I had a chance yesterday to hit a new-to-me body of water with a couple buddies for a couple hours and fishing started out pretty darned tough. The lake's water was real warm and algae booms in bays where the water didn't get agitated by the wind were basically green. We finally decided to get more out tin the open water and focus our fishing neared to visible weeds and that proved to be a part of the game changer, but the biggest change came when we looked along the outside edges of the weeds in severely deeper water just off the primary break. Once we found some random marks in about 32 feet of water right down about the 27 foot mark and focused on them then we got into the crappies. A quick check with the submersible thermometer showed the water at that depth 15 degrees cooler.
The biggest game changer though was the bait. We'd been using a variety of plastics and profiles were just as varied. I got to thinking that with fish that deep and the surface clouded with algae, maybe a glow plastic might do better so I hung a stinger with a glow tail on a jig and went at it and my hit count went straight uphill. This was great except I only had four stingers like this and no other glow stuff.
Sooooo, this morning I decided to create. It began with more of the stingers with glow tails. The stingers with the glow tails I've shown here before so those won't get posted, but the 1.75" small fries I did today haven't been here, so here they are. The clear tail plastic is simply my bluegill mix and is a re-melt. The purple is a re-melt as well and has been shown here in a couple more recent baits so it won't get any time either. I want to focus on the glow part. The glow pigment is Do-Its green glow mixed with some Do-It worm oil, just enough oil to support the pigment so it can be dipped out of the plastic cup I mixed it in.
To start I partially filled the belly sections with junk plastic, just enough to dot the glow pigment on. Then the clear bluegill was injected. The tail sections were then trimmed and put back in the mold and the purple went in and the eyes and cover dip finished the baits. The first picture will show the baits in shaded sunlight. They're pretty as they sit in the picture.
The second picture is of the same baits a half minute later and not even in what one would call decent dark. The purple is still very visible but that glow is liking to jump right out at ya.
In good dark, the glow runs all the way thru the tail to the end. Taken in the light as it were in the second picture, the camera's filter focuses on the bright glow and down plays the line thru the tail, but its there big time. Do-Its glow pigments in green and red gently let you know what color you're using by having some tint in the pigment. I like that because it also adds just a subtle color shot to the whole bait. But its the glow factor that puts this Do-It pigment at the top of the glow pigment parade. The pictures shown never saw direct sunlight, yet look at the strength of the glow in those baits in partial shade. Unreal.
