Livefreeordie

Probably not exotic to some, but....12 days ago I was at a CT spot where big stripes can be found this time of year, and I was catching large stripers. I hooked up with something that fought differently than fish I had previously caught (more head shaking and changing direction). This fish even went behind me and the rock I was standing on and into 1-2' of water covering a pile of boulders. When I finally got it in front of me and close enough I turned on my white light. It took me maybe 5 seconds of staring before I could accept it was a large weakfish. I've only ever caught weakfish from shore in 2 locations and only in the spring. This fish was at least 6" longer than my previous biggest Squeteague and I had no idea they could fight that hard

I've been melting used soft plastics and pouring them into plaster of Paris molds. So far, I've only done this with 4" zoom flukes and 9" sluggos, but I want to try a few others. The recycled baits I've made look passable and it doesn't seem like the fish care that they aren't perfect (I catch with them). While this new hobby was born out of a desire to save money, I don't go thru enough baits to inspire me into upgrading to silicon or aluminum molds at this time. So far, I've spent $9 on plaster and have used materials I have laying around (cardboard, hot glue, and tape) to make the molds. I just wanna make a few more plaster molds and recycle the used baits I have and the ones friends give me. Some of the molds I've made are working 'perfectly' in regards to the baits pull out clean and easily. Other molds, the baits are pulling up plaster or whatever I sealed the mold with. This gunk mostly falls off when fishing and they still catch fish, but I have to wait forever to pull the bait out of the mold, and I assume the mold will wear out soon if chunks keep getting pulled out. I 'think' I sealed the old molds with Killz 2 latex primer. I will listen to anything anybody has to say about pouring soft plastics. But the question I'm looking to answer is: what are the best ways to seal the new molds I've recently made?

Without GW there likely is no USA. GW= Greatest American Patriot.

A batch of lipless cranks. 3 rigged for fresh, 3 for salt

I was camping at Hopeville State Park and lost a small plano with maybe 5 lures and 10 little jigs in it. I really hope some kid finds it because they'll get the minnow in this pic, a popper, and wooden frog, all homemade and each with 50-100 fish caught on them. Anyhow, I miss the lures, so I'm posting a pic of a lmb I caught at midnight last week on a minnow I built

(Some yrs ago) During the fall, I would hear a blitz each time I was walking out of the spot I had been fishing the dropping tide. The newly incoming tide rushed thru the rocks of a breakwater jetty into a shallow pool and tiny striped bass came to inhale silversides pinned against the rocks. On a couple occasions I stopped and threw my smallest lures and caught a few 16-22" fish then walked out. Then I got the idea to experiment to see just how much of an impact my headlamp would have on fish feeding in a frenzied manner. There is some ambient light there, already, and it did not seem to inhibit the bass from going into water that was 18" at the beginning of the flood. The wall is maybe 100 yards long, and when I scanned 30 yards with my weak lamp, feeding in the beam ceased immediately. Then, within 5-10 seconds, feeding stopped along the whole wall. It went from sounding like popcorn to silence, and I could see the fish swim away, not in what looked like a panic, but vacated the area at a medium pace, swam maybe 25 yards away then turned to face the wall (from a distance) again. Fish swam around me, aware of my presence, but seemed more concerned about the sudden light than a human walking around. Feeding resumed in about 1-2 minutes in the areas I didn't shine my light, and in a few more minutes where I did. The allure of 1000's of silversides trapped was strong incentive to bring them back. I have to imagine if there wasn't a smorgasbord available those fish would have vacated for a long period of time.

Is the left armrest still attached to the top of the helical?

A couple personal-use gliders and a painting a student made for me

Seggs, Baldwin won't tell you/spot burn. He wants to eat them all himself. Nah, just kidding Seriously, though: are these freshwater jellyfish confined to lakes or do they live in rivers, too? Baldwin's knowledgeable on this sort of thing. I ask because I may have seen some last night on a river. Or maybe they were just tiny regular jellies because the water there is brackish. I thought I saw feathers, turned my light on to see what bait was in the shallows, and they weren't feathers (and the bait was silversides)

West Haven is the BEST Haven!

What type of fish do you throw these lures at? I've never been to the UAE

I consider all the prep work (spooling, changing hooks, pouring plastics, patching waders, looking at weather/tide conditions, etc.) as work time; and I consider time actually fishing as fishing time. I feel like I need/deserve more fishing time. My wife, however, does a different accounting. She considers hours spent in my workshop and hours actually on the water as the same 'fishing related' category. Anyhow, I took some evening hours to do household repairs and 'fishing related' chores and I'm ready to take advantage of the great upcoming weather that is sure to arrive soon.

This thread is off to a good start. I can't help but look at every lure and think 'I know where I would use that plug.' Seriously, Wire...how could a fish not bite that 4" glider? I saw t-man make his buddy take a picture Saturday night...where's the picture?

Best and easiest are far apart. IMO, best would be to apply a slow curing 2 part epoxy. Easiest would be to dip n drip the lure in polyurethane, KBS Diamond, or UV Resin. Polyu will not hold up to hook rash but would likely be the fastest, cheapest, easiest way.

Good start. Show us a picture when you get a fish on one. There's a thread in this forum for those pics.