Hey Mace, how many blades of each color should I buy?

Its a killer question, and one that could have several answers attached to it.

Bare minimum I would say four blades with the same color pattern.  A couple of reasons for this answer.  First, for whatever reason there are days out on the big water where it seems that one color works better on one side of the boat versus catching nothing on the opposite side with the same blade.  Following that philosophy I run four rods on each side of the boat, so I have four of the same blades to cover that side.

A better choice would be to get six of the same color pattern on the blades. Now not only would you have enough to cover a side of the boat, but you have two extra’s to replace the four in the water.  Why replace them? Zebra muscles can chew up line, catching a number of fish on the same rig can nick ‘em up and after fishing for so long with the same rig, no matter how good of a ball bearing swivel you might be using, it will eventually twist up so bad you cannot use it any longer.  Six also is a good number because many manufacturer’s sell their blades in three packs.

So this is what I wrote back, and the guy must have been glued to the computer, because I got another email within a few minutes after sending out my reply.  Glad for the answer, but he really wanted to know, how many of each color do I actually get when I pick out a pattern?  Geeze I start thinking, is this guy actually going to believe me when I tell him the answer?

Not everybody is how you might say “dedicated” as I am when it comes to making and using meat rigs out on Lake Erie, and only those who are so into it actually believe there are people “worse” than myself.  So here in a nutshell is my answer to everyone who is getting into making their own rigs…

I get a four to six of each new color I try out.  If it turns out to be a hot color while breaking it in, I don’t want to be shorthanded out on the lake.  If its a color pattern that has proven itself, I will eventually have 12 to 2 dozen of that color scheme.  I also pay attention to the type of metal on the blade.  There are cases where the same pattern works on silver, copper and gold.  Perhaps it only works on a combination of two metals, or there are colors I only use (as and example) on a copper blade.

What brands do I use was another question earlier in the week? What brands don’t I use probably is the best answer.  I love the solids from Northland Tackle in the blues and purples.  There are times that the Baitfish Image blades just rock over other patterns. DBfishing.com offers me the biggest variety of blades as far as patterns go, and those whiptail blades were awesome last year while targeting suspended eyes.  I have hoarded a small stockpile of Fishlander blades since the company has gone under.  Silver Streak puts some fine details into their patterns. And there are many fairly new small companies putting out some fine product, mainly Fish Bones Custom Lures and JT Custom Tackle come to mind.

At some point while talking about building your own walleye rigs, I will come up with a list of places that offer the best selection of blades, as well as hooks, beads and other gear necessary to make your own rigs.  If its available online, it will make the list.

Darren did a great job on the new patterns I asked for, and some that you just cannot find anymore.  I really needed to bulk up on my #4 sized colorado blades for the spring and he came through with flying colors on what I wanted to see!

Will be doing more on building your own rigs this week as I start to put the ice gear away and get ready for the start of the walleye season on Lake Erie. Some tricks to help you make your own quickly and some choices on colors…etc.  Its been a couple of years since I really broke down my whole process from start to finish, think its time for a refresher course in walleye rigging 101.

The Bay de Noc Lure Company is located in Michigan’s Northern Peninsula, right on that other “Walleye Capitol” of the world,  in Gladstone, MI on Little Bay de Noc.

http://www.baydenoclure.com/

Love a silver alligator pimple, #2 size for both crappie and perch.  Instead of a hammered finish, its a bubbled top that reflects the light below off the front surface of the lure.  Fish them high off the bottom in deep water for crappie, and pound the bottom to stir up the mud for jumbo perch.

http://www.baydenoclure.com/pimple.htm

Walleye seem to dig a combination of silver and any type of green for the sticker on the front. My fave is what the company calls chartreuse, but its a green in my book..  Depending on where I go, any size from a #3 to #7 seems to do the trick for winter walleyes.  The trick is to find the size just heavy enough to keep your line vertical, and perhaps just slightly being swept away from the hole’s center by some current below.  Keep it on your Vexilar screen, so you can see what is taking place. In some cases snap and jiggle the bait a foot or so off the bottom, or when you have a mucky bottom, pound it so you get a dust cloud poofing up.  This will make a walleye either believe t here is some type of bugs at work, or minnows and perch feeding on those bugs. Either way, it will draw a hungry walleye to the area.

