TUNING BARRA LURES (HBs & Plastics)

[NAGG]

After spending the last hour or so playing with a couple of lures in the laundry sink ::) It got me thinking - Aside from the necessary upgrading of split rings , trebles & jig heads...... Is this overkill & how many of us do it ?

- does your missus give you a strange look when you start chucking lures in the bath tub :-[ .

Or do most of us just pull the lure out of the box/pkt & chuck it !

It might be the chance to share some favourite or necessary upgrade recipes ...... What hooks & rings work with what lure
Do we use lead or sticky weight ....... or add buoyancy :)

Are there lures that just turn to crap .... when an upgrade is carried out:(

Do we strive to make our HBs suspend ?

Or what ever :P

Over to you

Chris

[Jeremy87]

From my recent trip up north i learned two important pieces of information.

-Firstly I sighted alot of fish and witnessed alot of strikes (well over a hundred from barra of various sizes) and the one thing thats stood out in my memory was that barra like eating things above their heads. That is, a barra would rather swim down beneath the lure and then rise back underneath it than strike something beneath it.

-Second in practice st66's are the best hook. Yes i now i'm sure alot of people will say I could have told you that but i wanted to test this out for myself. this was because alot of snapper fisherman will tell you that you are better off using a fine gauge hook and getting better penetration than a heavy and making a big hole that tares more easily etc. Well i wanted to test this out for barra. Well in summary an st36 will get opened up more often than not by a 45cm fish. Decoy trebles are rubbish, they are made from a very pliable steel and bend much easier than owners. 3x vmcs are ok for smaller lures. The top performers were st56's, 6x vmcs and wait for it st66's.

So how does this relate to your question? well firstly a barra hardbody that sinks is not going to be very useful to pause with. And secondly when chasing small barra with small lures you also need to upgrade your trebles. If 66's sink the lures downsize to a 56. When using bass sized lures again your regular trebles are not going to cut it. The strongest small trebles (#6 and smaller) i came accross where owner st41's. In addition by putting too heavy a treble on and making the lure sink will often throw the balance of the lure, making it swim poorly and making its arse sink on the pause. Also alot of lures advertised to suspend are ment to do this in salt water, so will sink in fresh. Upgrading to heavier trebles is only going to make things wose. If you wish to suspend a lure you are better off buying something that floats in the fresh and adding weight until it is neutral. Personally i prefer a lure which at least to some degree floats. Apart from making it easier to keep these lures in the strike zone (ie in a snag, alternatively a neutral lure is going to sit at the right depth better) it also means that while snag bashing you can float over an unseen obsticle etc.

Anyway as for is it normal to muck around with lure instead of just using them out of the box, i would say yes. Most barra lures out of the box do not have adequate hardware. I would not personally swim a lure for decent sized barra without them having atleast 6x vmc's

[darylive]

Few of the shelf Barra lures have the necessary hardware attached. As you know Nagg I raised this previously regards up grades but that was some time ago and a contemporary thread is in order. I am inclined to agree with Jerry I like some thing that has a slight flotation for the reason stated but not a cork that won't sit for a time in the zone.

[leelee]

Chris remember I gave you a good example of how barra feed in a tank?

They pivot on an axis and tend to rise up from siting at a 3 o'clock angle and end up facing normally a 1 o'clock angle. So either a slow riser or suspending or surface lure will most likely get a better reaction to that of a sinker. I have played around with lots of other lures for other species so fine tuning a lure can give great results.

I know of a few saltwater pelagic that react the same way to the same lures but under different conditions.

Personally I think the location of the eyes on the barra's head does not really enable them to swim down after a lure, as they cannot keep it within their eyesight.

Dunno if this is correct but hey I sounds good to me

Cheers

Lee

[Hardb8]

For years now I have been obsessed with making sure my hardb8's trebles are applied so they run off axis......My logic keeps telling me that six different angles of hook point must be better than three.

The variables involved to tell weather off axis hook arrangements actually increase hookup percentage are mind blowing.And it would be almost impossible to prove if it really is benificial.:-/

It's a confidence thing for me to arm my lures in this way.I cast out my lure knowing I've done everything in my power to increase my chances of turning an inquiry,Into a connection....;)

Cheers. B8.:)

[NAGG]

Few of the shelf Barra lures have the necessary hardware attached. As you know Nagg I raised this previously regards up grades but that was some time ago and a contemporary thread is in order. I am inclined to agree with Jerry I like some thing that has a slight flotation for the reason stated but not a cork that won't sit for a time in the zone.

