RJOE

Try calling Andy little at Powder horn outfitters in Hyannis. He has helped me with bulk Owner hooks.

I should be at the show helping Oliver and displaying some Real Prey Baits.

Welcome aboard Brian, I am also in central MA and the owner of Real Prey Swimbaits

May 15-june 15 will cover the bulk of the spawn in NH Sometimes the small mouths will start a little earlier and there will always be a small group of fish that will go earlier or later than the main group. I know most of the waters in the concord area and will be happy to help you when the time comes. Joe

I will be thinking of you.

I have a few different drop shot baits that I use on occasion. A carp and a smelt. They can be very effective in just the right situation. I have used them in shallow water tossing them in front of downed trees and just waiting.The important thing is to keep the boat still and not use the bait as a search bait. Great for when you find the fish and are able to stay on them.

I am hoping to start releasing these within a couple weeks. Like most of my baits they will be pretty much be made to order. Joe

I like a falling barometer and incoming weather for a couple reasons but the more important one is that it usually guarentees I will have the water to myself. Yes I do get caught it bad conditions a lot but I feel it provides an edge. My catching fish and suffering appear to be directly related.

Hey Dan, thanks for a great review of the 10" trout. The bottom trout in that picture is from the first batch of about 12 that I made. All of these were purchased by 1 person that I will not name. He then gave them all out to people as gifts. He was so excited by this trout that he wanted to get them in the hands of some great fisherman. Looks like somebody sold you their free gift.

I grew up in the Boston area and now live 2 hours west. Plenty of good water out that way. The Charles and Mystic rivers to name a couple. No one can give you better info than Grizz though.

Great job in trying to come up with a solution, this is the mentality that catches big fish. So it didn't go quite right that time but you were on the right track.Now you know for next time to balance the bait out in colder water then you intend to fish and if needed you can put on a heavier hook or add a nail weight. It is almost always easier to add weight then take it away. Tough to not get frustrated when alterations don't go the way you want but you still learned a lot for next time.

The specific gravity of freshwater is around 1 at the temps we are fishing in but starts to drop as the water gets hot, by around 320 degrees F it has dropped to .9 In keeping saltwater fish as pets this specific gravity to temperature ratio becomes very important even over just a few degrees. The warmer the water the lower the salt content needs to be. Where do you fish in 320 degree water or in saltwater fishtanks?? Fresh water is 8.33 ppg and salt slightly more roughly 8.36 or so which will affect how a lure swims... Bouyancy is going to play a bigger role then water temps all though it is a variable... I do want to see this saltwater tank you fish in?? Pics or it doesn't happen!!! Sorry If my wording wasn't specific enough. The temps we fish in meaning roughly between 32 and 90 degrees F. I then tried to explain how much specific gravity will drop as temps rise. Obviously nobody is fishing in or keeping pet fish in 320 degree water right. The last statement was meant to show the importance of specific gravity in relation to water temp in the keeping of saltwater fish as pets. Sorry if that post was confusing, it made sense as I was writing it.

The specific gravity of freshwater is around 1 at the temps we are fishing in but starts to drop as the water gets hot, by around 320 degrees F it has dropped to .9 In keeping saltwater fish as pets this specific gravity to temperature ratio becomes very important even over just a few degrees. The warmer the water the lower the salt content needs to be.

I will add a little more to the floating/sinking part of this post.. The transition of the bait sitting high in the warm water to sinking in icewater was smooth throughout the temp change. At no point did the bait start to sit higher as the water cooled and then reverse at very cold. The bigger factor is not the density of the water being hot or cold but the effect of the hot or cold on the bait. I t can get tough when someone in CA is looking for a specific ROF and I am looking for rivers that are moving to fast to freeze over. A lot of science and math goes into the making of baits but in the end you don't know for sure what a new bait will do until you get it in the water. More often than not it's back to the drawing board but sometimes a pleasent surprise.

