IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: A- bomb on Nov 21, 2008, 03:55 PM
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while at wall mart my kid HAD to have this stretchy squishy wierd ball. i was nice and got him a green one.
while home sick i got to playing with it. it streches like 2 ft! and the thing'ies look like little worms.....
then it hit me..
the toy
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/marshmaster_01/PB210568.jpg)
the project
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/marshmaster_01/PB210562.jpg)
the new thing'ie
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/marshmaster_01/PB210567.jpg)
cool material as each little tail streches almost 3 inches. and it floats so the tail stays horizontal.....
cant believe i didn't let him get the red, purple and yellow ones......maybe if he's good! ;D
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genius!
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whats it smell like ? add smelly jelly
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genius!
Brilliant!
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Great idea!
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Thats a great idea!! Im going to look in my kids room tonight.
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if he's real good they have them in a bigger size ;D
each tenacle is about 1.5 inches on the little one...the larger one has like 3" 'ers.
A scary thing...icefisherman with a little time on his hands= ingenuity!
.59 cent toy + 20 jig heads= about 10 cents apiece... ;D
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You must not be a fly tyer.....Those of us afflicted with the bug building bug, search the shelves of every kind of store with an eye out for stuff that looks like anything a fish may eat.
I like that ball....do they come in different colors?
RG
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red, blue, purple, green, yellow and pink and a swirl.
i can't "tie my shoes"!
it definatly looks fishie. its almost like that 3x stuff strike king had out, soft and gummy and a 3/4 inch piece stretches over 3" and wont pull off. have to run over to the neighbors tank and test it on the chubs.. ;D
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That's what happens when you stay in the cold too long without a hat!!!!
Brilliant!! Great eye!!!
I'll be lookin for them skwishy balls!!!
Thanx for sharin.
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I love this site....there's gonna be 300 mature male adults swarming Wal Marts all over the country buying arm loads of "Squishys"....I'll be one.....I think our local Wally World is open 24hrs :woot:
Thanks for posting this,
RG
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Now that's a good idea.
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okay thats the new name....the squishy!!
i caught those there on a squishy....has a nice ring.
if you pick one up and pull on them you'll probly just smile....that fishie! really no smell. i only used half of one. probly a 100 on each one.the bigger one has like 3-4 inch ers on it and twice as many..
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would have to say that is a real good idea I may be giving it a try myself but in different colors than green...........thats true ice fishing ingenuity from a die hard ice fisherman
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I love this site....there's gonna be 300 mature male adults swarming Wal Marts all over the country buying arm loads of "Squishys"....I'll be one.....I think our local Wally World is open 24hrs :woot:
Thanks for posting this,
RG
The same thing happens at the cosmetics counter in Alaskan stores, only we are looking for the right shade of nail polish to paint our trout beads with!!!! ;D
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i think its going to be interesting to see some of the fish caught as a result of this thread ;D
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The day after Thanksgiving sale starts tonighet no fighting and bumper shoping carts. :D
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just found them online...pon pon balls.
they even make them in GLOW!!
gonna go test them in the bait tank will post back ;)
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Wonder what Ya might catch if Ya stick the whole ball on a hook. :roflmao: :roflmao: Might even have to try the whole ball for a spearing decoy. :woot:
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Here`s some that are lighted.Wonder if they are waterproof. ;D
http://rinovelty.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.detail/item/BAPUFLI/light_up_pon_pon_ball (http://rinovelty.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.detail/item/BAPUFLI/light_up_pon_pon_ball)
Looks this site sells them for 6 a dozen for the 3" and 8.25 a dozen for the 5".
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I bet if you took a razor blade and split the tail it would improve the action.
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marty they make a "worm" version with or without lights ...might look better for a decoy. ;D yes waterproof!
it also holds color from spike it...just made one with a chartruse tail..wish my buddy would get home so i can test it out!
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tie one jig on a line and dip it in a glass of ice and water....after five minutes or so, check to see if it is as pliable and soft as one that was not in the water. Im curious if they are temperature sensative. Also, freeze on in the freezer and see if it becomes brittle or how it feels frozen.
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A-bomb, my wife is a special education teacher and has several of the "squishy / sensory" balls. I was reading the posts to her and we were cracking up. You might want to purchase some anise oil at the grocery store (by the spices, etc.). Put some of the "thingie" tails and anise oil in a small sealable bag / container. If I find our squishy balls in the basement, I know a few of the "tentacles" will be missing.
