zach

then i hope my burger is so dry and burnt that i can't eat it! getting pretty excited here guys! its musky eve, eve.

didn't it seem that way nitro. i took off oct and nov to bowhunt but the last 2x there last fall i struggled. i seem to do best before mid- july.

i am happy w/ my action optics. like the copper lens over the other colors.

i have some diawa's line counters and okuma line counters, like the diawas better. metal vs compostite reel frame.

i took it down to the creek and after one minor adjustment on the front screw eye it came in slow w/ the tail breaking the surface making and bubble, bubble sound. cool if you want to reel slow like coming back to a fish that followed and when i cranked it as fast as humanly possible it held dead n#tts on line! i am guessing i had it up around 4-5mph and the tail goes crazy at that speed. i could see the tail in dirty water 10 feet away when i made it run shallow by keeping the rod tip up. i am gonna run this plug and i think it has everything needed to put fish in my boat. i dont think it would be a trade off at all to take of a wiley or whatever and put this baby on instead. now i guess i have to name it, any ideas? i already have a plug i called "the colton crusher" named after my little guy and it is a tuff shad twistertail combo that i haven't posted as its my project design. shhhhh on that one. name it guys!

p.s. my father is moving back to retire in hemlock, so soon i will have my musky fishing partner back after 8 years of living in NYC. my ole man is as good of wood worker/carver as there is. i asked him if he would be interested in doing bodies for me and then i would finish them. he agreed and said this winter he would have no problem kicking out 50 or so... gets me thinking about trying to get something going.

sometimes use line counters, sometimes count level wind passes. figure out how much line it takes for the level wind to go back and forth and use that as a guide.

would you be interested in one if i made more? not sure how much wood working i am gonna do this summer. maybe come winter time?

there aren't any muskies in waneta, i heard they all moved to lamoka.

all put together and ready to go to black creek on the way to work to be tuned. there is a big screw lock that keeps the grub on so i can make on the water replacements w/ out superglue. i am happy i got this done for this weekend and imagine if i do get a fish on this or any other i have made, i will be a happy camper! just one, thats all i need. no time for any others its off to other things. click on the pics to get a better image.

take care and you will see me trolling all around you on saturday so say hello! good luck guys and let all your fish be 39.999999 inches!

oh by the way heres the screw lock i put in the rear end... it should hold up since its made of thick stainless .060 wire that was a pain in the @ss to bend in that shape and epoxied deep into the bait. heavy duty for sure! just an idea but i think it will hold up nicely. if my phantom tails hold up okay w/ just superglue and a metal pin, these will do alot better. gotta be 10x better than just gluing it to the body like a stalker or squirrley burt.

you should go to chaut and meet all of us!

i could tie up a bucktail if you want? tell me what color and i will do my best. trying to hold onto my baits for right now.

since i couldn't go fishing today i worked on this some. all done painting and waiting until the epoxy clear coat cures until i add the screw lock in the end of the tail, add the twistertail and hardware. so there it is, almost done and i showed somewhat what i have been doing this winter. will post finished pic when its done. gonna put that gold tail on this one and hope it does okay and doesn't ruin the action. i like it now and hope i don't ruin it by adding the rubber tail. lets hope it works and if it does it should be neat! i like the paint job, the finish is good and i may almost be happy w/ this one even though i could point out some mistakes. oh well, trials and tribulations of wood musky lures as i still have so much to learn. it turned out fat like a les chubbie that isn't being made anymore.

this one will not be on the raffle table.lol

is she the girl from jonnywalleye's picture from owasco?

mr. jones called me and said they would be shipped out tomorrow which means they will get wet at chaut- good company, great communication!

ghetto musky huh? i thought ghetto muskies were carp you snagged while trolling.

where else are you supposed to leave a monster box of lures while you are fishing? i think that w/ how much those cost that they would have considered this over just looks. anyways off to finish the brown perch then its 2 coats of clear and add hardware and tail! will be done well before 6/19!!!!!!!!!!! watch out boys!

uv sun damage that yellows the finishes and can cause them to crack, the day they make it tinted or colored is the day i trade in my old cedar custom made musky box for one. until then i role old school w/ my awesome wood box! hold onto your $ for that just-in-case in my opinion. bulletproof box's but needs more thought put into it. anyways- i am doing this plug in frankybaits brown perch w/ a big gold glitter tail if things work out.

u guys and them spoons, just more hooks to clean of weeds.

well i have everyone at work mad at me b/c i primered this at there and it stinks horribly. oh well, they never really liked me that much anyway. wait until i basecoat it white in about an hour!

bob- thanks, if it looks like a lapper than i think i am doing good! if you ever have any small bubbles in that clear coat take a heat gun (or a lighter for those w/o a heat gun like me) and hit the clear while its drying and they will pop leaving you w/ a crystal clear finish. yeah, the body is like a bigger gotcha i guess, all the gotchas i have are small 6" ones and this has more "meat" to it than those and is longer. same head as a gotcha/wiley though. all new lures are, are copies of another w/ some sort of improvement made and it has always been that way. happy that stuff is working for you and you should think about not storing them in a clear case this year but i dont think you'll make that mistake again. i am sure bob will agree that these lures we finish have a much more durable protective finish than any commercial made plug. bob- since you and i have the same taste in lures check out muskietrains diesel. wanteta killers for sure! just dont order the cobra perch and we are cool.

awesome. now your neighbors know what a big northern looks like! like the weeds old man! whats the old lady think about it? neat. some how i dont think lexie would like this on our garage though. lol.

cut in half, took out about 3/4 inch of wood and hope for the best. next sand, even up joint and get ready to prime.

so like most things i was over thinking it. seems to be a reoccurring problem when u get obsessed like i have been for some time. thanks for thinking about it alittle differant. i dont think there would be a need on a propbait since it usually has a taught line pulling it pretty steady.

so you think any float would actually work against the topwater?

lathe cut, lexan lip, ready to be cut for the joint (white cedar). nine inches right now. angled top of head and flat front. max diameter is about 1/3 of the way back to the tail (something i have learned). i have also learned it is best for me to add the lip before i primer or paint since i have had paint get in the lip groove and i dont want to epoxy in a lip and have it connect to the primer i want it right to the wood. thinking about pinning the lip also. it does get in the way painting it but its what i am doing as of now. i also need to learn how to cut lips better b/c it always take me more than one to get it right. need to work on this soon b/c i want it for 6/19.