Muskie, pike, bass, walleye?

Yeah Vince, it looks perfect, except for that big ugly, whatizit 374 Eagle Claw, dangling beneath its belly...actually a 3X L934DT ® #4 Eagle Claw, would have made ME happier, just to show I harbor no ill-will against the brand, just their 2X beak-points. Perhaps I'm just getting territorial here, because you're beginning to break into my domain...I make a muskie lure every now and then, but do I ever post them???? NO, BECAUSE VINCE MAKES BIG BEAUTIFUL MUSKIE LURES, AND SIMPLY OUT OF RESPECT FOR VINCE, I DON'T POST MINE!!! Next thing you know, Tigger and Riverman and the rest will be posting their perfect little bass lures, and then they'll all be asking questions about balsa, OH WHERE WILL THIS ALL END??? WHEN THE UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT ERUPTS AND COLLAPSES DON'T COME AROUND BLAMING ME!!!

Beautiful bait there friend,

Dean

That is an awesome looking bait! If you don't mind me asking, how do you bend the lip?

*Fatfingers pauses and consider the implications of Dean's comments. Has he really tread upon the sacred waters of Dean's domain? Will this mean that he will be obliged to sign Dean's name as co-conspirator? If the hooks don't fit, will he have to acquit?

Stay tuned...er, I mean keep your baits tuned and we'll see where this goes.

Idzoller:

1/16 inch Lexan or any other brand of polycarbonate can be bent easily. I have a piece of wood about 2 x 2 and maybe 8 inches long. I simply cut some slots in it with the table saw. Place the Lexan in the slot and lean on it a bit and it will bend. Of course the trick is to get it placed squarely in the slot so that it bends at the appropriate spot and at the appropriate angle.

The lip on any bait is arguably the single most important variable. It must be installed squarely or the bait will not tune... and few things are more worthless than a bait that will not tune. Practice this bending business a bit and you'll see that it isn't that difficult.

As I say, 1/16 inch Lexan bends easily. 1/8 inch, which is what I use on almost all the larger baits does not bend quite as easily. It usually requires that you heat it a bit with a heat gun. I don't like the heat gun because it can easily cause the Lexan to overheat and create bubbles and distortion in the lip.

Instead, I bring a pan of water to a boil and submerge the lip for about 3 or 4 minutes to get it to soften a bit. Immediately after removing it from the boiling water I place it in the slot of the wood jig (described above) and carefully bend it to the desired angle. Of course, you must wear gloves and excercise extreme caution when working with the boiling water.

Using the boiling water, I've even done compound bends.

There is a metal worker's tool that looks like a pair of pliers with two flat surfaces (instead of plier jaws) that can be used instead of the wood with the slots that I use.

Hazmail has an ingenious method of bending 1/16 inch Lexan. He has a jig he's constructed that bends the tiniest of lips with machine-like precision. Maybe he'll read this and post the pictures of that system again. He's the master of bending Lexan and his bait lips actually have a beautiful curve to them on the leading edge.

One of the things I'm trying right now is cutting the lip slot so that it points straight ahead and then using lips with different bends in them to modify how the bait runs. Of course by changing the angle of the bend, you can control the angle of dive that bait will have.

It's really all about the hooks, I get a little hysterical every time I see those curved Eagle Claw points. I'm working with my therapist to recover some long and deeply buried memories of lost giant largemouths from my childhood. I awaken in a cold sweat, shuddering at the visions of The Great Laughing Eagle in my dreams, as bass after lunker bass swims away just out of grasp as the remants of broken Big B hooks shine with their temper-robbing cheap plating as they sink away to rust and disentegrate overnight in the depths below...so yeah, it could be the hooks.

Dean

Dean