You can rig these baits with anything from maggies and waxworms all the way to torn minnow heads to using the whole shiner with or w/out a stinger.  Pike and Salmon have a hard time refusing smelt or herring too!

These are all the new blades that were introduced this season by DB Fishing this year.

Lots of new glow patterns, and they brought back some of the classic Finlander looks.

You can become a fan of  DB Fishing on their Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Algonac-MI/wwwdbfishingcom/221940856867?ref=mf

This is just a one of the isles at the show, but it had all the boats from one end of the building to the other side.

They even had the fishing for kids deal.  No trout pond, but who wants to hook into a 10 inch brookie when you can get a taste of what its like to have salmon rip the line off your reel!

Tight Line Tackle was there, in the area right by Lockeman Marine.  Lots of good stuff for fishing the river and the lake.

If you were fishing late this fall, the guy on the right might seem familiar. Not only does he run Tight Line Charters, but was out fishing himself every chance he got in his YarCraft.

Even the cops were at the shop. Both the Monroe County Sheriff’s Dept. and the Ohio DNR had booths at the Expo Center.  I checked guys, you still need to pull in that extra line when crossing over the Ohio line on Erie.  Its still two rods per person in Ohio waters.  Would have been sweet if they made Erie an exception.

There is only one more booth to cover, and everyone will have to wait for two more days. There is a special reason, and I promise the it will not get lost in my typing translation skills.

Same pic here as yesterday, with Capt. CJ Baker and Chip in the background. If you ever wondered where the “CJ Special” paint job came from, look no further.

Last year the trend started towards using UV paints and Wolverine was all over it.

Now this is a custom painted Reef Runner, but Silver Streak will also be running out a new series of cranks with UV paints.  I just couldn’t pass picking up a “pair” of silk panties paint jobs.  Heck ya I got two of them LOL.

Still got till five to get down there folks!

As promised, here are some more pics from the expo at the fairgrounds. Starting off with Yeck Blades, here are some more pics from their booth. Stay tuned through today and the next couple of days for more info on those who helped make the fishing expo better than last year.

These are some of the blades that Yeck produces, both colorado’s and willow blades.

This is the full lineup of blades, spoons and Walker products.

Below is the new TripZ, a new type of diver that has a built in release.  This was a sneak peak due to the shipping issues that happened.  The diver will be available this week.

These will be introduced in three sizes, which I believe will be like a 20, 30 and #40 Diver.

And the guy running the show is Ged.  The company is based in Ludington, Michigan, the heart of the state’s salmon fishery.  The nice thing about Yeck is that they recognized the “other” fishery Michigan has, and did not neglect the state’s thousands of walleye fisherman.  They have some great product for all who hit the big water in search of bigger fish.

This year the show is so much better than the year before.  Not just because the organizers,  The Huron Valley Sportfishing Club has gained experience  in its 3 rd year hosting the event, but because the vendors are seriously dialing into what makes the Detroit River and Lake Erie angler’s click.

With so many vendors with booths set up, it would be hard to write a little about what I liked about each one the first day of the event.  So the plan of attack is to highlight about 10 different displays, and then follow them up with some additional posts down the road supplemented by more pics.

First up when I turned the corner after walking in was Bi-State Marine.

Located right next door (street address, location wise) is the Fisherman’s Cave. But if you look for it inside the MB&T Expo Center, its located left of   the ATM in one of the building’s corners.  They have all the hair jigs and blade baits set up for this spring’s walleye fishing around Turtle Island and the Toledo Light.  They also, and I kid you not, have promised to sell off family members to make sure they have the area’s biggest selection of  BJ-15A’s for this fall’s walleye pier fishing.  For us laymen, that means the jointed Bombers we all crave for heading down to Luna Pier and Stoney Point at night.

