Innovative Ideas Man

[yellow door 1 1,847]

After the toothies put a dint in my light weight metal collection - I figured Id grab a few 30 grammers - and I also found myself wanting some sinking bibbed minnows to chuck off the top of bridges - ali express order came through today - not sure how any any of them will swim - but I like the look of them

[yellow door 1 1,847]

Took 2 casts to pass the micro perch test. Then 2 more to pass it again.……..
 

on the down side the trebs don’t like rough treatment and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the brisk arse first sink on the pause. 
 

I haven’t used sinking bibbed minnows before. Is the arse first sink pretty standard?

[Soobz 559]

I've only got a couple of sinking minnows, neither are bum first, I assume they weighted yours for better casting at the cost of sinking weird. What bent the hook? Surely not that fish...

[yellow door 1 1,847]

1 hour ago, Soobz said:

I've only got a couple of sinking minnows, neither are bum first, I assume they weighted yours for better casting at the cost of sinking weird. What bent the hook? Surely not that fish...

Thanks for the details on your sinking minnows.

Nah the fish spazzed out while I was removing hooks with pliers - They are pretty light gauge though - not quite Owner St-ll light-wire - but closer to the 11's than the 36ers

[yellow door 1 1,847]

not sure how either of these will go but.....

These thin worms are a pain to rig - so I cut up some shrink tube to protect them from the thread - then lashed them on - with a dab of super glue on the securing knots

Just waiting to see if there is a reaction and the different plastic causes the "Zman Style" plastic to melt.

Also -  I was looking up Kayak nets and they are pretty exxy.  I can get a $10 replacement rubber net off ali expres - and I had the steel rod and pvc in the garage - just heated it up - and put a pencil in the middle of the wires and stepped on it - a bit of araldite will lock them in place - and bang - cheap net for little stuff.

[yellow door 1 1,847]

The $10 replacement net was a lie - cheeky advertising by a shonky Ali Express shop

So I ended up with a $17 one from ebay

Ground some grooves in the steel, so the glue had something to grip on to

I also originally built it, so was weighted such a way, that it would have a slight lean toward the fish for left handed netting 

That was a mistake

It had a heavy lean

So I ditched those plans and got angry - I was stepping on  - getting it in head locks - but finally the vice gave me the opportunity to unleash enough fury to get it into perfect balance

The steel ring is a bit out of whack now but it balances just the way I want it to for left or right handed netting

[yellow door 1 1,847]

Just noticed how I could have made the neck stronger by lengthening the steel inserts - I was also going to bind rope around the insertion point for extra support - but its only for little fish and it just withstood me popping veins in my neck to straighten the steel - so it should be right

[Wert 472]

20 hours ago, yellow door 1 said:

Just noticed how I could have made the neck stronger by lengthening the steel inserts - I was also going to bind rope around the insertion point for extra support - but its only for little fish and it just withstood me popping veins in my neck to straighten the steel - so it should be right

Honestly I generally prefer to pay up for quality (but not necessarily super expensive) stuff, I've found that long term you win, quality gear, lures and accessories may look similar to cheaper stuff but they just function better (no weird sinking lures for example) and last so much longer.

That all said cheap makes complete sense for a lot of your tinkering and that net looks the goods, for sure longer inserts would help but I don't see binding doing much and it may also be counterproductive due to potentially holding moisture and helping corrosion.

Another solution you might consider is if the pole can handle it you could drill a couple of holes and bend the ends of the inserts out then grind down to size so the net head clips into place, get that right and it won't be going anywhere.

[yellow door 1 1,847]

11 hours ago, Wert said:

Honestly I generally prefer to pay up for quality (but not necessarily super expensive) stuff, I've found that long term you win, quality gear, lures and accessories may look similar to cheaper stuff but they just function better (no weird sinking lures for example) and last so much longer.

That all said cheap makes complete sense for a lot of your tinkering and that net looks the goods, for sure longer inserts would help but I don't see binding doing much and it may also be counterproductive due to potentially holding moisture and helping corrosion.

Another solution you might consider is if the pole can handle it you could drill a couple of holes and bend the ends of the inserts out then grind down to size so the net head clips into place, get that right and it won't be going anywhere.

Nice one Wert - thanks for the tips. I love the drilling hole and bending tines so they clip in, suggestion.

If I need to build a tougher net that method will 100% get a run

I used to fish for Bream on Lures  - So Im well versed in how to throw cash at a problem - A loomis/certate combo was as crazy as I got - but that didnt fix anything - I still sucked - If you offered me 10 x $20 ecogear blades or 10 my favorite little $1.40 blades I found while gambling on Ali Express (and I couldnt resell them) - I'll let you guess which ones Id pick.

Gambling on cheap lures is very low stakes with possibly huge rewards - And I fish alot and go through alot of tackle - Losing 5 eco gears in a session used to cost me $100 - Losing 5 cheapies, I catch more fish on, Would cost me $7.  That adds up when you fish 4 to 7 sessions a week

 

[yellow door 1 1,847]

Plus all the money you save can be spent  cheap power tools to make stuff for “free”

I say cheap - but the prices for individually purchased “dremel bits” make some of the rip off merchants in the tackle game seem like saints

[yellow door 1 1,847]

Mate invited me down to check out the new joint he just moved into. Sounded great. We were going to have a BBQ, Go watch local footy and have a few beers.

That translates to - a few trips to the tip - few loads of furniture from the old place and spending the rest of the day building over head storage in his new car-port

[dmck 643]

Gee... you got some good stuff at the dump !! 

[yellow door 1 1,847]

55 minutes ago, dmck said:

Gee... you got some good stuff at the dump !! 

I was told more than once we were there to dump stuff - not to pick stuff up

[Plectropomus 379]

On 17/06/2023 at 1:12 AM, yellow door 1 said:

If you offered me 10 x $20 ecogear blades or 10 my favorite little $1.40 blades I found while gambling on Ali Express (and I couldnt resell them) - I'll let you guess which ones Id pick.
 

are you selling some of those shiny metal jigs? 

[yellow door 1 1,847]

On 20/07/2023 at 10:33 AM, Plectropomus said:

are you selling some of those shiny metal jigs? 

Nah Mate Ive only got enough for personal use

I bought a heap ages ago and I dont really use blades that often anymore - but Ill hang on to the ones I have left

[yellow door 1 1,847]

Googled earthed a possible redfin hole today - it wasnt smooth sailing trying to find an access point - and that theme continued for the short session.

Forgot the Mirage drive - Got my balls wet getting in and discovered I have no idea how to use my new sounder. (Not completely my fault - the stupid thing has a feature where it turns the transducer off for some reason - and I could fix it on the water no matter how many random buttons I pressed)

[yellow door 1 1,847]

couldnt find my old hand paddle so it was time for a new one -

Finished with cooking oil varnish

[yellow door 1 1,847]

 

[yellow door 1 1,847]

If you want to add a tow point to a jighead. Just cut a hook - drill a hole and super glue it in

 

gives a surprisingly strong hold. I couldn’t pull it out with 2 sets of pliers 

[yellow door 1 1,847]

Snapped my testing rig and punched myself in the face - but it got to about 18kg before the wire testing rig snapped -

The fishing hook glued into the jighead did not budge
 

 

[yellow door 1 1,847]

p.s. extremely unsafe testing methods were used