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Great Idea A-Bomb! ;)
Keep us posted of your results....My buddies dad is like that....always thinking up new inventions/projects....
One thing he should have had a patent for was his "danglers" He came up with the idea many years ago.
Basically it's a strike indicator. Alot of guys around here use them when fishing power-bait for stocked trout.
It's a weighted wooden dowel (about 3" long) with a key-hook screwed into the top and painted flourescent.
You hang it from the line between the upper guides/eyes. When a fish hits the dangler shoots up.
Alot of guys have come up with their own versions by now, many use cork bobbers?
I told him back then he should have patent it ::) :D
Good Luck with "The Squishy" ;)
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put 1 in the freezer about an hour ago...still squishy. as a steelhead chaser i have some anise oil and i'll try some on 'em. headed to the buds house to do a test run on some 7-8 inch chubs. report back soon
post some pics if anyone makes some...
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for what it's worth, there's a type of hard candy packed in a small plastic jar with little holes already in the snap tight lid. think it's marketed under the name BUG JAR or BUG KEEPER. they make a great container for wax worms. will hold the better part of a hundred worms. fits nicely in your pocket, cost about a buck. found locally at the Casey's General Stores.
fred
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cold test: passed. in freezer 3 hrs no effect
scent test: passed. still wreeks of anise after an hour of hanging in a glass of water in the freezer
water test: still wiggles under the slush
color test: sharpie marker and spike it both work and havent faded
FISH TEST: first victim was bob..an 8 inch golden...he slammed it!
2nd a 9 inch chub....inhaled it!! had to stop the test as to not injure the bait ;D
well at least i have some thing to fiddle with over the holidays til the ice hits!!
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One thing I noticed is that they are somewhat tough compared to a normal micro plastic like LA or Maki. Very pliable, but when you thread it on a hook its rather tough to center the hook point through it. Once its on, its definately not coming off...Its like removing a dried piece of gulp as far as toughness. If you can get fish to hit it, you should catch about 200 of them before needing to replace it...lol.
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took me abot 10 tries to get the first one centered. definatly not falling off! after that i kinda figured it out and nailed the next 3 or 4. hard to believe some thing that squishy can be that tough.
thought about using a needle to center a channel then slide the hook in.
we'll see
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The same thing happens at the cosmetics counter in Alaskan stores, only we are looking for the right shade of nail polish to paint our trout beads with!!!! ;D
Let's hope so ::)
Actually...been there...done that!
RG
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....I'm going to get one tomorrow....or two, Brilliant! ;D
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I ended up with a ball about 8 inches round. Cut enough tails to fill a bait puck and only cleared aout a 4 inch circle on it ;D
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the fun part is centering the hook....but once you do i think its on for life.
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while at wall mart my kid HAD to have this stretchy squishy wierd ball. i was nice and got him a green one.
while home sick i got to playing with it. it streches like 2 ft! and the thing'ies look like little worms.....
then it hit me..
the toy
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/marshmaster_01/PB210568.jpg)
the project
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/marshmaster_01/PB210562.jpg)
the new thing'ie
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii194/marshmaster_01/PB210567.jpg)
cool material as each little tail streches almost 3 inches. and it floats so the tail stays horizontal.....
cant believe i didn't let him get the red, purple and yellow ones......maybe if he's good! ;D
[/new jig new jig
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red, blue, purple, green, yellow and pink and a swirl.
This is probably where Swedish Pimple ( Jimmy ) got the idea from for the Slurple he was killing the eyes on last winter/spring
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The same thing happens at the cosmetics counter in Alaskan stores, only we are looking for the right shade of nail polish to paint our trout beads with!!!! ;D
had kinda the same problem with wife and daughter giving me funny looks when i took them shopping and was looking for white and the brightest orange nail polish i could find. white as a base coat before the orange on end of a Bic lighter spring to thread my line thru before someone else came out with spring bobbers.
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had kinda the same problem with wife and daughter giving me funny looks when i took them shopping and was looking for white and the brightest orange nail polish i could find. white as a base coat before the orange on end of a Bic lighter spring to thread my line thru before someone else came out with spring bobbers.
The funny thing is if you ask the counter girl they will know what the hot colour is. ;D
I still have three bottles of Maybelen Snowflake Frost. 8)
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I'm going to soak some in the berkley alive juice and see how it holds up. T-boned on a dot should work for suspended crappie. Nice job with the idea. My daughter has a collection of these that will be missing a few pieces.