From memory .... The only lures that are available that have suitable (STN66 & owner rings) hardware out of the box are

* The Stiffy range
* Ecogear twitch baits

That makes the stiffys good value at around $14 ..... & they work 8-) Having said that ..... I usually add larger #1 or 1/ O hooks + a little lead to get them to suspend.

Chris

[NAGG]

For years now I have been obsessed with making sure my hardb8's trebles are applied so they run off axis......My logic keeps telling me that six different angles of hook point must be better than three.

The variables involved to tell weather off axis hook arrangements actually increase hookup percentage are mind blowing.And it would be almost impossible to prove if it really is benificial.:-/

It's a confidence thing for me to arm my lures in this way.I cast out my lure knowing I've done everything in my power to increase my chances of turning an inquiry,Into a connection....;)

Cheers. B8.:)

Hi B8 ..... do you achieve the off axis track by twisting the hook anchor points ?

Chris

[Peter4]

Kyle and I have spent many entire Saturday afternoons tuning barra lures when a Monduran trip is coming up. Very few of our favourites do what we want straight out of the box. His mum does think we are mad!

With barra classics we tend to remove the middle trebles, upgrade the front and back with ST66s and then add sticky weight to get the desired suspend or slow rise. Our ridgeback torpedo and scuds require similar treatment. F18s, B52s and Arafura barras become slow risers/suspenders with upgraded trebles and double split rings only. I hate stiffies as each one is completely different out of the box - some float, some suspend but most sink....

The trick, though, is exactly where to put the sticky weight so that a lure suspends naturally (horizontally) and the sticky weight does not interfere with the lure's action or get tangled in the trebles (especially when a lot is required).

A lot of fiddling with different sized ST66 trebles is also needed to once again ensure the action isn't adversely affected. We use 1/0, #1 and #2 sizes depending on the lure being upgraded. eotbmg (Ben) put us onto a good combo to make B52s suspend but I can't remember offhand - I will look at one tonight...

Xraps (SXR12s) tend to be a problem as they become slow sinking lures as soon as you upgrade the trebles. What do you use to add buoyancy?

With slickrigs we now boil them in hot water before use them and we always upgrade the jigheads to saltwater pros with owner hooks but these seem to be getting quite scarce. We also trim the lead weight with pincers if the sink rate seems too great. S -factor is always added and seems to help. Tried Eric's hole punch in the tail section theory but weren't happy with the outcome we achieved.

With hollowbelly type plastics we use only the Matt Fraser jigheads without any modification...

Regs

Pete

[Big_Ren]

Does your missus give you a strange look when you start chucking lures in the bath tub :-[ .


She hates it Chris because they usually get caught up in delicate parts (particularly hard bodies):o The other down side is I can't see the lure working for all the bubble bath solution. That said though, I am now an expert at hooking rubber duckies.

Seriously though, it's a good question you pose mate.

All of my lures (HBs and SPs) get "the treatment" at some point in time.

Most of my three treble HBs get their belly treb removed so that I can upgrade the back and front trebs without too much of a weight difference from the original. That might answer one of Jeremy's questions. This does not apply to a HB with two sets of trebs. They are not removed but they are upgraded.

Lee also makes a good point about the position of a barra's eyes, not quite as on top as a cod's but up there. Having studied my pet barra for years, it's interesting how they do use the position of their eyes to determine the optimum attack angle....many times slightly behind and below.....what in trotting parlance is known as the death seat....one out and one back8-)


Depending on the profile and size of the HB, it will get new ST66s (I only use ST66s as have had a few VMCs resemble an L shape instead of a J after a tangle with a barra);)

I am a little all over the shop here but the other reason I remove the belly trebles is to reduce (but not entirely eliminate) the possibility of multiple trebles finding their mark and creating a fulcrum effect. The jaw leverage and pressure that can be exerted by a powerful fish hooked in both jaws for example has been well documented on here in the past.

Pete, in terms of Ben's B52 tweaking....I am trying to remember but think he has a 1/0 on one end and a #2 on the other. I also like to mix up the treble sizes on the one lure in some cases and the desired balance/buoyancy can be tempered through tungsten weight, either on the belly or around the base of the front treb.

Some lures get double ringed with upgraded splits (usually Halco 4X fish rings), other rings are just replaced with single ring upgrades. The jury is still out for me on whether the towing split ring on the bibs of some HBs is entirely removed, upgraded, or left alone. I tend to favour removing it, particularly if you are using a loop knot as your connection anyway.

