Heck yeah kind of excited but also little apprehensive, I hope they don’t screw it up. I wore out 3 Top Gun VHF tapes and irritated my sisters to no end LOL. When I feel the need, the need for speed I have ” Revvin up your engine listen to her howl and roar” playing in my head!

Iron Eagle rocks as well, Chappy said so!

Thanks Randy will give that a shot. I was given molds from my great uncle that he made (in 60s I think) to make blade baits. He even made a mold to cut the blade itself out of sheet metal or brass. Might try these out with different thickness of blades, see what happens. Like my Do-Its but have to try these!

Yeah I was figuring it would kill the action some. I played with putting a plastic tail on one to see if I could slow the fall rate, completely deadened it though. The lil george works for bass so basically a spinner would turn the sonar into a lil george. Maybe a little more subtle action, worth a try anyways.

There is a guy that makes them out of willow leaf blades and man they work wonderfully. You can barely lift the rod and thing is vibrating. Only thing I don’t like is the size of them, I like a bigger profile then what he makes.

Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>popcorn wrote:</div>
My question is has anyone tried either sanding the blanks thinner or gone to a shop and had some thinner blanks made? Would this even tone down the wider wobble or is it more so the position of the lead?

Its more the position and weight of the lead and the fall rate. I’ve tweaked about every type of spinner blade made into a blade bait and done all kinds of things with the Do-It mold blanks
If you want more vibration, mock the cicada style. If you want less, pour the 1/4oz and take a hammer and tap it flatter

Randy are you smacking the lead thinner or you working on the blade itself? Thinking blade but wanted to make sure.

I have been cutting the lead and removing it off 1/2 oz ones because I wanted the larger profile with less weight for the slower drop. Do the same thing with the 1/4 oz ones as well for shallow work.
Might try playing with adding a smaller spinner blade on the back like a lil george but thinking that will mess up the vibration.

I use a homemade vest for bowhunting deer in the fall. One thing I found in most turkey vest I looked at were the pockets were not large enough or specialized to carry only one item. I will be turkey hunting again this year after not going for a few years so little out the loop.
Nice padded seat, padded shoulder, zippered or button pockets and inside pockets things I like. I carry a folding saw and pruners so pockets big enough to carry those items is nice.
One thing you could do is make the back pouch removable so guys like me that like that can use it and those who don’t can remove it. Take a U shaped zipper on the bottom and nice buckles up top so easy on off.

Another Sienna vote here, great reel for the price.

Yeah the THP has been awesome so far, can’t say enough good things about them.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzlnaIrdxwJITyrESOReqxg/featured

bigcrappie wrote:

I have been building on the new MHX ELITE PRO ROD BLANKS and for the money they are very light and sensitive. Pair it with a SKS handle and titanium guides and watch out fish.

I have been looking at those blanks myself along with the Batson Immortal series. How is the action on the ML/f? Is it bending half way down the blank? Hard to tell not being able to lay hands on them. Some manufactures Fast action seems medfast at best to me.

Gave my 7’2″ ML/xF St Croix I built to my dad for his B-day so looking around myself again. That St. Croix blank is a good one esp. for pitching 1/4 oz sonars/blade baits but was not pitching the 1/16-1/8th oz jigs as far as I liked. So looking at other blanks to try.

Sorry if this is hi-jacking, was going to start a new thread but thought it was the same discussion.

For balance I would use the lightest guide train you can, Pac Bay Minima 4s are pretty good (4s not 3s). Carbon fiber Tennessee handle would be your lightest and arguably most sensitive seat. Then for a butt you can use a heavier material like burnt or composite cork.
I was told adding any thing to the blank takes away the sensitivity but balance also comes into play with sensitivity imho so I didn’t glue the butt cap in place until I played with adding and subtracting weight to the back end for balance. Once I was happy I glued the cap in place.
Did that with a 7’6″ blank, I would think at 6’8″ balance probably wouldn’t be to much of an issue once you add the reel. Do a mock up and play with it until you get what you like. Just my ramblings, much more experienced guys here.
Just curious what blank you looking to build on?

Thank you. My size was out quick. Will have to keep my eyes open for a deal again and give Huk a try. Thought about them before but never could find any good info on how good they actually worked.

I see the Huk gear is popular with many anglers but is any good at cooling in the high heat/humidity conditions? Thanks for the heads up as well.

I would contact https://www.facebook.com/Clearlakebait/ they seem to be good people that will steer you in the right direction. Hope you and the grandkids have a blast with those yellows!

I have a stingray as well and it’s been a pain you know where. Last year mine was doing the same thing as your’s, I cleaned the carb twice, changed the plug, changed the fuel filter/tubes, cleaned the air filter and used fresh gas. After all that still was doing the same thing, so contacted Eskimo.

Many say they have great CS but that was not my experience but anyways they said to take it to one of their certified shops. I did and well the dude did nothing but snicker at me and ran my blades into the gravel and mud pot hole behind his shop, i.e. I got to buy new blades.

Well still the same problem so bought a whole new carb which was about the same price as Eskimo’s carb kit. Well never got to try it out after that but this year did good the first run but second time out did the bogging down stuff again. After convincing myself not to blow it up, I started to make carb and throttle adjustments and I think I finally got it going good.

So I would look at anyone of those things to see if one is the problem. Make sure you have fresh gas and a little seafoam might help as well. Run a strong mix of seafoam for five mins and let it sit over night, see if that helps any.

Your’s might still be under warranty so I would check that out if you can not get it to go. You tube is your friend when working on that stuff, so I hope my ramblings help some. Good fishing.