This gentleman gets two pics right off the bat for a couple of reasons, his only sign was carved out of wood with the number on it, and because of his amazing talent for carving.  Mike Malcomson of Taylor,  makes some wonderful looking decoys, while also paying particular attention to how these baits swim while in action.  A real talent, and pleasure to talk to!

One of my favorite guys in the business is from Yeck Lures.  Ged is one of the good guys, and besides the  salmon spoons,  his walleye blades are at the show.  Five bucks gets you six blades, I loaded up on the bigger sized serrated willow blades.  Will follow up with more pics and information in the next day or so.  He had a great booth display and took several pics.  Will try to get this one done before tomorrow’s start up at the show.

The Amish Outfitters booth had a lot on display, but they are really  best known in the area for their superior quality when it comes to their drift socks/bags.

That smiling mug belongs to Captain John Geer of Bulldog Charters. If you want to get in touch with fishing side of taking a charter, Bulldog really is the Big Dog of the bunch.  He specializes in drifting and casting, but does a mean trolling trip when called upon.  He also created a specialized release that no offense to the “Dog” really is the cat’s meow.

Right next to his booth are the guys from Ridgeback Rattler.  A truly sonic downrigger weight that brings more fish to the cooler than your standard cannonball or fish styled weights.

Next up is the booth for Wolverine Tackle, perhaps better known as the Silver Streak company.  That’s C.J. Baker hamming it up for the camera.  He operates Puddle Jumper Charters, and also does some wicked paint jobs on cranks for trolling up walleyes.   More pics to come from this booth, but if you stop in, check out the UV paint display.

The booth from Domka Outdoors was still being set up when I came through, but if you fished the Jeff’s Bait and Tackle Walleye Tournament in 2009 you will remember they were one of the big sponsors for the event.  Look forward to seeing them again this year.

They also had some really nice new paint jobs available on their blade baits for this spring.

Lance Valentine was up in the boat talking walleye fishing.  You might have heard of his website,  www.walleye101.com

Last up, and certainly not least is the booth from the Detroit Beach Boat Club.  They had lots of information on a couple of ways to join, and information on an upcoming  memorial walleye  tournament that will support the local Relay for Life cancer fund.   More info to follow soon on the tourney, have decided to enter the boat in it this year already, as the fight against cancer is very important to me as well.

Bad thing is that I had looked at these things last year, and just never pulled the trigger.  Didn’t even think about it while I was in Novi, even after looking at the new displays  from Wolverine Tackle/Silver Streak and getting some blades from DB Fishing.

I usually don’t fall for the latest trends in fishing.  Case in point, I didn’t bite on the whole red trend that swooped through about 7 years ago. I caught just as many fishing on the black nickel and bronze Mustad hooks than all my buds who bought into it.  Red line….don’t think so. Not for the fish anyway, if you want to see where your line goes in the water and use a leader, that’s one thing, but catching more fish….totally a different thing.

So not so sure about the effectiveness of UV light penetrating down below the surface, or at least the fishing being able to detect it. But at least for me it was something tangible to see for myself. So after a couple of hours of comparison shopping on the net, and finding the best prices available at Jann’s, I placed the order.

Right now, the game plan is to use the seal coat on jigs for testing out, and some blades.  Worst case scenario, I just added an extra layer of coating to protect the jig and blades from chipping.  For cranks, going to try the spray out first.  Do not want to add too much extra weight to the body baits until I know for sure what I am getting into.

When the seasons turn, we will see what, if any difference can be noticed when using it next to standard paint jobs.

All the details are on their website:    Ultimate Fishing Show

They also have a Facebook page set up:  UFS on FB

I have talked with Frank’s Great Outdoors, and they will be down there, going to add to my Thunderstick collection. My favorite Michigan walleye blade folks will be there,  DB Fishing is bringing their entire stock of new custom colors that I helped work on this winter.  You will really like the new product they have, and no one can beat their prices!

My plan is to head down Friday,  because I will be fishing all weekend down here locally on the ice. Hmmmm, maybe go back up Saturday, with some more money!!!