First attempt at a mackeral pattern

[surfstix1963]

Came out ok for the first time needs some fine tuning though.

[DarkSkies]

Not bad Surfstix.
Not much fine tuning needed IMO. The only thing I might consider changing is point the hook upward, unless there's a certain reason you set it up like in the pic.

It comes pretty close to the real thing if ya ask me.

[surfstix1963]

I kept the hook down because I would have had to try and fish the barb through 3 layers of mylar tubing and keep it straight in line and because I used a VMC I wanted to keep as mach hook gap open as possible because of the short shank on the VMC's theres not much biting room left.I still need to play around w/ it some and see what comes of it.The top hook is a 6/0 E/C and the bottom a 6/0 VMC the difference I was talking about is from the hook point to the bottom of the eye the VMC is only about 1/4" of hook shank where as the E/C has a little over an inch of shank naturally the gap is larger on the VMC although they are the same size because of it's more U shaped gap,but much less shank for the fish to get his mouth over I personally don't like VMC's on pencil poppers because of the short shank and the nature of the fish biting short on those plugs anyway just decreases the hook up rate more the way I see it if this makes any sense.Your basically relying on the wider gap to hook the fish and then you would need a bigger VMC than a standard J hook on some plugs that may throw it out of balance.

[finchaser]

Very nice beautiful work.
Can you do a clam pattern I'd like to buy Dark a gift

[DarkSkies]

You grouchy SOB!
While you're at it you might ask him if he's willing to make a swan pattern as well!

[surfstix1963]

This is probably a better pic of the differences in hook shanks I didn't realize at first I buried the hook points Duh!! If you just run your mouse pointer from the hook point vertically to the shank you will see the difference in lengths.So if a fish grabs that VMC w/ a good bite he may end up with the hole hook in his mouth and the point may not penetrate causing you to lose the fish, these hooks don't spin like a short shank circle hook.I think I have too much time on my hands I'm thinking way too much.

[finchaser]

I like the 34007 forged stainless for all that work they don't rust or bend. I have had wide gap straightened on more than 1 occasion and stopped using them. I also am not fond of the short shank especially when blues are around just my.02. again great job.

[surfstix1963]

I never did clams but hey for Rich I gave it a shot LMAO!!! Oh crap I chipped the shell.

[surfstix1963]

I don't do swan patterns.

[fishinmission78]

Funny stuff guys. And surfstic1963 that's a nice mackeral pattern.