Mylures

This is a display piece I made Saluting all our Military Veterans and to thank them for their service. This display will be displayed at the Calumet County, Wi. Court house. Comments Welcome.

Sorry to hear about Coley. I think we first hooked up on TM.com many years ago. I had to chance to meet Coley at Nathans get togethers but unfortunately I couldn't make either one. I really regret that. My deepest condolences to Coleys family. I shared a few forums and emails with Coley. A great lure maker and very kind person. We will all miss him. I did get to see a few pictures of Nathans get together in Missouri and even though I wasn't there in person I felt like I was a part of the get together. When my time comes I hope Coley keeps a spot for me in LUREMAKERS HEAVEN.

Coley, I never had the pleasure to meet you in person but I think your an awesome luremaker and and awesome person. I wish you the best and you will be in my prayers, Be strong and get well. Ken Schmitz

This is the process I use for dressing hooks or attaching a SS wire to a hook shank to attach a rubber tail. As you can see in the photo I bend the ends around so the plastic tail won't just slide off. I bend the wire like that on both ends and put one end in the hooks eye. I then wrap some tying thread around the wire and hook shank to secure the wire in place. I put a coat of clear nail polish on it. Then I put a piece of heat shrink tubing over this assembly and heat it with a bic lighter. I then apply a coat of clear nail polish over this again for the finished product. When I'm dressing hooks with maribou or other materials I took a small needle nose pliers and drilled a 3/16" hole through where the wire cutter is located. Very hard to drill but I used some diamond coated wheels to smooth the hole. I put the hook in the hole of the pliers and close the pliers. Then I add the heat shrink tubing and heat with a bic lighter. The reason for the pliers is to keep the flame and heat away from the feathers or marabou. I think it works great and looks great also. Be sure to use extreme caution when applying heat as all the materials are flammable except for the heat shrink tubing. I hope this helps out and if you have any questions please pm, email or post your questions online. Thanks Ken Schmitz I buy the heat shrink tubing at Harbor Freight in 8' lenghts This is for musky baits and I haven't tried it on smaller hooks.

Congrats Nate, thats awesome. They are so precious.

Yes Gene it is really me. I don't go online much anymore because we live in what they call a dead zone. I live just about a 1/4 mile of the east shore of Lake Winnebago. In the opposite direction there is a huge rock ledge that runs for hundreds of miles. Until we got satelite TV we could only get 2 stations here. We have a new provide for internet service. I'm in the process of seeing if it will work here. Hopefully I'll have high speed in a couple of weeks. Gotta have something to occupy my time so I make baits and do some craft shows. Can't afford the big sport shows. I guess as long as I get all my costs covered and can buy more supplies I will be doing this yet for awhile. I hope all goes well for you and you enjoy your retirement. Keep in touch as its always nice to hear from you. I sent Coley a PM but haven't heard back yet. Ken

Hey Gene, congrats are in order here. Its been a looooooooooooooong time. Way too long. Hope your sitting down when you see this. You may fall off your chair. I'm still playing around with some baits. Once you get hooked you can't ever seem to stop. Of course you already knew that. Sorry I didn't get to make it to Nathan's get together. It would have been nice to finally meet you, Nate, Coley and Redgator. I don't know where the time goes. I've been retired 11 years this past July already. Don't know how I ever had time to go to work.l Retirement has been awesome. Well Gene enjoy everyday of retirement. You earned it. The best to you always and good luck bait making and fishing. Ken Schmitz

Hey Jerry, I voted yes only because if thats what it takes to keep TU growing I'm all for it. We go way back to TM.com before you started TU. I'm very grateful to Tu for all the great people I met and all that I learned and I even contributed a thing or two way back when. As far as being an active member I would have to say I lack there. I like others posted alot at one time. Then I enjoyed seeing other peoples ideas. I only do this as a hobby and I'm happy when I can keep all my ideas and supply costs covered. That can be difficult at times now days. Its a tough world we are living in right now with the high fuel prices that are causing everything to skyrocket. People are losing their jobs right and left to foreign countries. Alot of people are losing their health insurance and other benefits. I'm one of them. You do what you have to do as I think you worked very hard at building this site and maintaining it. I just regret that I won't be a part of it anymore. No hard feelings and I do wish you the best of the best always. Times are changing but thats life. Ken

What type of bait are you talking about?? When I make a bait I always drill the eyescrew holes in the blanks before I make them into lures as everything is centered then. Hope this helps and if not please let me know. I will try again. ken

Happy Birthday Jerry!! 33 I can't remember that far back. ha ha Ken

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll,,, what can I say????????????????????????? Happy Birthday Nate. Ken

Using quality wood turning tools is very important as they will hold a sharp edge much longer. I would buy only the tools you need as you won't use everything you buy in a set. Also if you are going to be doing alot of turning you should definitely consider a copy crater which makes it alot easer to keep your baits pretty much alike. Keeping your tools sharp is also important. Always remember to keep you tool rest as close to the work as possible to avoid injury. If you don't take the time to keep the tool rest close to your work piece your taking the chance for your tool to grab into the workpiece and kick back. Stroping is very easy to do and keeps your tools very sharp. They also have a power strop that fits into a portable drill or drill press. Just make sure the wheel is turning away from the cutting edge. With very little practice you will get good at this. When you first start out its a good idea to put magic marker on the tool and lightly strop it. Then look at the tool to see if your angle is right. Always use extreme caution as it easier to avoid injury and always wear eye protection. Its a good idea to wear a dust mask also. I have been sharpening saws and tools for over 30+ years and a good sharp tool is the safest and easiest to use. If I can be of any help please feel free to ask any questions or pm me. Thanks and Happy Turning. Ken

I've been purchasing supplies off and on for at least 20 + years now and have always had fast friendly service and good products. I would definitely recommend buying from Jann's. Ken Schmitz