lure modifications?

[Mike]

I love to tinker with my lures. I don't think I have bought a lure and not done something to it. I especially like drilling holes in cranks and jerks and adding weight to them to make them suspend. If you do this and screw up, just dig the weight out and fill it with that expanding foam you get at the hardware store. Do any of you have any neat tricks you do to your lures? What is your favorite modification?

[Musky Mike]

I don't really do a lot of modifications to lures, and those that I do practice are all pretty well store bought items. I'll add split rings to all lures that don't come from the manufacturer so equipped and replace those that do with heavier rings if I feel they need to be replaced. I add weight to many (most) of my lures via the Fudally screw-in weight system similar to the old J-B weighting system. Other than that about the only thing I do in the way of modification is really more of adjustment such as bending metal tails on Suicks and Bobbie-baits to affect wobble and depth control and bend line-tie eyes to ensure the baits track true on th retrieves. When wooden baits become gouged from hook point wear (which is not too often because I "T" all forward hooks) I will fill deep gouges with epoxy and then paint these areas and/or shallow marks to reduce water-logging the baits. I usually paint repaired areas red or brown to give the effect of wounds but I doubt that it really makes much difference to the muskies. Like it has been said so many times before, "paint catches the fishermen!" But my modified, adjusted, and repaired lures catch muskies and that's what matters most to me anyway.

Good Luck to all musky hounds, hope your next one is the largest yet.

Mike Kagel

[Jim McCullough]

Mike Kagel,

When I read your response on www.Muskies101.com to the caption thread, the one with Shovelhandle in it, I just about fell out of my chair from laughing so hard. :D

Mike-

I am similar. While I don't change every lure I buy, I do add a lot of tailgunner spinners and extra plastics to most things. I also add weights to some of my spinnner baits to keep them down while trolling. I usually get some rubber core sinkers, tear out the rubber insert, put it on the wire just above the head, and then squeeze them in place with some pliers.

[Musky Mike]

Jim:

Glad you could see the humor in the Shovelhandle Caption Thread. From the hilarious stories you have reported of you and your cousin's musky hunting excapades, that one just sorta seemed like a natural.

I liked your weighting modification for spinner baits. I have used rubber core sinkers, placing them on the line or leader above the spinner bait but never thought of making it part of the lure itself. A good tip which I will definitely use in the future. And should anyone ask me what type of bait I'm using, I'll just tell them "Oh, it's a McCullough-Mod." They won't know what the heck I'm talking about, but it'll raise a bit of a smile out of me just the same cause in my mind I'll be seeing "what Shovelhandle caught"....;)

As with most things, generally the best are the most simple. Surely holds true for musky lure mods too.

Catch a big girl, Jim. I know you'll put her back.

Mike

[ToddM]

Here are a couple I have tried.

Odysee jp-6 and pigtails: bend the lip down on the shallow cranks. You get way more action.

Straight believers: add a bell sinker to one of the trebles. It really changes the action and makes it a loud bait.

Ace helltail: shrinkwrap the hook to the split ring but not the splitring to the body for the tail. This creates one joint instead of two and it tracks and works better.

Burt: add a bell sinker to one of the trebles

Lureland hammer: add a bell sinker to the rear treble, work it fast.

[John H]

What do you mean by "T"ing the front treble on a bait? I'd like to learn this so my baits don't get knicked up.

Thanks,
JohnH

[Musky Mike]

JohnH:

"T"-ing front trebles means to bend the hooks so when viewed from the back of the lure with the hooks against the bottom of the lure, it resembles the letter T. The two hooks to the side are bent away from each other until they are 180 degrees to one another and 90 degrees to the hook which points down. Check out JoMusky's webpage at www.JoMusky.com and look under tips and techniques, he has excellent photos of this process and it really works.

Good Luck, Hope you save the finish on some lures and dance with the big girls.

Mike