In terms of SP upgrades (and I saw Daryl has another thread running on this), I am experimenting with a range of mods, depending on the lure....tail swaps between storm shads and hollowbellies, bozos and slickies. The storms I find do not swim as well with a new back half. Maybe their natural body roll doesn't suit too much tinkering. The Bozos go terribly with much of a mod probably because of their flat tail section.

I also take little nicks out of the tail, the hole punch gets used or I glue some plastic discs to the flats of the shad tails. All depends on my mood. Jig heads get trimmed mostly as well. And the pool is a great testing ground for HBs and SPs alike

Cheers
Paul

[eotbmg]

Boys in regards to the B 52, i put a 1/0 on the belly and a 1 or 2 on the tail. Just make sure [ as with all hb's] that they lay HORIZONTAL when at rest or floating or sinking.....Personally the best fish finding lure set up i can come up with...
Cheers
Ben

[NAGG]

I must say ..... I have a love hate relationship with Rapala X Raps (XR12)

Love ... because barra love em ( my most successful HB) ..... Great action & they cast well

Hate ... Because they are often a 1 fish lure before either being retired or need repairs

Getting them to suspend can be pretty easy (if it doesn't want to sit bum down ::) )

Here is one that I prepared earlier + an unaltered one 49026

Tail hook is replaced with a #2 STN66 & Hyperwire split (same size as original split)
Front hook is replaced with #1 STN66 & Hyperwire split (same size as original split)
Remove toe point split

Often this will do the trick ....... ( sometimes a strip of lead under the bib will
balance it out

[Big_Ren]

Thanks Chris....I know I only mentioned the Halco splits before. The Owners (Hyperwire #6?) are also a fave.

[NAGG]

Thanks Chris....I know I only mentioned the Halco splits before. The Owners (Hyperwire #6?) are also a fave.

Yeh Paul .... the hyperwires are very good ( close up after opening) ...... I cant remember the sizes ..... I think I use 4 or 5 different sizes :)

Chris

[BR65]

l

Do we strive to make our HBs suspend ?

Or what ever :P

Over to you

Chris


Current Sunday arvo past time, just me, the lure bag, a large tub of water (watch out if your tweaking moded lures in a salt water pool, total differant result), 5 minute araldite, lead core solder, various packs of splits and trebles, beer, and the footy on ABC.

[vinny78]

NAGG, Where do you find that lead tape stuff?

And just to add my two bob's worth;

My most used lure at the moment is a med sized Richo's Extractor modified to be juuust positively buoyant by double split ringing with #2 st66 owners.

On the otherhand and running close behind is a 90mm +3 Classic Barra with NO MODS. I'm afraid I'll spoil the subtle body roll as the lure rises during the pause. This I am certain is the main strike factor for this particular lure.

And last but not least- I find the Tilsan Barra to suspend well straight from the box.

AHHH, I love WOOD.

Cheers, Andrew

[Big_Ren]

Current Sunday arvo past time, just me, the lure bag, a large tub of water (watch out if your tweaking moded lures in a salt water pool, total differant result), 5 minute araldite, lead core solder, various packs of splits and trebles, beer, and the footy on ABC.


Time to put a TV point in the garage Brian and sack old Aunty.....visuals, beer, lure tuning, footy, good company, workshop/man space...does it get any better?8-)

Cheers
Paul

[NAGG]

NAGG, Where do you find that lead tape stuff?

And just to add my two bob's worth;

My most used lure at the moment is a med sized Richo's Extractor modified to be juuust positively buoyant by double split ringing with #2 st66 owners.

On the otherhand and running close behind is a 90mm +3 Classic Barra with NO MODS. I'm afraid I'll spoil the subtle body roll as the lure rises during the pause. This I am certain is the main strike factor for this particular lure.

And last but not least- I find the Tilsan Barra to suspend well straight from the box.

AHHH, I love WOOD.

Cheers, Andrew

Hi Andrew

I used to get the lead tape from golf pro shops ( used to balance clubs) but now Storm have both dots & strip available ....... F@xy has them ($13) - good stuff

chris

[NAGG]

THE WEEDLESS HOLLOWBELLY ..... well not quite but certainly a 50% improvement in fishability The bend in the shank still catches weed

49045

Basically all I do is bend & twist 40lb mono wire around a backbone jig head ...... best to go through the eve of the jig head ....... the wire is whipped onto the jig head using dental floss (when glued on there is no dramas)
You can also use this on subsurface frogs.:)

I've found the longer guard is a little more effective than the stiffer short one .

Its only something that I started to play with this year ..... but have only used it a few times (a couple of fish were caught in March) ...... As things warm up around the Muster they will be given a good run.:P

Chris