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What a brilliant Idea....A real $$$$ saver
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ice fishermen are funny, They have no problem dropping $350 on a new Vex, and $400 on a new auger, and $500 on a flip over shanty, $250 on a new water camera, however when it comes to jigs and lures, ask a guy to spend $5 on a lure and he'll come up with 101 ways to make the same lure for $0.50, or find a cheap knock off thats 1/2 price- he'll buy 10 times more then he could ever use in a lifetime, just for the satisfaction of saving a couple bucks on lures. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what catches fish, not the fancy electronics, ice shanties, and power augers? Just thought it was a bit Ironic, my $.02
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I think it has something to do with a little self satisfaction that I did it Myself. ;D
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I've seen it all now... Outstanding idea!
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my 10 yr old just superglued two together and called it the "ice senko"
WOW!!
whacky rigged on a #14 1x fine fly hook.....
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Speaking of.. the maker of senko, Yamamoto Baits, came out with crappie soft plastics this year.
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Now thats a darn good idea!
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check out this bad boy!!!
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/raptor1300/ball.jpg)
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Great idea! I have a few lying around the house. Looks like something else to try out this year. ;D
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My g/f is shopping this weekend with her mom and calls me from wal-mart and asked me what color of those thingies I wanted!!! At 2 bucks a piece, get all the colors!!! hahaha
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Yep just gos to show nothing is safe if there is no ice to be out on. Someone should just come out and say it. We are all hooked on hardwater and we cant even play games with the kids without thinking of it. smelly jelly and a bit of ball. killer on the perch.
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I read a post on ohiogamefishing.com last year where somebody discovered using the tentacles from the squishy balls. The person said they normally take a razor blade to regular rubber worms and shave off thin wiggly strips to use wich they had success with but then they noticed the squishy ball thingies ( but Im not sure thats exactly what they called them )... I am not sure how long that topic played out on that site but I have been looking at them and considering them ever since.
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I tested them out today... Worked better than anything else I put down. Perch liked them and the 2 small crappies we got were caught on them too. I put them into a small gulp container and then added some scent to them. I liked how I can cut them to any size and they are the most stubborn plastic I have used for taking off the hook. Thanks for the great idea and money saver.
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Happened to be in my local Walgreen Pharmacy and they had a big box full of these ball Thingies about 8-9 in. in diameter and in a lot of different colors. Not expensive at all.
Got 2 and now have more wigglys than I can use in a couple of years.
Good idea to marinate them in your favorite fish scent.
Ordered 2 bottles of that C-9 anise scent from Little Atom. Stuff really works for me. Also like Smelly Jelly.
SeaDog1
P.S. Got one that's HOT BUBBLE GUM PINK!! ;D
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nice to hear it worked as i wont be testing for a few more weeks....no ice! >:(
man that bums me out that someone already stumbled onto it....here i was all proud of myself ;) oh well.
glad the SQUISHY HAS SCORED!!
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A-Bomb, I give you full credit as if it wasnt for you I would never have seen the idea or tried this myself. Thanks for the great tip and awesome new lure!!!!
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Great idea - I wish you would have had it sooner. My wife just threw out a blue one a red one and a green one because my boys were pulling it apart.
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When I first saw those that was the first thing that came to mind to me.
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Those jigs look awesome A bomb! Just wondering if the tail section undulates in the water when jigged?
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i wouldnt say undulates but if you keep it long its got a tight giggle...
got some soaking in alive juice....seems to hold scent well
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A-bomb thanx for the great idea...i tried them out yesterday in green and they worked GREAT...even beter than i expected. We tried everything for perch and could only get the odd one, so i tried one of these and bang soon as it went done had a nice 11" perch...ended up catchin a whack of perch and atleast half a dozen chian pickerel on them, and they werent even scented just tipped with a small minnow head, gonna soak em in some gulp over the week and give m a shot again thursday
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As long as you had a minnow head on, the body didn't mean anything. Is anyone catching fish w/ just the lure? I use the Ratso bodies, and you definetly don't need bait with these.
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I just read this whole thread. What a great idea and I'm glad to see it seems to work!
Just had to give you props!
Now where did I put my Squishy......
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Yes i did have a minnow head on but all the other jigs i had i also used wiht minnow heads and not a bite, the only thing that woulda consistently catch them minnow head or not was the homemade lure
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This is great!
*commences 'squishy' search on internet*
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I saw this thread months ago and I been using the idead the whole season. It's genius! The strechy material is super strong too, the fish can't rip it off. Soak the tails in a jar of that berkly bait stuff any then they get all scented
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gonna have to get one of those!
