Friday, July 31, 2015

High then low water

Due to the last typhoon, the water level once rose up 1-2 m, and then went down. I saw a lot of underwater stems of vegetation hanging from the branches of terrestrial trees.


We have extremely hot days after the typhoon passed, and fish seemed too slow. I got two bites with a XBW Wounded Spook and Smithwick Devil's Horse (F300), but could not hook them up. Another bad thing I suffered was the genuine prop of my old Wounded Spook was broken while I was fishing. The bait suddenly showed odd actions as I twitched, and I found a part of prop wings had gone. I have to replace it as soon as possible (I believe I have some spares).



In the end, I got skunked. Weather forecasts say that we'll keep having the hottest days through the year from now, so I'm afraid I can't go fishing for a while...


Today's tackle: ABU Ambassadeur 5500C (Black), Phillipson Regal Lancer RL64LS, Stren 14lb (Clear/Blue Fluorescent), Heddon Wounded Spook, 210, Smithwick Devil's Horse F300, Pico Slasher, Eger Sweet 16, etc.
BF=13/21

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Various brands

Marshall Field & Company (IL)

 Gart Bros. Sporting Goods Company (CO)

Cisco Kid Tackle (IL)

Johnson (MN?)

These rods of mine were manufactured with blanks supplied by the same company, Phillipson Rod Co., in CO.
(The lure, Sweet 16, has nothing to do with this topic.)

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Pico Slasher

I was hoping to have some more Pico Slashers for my summer bass fishing. Thanks to one of my good friends in the US I recently could get these and decided to use two of the for starters. I've cleaned the body, changed hooks (also changed the size of the belly ones), tuned the props, and finished bathtub test. I'm looking forward to using them.


I'm also trying to refinish three of my old rods. I've already winded threads and finished first varnish coats with urethane. These are old rods, so I don't like to make them sparking clean. I'll varnish them several more times, but would like to quit just less than recent epoxy-resin finished rods.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Hard time

I now have a hard time with my tooth pain (radicular cyst). I went to the dentist four times during the past week to remove the pain, and will go to an oral surgery next Friday. What's worse, a slow typhoon hit our area and we had much rain here. I'm afraid I can't go fishing this weekend (plus a holiday on Monday).

I've just repaired my Boy Howdy lures and getting my Cotton Cordell lures straight in stock trays. I put some silver (silver foil like) paint on the bodies. These are not beautifully finished, but I think it's OK. I always give them fast dog-walk actions, so I presume fish won't find out the poor paints. 

  
Cotton Cordell has released so many attractive lures. I like Red Fin, Chop Stick, Crazy Shad, and others as well as Boy Howdy. 


I'd like to fish with these baits under unusual bad condition after the typhoon. The Red fins have a prop on the tail, which rotate extremely smoothly. 


Crazy Shad is a famous prop bait, but the body shape is special (body side are flattened). I think it can make fish strike on reflex with a jerking action.
 

When I checked my Cordell lures, I also found a box that I had not opened for about 20 years. It is not a box for Cordell baits, but full of Zetabait Swamp Rats. As I fish in weedy ponds very often this fishing season, I'd like to cast them in my next fishing.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Boy Howdy

If you fish in a broad area in clear lakes, what I strongly recommend is Cotton Cordell's Boy Howdy. There are several variations in this lure, but my favorite is the stick bait type (w/o props) in chrome-black color.

These (pictured above) are old ones made in the 1970-1980s. I caught not less than 100 fish with the bottom chrome-black one.

In general, double-prop ones seem to be much more popular than stick ones (especially in the US). You see most of Boy Howdy lures they have sold since the 1990s are with props, and stick bait ones are very difficult to find. I tune the prop ones by myself, removing  the small props on each end and attach a small round lead in the tail. 

Another downside of these newer products are the paint. The chrome paints are easily rubbed raw by hooks, so I have to have many duplicates.


Several years ago, Pradco suddenly made stick ones in the US. I, of course, happily bought a bunch. As I was afraid, these are already discontinued and all I find in the shops are regular prop ones. If I learn from market, I think I should try a prop one for fishing for a change...

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Lake B

I left home at 0:40 and headed for Lake B.

We had small water ripples early in the morning, but they disappeared little by little. We expected fish get active, but unfortunately they kept slow.

I could get one nice bass with a Cotton Cordell Boy Howdy at a nearby spot of offshore water intake tower. This fish showed a typical good strike moving up from mid or bottom layer, and fought nicely.


I caught a few more bass in the morning, but they're too tiny. Then it got shinny and windy again, so we moved to a different place to fish in a calmer area. Some fish reacted with our lures, but we couldn't hook them up.





Today's tackle: ABU Ambassadeur 5000CDL, ABU 5500CA, Fenwick Boron-X XCA-554, Fenwick GFC-555, Stren 14lb (Clear/Blue Fluorescent), Cotton Cordell Boy Howdy, Heddon Original Zara Spook, Chugger Spook, Pico Pop, Mann's Popper, etc. 
BF=13/20

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Much smaller

It's Sunday today, and I went fishing early in the morning. I renewed my smallest record in this season again...

I also had other nice strikes, one with a Zara Spook (CHT) and the other with a Chugger Spook (YSL), but the fish went away. Fish were rather slow, and I felt difficulties to lure them. 


Today's tackle: ABU Record Ambassadeur 5000 (black), Gart Bros Dina Cast 64 by Phillipson, Stren 14lb (Clear/Blue Fluorescent), Heddon Original Zara Spook, 2nd Zara, Zara II, Chugger Spook, Wounded Spook, 210, Lucky 13, Burke Bassassin, etc.
BF=12/19

Friday, July 3, 2015

Getting smaller

I took a half-day off today, did some troublesome chores, and then went fishing.


While leaves of water vegetation are growing bigger and bigger, fish I can catch seem to get smaller and smaller. I caught a bass with a Heddon Lucky 13. This fish was the smallest among the bass I caught during this fishing season.


I visited another pond, which I'd never fished in. Both of the water quality and quantity looked good, and I started to fish there. Once a big bass chased my Crazy Crawler, but it didn't attacked my bait. I was disappointed, but gave up the fish (next time, I hope). In 20-30 minutes, I renewed my smallest record with a Pico Pop. It was small, but the body condition was so so.



I changed lures to Heddon Wounded Spook (BF), and caught another one. This was not so big, either, but stroke with a big blow-up. 



While I fished, I expected gentle rain to activate fish, but unfortunately it wasn't. However, it was a good day, all in all. I enjoyed a lot and felt pleased with the result.

 
Today's tackle: ABU Ambassadeur 5000CDL, Fenwick Boron-X XCA-554, Stren 14lb (Clear/Blue Fluorescent), Heddon Original Zara Spook, Lucky 13, Crazy Crawler, Wounded Spook, Chugger Spook, Pico Pop, etc.
BF=11/18