Month: April 2010

April 29, 2010

Stick Jackets Fishing Rod Protectors Rock

I have been eyeballing these for a while now and finally broke down and bought some.

Stick Jackets are a long rod sleeve you put over your rod for storage. They solve a few problems I have been having for years on my boat. First and foremost, they keep my rods from getting tangled up. They also keep my longer rod tips from getting damaged on the inside front of my boat. Having to strip down 7 feet of line and a re-tying every time I pull a new rod out of my locker is a pain in the ass. Last but not least, my guides are not going to get banged up any more. These things rock.

Stick Jackets on Monster Tackle

April 19, 2010

Weekend Bass Boat and Trailer Mods

This weekend I helped Jeremy Anderson from Black Dog Bait Co do some mods on his boat and trailer. Jeremy is in the process of redoing a bunch of stuff on his boat like replacing the carpet, repainting his trailer, fixing all the fiberglass issues, buffing the whole boat out, new upholstery, new motor . . . and the list goes on. He has a mid 90s, 20 foot Champion bass boat, and really, a new boat does not always mean a better boat.

We got a lot done in just a small amount of time.

The carpet on all the lids has been done already, so before the deck get redone all the glass work and modification needs to be done. Also, before the trailer gets repainted the old fucked up parts needed to be banged out and replaced. We started by cutting his old fenders off – they were rusty and banged up so they had to go.

After cutting them off with a 6" cut off wheel we cleaned all the old welds up. At this point we fitted up the new stainless steel fenders and welded them on.

Jeremy had his laser cut guy throw some paw prints in the center of the fenders for a cool detail. He is going to later back them with blue L.E.D lights.

The new fender welded in place, it will be repainted just past the weld.

The paw print in the center of the two wheels turned out pretty nice, it will look really good when its back lit.

After the fenders were done we fitted up the new trolling motor tub. We started cutting out the corners with a hole saw. Then we finished the cut with a jig saw.

We then cut out the foam to fit the trolling motor recess pedal with a drywall punch saw.

The recessed pedal tub fit very nicely, it wont be permanently attached until the carpet is installed. We will keep you updated as more work gets done to the boat.

In the meantime, here's some of the other bass boat mods I've done

Basic Bass Boat repair: Fixing minor dings – part one>

Basic Bass Boat repair: Fixing minor dings – part two>

Hand-pinstriped boat numbers>

April 16, 2010

“There’s no such thing as a reckless octopus hunter. You’re either careful or dead.”

On the list of other watery hobbies we could be enjoying:

Apparently in the 60s it seemed like a good idea to dive into the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest and wrestle octopi from the watery depths.

In April 1963 the "World Octopus Wresting Championships" were held in Puget Sound, Washington. 111 divers brought up 25 giant octopus weighing in at up to 57 pounds, and had as many as 5000 spectators.

I'd like to see the trophies.

In 1965 an article about the sport in "True: The Man's Magazine" they talked about a guy called the "Father of Octopus Wrestling."

". . He knew how to outmaneuver them, to outflank them, and to outthink
them. He knew full well, many years ago, what today's octopus wrestlers
are just beginning to learn–that it is impossible for a man with two
arms to apply a full nelson on an octopus; he knew full well the
futility of trying for a crotch hold on an opponent with eight crotches."

From Time Magazine circa 1965:

"Merely to minnow about underwater is no longer enough, and such sports
as octopus wrestling are coming increasingly into vogue, particularly
in the Pacific Northwest, where the critters grow up to 90 Ibs. and can
be exceedingly tough customers. Although there are several accepted
techniques for octopus wrestling, the really sporty way requires that
the human diver go without artificial breathing apparatus"

And this awesome illustration comes from a 1949 Mechanix Illustrated, from an article called "Octopus Wrestling is my Hobby"

According to them, this is some serious business.

"Like to wrestle an octopus? I realize it all sounds like a loathsome
sport but it’s really more fun than hunting some poor harmless
creature. When you wrestle and kill an octopus, you’re ridding the
marine world of a treacherous enemy.

And you’d better watch your step, too. For there’s no such thing as a reckless octopus hunter. You’re either careful or dead."

Found via this site, which has lots of other good stuff, most of which has nothing to do with Octopus: Futility Closet

April 11, 2010

Walk Through a Bluegill Paint Job At JSJ Baits

So the pictures turned out kinda blurry on this one, my normal camera is having a "moment" right now, but was doing some painting today for some orders and figured I would do a walk through on a basic blue gill paint job.

I always start with a white super secret squirrel primer that is a trade secret and the reason the paint holds up so well on my baits. So I won't give you that one. After a good white base coat you want lay down a good coat of sparkly silver. I spray from the back down avoiding the belly. Make sure to hit inside the joints. Next spray a white translucent pearl on the belly. Be sure to spray up the sides of the bait slightly over lapping the silver. You also want to hit the gill area and mouth. This will blend everything together nicely.

Next is a bit of orange on the belly and anal fin area. This is followed by a light base of black on the rear of the gill area and lightly towards the eye. I use a cutout to prevent over-spray onto the body of the bait.

Next is a heavy coating of translucent blue pearl on the gill, eye area, belly and side of the bait. This will give the base for your blue gills (blue gill).

Next is the first layer of light green on the back and bars on the side of the bait. I use a single action airbrush for this step for more control. I also start to blend out the eyes and gill area at this point. This step is followed by a slightly darker green for a layered effect.

At this point details can be added. scale tipping for example,shading,gill flare color etc. My stock colors are fairly simple, my customs will usually have more texture added using different methods.
I like to add some light blue gill stripes on my light bluegill patterns, these really give off good flash in the water.

For the final steps I will add some color shift paint lightly over the back and gills. I will also mist the bait with some silver and gold fine flake to add flash. After all that I like to glue my eyes in before the clear coat. I use epoxy to glue the eyes in. epoxy is super strong and leaves a natural looking membrane around the eye.

The bait is now ready for numbering and a few coats of polyurethane clear coat. This is a very basic process without to many steps for a great realistic result. This is also one of my favorite crank bait colors on the Delta and Clear Lake.