Testing a DIY Ultralight Sinking Pencil

I have been experimenting with DIY epoxy cast ultralight lures recently. The reason being is that the commercially available lures are soo expensive and because these lures are normally used with very light line, losing them because of fish is more frequent compared to other lures. If you do the math, it is twice more expensive than other styles of fishing. Besides, finding commercially available lures locally is a pain.

One of the designs that I have is a miniature anchovy. I wanted it to be as lifelike as possible. But because raw materials, like epoxy and hook hangers are limited, everything had to be sourced locally or made manually. The end product is not as pretty as I would have hoped.  One example is the epoxy that i initially used. It was so smelly and when hardened, it was still tacky to the touch and when you touch it, the details will flatten and eventually fade. Good thing that I eventually found a better brand, although more expensive. The other raw material that I still don't have are the 3D lure eyes, the hooks, and the split rings. Up to now, I am still waiting for my orders to arrive from overseas.

Anyway, I made one prototype lure using the new epoxy and some local hardware wires for the hanger and the weight. It looks crude as it doesn't have the 3d eyes and I was using old hooks and split rings. It's around 50mm in length and weighs approximately 3grams.

Yesterday was Pasig day and since our office is in Pasig, we have no work yesterday. What better way to celebrate Pasig day than to go fishing (in Subic. )😜

We left past 4am and arrived at the spot at around 6:30am. I tried my Jackson pygmy lures, a monsoon gusty lure, and some chinese lures but no takers. It was getting really frustrating when I remembered that I needed to test my DIY lure. I really wanted to know if it will cast right and swim right. Because I came late from work last night, I forgot to glue the eyes into the lure. A few casts later, I am pretty certain that it swims funny and casting was not really impressive. I decided to give it another cast before putting it away. While reeling it in, I was thinking about fixing the weight and balance then all of a sudden a swirl engulfed the lure. A few minutes later, i landed a nice queenie. There must be something in it that made it appealing to the fish, i thought. To test if it wasn't a fluke, I tried again. A few casts later, another fish was landed. Still unsure, I gave it another go. Not soon after it landed on the water, something enhaled the lure and swam straight to deeper water. It was a big queenfish. More than 2kg I think and it swallowed the lure, leader and all. 

Judging on how the prototype lure performed, I would say that it's worth pursuing to further improve it. I might add some more weight, and finally add the correct eyes and other details, so stay tuned.