National Relaxation Day, August 15th

**Disclaimer: While this won't be my most verbose blog post, I thought I'd share the steps of making the new baits I tried out yesterday. I hope to point together a nice post about my summer in a week or so, just before the new school year starts.

According to the "Twitterverse" yesterday was #NationalRelaxationDay. I decided to spend some time at my "makeshift" fly vice. I wanted to give a couple of things a try. Here's how it went:

Step 1:
I used a number 2 Mustad straight shank hook and I laid some wraps of thread.

Step 2:
I took a piece of copper wire, recycled from a piece of coaxial cable, and bent a hook into it. I then tied it to the bottom of the hook as a catch for soft plastics.

Step 3:
I had seen a YouTube video on how to tie a weed guard on a hook so I tied on a piece of monofilament line, 30# test.

Step 4:
I decided to leave one there. But I also thought I'd try to put "eyes" on one. I used the black head off of a curly tailed grub. It's probably a little bug for the presentation but I figured why not?

Step 5:
At that point it was a matter of putting the soft plastic trailer on it. I used a 2 inch grub from Yum "Christmas tree" color. The colors do a nice job matching the minnows I've been using on river.

Of course saying that I tied a hook to hold soft plastics, I'm not sure if it qualifies as a "fly" or not. But as they say "The proof is in the pudding." That afternoon I headed to one of my favorite spots, a private pond in the middle of the county. A few casts, on a light rod with 6# test monofilament line, the bait got tapped a couple of times. After a couple more casts I reeled in a small largemouth bass. When I brought the fish up I saw that he liked the lure since it was almost all the way down his throat. (The photo at the top of this post!) After it was released I changed locations a little and caught another largemouth. I was hoping to get a crappie or two, but alas no luck.

The next day I took the kayak out on the river. Using the same bait, I made casts to a location that I know usually holds fish. On the third cast, I hooked up with a small striped bass, or what might have been a hybrid between a white perch and a striper. After photos, I released it and made a few more casts. Unfortunately I didn't check my line and it snapped on my next hook up. I tied the other version of the lure on, without the "eyes" and caught two or three white perch on it before moving to another spot.

There's something satisfying about making a lure yourself and then actually catching fish with it. Now I just have to make a few more...Always check your line as well as your knots. Until next time...Tight lines!!