matching the minnows

If your a long time reader of my blog you know I can rattle on ad nauseam  about the complicated food chain in our local rivers. And that one of the best resources for finding out about what's actually down there is the EPA studies done on virtually every stream in Ohio. The best place to find all this cool stuff is at http://www.epa.ohio.gov/dsw/document_index/psdindx.aspx. Under the appendices to each study it will list every species collected. Usually each river is sampled at four or five intervals over it's entire length.
On my favorite streams, the LMR and the GMR, there are at least a dozen different darter species. Plus five or six madtom species and mottled sculpins. In some places these little guys can make up over a quarter of all the total fish collected. In other words a major source of food for smallmouth bass. The majority of these little guys live in, around and under the rocks in riffles and runs. They use large prominent pectoral fins to help hold their position in this swift water.
My two favorite lures for imitating these guys have the last few years been the Jewel Sculpin and a three inch plastic grub. The Jewel Sculpin  has these prominent pectoral fins while the three inch grub has that beautiful curly tail which attracts everything that swims and smallmouth in particular. So why not combine the best of both worlds?
After reading in the tackle making threads on www.ohiogamefishing.com about creating molds out of plaster of paris for soft plastics I decided to try and make my own. The process is pretty much self explanatory but here is the link if you want to read more about it. I painted my mold with two part epoxy when done and sprayed it with cooking spray right before pouring in melted plastic from some old baits and the finished lure just about fell out of the mold. A little trimming of the roughest edges with some scissors and I should have a swell bait. Just another reason I can't hardly wait for spring to get here...