Here's a topic that we've talked about at various times over the years....but never really went in DEPTH on it.

I call it lure "tweaking"...and it is essentially taking a commercially - made lure and making some type of change to it....in an effort to give the fish something a little different.

I will be posting pics of some of my creations in the coming weeks.....please feel free to do the same.

Here's one I recently found on Ebay for sale. It's a Bayou Boogie / Pico Perch - type lure. Someone swapped the belly hook with the "normal" line tie....resulting in what you see. Never tried it...but it's interesting.

Life Member David BB Linkmeister US Army '78-'85 West Central Wisconsin

I see you put that topic up like you said in the Rapala topic.

Looks like the lure could work. Its definitely different. I'm ready to see everyones tweaking they have done.

The only tweaking I occasionally do is add feathered treble hooks, and I will add red paint to lures if there is none by where the gills should be.

I've read the same thing AZ

Here's a tweak that a Member did to a Jitterbug....

I'll have MORE tweaks to show you guys in the days ahead

Here's an Arbogast Mud Bug I found in a tacklebox. Someone took off the original hook and screw eye, then replaced it with parts from an old Arbogast Hula Dancer so that they could put a rubber skirt on the back.

For those of you who want to fish r-bend spinnerbaits for pike...and use a leader, take a piece of "twisty-tie" and wrap as shown here. Then trim and wrap excess around the bottom arm.

These are some Rapalas that I have tweeked...

One reason that I removed the treble hooks is to reduce net damage.  The other reason is that some of the smaller trebles don't hook-up so good; many lost hits.  I have doen this same thing to Rebel baits that I troll with.

I have a couple of Rapalas with the sureset hooks and have had no problems with them, but I do have a friend that has had his break.

I don't know if it was defective or what, but I would be careful.

Here's a few tweaks I've done using fingernail polish.

The Waterdog had paint damage...but I had found a bottle of yellow polish and one of black that fixed it.

The "gold" colored Wart was chrome like the other one in the beginning.

The spoons are actually 2 thin flutter spoons glued together with Eileen's Tacky Glue....water-proof. I've soaked one of these in the beginning in a glass of water for 3 days without any problems.

Dang camera flash doesn't show this stuff well

Definitely not Cheri...these were done prior to the disappearing act of that box.

But I've since reloaded another batch of colors and glitters though

Definitely not in the basement Lou....as one of the 1st things I did when I got back here to Wisconsin was to go through the basment and sort stuff

Here's another tweak to an Arbogast lure....saw this in a group of lures for sale on Ebay a few days ago...

Bummer Dave, The popper is lookin good.

No worries Lou

I personally would have used a different color combination on the Hula Popper though

Here's another Arbogast lure that I saw recently that had been tweaked....the idea that I personally had would be to put a double hook on the back...with a curly-screw-eye wire  (sometimes called a hitchhiker) soft plastic holder...and a double tail grub

MY personal belief is that you can experiment with this similar combination with just about ANY topwater lure.....and even crankbaits

Here's yet ANOTHER tweaked lure I ran into this morning on Ebay

A jointed Rebel minnow that has been "reversed"

Ebay is a constant merry-go-round  of bunches of lures...and some of the stuff you run across is amazing to say the least

Here's a Heddon Chugger I saw recently in a group of lures that was tweaked!

I can see how that might be more effective with the hair tied on like it is...My choice would have been a little marabou...

Classic Old Timer mods for jointed lures.

Original thread:   http://www.nafc.com/forums/aff/134/aft/54029/afv/topic

Discussion about slipperybob's initial post about the pics above 

jtaylor23 New Poster Posts: 51 20 Sep 2010 02:30 PM
 
slipperybob, Not a bad idea have you tried any?? I have some old broken ones that i'm going to rig up them and try it out...Have a good day THANKS JOHN

basbandit Advanced Poster Posts:383 20 Sep 2010 02:44 PM

Bob you may have just started something here. Some day you just might rich and famous. The question is have you caught anything on em yet? Harry

slipperybob Advanced Poster Posts:732 20 Sep 2010 03:31 PM

These are old lures that I lugged around for years. Have seen their shares of fishing and have seen their shares of just sitting in the tackle box. The Jointed Floating Rap has some semi rusty original hooks. The mods have been done last year for these two models but there have been others from before. Photos are just that I've gotten a little digital camera over the summer for fishing photo opportunity. Well the Jointed Floating Rap will always catch Pikes. This particualer one keeping the wire for the tail hasn't been fully tested for fish catching ability. It's the J11 size and it is intended to give bass a different look, but hasn't really been a priority pick.

There are just plenty of other lures that will work better for bass. I'm also not so fond of how the J11dives. They don't dive much nor can they wake subsurface much either. So the plastics helps for those situation of just mostly twitching lure on the surface. Kind of thinking that maybe next spring I'll give it a whirl for White bass and see how that goes. It does sit kind of funny with the broken tail section basically straight down from behind. White bass are a lot more aggressive so it'll be really interesting to see how this will play out for me. I have another thought for the J13 size, but I will probably just add a wire as a plastic keeper on the tail. Essentially making it more like tipping with plastics. I like how the J13's have a better dive angle. Kind of hoping that these can be used more for Walleyes instead of just Pikes. The Jointed Shad Rap, hasn't been fished for any particular species yet. I was rigging it for Walleye fishing in mind and has gone through several other mods. I've tossed it a few times and it has the feeling of running true. Still a plain jig and curly tail will probably outfish it for Walleyes, but I like to crank hard baits so much more. Hoping that the added plastics will solicit more strikes.
So that's why I've settle for just a Siwash trailer hook on the lure and a small thin wire treble on the belly of the lure. They do have a tendency to hang up on the bottom, so this will help recovering the lure from hang ups.

Last fall fishing, I had some frustrating adrenaline busting bites from many smallmouth bass.  I've never missed the hook set completely on every single bass ever in any outing.  I thought they were hitting and swimming forward with the buzzbait, and I couldn't get a hook set on them.  I was completely wrong after I clearly saw them hitting the lure up close.  They were targetting the front of the lure where there is no hook.  So to remedy this, I have tied a treble to the front of the lure to hang just off the belly of the head.  I've yet to test it to see if the treble will give me the hook up I'm looking for those front lure biting smallmouth bass.

Terminator Tiny Buzzbait with a treble hook tied to the front belly of the lure.

After just a fish tank test, I've already decided on a few tweaks to the Northland Live Forage Ice lures.

Live Forage Minnow spoon: Swapped hook position and threaded swivel


Moxie Minnow spoon: Added splitring and threaded swivel


Live Forage Minnow Trap: Added splitrings, red hooks, and blade.

Let's see how the first few field tests will come up with....