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mark poulson

Soft Skin Swimbait

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I was at the Anglers Marine Bass-A-Thon yesterday, and Butch Brown did a workshop about how he fishes swimbaits, and what he throws.

He's the guy who has several hundred bass over 10lbs, and a five fish limit of 54lbs, all on swimbaits in the Castaic afterbay.

The swimbait he was talking about yesterday was a resin core two piece, with a soft, air filled tail.

But the thing that was really unique about it was the soft rubber skin over the foiled body.

The bait he talked about is called the silent swimmer, because it doesn't make any click or rattling noise as it's fished.

He said it took him a year to figure out how to fish it in all situations, but he fishes 300 days a year.

Does anyone here have any idea what kind of soft, transparent rubber they might have used for the bait?

Here's a link:

http://www.westernba...bat-t81319.html

Edited by mark poulson
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Mark,

There is a product that fly tiers use called sili-skin.it is a soft plyable material that has a adhesive back.It comes in a bunch of colors as well as clear I believe.The stuff is a little pricey .Your problem will be your top coat...It's going to need to be pliable as well...Fly tiers also have a top coat they use called softex that may work...I've been playing around with this for a while.....Nathan

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Thanks Nathan.

You saved me a lot of research.

I'll look it up on the internet, and check it out.

But I'm probably not going to get that deeply involved in learning a new process with new materials.

I'm thinking the soft skin isn't critical, except for the teen bass that Butch Brown fishes for. For him, the search for big bass is almost a religion. He doesn't even count bass under 10lbs any more.

I heard him speak at the Anglers Marine Bass-A-Thon yesterday, and he is passionate.

Even though I've known him for years, I was amazed how deeply he cares about the fish he catches, and how committed his is to making any bait he uses perform to it's maximum potential.

He said one of his big bass died in his livewell, so he called a DFG biologist and gave it to him

The biologis placed it's age at well over 10 years, so Butch said that bass had seen lots of Huddlestons, Triple Trouts, and every soft swimbait out there.

He said, for bass that old and experience educated, the smallest detail that's off will turn them away.

But, for most of the fish under 10 lbs, I think they can still be fooled by the hard skinned baits most of us make.

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The soft skin on the Deps is not actually a topcoat, its like a silicone rubber sleeve that fits over the lure portions and you can actually remove it. Deps actually sells a weight kit that you install by removing the soft body cover and gluing in place on the bottom of the resin lure, then slide the skin back on.

This image is of an unfinished lure and gives a better idea of what's going on with the lure.

slide%20swimmer_jpg%201.jpg

I think to replicate it you would need to make an open top mold of the finished dimensions, possibly in a solo cup, then pour some sort of clear, flexible silicone into the mold, the insert the main lure body (or a replica) covered in mold release into the mold to squish the silicone around and up the sides. I don't know if that makes any sense, and I have no idea where you would get clear/translucent, flexible casting silicone rubber.

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Another thought would be too either use the plastic dip clear spray on material or you their clear dipping coating and actually dip the lure in.Your bait would be left with a softer rubbery textured top coat that is nearly bullet proof.I've dipped jig heads in this stuff and have sprayed a few baits with it and it is tough!!! But you have a flat finish to it..no gloss at all..(the fish didn't seem to mind!!) ..Nathan

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Nathan,

It's still sitting on my work bench, already decanted into a dipping jar.  I just haven't remembered to try it.  By the time I go out into the garage to do something, poof!!!  But I'll give it a try on a sample this week, promise, and let you know how it handles.

 

Stretcher,

It does quiet them down.

I sprayed on that was already assembled, and it did make it more quiet.

I haven't taken one apart and sprayed the individual pieces yet, which would get more material into the joint faces, but that's next for me.

 

It's been such a slow bite this winter that the only swimbaits I've been throwing are soft plastics on the bottom.

But I spooked a fish off a bed Sunday, so things should be heating up here now.

It's been a looong winter.

Edited by mark poulson
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i hear ya mark, and with the lack of water, almost all the lakes around here are dried up.   

Lake San Antonio   5% capacity

lake nacimiento      21%

santa margarita      38%

lopez                       56%

 

 

its a good thing i live 15 minutes from Morro Bay so i can get some saltwater fishing in.....

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i hear ya mark, and with the lack of water, almost all the lakes around here are dried up.   

Lake San Antonio   5% capacity

lake nacimiento      21%

santa margarita      38%

lopez                       56%

 

 

its a good thing i live 15 minutes from Morro Bay so i can get some saltwater fishing in.....

 

It is dry!!!!  Both Castaic and Pyramid have water, but they are only 2000/2500 acres.  With Casitas locked down, Cachuma waaaaay down, and Piru contaminated by quagga mussels, both Castaic and Pyramid are getting hammered. It seems like they each have two tourneys every weekend, with the local trails and clubs having no where else to fish.

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Sounds good.  The only thing holding me back is time and money.  Hahaha

Our club usually does two two day away tournaments every year, one at Cachuma and one at Margarita.  But with both so low, we're thinking of going to Perris for one, and maybe both, this year instead.

Sucks when we're in a drought.  

My youngest is in school back in Toronto, and they have the opposite problem, too much water, although right now it's hard and white.

Since the western states, and particularly CA, feed a large part of the country, are a major exporter of food, and contribute a great deal to our national economy, it's time that the Federal Govt. come up with an overarching water plan, like they did with the Interstate Highway System, to deal with this nationally.  It's not like it's going away any time soon.

Big stuff like that is what they are supposed to deal with.

Oops.  I just fell off my soap box.  Rant over.

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