Soft 4 Play

[Mully]

Hi all

About a year ago a local shop had a big clear out of Savage Gear Soft 4 Play Shads. Long story short a year on and I have never used them or bought the Lip Skull that they require. I recently hatched an idea and decided to use them without the skull cap and fit them with two number 4s in a line through method similar to the Line Through trout that Savage Gear make. Is it me being daft or do you think it will work? I have created a stinger at the back out of welding wire

IMG_4115.JPG

[Steve Dennington]

Give it a go, it might be okay. The only issue might be swimming on its side due to the lack of keel weight that the wire harness provides, but the pike won't care much anyway, they'll still have it

[Andrew]

Didnt they do singles for them sure i have one or two in my box

[Mully]

Good point totally forgot about the weight aspect. Im sure a hungry jack will have a go on the local canal haha

[Andrew]

Grub/jig hooks

[Steve Dennington]

Didnt they do singles for them sure i have one or two in my box

SG did sell weedless hooks for them, which are awesome if you want to avoid the tedious task of playing and unhooking fish

[Slug]

Didnt they do singles for them sure i have one or two in my box

SG did sell weedless hooks for them, which are awesome if you want to avoid the tedious task of playing and unhooking fish

very true!

[Andrew]

Didnt they do singles for them sure i have one or two in my box

SG did sell weedless hooks for them, which are awesome if you want to avoid the tedious task of playing and unhooking fish

[Mully]

Suppose a decent size jig head would work. Thanks for the replies lads

[Phil Blakey]

I fished mine mostly on a wire frame; i tried the 19cm soft 4play with 2 small treble hooks and they were ok, i also tried a them with a larger single treble, they were ok too.

The soft 4play weedless single hook i never tried with the soft 4play, but recently i've used them with the SG crayfish, i slice the lure with a blade so the hooks slips through the body easier & It does work...but hook up ratio is never going to be great. I also rigged a 3D Bleak on the weedless 4play hook and a 15cm real eel, but i've yet to fish with them.

Phil.

[lochhopper]

I fished mine mostly on a wire frame; i tried the 19cm soft 4play with 2 small treble hooks and they were ok, i also tried a them with a larger single treble, they were ok too.

The soft 4play weedless single hook i never tried with the soft 4play, but recently i've used them with the SG crayfish, i slice the lure with a blade so the hooks slips through the body easier & It does work...but hook up ratio is never going to be great. I also rigged a 3D Bleak on the weedless 4play hook and a 15cm real eel, but i've yet to fish with them.

Phil.

How did you make such a good hook harness? Which wire, and how did you bend it and twist it so accurately? I want to make something a bit like that for some of those large soft plastic swimbaits which just come with one hook at the front, like a Castaic Hard Head.

[dannytaylor]

I fished mine mostly on a wire frame; i tried the 19cm soft 4play with 2 small treble hooks and they were ok, i also tried a them with a larger single treble, they were ok too.

The soft 4play weedless single hook i never tried with the soft 4play, but recently i've used them with the SG crayfish, i slice the lure with a blade so the hooks slips through the body easier & It does work...but hook up ratio is never going to be great. I also rigged a 3D Bleak on the weedless 4play hook and a 15cm real eel, but i've yet to fish with them.

Phil.

How did you make such a good hook harness? Which wire, and how did you bend it and twist it so accurately? I want to make something a bit like that for some of those large soft plastic swimbaits which just come with one hook at the front, like a Castaic Hard Head.

Think theres some vids of phil constructing his harnesess on you tube

[Andrew]

I fished mine mostly on a wire frame; i tried the 19cm soft 4play with 2 small treble hooks and they were ok, i also tried a them with a larger single treble, they were ok too.

The soft 4play weedless single hook i never tried with the soft 4play, but recently i've used them with the SG crayfish, i slice the lure with a blade so the hooks slips through the body easier & It does work...but hook up ratio is never going to be great. I also rigged a 3D Bleak on the weedless 4play hook and a 15cm real eel, but i've yet to fish with them.

