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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | This might be a dumb question but I have to ask. Say the tail gets ripped off you Bulldawg by a little pike or something. Will it float? Only reason I ask is I know that all rubber lures can be torn and there are lots of pike where I fish. Has anyone had a tail ripped off and waited for it to surface, grabbed it and reattached? I had a crankbait break off once and was able to recover it by circling back after it floated free (submerged hydo cable, dont' ask haha). I have no problem with a good fish messing up a bait, but having one written off by a small fish would suck, especially if I couldn't get the piece back. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | I've only recovered one once when it was ripped off right next to the boat. I would suggest picking up some replacement tails from Andy, ShackAttack Lures. It's worth having a couple extra around. |
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| i keep some spare tails in the boat in case one is lost/destroyed.
trim to the right length, melt it on, and you're back in business.
http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/products.php/keys/shack/page/...
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | I feel like a knob rehashing all this Bulldawg stuff, I've read reams of great stuff through the Search feature lately, really trying to get these baits goin in my boat this. The tails can be melted back on, I've read about it, that's good to know. Have any of you guys ever lopped off an entire tail, right at the base, and 'grafted' it to another bait for a new colour combo? Small piezo or butane torches are pretty popular from what I've read. Thanks for going over all this stuff again guys. I can see it now, first hour with Pounder and 26 inch pike takes the tail, good to know there are options. How do the Shack tails differ, if at all? It's not just Dawgs I'm looking to use, I should point that out. Got a few Sues, Suckers and SuperD's too. They all look nasty. Our Bass Pro here in Toronto sells the D's, they're a nice bait too, was there just last night. If all goes according to plan I will hopefully need to surgically repair a bait or two this season, like I said I have no probelm at all with a bait getting banged up while taking a big fish. |
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| If your tail is gone, get a new one.
What happens when your batteries are dead in your camera? Get new ones.
What happens when your shoes fall apart? Get new ones
What happens when you need a new coat? Get a new one
If something breaks, get a new one. |
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| jbush, yes you can do that easily...cuttting them off at the base and melting it to another dawg...also works great with twin fins..hate the twin fin tails but a mag dawg tail on there is a lure that sinks faster and deeper for that application...
use a small torch and they melt together nicely...
the tails do float also |
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Posts: 1237
Location: South Portsmouth, KY | yeah it floats cause i have recovered about 5 in 2 days this week along with a harness breaking on a fish. they just dont make them like they used to. |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Thanks bn, that's a great idea..swap out a tail from a totally different bait for a different deal altogether. I figure I might have a bit of shot recovereing a brighly coloured tail, then. Justin, fish are nipping the tail off, or they're getting detached during the fight or once the fish goes nuts in the net? Thanks buddy. Guest that's a good position in theory, it just doesn't do me a whole lot of good when I'm 40 miles out on Georgian Bay, down the French River or somewhere else, three hours by boat+truck from a store or the internet. Point of my thread was patching up a bait while fishing. There are three places in S. Ontario where I can walk into a store and buy a replacement. The closest one is 30 miles from my house and has a crappy selection. I think I'll try to repair them first. I don't toss camera batteries, they be rechargable. Use more than once.
Edited by JBush 5/29/2009 12:20 PM
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Posts: 335
Location: Minnesota | I bought replacement tails from Thorne Bros. this winter. They came 3 tails to a pack and there are a few different colors to choose from so you can customize anything you want. |
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Posts: 8785
| just spray it with some "pike-off" before you fish with it and you won't have to worry about the tail getting bit off by anything other than a muskie... |
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Posts: 1039
Location: North St. Paul, MN | I had the opposite experience that muskie_man had. I had a little musky miss the bait except for the tail, zipped the tail right off, and I watched it helicopter down to the depths until it was out of sight! That was a while back on an original dawg...bummer because it was my first! |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Ea, I'll be lookin for pike on these babies too! What I need is 'Pike Under 38 Inches Off!' Great tip re: Thornes and the extra tails too, had great luck dealing with these guys over the years. |
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Posts: 1887
Location: syracuse indiana | on the origianl seven strand dawgs they will not float.. and that plastic was the good stuff before the went to making them bad.. but now they are better again from what i have been hearing.. way to go M.I...bill |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | Just give me one more month and I will have 6 packs (6 different colors per pack) of regular, Mag and Mega tails for sale. I think they will be $8.99, $9.99 and $10.99 per 6 pack. Yellow, Orange, Red, Green White, Black All made from BASF plastisol and slightly harder than my current Generation II SuperDs out right now. |
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | Awww... James. You didn't say my favorite color - brown! |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | A butter knife and butane torch is rubber fisherman's best friend! I patched a ton of dawg over the years with those two. I did just what you were asking JBush in changing the tail on existing dawgs. My best dawg, Frankenstein, got a tail-graph from another dawg that just didn't seem to produce. I took an orange, faded out tail off of a motoroil/orange dawg and put on a black dawg.