Painting Blade Baits

Hey Guy here is a link to a really good write up by Randy powder paint spraying blades, must say he does an amazing job of it.

pool2fool wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>slipbob_nick wrote:</div>
Go for it. no great story ever started with: “so I took the safer path.”

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>nhamm wrote:</div>
With that said, river ice can be sketchy as #$@*!

Yeah I need to balance those two statements because both ring loud and clear to me.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eye-full wrote:</div>
Would not recommend but if you do it I would have a wench or come along with me to get the boat back out. Seems like a heck alot of work, why I got a kayak .

Good suggestion on the winch. I personally would be more concerned about dumping a kayak in that cold water than I am about any element of the above scenarios.

Understandable there, would not do it in a yak unless you have experience in one. A lot of yaks made today are very stable and would be very hard to turn over, I purposely dumped mine in summer just for practice and to find it’s limits.
If you give it a go would love to see some pics of how your wheels work!

Would not recommend but if you do it I would have a wench or come along with me to get the boat back out. Seems like a heck alot of work, why I got a kayak .

Knots I use, both I found to be the best I have tried. One important thing on the fg knot is to make sure to pull it super tight before you trim anything.

Well good and disappointing news. I got the fertilizer down and the cage in.
Bad news is the heavy rain and flooding we are getting washed almost half the plot out. Hope it bounces back but it looked completely washed out.

At lest the main area is still good.

Thanks guys for all the encouragement and knowledge you have shared, it is appreciated.

Thanks Basseyes, I will try to keep updating as we go along here and maybe a harvest shot ;). I really wish I would have taken a before picture of it, it was a mess.

Thanks Grouse and Sticker, I will put out a cage and see what happens. This has really been an enjoyable experience and can understand why some enjoy it as much as hunting. I even got a lady friend to help in the project, I just have to buy Dairy Queen for her and send pictures. She denies any help in killing Bambi though lol.

I am hoping this late fall/winter they really like the green of the Rye. This is a doe management area so only able to harvest the girls but think they taste better anyways. Have a couple needy families I like to help when I can.

Thank you. In July I put down Lime 2000 # per acre (140# for this plot) and worked it in to the soil with a rake right before a rain. I have not put down any fertilizer, someone told me it would do no good in that soil.

I will put 50# of fertilizer down, thank you. I noticed the deer are moving through the area but did not see a lot of browse on the plants.

I am planning to frost seed some more clover and chicory into it this coming spring, I think I really need to thicken that clover up.

Thank you guys, nothing else it opened up some shooting lanes for my dad to use from a ground blind. That whole area was nothing but thick brush and under growth. Took a lot of work to clear it but I actually enjoyed it. Hopefully we can fill the freezer with a couple does off it.

Hey guys just wanted to give an update on how things went. I broadcast seeded August 23 and this is what it looked like a week ago ( Sep 12 ).

It is a Clover mix with Rye Grain, Wheat, Oats, little bit of peas and rape.
I added a little more Rye, Wheat and Oats on the 12th. Not full and lush but I think I might be happy with it.

Attachments:

1. 

   S6300100.jpg
   

2. 

   S6300099.jpg
   

3. 

   S6300098.jpg
   

4. 

   S6300097.jpg
   

Awesome job!

Thanks Big G, looks like your “Food Plot” turned out great!

Man thank you guys so much, awesome input. I will follow what you guys said and see how we turn out. Think I will throw a some of those beets or rape in the mix as well. I only live a couple miles away so no problem getting seed down before a rain which will be nice.

I will post up how things turn out either way, hopefully there will be some nice green to look at. I appreciate the help!

Thank you all for the information and imput, I appreciate it very much.
I hunt inside city limits to help control the deer population, I could watch tv from 3 houses while in the treestand lol. It is just a small point of woods in an Ag field I have permission to hunt.

Done well the last 2 years here but wanted to make the plot for fun and to help funnel the deer in a narrower window, esp. to play the wind. On this property I unfortunately don’t have any other options on plot location.

Almost sounds like it may not be worth it but think I will give it a shot and plant clover/winter rye mix come August like you guys said. Mike’s post gave me hope for the soil!

Think I will just nuke the grass and not turn the soil over at all to help try to keep the moisture in. Would throwing Hey on top the soil after I seed help with holding moisture?
Thanks again guys.

Just got that Recon myself on Sunday from Farm and Fleet. Have not been able to get it out on the ice yet. Been playing with it inside to see how I want to trick it or if any at all.

So far I really like it, light and plenty of room. Only small complaint I might have is when in the half up position the tent hits my head when I sit up, not to big of issue though. We’ll see how she fishes and how not having a door is.

That was Awesome! Way to go Kayla and BK, looks like you guys had a blast.
Think you made a another fishing women, BK style.

I am only surprised ” BK is awesome, this is awesome ” is not in your signature yet .

Our freedom was and is not free. A heart felt thank you to each one of our vets and families.

I have heard a lot of good things about that bow, looks good!

Steve I really hope it helps. Only other things I might suggest would be to use a little faster cadence in snaggy areas and give it some time to get use to it. I had to leave my jig rod at home a couple times to stop from giving up trying the blade lol but glad I did. One more trick in the bag.

I had some trouble with hooks fouling up in the current so I use a 20 # mono leader and swivel with my braid and that helped me out with that problem but shorter hooks would probably do the same.

Hahaha Randy, no matter how many times my dad tells me there are no fish in the trees up there I have to keep trying! Those dang blades are like bullets.

Nice looking cranks Buschman!