The start of November signals the beginning of the end for the bass season and there's one final hurrah aka The Cornish Bumble to look forward to, then I'll tucking my beloved plugs into their beds for hibernation until March (ish!) But what the hell am I supposed to do all Winter?! :-o I thought about going bait fishing this weekend but the passion just isn't the same as it is with the lures... I know, I'll have a go at painting my own lures (properly this time, no wine involved!) So I had a rummage around my box of doom but didn't really spot anything that I had confidence in, however, in the box underneath was a lure that should work, I'm sure it's caught plenty of bass for plenty of people - Zonk Red Head. There's a whole separate discussion to be had about lure confidence, I'm sure we all have one lure in our box that we KNOW is a killer for other people... Anyway (I may as well apologise now, as this will turn into a bit of a ramble/therapy session...) in recent weeks I'd seen plenty of clips of bass being caught with Matt Tiger coloured lures and had a quick check on t'internet and couldn't see any Zonks anywhere so I had my colour scheme and I had my victim.... Took my Matt Tiger X-120 down to B&Q and set about sourcing the colours from the pretty decent Plasti-cote range of sprays http://www.plasti-kote.co.uk/Product/pcode---4427 Orange for the belly, pale yellow for the lower half of the body, green for the upper half of the body, black for the back and a pot of silver for the stripes. So far so good! Masked the bib off and removed the eyes, taking care to leave them in a safe place to put back later, and headed out to the bottom of the yard to start the fun stuff! Took a couple of coats before I was happy with the belly, as I wanted the lure have a big, visible target as it sinks backwards... After that had dried, I moved onto the pale yellow so I could practice merging the colours without it being too noticable if I cock it up! Again, two coats were needed, mainly because it didn't cover the red head too well. I left that to dry properly overnight and settled down for a glass of wine and to harrass Llyr for a while (a boy who paints himself for fun,for any of you who don't frequent the Shoutbox...) Woke up bright and early the following day with the green playing on my mind. I wasn't sure I'd be happy with the results! Quick discussion over switching the green to a brown saw me completely ignore Simon and turn the lure into a Manx-inspired brown backed pollacky/wrassy colour but keeping the silver stripes. The Callig Tiger was born!!! Quick dart to the shops to swap the green for a brown and I was ready for action again! Now to me at least, this was starting to look pretty special!!!
If anyone's still awake! :lol: Second coat of brown went on in the mid afternoon and I headed off into the bright lights to do things I can't remember, that I'm told involved copious amounts of Guiness and karaoke. Woke up with a head-in-a-vice hangover and the shakes. What's on todays agenda? First thing, handpaint the tiger stripes! Great. To be honest, considering the state of me, I'm pretty happy with that although some of the lines are a bit thicker than I'd hoped. The shakes probably helped!!! Now, onto the death or glory bit! Needed to spray the back black enough to cover the top of the stripes but without it overpowering the brown or the yellow. ABSOLUTELY CACKING IT!!!!! I needn't have worried, I nailed it first coat! Spent this morning hunting for those safely stored eyes... I obviously kept them too safely as I had to paint my own, and gave it a few coats of matt varnish before I fix the hooks and hardware back on. I loves it I do!!!!
Excellent job Rob !! thats a cracking looking zonk now . then comes the painful bit casting it out & losing the begger , still you got all winter to love it up together ..:lol:
That looks the mutts Rob. Brilliant job. Going out and getting mullered so the stripes have just the right of shake was inspired! Do they do it like that in Japland:?:
That is the biggest Zonk I have ever seen, 4ft at least, no wonder you have to keep it in your garden Rob...and you really do live in Coronation Street eh
Actually Rob, that looks very good indeed and when you do catch on it it will be all the more satisfying. Top plug renovating!
