Making Snakes

[mblk181]

Two snakes you may like to make for fishing.

The first is made by welding a lizard head onto a finesse worm and adding a tail. The welding is done with a pencil soldering iron setting on a tin can stand made by cutting two flaps in the top edge to "cradle" the iron. This lets you weld with both hand free as you have to melt both surfaces to be joined at the same time.

Weld the lizard head to the front end of the finesse worm. If the lizard head is too large and creates an unsightly "collar" effect, simply rotate the joint against the fatter barrel of the soldering iron until it melts smoothly into the worm body. For the tail, you have two options, either weld the lizard tail onto the worm, or cut the tail off a zoom U-tail worm and weld that on. I try to match the head and tail colors that are going along with the body worm color. For example, a pale green head and tail with a grasshopper color worm looks good, a green pumpkin head and tail on a watermelonseed body also go well.....

The second snake is a little wilder. I don't weld on a head, but use instead, an elongated glass bead. The bead is about a half inch long and is a perfect match for a cherry seed tail. Thinking I got them at Hobby Lobby craft store. At any rate, the bead functions most of the time as a head, and when on the move up and down the line, a little clacker of sorts. With the cherry red bead and cherry seed tail, I don't worry about the worm body color....

Rigging both worms.....You can either use a wide gap hook or normal bent shaft worm hook for rigging. Texas rig the first worm, and then crimp on a sinker under the worm on the exposed hookshaft. This keeps the snake from twisting up your line and has two other advantages....1. It doesn't change the profile of the snake by being underneath. 2. It occasionally catches and releases when on a bottom retrieve, adding a little head bobbing action to the snake. After the hook is inserted and the weight added, you are good to go.

On the second snake.....simply run the bead head up the line first, and then just rig the hook and splitshot the same as the first snake. Not necessary to peg the head.

A couple days ago I was trying out the high contrast glass beadhead snake and had fished a laydown next to a stump with no results....I'd worked it carefully over the trunk and paused in the branches several times. Feeling as there was nobody home.....I simply started to reel in at a moderate pace.... While working the laydown, my boat had drifted over some cloudy water caused by the waves hitting a mini shoal, quite muddy actually. As my little snake swam through the muddied water and my attention wandered to a heron on shore, BAM....one abrupt and powerful tail slap....I dropped the lure on the spot....waited a second or maybe two, felt a tap and yanked....missed the fish...The noise had startled me and I didn't let the fish grab it well....my own fault. Then the fish turned and dove...creating a huge swirl. I was impressed....it was huge. I've read that the red color is good for muddy waters, and it seems to bear out. So, if you are making snakes, kindly make some in the natural color schemes and a few with red beads and cherry seeds.

Good fishing, Mac

Fumes from welding are not good for you....I weld in the garage next to a fan which exhausts the fumes out the window.

[fishwitch]

was that ryme there on the end intentional?
i think so