Chris and Walter go fishing

After work Walter came up and said we should go fishing at the pond real quick. I said "sure why not!"

We headed down to the pond and I tossed in a lure I carved today. I immediately snagged it on a stick. Oh well, that's how it goes. Walter sniffed things as I tied on another.

I tied on my newly painted flatfish lure- the one that almost caught some bass yesterday. I reeled it in nice and slow. I saw the green flash of a bass coming out of the shadows and attacking my lure.

Walter didn't know what to make of it. He licked the bass lips and then walked away, doing a small roll in the grass to scratch his back.

Then I caught another one, a much much bigger one, on the same lure. I showed Walter, but he just sniffed it and walked away. It must have been 16" or so- and fat!! but instead of congratulating me he went to smell something new.

That's ok, I know he likes frisbee a lot more than fishing.

Drinkbourbon and CBFishes go fishing

Anthony (@drinkbourbon) and I have been trying to do some fishing together for some time now. We've been corresponding via all the various internet ways like Twitter, Facebook; Anthony's got a blog, and it seems like we've got a lot in common. Obsessed with fishing, not sure how everything works exactly with the whole fishing thing, oh and did I mention obsessed with fishing?

I got to the pond a little while before Anthony, and had a great time almost catching a bunch of fish. I tested out some new lures I made, this time before painting them. I just wanted to see how they ran. A little crankbait I made with a plastic lip flipped over itself at any speed, suggesting I might need to change the lip position. I snapped on a weird looking lure I carved and finished with my new Dremel (that thing is freaking awesome). A while back I found a couple "flatfish" lures at Busse- I don't know if they're "Lil' Ikes" or "Flatfish" but the idea is the same. They were so unusual I wanted to see if I could make them myself.

The Beckfish (flatfish imitation)

I was immediately in love with the action of this lure. With a very slow retrieve, it wobbled a ton back and forth, so much so I almost took a swipe at it. On the second cast, I saw three bass come up and try and take it. One of them made it, got hooked right in the lip, but threw the hook in an impressive aerial display of power.

Well that was awesome. It confirms something I've been thinking and hearing from other anglers I respect a lot- it's all about the action. There was no paint, no eyes, no 3D holographic foil coating, no patented impregnated scent... Just some wood and some metal with some nice action. Maybe the bass apreciated the extra-smooth finish I was able to achieve with my new power tool.

I'm now the proud owner of a power tool

 I ended up catching a nice bass a few minutes later by dragging a t-rigged tube over some weeds and letting it drop down right at the edge. A big bass gobbled it up. Great idea Sam! Just like a frog but cheaper.

A few minutes later Anthony walked down to the water. Although we'd never met, we had corresponded a great deal via the internets, so we already went way back, so to speak. He started fishing, I did my best impression of a fishing guide and told him what had and hadn't been working lately. I kept my tube tied on, missing a bunch of hits and catching a few fish.

Anthony and I talked about our fishing background; how he grew up fishing, didn't fish for a long time, then recently picked it up in a serious way. We seem to have similar ideas about fishing- catching a little fish is still a fish; there's a big difference between catching one fish and zero fish but less between two and ten; we don't know why the fish choose to hit certain lures at certain times.

I managed to catch a few bass while we were talking, but felt bad Anthony wasn't getting any fish. I was the guide after all. It was cool to have somebody else around to take pictures- most of my fish pictures are from an arm's distance away.

After a few misses (the fish were biting really weirdly) he connected with his first CB's Secret Pond bass!

Anthony and a nice bass

It was a great time. The fish were certainly biting, although strangely. Most of my hits came from ignoring my lure for a minute while Anthony and I talked; then I'd have a bass on my line. No giant bulldozer hits, just a "gulp" and my line swam away. I suppose it is a cold front after all. I did, however, catch my second bass on my firetiger crankbait. I cast it out to the middle of the pond, let it sit for a few seconds; the bass inhaled it after two revolutions of cranking my reel.

