I catch most of my fish on hybrid soft plastics: parts of different lures melted together end-to-end. It's an obsession to see how many different combinations do well consistently and then make duplicates. Most outings from spring until recently have produced nice numbers and some trophy fish. I can't wait to catch fish on new designs plus getting to know more of what fish bite!

The French Fry soft plastic stick may not be used by many bass anglers but for my money, segments cut from it produce lures fish strike better than many round body plastics. Here's an example:

The lure is flat on all sides and segmented for texture and the way light is reflected off it. I can attach many different tails. For example: curl tail, flat thin tail, forked fin tail, cone tail, spike tail, round thin taper tail. Each combination has a different action even when using the same slow retrieve with pauses and rod tip twitches.
Here are photos of different combinations and fish caught on them:

Clear plastic round tail added to Fr Fry segment:


Two clear plastic tails for wacky rigging:


Flat thin tail:



Curl tail:


Slugo tail (spike):


Crappie Magnet grub tail:


Joker grub tail:


Tail from a Mann's Shadow lure:


For me, the flat segmented body with various tails added make for some great lures and catch fish like crazy when fish are found. Last week I caught 65 fish in one day on many of the lures shown above.

Excellent work Sam. You did a nice job on all of them. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Don.

In the last month I fished a lake that I hadn't for 8 years even though I used to bass fish there more than any other water. Too many hybrid grass carp added to the lake killed the habitat for a while, but now the lake is coming back though slowly. Considering the undersized fish in general, it's still fun to catch bass, panfish and pickerel. As you've seen after reading my posts Don, I like fooling around with soft plastics and asking questions about why fish strike lures and which designs excel for those reasons.

The water temperature yesterday was 55 degrees but the strikes were only a light tick or two felt up the line with braid helping to detect them. So cool when fish strike more than a few times on the same retrieve or again on the next one if the hook set missed. The light strike was the same for all species except this pickerel:


questions asked and answered: can small plastic sticks do well? Do they need to be colored? The answers were quick in coming:


Do mini-sticks catch as many fish as other shapes? answer: see for yourself:
A bass that weighed three pounds (note the white stick stuck to its lip:

panfish:


Will curl tail grubs do as well as other shapes? answer: though it did catch fish, I didn't do as well and has everything to do with lure presentation - by - design.


Other tail design that did well attached to French Fry stick segment:


Dark rain clouds coming my way got me off the lake. But hey, 65 fish in two consecutive outings is a great way to spend time on a fall day.

Way to go bud. Those were two nice days.
What are the two best plastics to go on the Beetle Spin for Bass that you build? I have thrown almost every store bought ones out there; but believe you can do me better.
- Looking for a grub with a small sickle tail. Like the small tail on the old jelly worms.
- Looking for a grub with a small single Horney Toad tail. Not quite as big as a Horney toad tail. Probably could hand cut the pattern out of a grub tail.

Again, thanks Don.
Straight, thin-tail grubs rule when it comes to the B.Spin ! The blade causes a tail flutter similar to a flag stuck to a car antenna. Fish try to clobber it! Any color. This design is the Mojo Grub which is 2" long.



A Slider Worm did well due to its tail wag/ still a straight lure:


Next one I'm going to try is the Joker tail added to the French Fry worm segment pictured:


The original I'm sure still catches fish but I can't find a mold for the lure and Crappie Magnet grubs are too small:


FrankM

Does the silver blade work better for you than the gold?

It probably doesn't matter but my gut tells me either silver or a pearl finish does well and has. Silver has the brightest flash; pearl a muted flash. Zero proof that my selection is better than using a gold blade. I guess when something catches fish there's little or no reason to change much less reason why.

FrankM

(BTW, I have to steal the wife's pearl color nail polish and make sure it goes back to where I found it.)

[quote=Donald Harper]
What are the two best plastics to go on the Beetle Spin for Bass that you build?

After trying different tail designs, I'd have to say most work and especially thin straight tails and curl tails. The original forked tail not as good.

Is this the Thin Straight Tail? If so can I get any of them?

Yes Don, that and the others shown above. I pour (inject) into an aluminum mold.
I can send you some in an envelope. n/c seeing as how supportive you've been of my posts.
(Ranch Rd.?) (colors?) (Spike-It dye is used when I don't want too many of one color - like the one shown below.)

The one shown in your reply was melted together to a Fr.Fry segment.
This one is right from the mold:

That will work.
5808 Ranch Rd.
Justin, TX. 76247

I'll rig some on jigs with grub-grip wire; Fr. Fry segment/hybrids and some unchanged right from the mold.

Ready to go out Mon.
I poured these this afternoon:


Work best using light jigheads and small-diameter line (6lb test braid).

Don, did you get the lures I sent you? If so, did you catch any fish with them?