While I am hearing a battery soldering iron is the way to go now, I got by very well with the butter knife. What I did was make a clean cut on the dawg, and a clean cut on the tail I was going to attach. Critical to get them to attach well. I usually used a razor blade, or buck knife if in the boat. Then I placed the two almost together. Just enough room to get the butter knife between them. I layed them on a plano box so they were flat, and had a good working surface that melted rubber didn't stick to. I then heated the butter knife up with the butane torch. The hotter the better as it will give you more time to work with the knife before having to reheat. I then slid the very hot knife between the tail and body, and slid the two together. Once they touched the wo melted ends would fuse, but I didn't stop there. I then took the hot knife and layed the flat side of the knife onto the flat side of the tail/body connection. This would melt more rubber and I could move the knife around a bit. By doing this my seam would end up being sealed even more to the point of not being able to see where the two were joined. I would let cool a few seconds, flip the dawg and tail over, and repeat the process of applying the hot butter knife (flat side down) to the seam and surrounding area. Worked great!
I got sick of cutting tails off of dawgs that didn't produce as much as others so I created a mold for my own tails. Pretty easy to do with Plaster of Paris. If you are going to fish dawgs I suggest making your own tail mold.
Good luck! |
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Posts: 1237
Location: South Portsmouth, KY | Tackle Industries - 5/29/2009 7:13 PM
Just give me one more month and I will have 6 packs (6 different colors per pack) of regular, Mag and Mega tails for sale. I think they will be $8.99, $9.99 and $10.99 per 6 pack. Yellow, Orange, Red, Green White, Black All made from BASF plastisol and slightly harder than my current Generation II SuperDs out right now.
Make some glow tails to!! |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Man, talk about Dawg 101, more great info. Thanks guys. |
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Posts: 1887
Location: syracuse indiana | yea i use a torch and knife or blade too.. thats the best way.. and james i still say your stuff is the bomb.. i dont by M.I stuff anymore.. just yours.. they can take a beating and still cast....bill |
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Posts: 135
| Travis I've got to say that your idea of molding your own tails is a dang-good'n. I've recently seen Larry Dahlberg talking about various molding products and techniques so I've been thinking along those lines recently anyway. His website has a selection of various mold making supplies as well as rubber and colorant.
James, I'd love to see some 6 packs of tails for your baits, various colors. Even though your baits are quite a bit more durable than last generation dawgs, I still lose alot of tails. Now that you've solved the harness problem and the problem of the head ripping away from the lead, seems the tail is the only weak link and I'm not sure how it won't always be. I've wondered before about reinforcing them with net material or something, but I've never tried it. Seems that it'd possibly squelch some of that naughty tail action. Probably won't get to it till Winter, but I'll be pouring myself some tails before it's over. |
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Posts: 999
| I use a battery operated caurterizer from the medical field. I have a aunt who was able to get me a "free sample" basically you just pop off the cover and stick the metal wire probe where needed and hit the button. It immediately goes red hot and fuses the rubber back together like new. I am going to have to ask her for more since this one works so well!
Mr Musky |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Guys doesn't the rubber stick to the objects you're heating up, like the knife blade or tip of the heating device? |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | Can't wait for tails from TACKLE BOOTY !!!!!
I use MEND - IT takes a litle longer to setup but no burn marks and when it done setting up it is stronger then new!!!!
Edited by PIKEMASTER 5/30/2009 7:05 AM
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Posts: 1059
Location: Medford, WI | What Travis said above.
-Jake Bucki |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Yeh you will get rubber on the knife blade, but no big deal. If it starts to build up too much (usually charcoal buildup from burnt rubber) I just take my buck knife and scrape the old rubber off the butter knife.
If you are worried about tail replacement just check out the Hardheads from H2O Tackle. The reason I don't fish dawgs anymore as I can now just screw on a new tail, or a tail of a different color.
http://www.h2otackle.com/hardhead.shtml
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Posts: 169
Location: Houlton, WI | you can buy a replacement tail or if you still have the tail melt it back on to the body
Edited by mnmusky101 5/30/2009 10:07 PM
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Posts: 614
Location: Michigan | Can also cut off and save the tails of old dawgs that cant be fished anymore and use those when needed.
Edited by jasonvkop 5/30/2009 10:12 PM
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| Tyrant Tackle also has replacement tails available that can be used to repair your bulldawgs. The have 8 colors to choose from. www.tyrantinc.com |
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Posts: 425
| This is a good, helpful video!
http://mattjohnsonoutdoors.com/media/FixingPlastics.wmv
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Thats a great video. Looks like having more than one repair option is the way to go..one for baits you want to get back to fishin right away vs. other solutions used when you have more time, on shore. I'll need the repair tools+knowledge if I'm going to fish these lures, there's no two ways about it. I grabbed a little butane torch on Saturday.
Don't the heat techniques leave hard spots just like glue does? Having the black burnt spots kinda sucks too (50% of my dawgs are white lol, best colour for any bait where I fish). Nobody worries about the fumes from the melted plastic? Buddy in the video (great video) was right in there with the camera. How toxic is this material? Out in the boat it won't be an issue. Thanks guys.
Edited by JBush 5/31/2009 4:49 PM
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