Hoosierdaddy

I have an old safety glass cabinet in my junior high class room that has what is called a germicidal lamp in it. It has caution stickers all over the thing that warn the user about the Ultaviolet light that it produces. I wonder if this thing can be adapted to cure the epoxy you are speaking of.

Just wanted to reply to this post to put such a generous offer and sentiment back up toward the top of the posts... Thanks for the offer... and if you are interested in fantastic crappie, catfish, and walleye fishing you may be my guest in my boat in NE Kansas.

Cool tutorial.. man I hope to get that good at this someday. .. So.. let me get this straight.. you make your own screw eyes by bending the wire over itself.. First of all.. do you find this to end up stronger than a standard screw eye? I tried doing this after looking over your tutorial but as I turn the finished wire screw eye into the lure it wants to unwrap itself as it goes in... Should I drill an oversized hole?... I just dont get it but I am seriousely intrigued.

Found a can of this stuff in the shop where I teach.. On that other message board that only now sporatically works I remember someone mentioning that they use boiled Linseed oil as a sealer for their baits. Is there anyone over here that uses it... can I still paint over it with acrylic paints? Does anyone have any pointers as the can I have has no instructions?

These are the balsa/cedar minnow plugs I have been writting about that were giving me fits. Finally got the weighting and the angle correct and tub tested them. Wonderful action.. just what I was looking for. Thanks again Nathan and all that gave me assistance when I was on the brink of giving up.

That brings up another question. Do additional coats of Devcon reduce...increase... or in any way effect a lures bouyancy?

well just got done with my first hairdryered Devcon coat. You werent kidding were you?... The Devcon will run like water on you ... All bubbles are gone and I got them on the turning wheel. Second coat in the morning.. look for picks of finished lures on Monday.

cool and simplistic design that I bet will do an outstanding job on your baits...Way to go

awe heck with it.. I am going to stay with the Devcon. I have learned alot from this discussion of the three popular types of top coats though. .. I really like the Devcon but I was hoping to speed hings up a bit. I especially like the hair dryer tip.. I am going to try that this weekend. Thanks again folks.

Whew... I got a recipe that works now.. Thanks to alot of help and experimentation. Minnow plugs are for more delicate in nature to get the diving depth, WIGGLE, and weight desired than diving cranks. I am witness to that. My problem on this one was both the lip angle and surface area. I just got done sink testing a prtotypew and WOW.. she wiggles perty... Thanks again Nathan and Big Splash...Once I get this set painted and top coated I will post the pictures. By the way Nathan.. love the baits on your site... and a very nice webpage as well.

Thanks for your replies. Just a couple quick question sirs? Does the taper of the lure (as in an aerial shot) of the lure, being wider at the eyes and lip and narrowing toward the tail, play a roll in its wiggle in the water? also.. If I want more wiggle should I be rounding the sides of my minnow plugs or leaving flat planes?

Thanks Nathan and Big Splash. As you could probably tell the post I made was in pure frustration. Tommorrow ...back to the drawing board. I believe you are both right that my problem is in the lip angle. I have no trouble whatsoever making a deep or medium diving crank. Its just the shallow running minnow plugs that give me fits. I fish hard baits primarily for walleye and in my area stick baits with a good vibration are key to success.

I am so frustrated that I am about to give up for this year, or at least go back to tying jigs for the crappie season. I have been trying for some time to build minnow plugs but cant seem to get the dag gone things to wiggle. I have been using the balsa cedar technique as I have found that it really helps me keep things centered. However, after weighting the lures and coating them with Devcon, temporarily installing the lip, and sink testing them, I find that they dive correctly but provide little or no wiggle. My designs will still work good for jerk baits during the walleye spawn but I was hoping to troll them. With trolling the vibration is key to getting the strike ....no vibration...no fish.... Can anyone help with this dilema?

OK.. but how do you get componant systems to sell to you. Their website indicates that you can only purchase their products if you are a manufacturer. I don't think that what I do is considered manufacturing by the conventional definition.

Does the envirotex lite set up as fast as the devcon does? The reason I wanted to dip is that I want to be able to do 10-15 lures at a time. Devcon gets too gummy by about the third lure. I have slowed it down by mixing it cool, thinning etc.. but I still want something that I can mix a larger batch of and coat all my ready made lures at one time.

I have always used Devcon 2-ton epoxy. But to tell you the truth I would rather use a top coat that I could dip the lure in and place on my turning wheel. Evidentally, this is possible with a product known as Envirotex lite that comes in quantities up to 1 gallon. One person mentioned that Menards occassionally has it on sale for around 40 dollars. I would be interested in this but there is no Menards in my area nor do they have an online store. Does anyone have an online source of this product for near that price?. The best I can find so far is 70 dollars a gallon which is a little pricey. Also I would like to know from those who have used Envirotex lite how they feel about the performance of this product. There is also mention of a product known as flexcoat. So far I can't find any information on this one.

It aint a lure unless you cast it upon the water. If its hangin in a box it's just a pretty little stick. It's a chance we all take

Another secret that I will let out is that when I run in screw eyes as hangers I dont put them straight in. I run them in at a slight angle from the head ( lip ) end toward the tail. This way a fighting or stricking fish would literally have to tear the lure to get them out. Always epoxy them in as well. Wipe the epoxy on the threads.. run them in.. back them out and repeat. This will work the epoxy down into the hole. If you intend to use a screw eye for the tie-on make sure you use a brass one like Baralow's sells. This screw eye must be soft enough to bend in order to tune the lure.

Thanks folks, Those are all good suggestions.. I think I will try them all.

anyone have a tip for sanding the tiny band saw marks off of Lexan lips after cutting them to shape? My fingers are getting sore.

Yes... it remains constant as long as the thickness of all your lip designs are the same. For instance I use only 1/8" Lexan for my lips. You may have to cut a little off of the screw end of the screw eye as I did so it protrudes only about 1/16 of an inch into the lip slot.

I also noticed that you are in Kansas. If you are in my area I would be glad to have you over to work with me on a couple of baits. I live in the Baldwin City/ Lawrence area

1. install the lip in the slot. 2. rotate screw eye in to lock it in place. The lure is coated with devcon. Note the length of the tie on screw eye. When rotated in it protrudes through the lip slot and puts enough pressure on the lip to hold it in place while testing. I tested 4 different lip doing this within minutes and not one of the lips fell out or slipped out of correct position.

I came up with a method for testing different lips on the action of the same lure. I thought I would share it with you. I completed the lure shaping and sanding and sealed it with a coat of devcon without the lip being in place. It is important that you dont let the devcon build up in the lip slot. I next installed all hardware including hook hangers and hooks. When I did this, I used a screw eye that was long enough to protrude from the the nose of the lure through the lip slot. Next back out the tie-on screw eye and install the lip that you first want to test. Turn in the screw eye far enough to put pressure on the lip. Tie it on the line and test. I had to cut about 1/8 of an inch off the tie-on screw eye so that it was the perfect length for locking the lip in place on the lure but not too long as to protrude from the nose of the lure. I was able to change the lip four or five times on the same lure doing this and I have now found the correct shape for creating the lure's desired depth and wobble. This however, does not allow you to test different lip angles. Any one have a method of doing that?

I paint with acrylics and am in a cold region banished to the garage. Because of this paint drying can be extremely slow. I wouldn't use a hair dryer as I have tried this and the paint will blister. What I do is use my lure drying wheel about two feet from a small electric floor heater. This way the lure only passes by the heat briefely then cools on the other side of the wheel. I have never had any blistering problem doing it this way.