Neat innovation

Here’s a neat bait made by modifying an blade bait.

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It would be interesting to see what tweaks were made to retain vibration on the upstroke. In my experience it doesn’t take much debris to kill the action on a blade and that tail looks pretty significant. Have you fished one yet, Tom?

This isn’t my idea. I have not fished one yet James but I do know the maker of this and he is an outstanding Lake Michigan angler that does a lot by shore-casting. To my knowledge this is how it has been fished thus far….from shore. I can see this working well vertically too.

The fella that did the surgery on the blade blank peeled it down and left a spike-like spur long enough to mount and firmly hold that plastic. The plastic has a unique shape to it that isn’t all that apparent in the picture, but in the water it thumps pretty good according to his field time with it and in the Milwaukee Harbor he has taken several fish during the test drive including some nice smallies.

The plastic is what’s called a carrot and is in this case a 3″ bait. A three inch carrot will have a lot of action in it, especially if that blade has any wiggle whatever. Given the ability to manipulate a plastic’s resiliency and hardness that hobby injectors have, I have no doubt that a plastic can be cooked to make this critter swim like Pepi.

Hi Tom and James,

I continue to fish this bait with great success including the current migration of King Salmon and Brown Trout into the Lake Michigan harbors.

I have always been a blade bait addict and this has taken my interest to a new level. Now, this bait will dart left and right when you flick it and glide on the pause instead of slicing through the water and dropping quickly.

As far as going vertical with it, yes it has all the vibe and then some of the original blades. Now, with the tail added, it will travel forward on the lift and glide in the fall. You can get this to dart and circle in a 4-6 foot diameter below the boat like a Jigging Rapala but with the vibe of a blade.

One thing that worried me was only having one hook, but so far it hasn’t been a factor. Everything has been crushing it. In fact yesterday morning I had a 6-7 pound brown completely engulf it’s 4″ profile and it took a long forceps to pop the hook free.

Marc

Good to see your comments Marc. Welcome here. Don’t be a stranger….there is a Lake Michigan board. lol

Looks like a Bill Dance Dancing Eel

Yes, that was a crankbait. Echo tail is also putting a twister on the back of a blade. This has a very unique action that it darts.