Water temp does have a big effect on buoyancy but in the opposite direction. It should sink faster in cold water. Warm water sits on top of cold water like in summer you can dive down 10' and notice a significant decrease in water temperature from what you would see on the surface because the colder water has slower moving molecules from what I've gathered, in Winter time when water is mixed and somewhat evenly cold you would notice a bait sinks quite a bit slower in the Winter time even though there is more oxygen retention in the water the molecules are slowed making the water more dense. Warmer surface water typically has less oxygen. I first fished a BAA Heavy Floater in the dead of winter in water temps in the 30's I cranked the bait down and it damn near suspended in place after waiting for a few minutes the bait finally came back to the surface, this was using mono and the bait was maybe 2' down. Fishing the same bait in the Summer time I noticed the bait would surface after shorter periods 20-30 seconds. I fish ripbaits a lot in the Winter time here and a perfectly suspending bait in the Winter time almost always becomes a slow sink in the Summer. Many baits have specific tune's so they suspend best in a specific water temperature. I could be wrong, but I'd like to hear your reasoning as to why a bait would sink faster in the Winter time/in colder water? This is a great topic, the reason I stated that baits will sink faster in cold water is that as a baitmaker I am forever having to take conditions in the different parts of the country into account. Living in New England I am forced to test baits in near frozen water for several months out of the year. One of the things I often have to do is balance deadstick floating soft baits, the object is to get them to sit low in the water but not sink. I often balance them in a bucket at about 70 degrees, however if I then take them out to the pond to test them further they sink. After reading your response on this I went and grabbed a carp bait that I am shipping out tomorrow and balanced it at room temp. I then added hot water and was able to raise the bait about 1/2 inch out of the water. Then I ran cold water until the bait sat so that just the tip of the dorsal fin was at the surface. Added some ice to the water and the bait went to the bottom. I am not exactly sure from a scientific standpoint why this happens but the reality is the soft baits I make sink quicker in cold water and I am sure others do as well.

Water temp does have a big effect on buoyancy but in the opposite direction. It should sink faster in cold water.

Nice job and video.That looks like one of the first trout I made. The paint jobs have come a long way since then. What a great idea passing these baits around. Joe

I ship hundreds of baits and almost never have a problem with the us mail. The few things that do pop up are usually something like the customer moved or a neighboring meth head stole them. I don,t see the need to insure the baits as they travel, a tracking number is good for less than a dollar. Even the regular 1st class packages that you decline tracking on come with a tracking number on the receipt. Not every post office has this where I live but most do. My thought is if the tracking shows it got to your address the problem is yours. Unfortunate that somebody would steal the baits. It is probably best that in the future they travel one at a time. As soon as I get caught up I will send Boomah another bait to be put in the mix. Joe

The original design of the carp was for a deadstick bottom bait that sat nose down at about a 45 degree angle, when you twitched it it looks like a carp feeding in the mud.

Like Chuck said, there is a swivel line tie on the bottom and the bait will sit horizontal. As far as hook ups this style of hook placement is amazing. On a stationary bait bass will circle and hit head first. It is different than how they will hit a moving bait. This is a great bait for very specific situations. It is not meant to cover a lot of water or even be used on drifts. It is best adapted to sitting still and being patient. you can use it in shallow water as well by just tossing it in front of cover. Like jig fishing you might just see the line jump or it may get crushed. Not a bait for everyone,more suited to people who have a very specific plan.

This is a 9" bass along with a 7.5" carp deadstick bait. The bass weighs around 6 ounces. They aren't on my site but I still make them once in a while.

Some people are, in this case Butch

I can make the 10" trout in top hook and make it sink as fast as you want.

Hi Facepunch, Although your conclusions are quite different from all the other feedback I have been getting, we all see things differently and not every bait is for every person. It is also possible that something could be wrong with your bait. Either way if you want to send that bait back so I can look at it I will be happy to send you another bluegill or a shiner or alewife that you already know you like. Joe