I need some help tuning a 9 inch Castaic. The one with the plastic head and rubber body. I've bent the line tie but it still runs to the side. I've heard you can slightly trim the clear bill on the side it runs and that will help. Would like some confirmation before i screw up a 30 dollar lure. Thanks.

Hey before you do anything, email fish chris wolfgram. if anyone knows its him. trophybass@trophybassonly.com
-patrick

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Please post up what "Fish" learns yuh so we don't bombard him individually. I have the same concerns about one of my C-trouts that's got a angle to the retrieve (leans and goes right) I'm afraid of "fixin'" without some imput. Hopefully apply to the Castaic Shad and Bluegill that also need slight "adjustment". I have put the pliers to them but an afraid of busting their plastic faces!
Macro

shad and bluegill are pretty much lost causes i can tell you that much, i havent ever been able to tuine mine but i have had some that run perfectly out of the box...

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Assalt Lures
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Big Hammer
http://www.swimbait.com

Catch and Release!

I've sent Chris an e-mail and will post his reply on the forum if he responds. Thanks.

The only thing I will say is that when you tune the castaic, be careful not to turn it too far as you can crack the plastic head. I made that mistake, and it made the bill fall out. If your bait is totally un-tuneable and un-fishable out of the box, it wouldn't be out of the question to ask for an exchange. Usually though, if you just turn the eye a little in the right direction, that will fix up the problem on baits like this. Be sure to use a heavy duty pair of pliers or vice grips to turn it slowly and steadily.

Get yourself a worm corer. Use it to pull a plug of plastic from the soft body on the underside away from the direction it wants to swim and stuff the appropriate sized weight in the hole. You can use lead nails, but an errant running Castaic out of the box will typically require more than nails. Try using the pencil weights you'd stuff with rubber for a Carolina rig. Or they sell pencil lead in coils. You can true up the Castaic, but it will never run as good as one that runs true out of the box. You can get it to run true on a slow grind, but probably not on a fast grinder. I have about 5 of these lures and one that runs like crap. Mickey (Mission Fish) did this type of tuning while we were fishing LMV and got it to run straight on a slow grind.