedless worm hook on. I prefer a 5/0 Mister Twister Keeper hook (I wish they made a 6/0 or even a 7/0).
Put on a large twirl tail worm and go fishing. The spoon works VERY well at penetrating vegetation, pulling through pad roots, etc. When you finish working the cover, slowly bring it back to the boat and it's swims well too. I had some monster hits on this set up several years ago ... but forgot about it until now. Might have to try it again when I get home. |
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#8 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
Posts: 718
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I've been into modifying soft plastic lures for awhile - more so recently to pass the time in winter. Mods included shortening a lure, adding a different tail from another lure and making the lure body larger in diameter by dipping it in hot plastic. Most worked well last summer and fall.
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#9 |
BassFishin.Com Active Member
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#10 | |
BassFishin.Com Premier Elite
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: IN
Posts: 8,308
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Just one more cast, and then some! |
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#11 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
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A candle flame is all I need to modify soft plastics and most times to improve on the original design. Cut the two lures you want to fuse parts from, each end briefly over the flame and hold the ends together for a few seconds. Done.
For example, I added a Ring Worm tail to a fatter grub body: ![]() The Sweet Beaver tail was added to another body: ![]() I took the Beaver Body and added the Brush Hog tail: ![]() Here are some others: ![]() |
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#12 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
Posts: 718
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Note: most pan fish lures will catch bass, so don't judge a lure's size by how effective it is.
Dipping lures require plastisol or melted down lures. I use a microwave (in the basement so the wife doesn't go nuts) and Pyrex cups. A gallon of plastic lasts for years, even when making lures from molds. Soft Plastic is reusable to a point - usually I get six reheats before a batch goes bad. Some tubes I prefer to have a thicker body and so I dip them leaving the tails out of the hot plastic: ![]() ![]() You can see below how dipping a line of plastic in clear plastic creates a core shot effect: ![]() ![]() I've even begun to dip ready made lures of different shapes such as the Mr Twister Sassy Shad grubs below: ![]() Note: no action-tail doesn't mean no lure action. I found this out last last year using a lure I can't even remember making and caught loads of fish on it the first day: ![]() ![]() I call it my Stubbie Grub and will use it's design to take tails from other lures such as the Trick Worm as seen above. Believe it or not, but the lure has a nice waddle when worked very slow on light line and a light jig. Truly a finesse design. I compare it to the Slugo that wasn't impressive to look at but it caught bass. The Senko is similar in that the body wobbles on the way down made so by rounded worm tips. Note: Spike-It lure dye was used for many of the lures displayed. Last edited by senkosam; 02-20-16 at 01:36 PM. |
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#13 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
Posts: 718
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#14 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
Posts: 718
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Sorry the photos disappeared. Photobucket decided to charge for storage and posting photos on forums so I and many others ditched them. Here are some soft plastic modifications:
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#15 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
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Most of these are modified lures using parts of two lures using a candle and then smoothing the seam with a battery powered soldering iron.
![]() French Fry stick segment and various tails: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Club tail added to grub bodies: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Finesse Slider Worm tail added to grub body: ![]() ![]() Gary Y Kut tail worm: ![]() Thin flat tail added to a curl tail grub minus the tail: ![]() claw from a crawfish bass lure added to another body: ![]() ![]() ![]() There many more but you get the picture. |
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#16 |
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Hudson Valley, N.Y.
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Here's some more recent shots of lure mods that did well this year in four different lakes:
First off, a Senko was the first soft stick that I used wacky-rigged to catch bass. Not until years later did I figure to downsize in length and diameter a min-stick that catches everything. Mini sticks can be rigged wacky with a light ball head jig: ![]() Note the clear plastic also used with his hybrid grub mod, front rigged: ![]() ![]() Who says lures have to have color?! ![]() ![]() This was the first mini with rig I ever made and it caught fish first time out: ![]() This year I figured bright white mini-sticks could catch fish: ![]() When jig rigged from the front using a 1/24 oz jig, the action using rod twitches with pauses is a side-to-side darting action. This 3 lb bass seemed to like it: ![]() The sticks shown come from an injection mold, some added to grub bodies or straight from the mold. I guess having caught bass on a Zara Spook - clear plastic no less - contributed to the soft plastic design and intended action Last edited by senkosam; 12-25-21 at 12:35 PM. |
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