Lure modifications

[AUFred]

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.

[mikechell]

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.

[bassboogieman]

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.

[mikechell]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

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 ...

I didn't even think of those as "modifications" ... silly of me.
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.

[AUFred]

Originally Posted by mikechell

I didn't even think of those as "modifications" ... silly of me.
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.

I use clips as well. I add split rings to many baits to make changing easier. I add feathered tail treble hooks to most topwater baits.

[keithdog]

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.

[mikechell]

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.

[senkosam]

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.

[mikechell]

Originally Posted by senkosam

... making the lure body larger in diameter by dipping it in hot plastic.

Do you have pictures of doing this? Or is there a kit you use?

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by senkosam

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.

I started cutting the two long swim tails off of Brush Hog style plastics for pitching a couple years ago. I get far bore strikes without the two swimming tails. Not sure why, but I think bass like the more subtle look.

[senkosam]

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:

[senkosam]

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.

[senkosam]

Here are a few other examples of dipped lures that catch most fish species: (The top photo illustrates the Fin Fish made by Lunker City with the forked tail removed and then dipped.)




(Just because the bottom lure looks like a you know what, doesn't mean it won't catch fish. LOL)

[senkosam]

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: