I really enjoyed talking about the movie A River Runs Through It in a recent podcast... In the movie, it showed how the brother was able to break free from his father's instruction and form his own way of fishing, called shadow casting...

I think this goes for any sport in general, doing something different than the status quo, actually breaking free from instruction to raise the bar... Us Americans were taught by Canadians that the best way to play hockey is to dump the puck, then came along another form of art called cycling the puck by the Russians... Even though this was said to be wrong by someone like Legend Don Cherry and he said quote "the Red Wings would never win the cup" having 5 Russians on their starting lineup, safe to say he ate those words. It didn't take a genius to think one would go all the way to the cup if they drafted a bunch of solid players from Russia, considering they beat us in the Olympics for almost a decade and it took a "Miracle" to put together an American team to beat them.

There's always a different way to play a sport, perform a hobby, even modify things to make you a better artist at your hobby. Take it from Eddie Van Halen, man who was disclexic and couldn't afford a top notch guitar, so he made his own guitar, bought his own bootleg Fender necks and body, took parts of an old guitar, and formed what he called the Frankenstrat to make his own unique sound, after listening to Ain't Talking about Love guitar rift, I have to agree very unique!  What if we could make a unique sound to a fishing lure?  Like a bait that already works really well like the tube bait on Lake St. Clair and make it even better?

After making my own custom spinnerbait because I didn't like that fact that the heaviest spinnerbait on the market weighed only 2 ounces, then also finding musky lure that no one else uses on St. Clair like the Magnum Squarebill Crankbait... I wanted to find a custom modified lure to try this spring for bass. I also haven't been using the unique Suissex Shad Spin Blade over the last couple of years like I wanted to, even though I had quite success with it in pre-spring, I'll definitely be using the Shad Spin blade this spring. But, I wanted to find something that would be very innovative, take something that's already deadly on bronzebacks and combined it with something else that's already been working well at Lake St. Clair. After I seen Randy Blaukat's video titled "the secret is out!" I go man, what a great idea... Take a chatterbait that is so super deadly, then combine it with basically one of the most deadliest lures at Lake St. Clair, called the tube bait...

Randy's way to rig the chatterbait tube is great and all, but I prefer Matt Stefan's version a lot better since it keeps most of the profile of the tube original. I'm still trying to find a way to keep all the tube original by just using a horizontal eye jig head, add in a split ring, then use any type of chatterbait blade you want...

What's mega cool is, my first bass this year was caught on my custom chatterbait tube within the first half hour of being out fishing... After experiencing that, I knew I had stumbled across something that could be deadly on smallmouth, especially when lately they've had lockjaw seeing how unstable the weather conditions have been in southeastern Michigan lately.

Some of my subscribers seem very interested in this fishing hack, I think some are even a little skeptic too if this combo works... There's nothing wrong with that, but considering that every fishing company on the market has come out with their own chatterbait, even the Googans, why wouldn't it work. I've already posted comments from some of the smallmouth bass social media groups of some anglers getting angry that they're pissed this hack is now known due to social media, as well as others saying the combo was deadly, not to mention Matt Stefan and Randy Blaukat using the chatterbait tube in tournaments. I'd say it definitely works after just reading the feedback on social media, so it's definitely worth a try just for that reason, wouldn't you say?

As I told this YouTuber down below, what got me hooked on modifying my baits and convincing me they can be even deadlier than traditional baits, such as the "original chatterbait" or "original mepps" spinner, was after I put a hurting on a good friend of mine that usually beats me bass fishing just about every fishing expedition as a kid. Back in the day, I decided to take a traditional Mepps spinner, that has a standard treble hook and blade, add in a single hook, then slide on a Powerbait worm, which not only adds in more color with sight, but also texture, taste, and even smell. In a similar way, I mean what if you could add in flash and vibration to a tube bait, that normally doesn't have any flash(sight) or vibrating(sound) to it...  After that day of beating a friend that usually outfishes me because his better fishing skills, it taught me even though someone might be better at fishing than you, customizing your own fishing bait can help get you that edge against someone!!! And that's why I also say find your own rhythm, concentrate on yourself, ignore the background chatter, rather than worrying about catching up to others with your own fishing skills or even having the best fish finder onboard your boat(keeping up with the Joneses)... Move at your own pace, try learning yourself what the best spots at your lake, try different lures no one else uses, trying modding your own lures... You may discover a lure that no one else has used before and becomes deadly, hell, you also might be able to go into business yourself like Jon Bondy. I've heard a few stories about Bondy, that he started off as a bass pro, even though he didn't make it to the top, I think he discovered he could be successful in the industry by another means... That even meant changing species and fishing for musky a non-traditional way such as vertical jig fishing, as well as developing his own vertical fishing lure dubbed the Bondy Bait.

Whatever you want to call this form of artistry in today's world, some millenials are now calling it fishing hacks, some still call it mods, some are still just old school and call it customizing, whatever it may be, remember it works with every hobby or sport in life... I think it's quite obvious I'm into the hobby/sport of muscle cars and drag racing. Years ago, I saw this signature by one of our popular natives here from Michigan on automobiles, you know what he said in one his autographs to a fan, he said "never keep'em stock!" - Tim Allen