Phil.

How did you make such a good hook harness? Which wire, and how did you bend it and twist it so accurately? I want to make something a bit like that for some of those large soft plastic swimbaits which just come with one hook at the front, like a Castaic Hard Head.

You want one of these tools:

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lure-maker-Spi ... Ciid%253A3

And spinner wire,check ebay too (i cant remember the guage i use)

There are two little posts at different heights you insert the wire between them and bend by hand around a post to form loops and bends.

The handle looking thing with the single post is for twisting the loops (turn the handle) like the eye on a spinner.

[lochhopper]

Super, thanks Andrew. I'll get myself one of those.

Danny - I didn't find Phil on Youtube, but there turned out to be a lot of others when I searched for "spinner wire forming tool".

[Chris b]

If your not gonna use the twist function (which i doubt will work with pike sized diameter wire as its too thick for mosta them tools) then save your pennys and get a few bits of scrap wood and some screws/nails (cut heads off once in place) to make a jig to bend the wire around.

[lochhopper]

Chris - thanks for the tip. In fact I was planning to use the twist function, since first of all I just want a more permanent replacement for a short length of thick trace wire (I'm using 90 lb seven-strand at the moment). Here's what one of my rigged Castaics looks like:

castaic-hard-head-9in-rainbow-trout.jpg

I'll give it a try at least. It looks as if Phil has managed to twist a couple of turns to form the eye at the nose end of his harness.

[Steve Dennington]

I fished mine mostly on a wire frame; i tried the 19cm soft 4play with 2 small treble hooks and they were ok, i also tried a them with a larger single treble, they were ok too.

The soft 4play weedless single hook i never tried with the soft 4play, but recently i've used them with the SG crayfish, i slice the lure with a blade so the hooks slips through the body easier & It does work...but hook up ratio is never going to be great. I also rigged a 3D Bleak on the weedless 4play hook and a 15cm real eel, but i've yet to fish with them.

Phil.

How did you make such a good hook harness? Which wire, and how did you bend it and twist it so accurately? I want to make something a bit like that for some of those large soft plastic swimbaits which just come with one hook at the front, like a Castaic Hard Head.

You want one of these tools:

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lure-maker-Spi ... Ciid%253A3

And spinner wire,check ebay too (i cant remember the guage i use)

There are two little posts at different heights you insert the wire between them and bend by hand around a post to form loops and bends.

The handle looking thing with the single post is for twisting the loops (turn the handle) like the eye on a spinner.

All you need is some SS welding wire (1.2mm is ideal) and some round nosed pliers.The tool you've linked to is okay for making spinners in 0.8mm, but it won't take the thicker wire that you need to make sturdy soft plastic bait harnesses.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Forming-3-Ste ... SwLF1X68Hp

[Chris b]

Chris - thanks for the tip. In fact I was planning to use the twist function, since first of all I just want a more permanent replacement for a short length of thick trace wire (I'm using 90 lb seven-strand at the moment). Here's what one of my rigged Castaics looks like:

castaic-hard-head-9in-rainbow-trout.jpg

I'll give it a try at least. It looks as if Phil has managed to twist a couple of turns to form the eye at the nose end of his harness.

Like Steve says that tool wont cope with thicker wire imo , i know my gordy griffith one dont anyways.
Think Phil prob made his with either round nose pliers/jig or just twisted by hand.
Maybe allso attach the wire to the actual hanger on the front hook rather than the hook itself just incase the splitring goes.

[Slug]

The wire needed for things like that should be easy enough to form with jewellery pliers and twisted by hand surely?

[Steve Dennington]

The wire needed for things like that should be easy enough to form with jewellery pliers and twisted by hand surely?

Yes, easily.

[billybaltic]

Phil has done some excellent vids on harness and other type's of metal ware for soft rubber lures