Making excellent tube rattles......

[mblk181]

You will need a candle, side cutter pliars, a few drinking straws (fatter the better) and some glass E beads.

Be sure the label on the E beads says "glass" as some are made of plastic and are not nearly as effective as the true glass beads.

Begin by cutting a straw into one inch pieces. Take one piece and place it in the side cutters so just a little sticks out on the flat side of the cutters and squeeze the cutters just enough to close the end of the straw piece.....this straw will be sticking out the flat side of the cutters....now melt it (the end) shut with the candle flame. Hold a couple seconds to let cool. Now, go ahead and seal one end of each piece you've cut. With a number of pieces to do, you may have to pause now and again to let the pliars cool.
Pick up one piece of straw having sealed the end, and put in two E beads...now seal the other end. If you left the rattle in this shape, the E beads would likely wedge in the ends and become useless.......
Last step......buckle each end of the sealed straw piece with your thumbnail placed crosswise across the end....Now you should have a little pillow-like shape with 4 sharp corners. This finishes the rattles....
Insert a rattle into a tube and then gently squeeze the back end of the tube....the little points at the back end of the rattle will spread out and grab the inside of the tubes....helping to hold it in place....don't squeeze too hard and flatten your buckling too much.....

Rigging.....after inserting the rattle, I texas rig with a wide gap hook which holds the rattle in. I do weighting two ways....one way is to insert a half a splitshot into the tube before the rattle, and another is to put the rattle and hook in, then crimp a splitshot underneath on the hook shank. The underslung splitshot ticks on the rocky surfaces, also catching and releasing...shaking the internal rattle and flailing the tail.

Speaking of the tail, most tube tails work better when missing every third skirt tentacle.

Once you start making your own rattles, you probably can do a season's worth of excellent rattles in a half hour or so.

One option....use a hand held paper punch to punch a hole in your tube, going through both sides at the same time.
Then, with the rattle in place, your tube has a spot of extra color showing on each side......if you use red straws, for example, your tube has a red spot somewhat near the hook on each side. Just an extra if you'd like to try it.

[reddscott]

You never seem to amaze me Mac you always come up with great idea's!

[mblk181]

Thanks Trap, good seeing you on the board again....good fishing, Mac

[Rich]

Fellas, this is one of the reasons we call him Dr. Mac-n-stein ;D

Mac, I keep forgetting to tell you-those feathered jigs do a great job on both panfish and bass. Fished on a light spinning rod they are a lot of fun to use. Thanks again!

[FLfisher]

good idea

[mblk181]

Thanks for the positive comments. Good fishing, Mac