What makes a good seawitch?

[POON MAN]

Marty hooked me up with all the right stuff to make these and I am embarrassed to say I have not touched them??? I have not had time to even go fishing this season GRRRRRRRRRRRR,,never mind learn to tie witches

I will gladly Sponsor the VID

[JMS-ILM]

As for the plastic bag, what is wrong if they are laid flat in the bottom of a gallon size zip lock.

nothing is wrong.....if you like pulling kinky witches. hang them all going the same direction on a length of monel, mono, wire, etc.

as for the green heads.....i think it is a contrast thing....ie, it gives the fish something to key in on. almost like an eyespot. green seems to be a morehead city thing, but lots of guys use not only green, but orange, pink, and chartreuse heads on their blue/white witches.

[birdhunter]

Okay so I spent the night tying some pretty witches so I thought that I would se how the ones looked in my bag. All I can say is you were right! The hair is clumped up and does not hang even like the new ones I tied do. This is a heart breaker becuase I have about fifty that I have tied over the past month. SO..... can they be reconditioned or are they junk? I hung about ten of them with the new ones I tied and tried to wet them and brush them out and they look better but not good. Lastly, how do you store your witches? I fish on someone elses boat as much as my own and that is why the bag worked well as it stayed in my tackel bag. It seems that the only way to keep them looking good while traveling is to store them in a tube like an illander. What you think?

[anthony]

Brad,

I tie a knot in a piece of mono and slide my witches onto the mono, end up in a real purty stack and the hair hangs perfectly. I am lucky in that I just keep a couple of strings of them (about 20 on a string) hanging from a clothes hanger in one of the hanging lockers on my boat.

[Finishing Touch]

What are your thoughts on head weight and style and who makes the best hair? As for the plastic bag, what is wrong if they are laid flat in the bottom of a gallon size zip lock. Lastly what is a good length for a medium bally rigged with an 8/0 hook?

A lot of good questions on this thread.

Head weight is going to be determined by the sea conditions. Skippy or a little deeper can make a big difference. I would say bullet heads. Any thing else and you will be pulling a lure. Sea witches are the most economical bait/lure you can get. Cut them shorter than what the hook point is. Hope you have the right color. Mylar helps.

JMS-ILM talked about "it gives the fish something to key in on. almost like an eyespot"

This great advise. I have Bass fished most of my life. Fish key in on an eyeball or what appears to be an eyeball. Illanders used to be called Hawaiian Eyes?

[brandon558]

birdhunter-

Most people have what works best for them. But like mentioned above just take a peice of wire or monel and slide them all on facing one direction, then bend the ends so they dont come off. You can just leave them like that or i have tubes like you would buy them in a store. I have 3 of the plano boxes with nothin but tubes of witches. yes the tubes take up more space but they dont get kinked and tangled. Either way works...

[birdhunter]

I am now on the hunt for some clear tubes that are about is inch in dia. to store them in any ideas? If I can find some I will try to put together a new post on how to store witches.

[reel fishy]

JMS-ILM talked about "it gives the fish something to key in on. almost like an eyespot"

This great advise. I have Bass fished most of my life. Fish key in on an eyeball or what appears to be an eyeball. Illanders used to be called Hawaiian Eyes?

Don't tell that to kingfish, barracuda, wahoo and many other ram feeders. Most of the time they strike the motor first to disable its meal. I do believe the more real a bait looks the more likely it will get eaten. Before picking which color is better, I would decide which one creates a look like their natural forage fish.

Remember the fish came to your boat first out of curiosity, I don't think your hull looked like dinner or your engine sounded like a dieing baitfish. At first fish have no idea your boat is dragging around dinner. Now they see something that kind of looks like dinner behind your boat. Example in human terms, if there is a filet mignon and a rice cake sitting side by side on a table in the middle of the woods and you are kind of hungry, which one would you eat first? If the fish sees a bait that looks like a flying fish and another that looks like a chunk of sea grass which do you think they will go to first.

I used to pull a lipstick video camera while trolling and got some great footage which was sold to a stock footage company. You would be surprised how many fish will come up and just look at your bait and you never see them. We did notice the lures that had colors which looked like mahi, yf tuna, and flying fish received the majority of strikes. I will tell you it took a lot of time to get the camera to troll right in front of the lure and not spin too often. We lost the rig to an oceanic white tip shark with a taste for video equipment.

[Hardcore Lures]

To tie a nice witch you need to start with a great witch head which I believe we now offer the ultimate one. I have designed a head that started out as a 1/2 oz head and then we machined out holes on the side of the head so that we could insert a 3D domed lure eye in the head. As was mentioned above by Brandon as something that most heads need we bored out the hole in the backside of the head so that the beak on a smaller hoo will slide in the head. This created a head that is about 1/3 of an ounce. I now offer these really trick heads in eight colors for .95 each. We also sell aluminium heads, hair, mylar, and even tubes to store your lures once you tie them. If you are interested please contact me (Kevin) from Hardcore Custom Offshore Lures at 321-693-0991. No minimums or BS just straight talk and no nonsense lures and componants.

[Karl]

Alot of the time people dont relize what colors to use when. The best information I ever received was color selection. Dido to little hair but it is crucial to have your colors right.

Green water - pinks , whites , your lighter colored baits.

Blue water - purple/black , black/blue , blue/white.

1/4 OUNZES IN THE LONGS AND 1/8 OUNZES IN THE SHORT.

Summer fishig blue and whites go along with the flying fish. Fall and winter your matching mackerals , green fish as my dad called em so thats you green and whites and squid wrapped witches. Spring fishing - if you cant catchem then you need to set back to port.