Have a lot of time on my hands, so looking for things to do. Here are a few I would like to share. Would like to hear back any projects that might be helpful to other fishing enthusiasts that any of you might be willing to part with.

Drop Shot Sinker Painting....Here is a way to save some money & improve your drop shot sinkers. I recently decided to change from the "cinch" sinkers to the "ring" sinkers. Was losing a high percentage of the cinch version weights, especially on larger fish. So, I ordered a 25 pack of the cheapest ones I could find (around $5). When they arrived they were as expected...full of holes, voids in the lead, and shiny silver color. I like black for my drop shot weights, so bought some metal paint & painted them. It fills in the voids/holes, and gives them the dark color I prefer. All you have to do is get some paper clips & uncurl them...then simply put the weight on one end & dip them in the paint up to the top of the lead. Do not paint the eye. Then hang them up to dry.


Rod Repair...I played around with repairing a rod I broke in half last year. It is the lightest action rod I own & knew it would be tricky. First, I tried putting a dowell inside the tubular blank & fitting it together...did not work...the rod blank just started splitting when any pressure was applied. So decided that whatever I used would need to be on the OUTSIDE of the rod blank. So, I took an old Ugly Styk bass rod and started carving it up. Finally got an area that fit pretty snug & used super glue as the adhesive. You can use a hacksaw to cut up your old rod, and remember to sand down both ends before inserting in the tube piece. I also put some marine varnish over the ends when done.


Pre Rigging Drop Shot set-ups...I absolutely hate to re-tie hooks & sinkers while on the water. The drop shot set-up I use requires 3 ties...the sinker...the hook (sinker side) & the hook (reel side) So pre rigging at home saves a lot of fishing time on the water. One key to success, in not letting all your pre rigs get tangled up in the box, or you have defeated the time saving purpose. So, all you need to do is cut out a piece of cardboard, Styrofoam, or ant other material to just shorter than the length of your rig...cut little slits in one end for the sinker side line to go thru & embed the hook in the other end.

Hope this helps, and looking forward to any suggestions/ideas to kill the time until we can get back on the water...

A tackle factory at it's best! Great job Vogey!

Awesome post Steve! Great way to spend the Quarantine. However I feel that you would much rather be on Fayette!




Side Note: The next thing you might start doing is start making some homemade lures or jigs.

Looking GOOOOOD!