Another fish caught by a hand-carved lure

We caught some more fish (I think I managed 6 bass total that outing on t-rigged plastics and my crankbait), talked about fishing, made a lot of casts; we each had some equipment issues, but it was a great time. Thanks for coming out Anthony! Next time I'll have to experience your secret pond.

Anthony and another sweet bass

Pine, sharpies and nail polish

December bass! Homemade lure!
(It looks like blood, but it isn't- it's just sharpie and nail polish)

Went out yesterday, figured it might be my last chance at some open water, and I really should test some of my lures before I start making a bunch more. Headed over to the good old retention pond, 1/2 mile from my house; the idea was to try out the lures for about 15 minutes then head home.

It was cold! I hadn't been fishing in a while, and although it's been unseasonably warm, it's still a lot colder than when I usually fish. The wind was fierce. The pond looked icy, almost. There wasn't any ice just yet.

My mother-in-law hooked me up with a ton of wine corks, so I've been putting those to good use. I also have been using my new coping saw and "craft blade" (xacto knife) to make these creations.

I quickly busted out my brand new giant tacklebox (thanks, wife) and snapped on a lure and cast it out. It was nice to be fishing! I tried a few of my lures- some of them worked exactly as expected. Others, like my jointed cork lure, failed miserably.

This was great! Just like a jitterbug

This one, not so great

Something I didn't expect was my diving cork lure turning upside down! I guess it makes sense, the way the weight was distributed. It kept trying to dive up, so I could tell it was a good design. Earlier today I added some weights to the lower half, which corrected the problem.

Awesome! ...but upside down in the water

This one was just terrible, floating completely on one side
(then again, maybe it looks wounded...)

And then, there was this one:

I got some pine dowels at the store ($.89 per foot, I bought 6 inches) and made two new lures- this guy was the first one I finished. I sloped the head down as I wittled; I wanted to see if I could make it dive without the use of a metal or plastic bill.

I painted it white with nail polish, then using a trick from this awesome book my awesome wife got me for Christmas I spray painted some olive color through some cooking-sponge mesh. Then I took a brown sharpie and added dots; some more nail polish for the gills, some metallic-looking grey nail polish on top, then the craft eyes, then finally a coat of "hard as nails" clear coat nail polish. Looked pretty awesome, I think! Very strange, not like a store-bought lure, but I really liked it a lot. I was going for a baby largemouth type effect, but it turned out more like a trout.

So I snapped it onto my line, cast it out, and was very pleased with the action in the water. It seemed to have a wide action to it, and most certainly did dive! The shiny grey glitter on the top shone through the water, and I occasionally caught glimpses of the white belly- like a flashlight.

And then, on my third cast, as I retrieved and watched the lure dive into the dark water, I felt some resistance- I must have snagged some dead plants or something. But wait, no! I caught a glimpse of something very familiar, but unexpected- a largemouth bass on the end of my line! The hit was extremely light, as if it were an afterthought.

He just couldn't resist my weirdly-decorated lure! The rear treble hook got him in the lip, which always makes me happy. I'd hate to mismatch the size of the hook to the size of the fish, and gut-hook a big fish or skewer some little guy. This combination seemed just right.

Freezing cold bass!

I hoisted him out of the water; when I grabbed his lip, I was taken aback by how cold he was. Well of course it's cold, the water is almost freezing, I told myself. I'll admit it, just like many times earlier in the year, I giggled like a school girl. This was awesome! A bass, in a pond, on a hand-carved lure, in December?? And a largemouth!? I started to think about the largemouth preferred water temperature, I seemed to think somewhere around 72°F, and how crazy it was he would have attacked my lure. I was retrieving it pretty quickly, it's not like he had a lot of time to think about it.

I snapped about 500 pictures - very quickly - and carefully returned the beautiful fish to the water. The water definitely has an effect on the fish, it was clearly dazed when it got back in the water. After a few seconds, he snapped back and swam away in a flurry of fins.

