Home Made Jigs

Bait Fish Style Jigs

As I’ve mentioned I make my own squid jigs and unlike my lures I’m very good at making them. I make two types each in three different sizes. The shrimp style and the bait fish style. Today I’ll show you some pics and a video on the fish type.

Notice how the bait fish swimming around are attracted to the jig. I myself was unaware of this until I saw the videos (I have several videos). In all of them the bait fish suddenly appear and follow the jig around. I had never noticed this until I got the Go Pro as you can’t actually see this activity from the surface.

I tried for a short while to catch a squid for the video but the weather was terrible and they don't attack as well during the day as they do at night.

Happy Fishing

Home Made Lures Update

Here is a short post on my slim type lure. As you can see I painted it bright yellow with a white belly. It was painted with a brush and the result is just about ok.

The swimming action is a wobble "a la Rapala Original" which is what I was after. Some adjustments have to be made to the future models because it is slightly tail heavy and doesn't swim completely horizontally as I wanted.

As I couldn't just sit there watching the paint dry I started another model still in a slim style but this time I wanted a 17 cm floating lure. Being a prototype I kept it rather square so as to keep as much wood as possible to make sure it floated.

It has the same wobble swimming action and weighs about 22 grs. When it came down to painting I went for a suggestion made by "Mrkinfisher3" and also varnished it with an epoxy varnish for durability.

Remember these are prototypes so the finishes aren't top quality. I have now developed a way of completely hiding the wood grain. New versions are in the production line and I hope to unveil them early in the week.

Happy Fishing

A Relaxed Evening on the Beach

With very rough seas it was far too dangerous to go out spinning in search of Sea bass so Gonzalo, Mirelle and myself decided to do a little surf casting. The beach is called "Santa Cristina" and is 10 mins away from home. Having breakers and being the mouth of an estuary it's calm waters makes it very popular in summer for families but at this time of year we practically had the place to ourselves. No wind and very mild weather gave for a very easy and relaxed afternoon.

We took one rod each and had some catching up to do as Gonzalo and Mirelle live in Vigo, which is in the south of the region bordering with Portugal, and it had been some time since I'd seen them.

A couple of beers and snacks with more than a few laughs. The only catch of the evening was a small Sea-bream caught by yours truly, of course, that was returned to it's friends unharmed. The beach has some excellent Gilt headed bream in summer and the occasional mega sea bass. A couple of years ago an 11 kg example was caught with blood worm but on this particular occasion it wasn't to be.

Happy Fishing

A Blog is Born

As with so many others, like Dave from “David’s Bass Fishing Blog”, I’m really interested in fly fishing. We have some pretty good rivers and lakes here in Galicia, and even better in Asturias which is the neighbouring region in northern Spain, so seeing that a new blog has been created by “Mrkinfisher3” I just had to add it to my blog roll.

http://www.salmonfishingireland2012.blogspot.com/ “Salmon Fishing Ireland”. As a complete novice I shall keep my eye on this blog which looks very promising.

The season starts at the end of next month so I’ll be getting some practice in with Mullet at the port here in La Coruña. The rivers here are quite narrow with lots of vegetation and fast moving water making it very important to have one’s technique finely tuned. I did try last year in lakes where messy casts are forgiven but in the river they’ll be no mercy.

All the best with the new blog Mrkinfisher3 and I look forward to some great entries and advice on equipment, flies and technique. No pressure LOL.

Frank

D.I.Y. FSC Lures - Take 2

After making the first lure it gave me the confidence to make another more in line with the lures I generally use.

I've corrected a couple of things such as the distance between hooks and using a continuous stainless steel wire from front to back for the hooks.

This one is a "Slim" 14 cm Sinking (20 gr). It will have a bib which I've been practising making out of CD covers. I glue 2 bits together for strength and give the front a concave shape with my Dremel. The angle, width and length is something I'm still testing to see the difference in swimming action produced.

This time I'll be painting it bright yellow with a white belly ready for the coming season.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding.

Happy Fishing

D.I.Y. – FSC Lures

As I lose tens of lures during the year I decided to try and make my own. I’ve been making my own squid jigs for some time so it seemed logical to take the next step and also make my own lures.

The first step as always is the design. I opted for a fairly simple design with the lip (bib) being part of the body shape.

After splitting in half I added 25 grs of sinkers and the red bits are actually freaky cigarette filters added for buoyancy (leaving an empty cavity won't work as it will fill with the wood filler I use to stick back together).

After sealing the wood to make it water proof I painted it (with a brush which isn't the best option) and put on some cheap trebles. If it works out I'll buy myself an air-brush for better finishes and attach some good hooks. I'll keep you posted!

I call this one the scoop because the nose is shaped like a scoop to make it dive and roll through the water.

Happy Fishing

Jed has a good point

I refer you to Jed's blog http://cloudninetackle.blogspot.com/ where his makes a very good observation. As the headline says "why don't European anglers wear lifevests?"


Sure he has a shop and you can think all he wants to do is sell, but the man has a point.


You are absolutely right Jed.


Take his advice, it could save your life.


Frank