Hulagans

[Montana Riverboats]

This is a pretty old photograph. But it shows most of the idea.

Cut a twister tail on a slant. Sew a hook keeper loop into the body of the grub, or what ever you call it, using thick thread or micro-tubing of some kind. Lock the keeper knot with CA glue.

Cut a diving bill from the top of a tomato container. Rough it up with sand paper. Glue it on with CA glue.

Snell a hook. Thread the leader through a lead weight and then (from underneath) through a hole in bill.

Now you have a crankbait-like twister tail, that wobbles from side to side like a Lazy Ike or a Flat Fish.

http://montana-riverboats.com/index.php?fpage=Lure-making/

Edited December 24, 2011 by Montana Riverboats

[t-billy]

That's a pretty cool idea. I'm far too lazy to make them myself though.

[Montana Riverboats]

That's a pretty cool idea. I'm far too lazy to make them myself though.

I'm a fly tier and lure maker--which means I like to make things. Football games, for instance, work better for me if I'm in the basement making flies or lures at the same time. Sometimes with the TV turned off and the stereo on.

I do understand lazy. But lazy relates more to work rather than to play. No?

Also, the Hulagan is a darned good lure. After a certain number of fish caught on a favorite lure you tend to feel depraved and deprived if you don't always have a few in your box. And the Hulagan you cannot buy.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Montana Riverboats

[knifemaker3]

You can buy a scrounger jig head and it should do the same thing without all the work.....plus your hook will be facing up instead of down to make hookset easier.

Or, put your grub on a jig head and add a dancer blade to it and it will swim like a crank.....

Edited December 26, 2011 by knifemaker3

[Montana Riverboats]

You can buy a scrounger jig head and it should do the same thing without all the work.....plus your hook will be facing up instead of down to make hookset easier.

Or, put your grub on a jig head and add a dancer blade to it and it will swim like a crank.....

I'll try that scrounger jig head. Looks interesting. Although I'd probably get more satisfaction making my own.

The Hulagan can be rigged to ride hook up too, with hook skewered through the body.

[mark poulson]

I really like your ideas.

It's a great use for old braid, too.

Edited December 26, 2011 by mark poulson

[t-billy]

It looks like a great bait. It just seem like a lot of work for a not very durable bait. I'd rather just buy a pack of scrounger heads and go catch fish. But that's me. You obviously enjoy making them so more power to ya. Like I said,I dig the idea,it's just not for me.

[Montana Riverboats]

It's interesting. There seem to be two cultures here at TU. Many of the Soft Bait posters here are reluctant to spend time remodeling molded lures into plugs (like the Hulagan above)....."I'm too lazy" and "I'd rather just use a jig hook".

At the same time many of the Hard Bait posters are perfectly willing to spend days of hard work carving and finishing beautifully-made plugs.

My goal is to find a niche in between. I want to hand make animated diving-wigglers with the fastest and easiest techniques not yet invented.

Edited December 28, 2011 by Montana Riverboats

[knifemaker3]

montana, it's not that we soft bait makers are to lazy it's just that we realize that usually one maybe 2 hits and our creation is toast whereas the crankmakers catch many mulitiples, rehook, repaint, etc. out of just one lure. They therefore can realize a much better return out of their time spent in creating their baits than we soft bait makers can. We have to shoot for quantity of lure as ours are not made to last very long.....

[Montana Riverboats]

montana, it's not that we soft bait makers are to lazy it's just that we realize that usually one maybe 2 hits and our creation is toast whereas the crankmakers catch many mulitiples, rehook, repaint, etc. out of just one lure. They therefore can realize a much better return out of their time spent in creating their baits than we soft bait makers can. We have to shoot for quantity of lure as ours are not made to last very long.....

OK. That makes sense. Gives me something to work on. Molded worm resin does get torn up pretty quickly. Some of the foam-bodied lures I make--on the other hand--are plenty durable. Most of what I make gets snagged and lost long before it comes apart. I won't try to convince anybody. I'll just make what I do and see what happens. I do like to blabber about it, I admit. But nobody has to listen. :=))

Edited December 28, 2011 by Montana Riverboats