Later I was thinking, and I'm pretty sure that was my first crankbait bass ever! I haven't fished with crankbaits too much, mostly because they cost a lot and I almost always loose them. I caught a big chicago river bluegill a while back on a small crank, and almost immediately got it stuck on some wood. I should do more of these lures....

More hand carved crankbaits

The Christmas collection

I don't have any fancy stories or accounts of cutting off my fingers, but I do have a bunch of pictures of lures I've been making.

A few months ago I read some posts on windycityfishing.com about some anglers who were making their own hand-carved wooden crankbaits. I remember thinking "Oh man, that would be awesome but I could never do that. Way too complicated, not to mention I have no idea how to carve wood. Or use tools." A few weeks later I started making some inline spinners, which in some ways are pretty simple to make. And they caught fish!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently got some flannel shirts which somehow directly led to a sudden interest in wood carving and pyrography. I've been carving up a storm! Turns out it's not as difficult as I thought...

I think it looks pretty nice

I think I've figured out how to use which blades (although I still keep breaking them every so often); it seems like each lure I carve is better than the last. My recent coping saw purchase has been incredibly helpful- now I can cut the blocks of wood to a more lure-like size, so I don't have to whittle off a pound of wood to get the size I want. I've been using sharpies and nail polish to "paint" the lures, and I'm pretty happy with how they are turning out.

I sure hope they can catch some fish....

I think the glitter nail polish really pushes this one over the top

My favorite one so far

You can see the music-making equipment in the background
(what a strange man-cave)

This one has metal beads inside that rattle a little bit

A lure in the colors of my alma mater,
Powers Catholic High School - Flint, Michigan

CB carves some wooden lures

Carved, sanded, ready for the details
(Sitting on top of a wood block just like the one it used to be)

I recently bought a bunch of flannel shirts, which for some reason gave me the urge to get some wood and carve things. I've been experimenting with pyrography (the fancy word for the controlled burning of wood to make designs on it), as well as wood carving. Having made some lures a few months ago- lures that managed to interest some fish- I have the confidence now to make more, knowing there's a good chance they can catch some fish.

Today I've been drinking coffee, listening to Q-tip (if you haven't heard his brand of hip hop, I highly recommend it), and making wooden fishing lures. A great combination I think. Hip hop and fishing go great together, I think... Perhaps the Fonetiks should make a comeback...

The workspace
(Just to the left is my music stuff - computer, keyboards,
monotron, nord electro- I like the juxtaposition)

Using some of the tools my buddy Mark let me borrow (especially the fly tying vice) I've been able to complete my first sturdy wooden lure. I recently received my second shipment from Jann's Netcraft (thanks to Rob for hipping me to them) and got some stuff I needed. Stuff like split rings, brass screw eyes, quick-change clevises, colorado and willow blades, and more.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a cheap wood carving kit, which came with a single handle that could accept a variety of different blades. I proceeded to break almost every blade in the kit due to my lack of experience (and the crappy quality of the blades). Most of the breaks happened when I used the blade in a way it wasn't intended! I've done some internet research, and I think I've learned the error of my ways.

Ordering some Christmas presents on Amazon, the site recommended a $2 wood carving kit to me, and I snatched it up! I got it a few days ago, and although it is very cheap, the tools seem very substantial. I haven't broken a single blade yet! These tools - I think- are specifically for doing relief carving, not whittling so much. I've put them to good use on some projects that I can't share just yet.

Sharpie-d, nail-polished, and ready for the hardware

I used on of the V-gauge tools (I think that's what they're called) to make little scale indentations on the lure. Will the fish care if there are fancy little scales on the lure? I don't know, but I think it looks pretty cool. I couldn't open my little canisters of paint, so I just used some sharpies to paint the lure, doing my best impression of a firetiger pattern.

Then, using some wood glue, craft-store eyes, my split ring pliers, and the fly tying vice, I assembled the rest of the lure. I'm extremely satisfied with how it looks, and I have no doubt that this will catch some fish. At least I hope so!

The finished lure. I'd eat that!