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man you had to dig deep to find this one!!
i have had luck without bait also. i normally fish with flies and no bait so its kinda normal for me. glad this is working for some of you guys.
bait or no bait...they catch finnickie fish! i made up 20 or so and have only used 3 or so boddies. definatly get your moneys worth!
good luck
A
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maybe you should post this on the inventions board :tipup:
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What colors have you guys found work the best? Ive only tried green so far it was the only colour there at the time
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I used the orange. It worked good, it was all I had at the time too.
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green and yellow and pink used 1 of each so far...saw a glow one at wal mart for the glow guys!!
anyone try the bigger 6" ones for bigger fish? saw those too...
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I have to add that this lure today on a shrimpo jig took a limit of crappies from lake of the woods... Thingie works awesome.
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**bump**
So what is the verdict after year one on these things....still all that or just a flash in the pan??
Any must have colors??
shawno 8)
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started doing this a year or two ago open water for crappie and gills, and tried it ice fishing last year. works well
jason
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How long till the kid has a new round ball?
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How'd it work for catching fish? I'm wondering if the scent repelled the fish?
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i had no problems catching with them. I tied them around ant style jigs for legs on the ice and tipped with a waxie and would put a few on a hook for some dangling action
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its funny i made about 20 up back in nov 08...i still have only used about 4 of the first batch. they still stink (in a good way for a fish) and are soft. i now use them as my "if nothing else works"....
and they do!
green is my best color with a black head. like any lure its just a matter of getting the confidence that if you put it in front of a fish he'll eat it. the 3" white one with a 1/8 oz jig head CRUSHES the white bass in the spring. got over 50 on one bait super glued on the barb...but thats another story!
Gonna re name this the thread that wouldnt die...lol!
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im glad someone bumped this...im going to walmart in the morn for sure. i use little atom plastics exclusively on all my jigs...i dont fish without one on. i have found that bass love em and dont seem hurt with the gills or perch. this squishy ball idea is brilliant! i love green, black and glow...have to prolly come up with a way to make black tho. also thinking a razor blade to make them wedgee shaped would be killer. thanks for the great idea ABomb.
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I'll be at Wally World before the weekend to see if they still have these. Just have to try it!
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The same thing happens at the cosmetics counter in Alaskan stores, only we are looking for the right shade of nail polish to paint our trout beads with!!!! ;D
Did the girl at the counter let you sample the different colors? ;D
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I know the next time the kids want one it will be with a cynical little smile that I will say, why yes of coarse you can get one why not each of of you get a different color, maybe 2 a piece. >:D ;D. There are going to be a lot of balled sqiushies out there. If you walk in to your kids new friends house to meet his parents and see one then you too will have a new fishing bud. ;D
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Crazeist thing i ever saw..I LIKE IT!!!!!! :clap:
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awesome!! ;D
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You would have laughed, I went home last night grilling my wife and kids where the spiney, squishy ball was. I went looking all over the house for half an hour (card cider in hand). Could not locate it. I will just go and get a new one LOL :roflmao:
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Great idea ....I am always scouting the dollar stores for fly tying materials.
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whats it smell like ? add smelly jelly
what is smelly jelly? i never heard of it? where can you find it?
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cabela's / Gander mtn. / Dick's Sports
Different jelly formulas for lures...great stuff, some with glitter
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I have five of those squishy balls in different colors and they all seem to be missing some of the spikes. My youngest child is 26 years old. lol A couple of years ago I mentioned to my wife that these would probably work for ice fishing and she started bringing them home. ;D
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thats a Really good idea! im gunna try it this weekend. my brother has one of those. ill use his. heh.
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im goin through my old toys this week to look for some ideas myself.... hopefully i find one of those squishy balls and ill use it for the derby this weekend! :tipup:
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its back!!
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Anybody finding any new similar toys on the market?
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Man we're bored. This one's from 08. ::)
RG
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Well, i have to say im glad this one came back. this is grate. i'm always looking for something new to try. tonight after work im going to have to buy a couple of these and soak them up.
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It is nice to see that I am not the only person who buys something and uses it for an entirely different purpose then it was intended. I bought 3 of those squishy balls when they first came out and HAVE CAUGHT fish with them on jigs. Mostly in the summer out of my kayak. So YES they do work. Green, Pink And Yellow are the ones I bought. But it is nice to know i am not the only one to collect goofy things for fishing and such.