Sandeel Boolie

[Bucho]

Hi!

I´ve been out fishing yesterday, and the sandeel boolie, in a larger 2/0 - 3/8th, again outfished everything else in my arsenal, this time cod. Both trolling and casting worked well, the perfect kayak lure! Had great fun, with the lightest tackle I´ve ever used for this kind of fishing! Would have liked to get more pics with the lure in the fish´s mouth, but all the others inhaled it so deep I needed forcepts to get it out.

Problem is: When I make it with the banana mold I use, it still requires a lot of work cutting of the collar and flattening enough space for big stick-on eyes. At the same time, the "nose", often enhanced by a surplus of powder-paint, should not stand out at all as this would deal better with the sea grass floating around.

In other words, I need something similar to hawnjig`s "hooksup", just with space for stick-on eyes. Even if it doesn´t rise that high in the water - as long as it glides over obstacles, instead of collecting them with its nose.

Every idea/suggestion is welcome!

 

[Pepop]

Scale them down a little and I bet I could catch a Crappie with either one. Good job! :icon14::icon14:

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hi Bucho ! Great Boolies that ya tied and super application!! In most cases where I've had floating weeds,bottom moss, etc , I do tie my Boolie with Hawn's HU head - Keith will adjust them ,so they have no-neck, to fit the propeller! HOWEVER, for the same type weedless nose,Keith also has his 1/4 oz,more bodied, 'Hev-e-hed" which both he & I tie for saltwater Boolies & deeper water or distance casting in lakes& reservoirs. On the Hev-e-hed you could easily find room to put on eyes, tho I personally never like to tamper with the brightness of a Hawnjigs alloy (non lead) head ( I'd sent some of these as Boolies to a friend in Florida recently; on trips to the Gulf Coast he reported that the Hev-Boolie couldn't make it through the first dive before Spanish Mackeral nailed it, then after chewing off the tail they still attacked the Bool & propeller, then after biting the propeller off they still went berserk for the play bright head ! He filled the cooler!)

 

[Jig Man]

Nice tyes and great fishing....

 

[Fatman]

Great looking jigs and more good info!!!!!!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Impossible to find fresh Atlantic cod here in Hawaii since the collapse of the Grand Banks fishery, and dried salted is horribly expensive. I vaguely remember it being one of the best tasting fish I've eaten, is it highly esteemed in Germany?

Awesome you can catch them in shallow water in such nice sizes! Are they good fighters?

 

[Hawnjigs]

If you seriously want to optimize your weed slipping nose design + have eye capability how about this?
http://do-itmolds.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=1_8_332

Weedguard jigs come with pins which can be easily trimmed down to allow full head pours without guards or holes. This head is a little tricky because the pin trim will be angular and has to sit in the mold just right.

 

[plateboater]

Nice jigs and sweet pics with RnD!

 

[AtticaFish]

Very cool looking fish and glad you are finding them.

 

[Bucho]

Thanks for the advice! In the meantime however, I`ve gotten the impression that with better hardware the problems will diminish. Got the liquid bed working, which makes for nose-free paintjobs. Bought some 1/4th Bananaheads, obviously from a proper mold like the one I´ve ordered, and a proper pair of lead scissors with which I can remove the neck with just two cuts. All combined, there seems to be no need for a different head-shape after all. The head in the middle is the one from an original mold, with fluid-bed paint. Neither eye-flatening required nor bulky nose.

 

[AtticaFish]

Glad to hear you got the painting down - getting the correct layer of powder paint does affect the performance of specialized jigs. They look awsome!

 

[Bucho]

Impossible to find fresh Atlantic cod here in Hawaii since the collapse of the Grand Banks fishery, and dried salted is horribly expensive. I vaguely remember it being one of the best tasting fish I've eaten, is it highly esteemed in Germany?

Awesome you can catch them in shallow water in such nice sizes! Are they good fighters?

sorry for overseeing this one. Cod his the bread-and-butter eating fish for the local net fishery, as for most of the baltic sea angling. There are times when you can catch them in reasonable sizes up to 25" with a fly rod from shore, but productive daytime fishing for good size fish is mostly done from boat or kayak over 10-60`of water, depending on the season.
People say its not much of a fighter, but if you give it a "fighting chance" on light tackle, in shallow water, its a different story, especially when they chase bait in open water. At the same time, they can be surprisingly picky on their diet, depending on water clarity, light conditions, forage in the water etc. To frequently catch a good amount of them takes some experience.
There are some shipwrecks 3-6miles off the coast that I´m planning to pay a visit this summer with my brand-new hobie sail kit. A friend of mine has been diving there, where the fish are save from nets. He said the size of them was frightening....

 

[Pup]

Great-looking ties. It's been fascinating to read about your fishing overseas.

 

[StumpHunter]

Great looking tyes.