RiverMan

My boy and I went down the other day and caught some shad, they are like shooting fish in a barrel. The average about 3 pounds, some larger. We anchored and lowered down some tiny jigs with about 3oz of weight to get it to stay in the current....wham! They come in schools so we would wait for 5-10 minutes and then have all three rods go off at once...lots of fun. The run is just starting, this wknd there will be so many that a 100 per day is not out of the question. They sure are pretty fish, shiny as a nickle but not much to eat. jed

I balance all my baits prior to putting sealer or paint on them. Once I get the balance I want I let the bait sit for a couple days to dry out and then go from there. Jed

Click on the link below to see the Bonneville Dam, Columbia River Webcam. You may have to check a few times to see them...the camera takes a snapshot of the fish ladder every 15 seconds. Tons of shad and some chinook too, very cool. jed http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/b/fishcam/fishimage.jpg

I wish that we builders could find a suitable replacement for wood as it would eliminate many of the hassles we deal with. Remember JC Lures? I remember he was building his cranks out of a round stock PVC like product....tried that stuff, nasty! I have also experimented with various plastic woods with mixed results. If you could get a light plastic material up to 1" in thickness it would allow for about everything we might want to build. My guess is the product is already out there but noone on the board has yet to discover it. Jed

That's great! I would find out who the guy is and return the favor with a custom bait. There's just not that many people like that around anymore. Jed

Brock, Here is a link for a place I used to go to buy foams and plastics directly before going entirely to wood. http://www.farwestmaterials.com This place is located just a few blocks from the Blue Mtn. Mall in College Place. They build huge bronze statues and other such things there but you can buy foams from them directly just go in and ask. I think a starter pack of featherlite is about 30 bucks....make sure you wear gloves, be careful, it can be dangerous. Jed

I was reading just the other day about a guy that drills by hand a hole from one end of the bait to the other...no kidding. They said he simply looks down the bait and starts drilling. I like the idea of glueing the bait together, shaping it, and then splitting, great idea! Think I will stick with screw eyes, too much work, lol. jed

If it is water based you can thin it with water, oil based then you will have to use a paint thinner. Read on the front of the can, it will tell you there. Jed

Does sound interesting........I would be happy tho if we could just find a product that dries like the ones we are using now only a whole lot faster, say completely set up in one hour, that would be great! RM

That's a good question...I always bought "dryed/cured" wood and so I haven't had to deal with this. Generally, it is my understanding that lumber suppliers, HD included, obtain their wood within a certain range of moisture content. All wood including those that are "cured" have some water in them, in the range of about 10% I believe...someone can correct me on this. I would say that wood is probably plenty dry enough to work with but it's just a guess. As far as sealers I have gone back to Bullseye Shellac again.....dip the bait once and let it dry a couple hours, dip again and let dry in a warm place 24 hours. Then go to your sealer/primer and paint. Jed

Nice Larry, Now make that in a perch pattern or a crappie pattern and the musky guys will love it! jed

Lol, great reply Onlybass! OH, and I can certainly relate...someone turn on the damn lights! jed

Brock, If you go to the photos section you will see a pic of a bait that Artbrush (shawn) just posted, this bait was molded. Yes there are a number of products you can use to mold a bait from. If you are interested in using molds tho beware as it can get quite spendy in a hurry with the foams and RTV silicone needed to make the molds. The foams are wonderful tho and dry as hard as a chunk of wood. If you haven't built many baits I would stick with wood for now, the world of wood has been around for a long time with baitmakers and is probably about as strong as ever. You can buy a pine board for 5 bucks that will make you a 100 or more bass plugs. Jed

Foiling a bait is a breeze. Go buy yourself some of the aluminum tape that they use to wrap furnace pipes..it has an adhesive back. Lay your bait on the backside of the stuff and trace around it. Now cut just outise your line. Lay the foil on the bait and with your fingers start flattening it out toward the outside. Now get a round dowel of some type, a smook ink pen works even, and burnish down the edges, perfect every single time. Follow the same process for baits with scales only be a bit more gentle when you first start pressing it down. If I had a suggestion for you it would be to make your foil a bit bigger so that it lays over the edges more. This will make it easier to hide with paint when you get to that stage. After you foil the bait then put on a coat of epoxy then pain it. Then come back with another coat of epoxy. It's 12:30 at night and I just finished painting some baits...I have to be to work at 6:30, it's a labor of love. You have a great start, keep going. Jed

I think it's awesome Larry! Jed

I have toyed with various products over the last year or so with mixed results. What I found at least for the musky baits I have built is that the weakest link is always the clear coat. It doesn't matter if you are using wood or plastic for the body, once the water gets past the clear coat you are doomed!! I am interested to see where this thread goes tho. jed

You followed a process that I have used in the past almost exactly. I think the problem you had is with the spray on white no drying completely. The other problem could be the wood was not allowed to dry completely after weighting it. You have to wait longer than you might imagine for the paint, wait a couple of days after the last coat of paint before going to the clear, even longer is better. Try it again and make sure the wood is completely dry, like two days after weighting. Then make sure you allow the spray on white to dry really well before going forward. You might even consider buying a quart of primer/sealer and dipping the baits instead of using the rattle can as a primer. If you still have problems come back...we will figure it out. Best of luck to you. Jed

Some guys have reported putting the mixed devcon on some ice after mixing with good results...have not tried this myself but you might give it a try. The other thing you can do is go ahead and put the stuff on once it turns a bit "sticky" and then hit with a torch to get it smoothed out. jed

I have experimented very little with the "upper vs lower" location of the tow point so cannot help you much here. I would be interested in hearing your results if you choose to experiment much with this. If your bait is not turning as easily as you would like it to it is a result of one of these things: 1. Wood thickness too thin--thick baits turn easier than thin baits; 2. Weights too close together...move the weights apart from one another to increase turn/glide; 3. Improper body shape...generally a bait that is shaped like a bluegill will turn more easily that one shaped like a perch. 4. Angler's ability to make the bait work properly. Hope this helps. Jed

It is not a wood that is "readily available" for me here in Oregon but virtually any wood can be obtained through local lumber shops if you are willing to wait for them to order it in. Jed

Some great ideas! You know tho I have heard that the big builders either have auto shapers cut their baits or they cut them out with a router and plunge bit. Anyone ever cut out their baits using a router? jed

Hi Folk, As I recall I answered these questions for you as best I could through email, perhaps you didn't receive my messages or didn't like the answer, lol. I will be brief and answer from my personal experience which may not agree with those on 101. 1. Don't worry yourself too much with wood densities, heavy woods take less weight to sink them, light woods take more. In the end, a similar shaped lure whether built from a light wood or heavy will weigh at or very near the same. If you can get your hands on a dense wood all the better as these woods by nature expand less when wet than light woods. I am currently using mahogany, maple, and pine. 2. I have found no difference in whether the front tow point (front line tie) is situated veritically or horizontally. Some on 101 have said it causes the bait to dive if situated horizontally, I have not found this to be true at any level. 3. I prefer to round off the edges as best as I can on all of my baits. First I think it makes the bait look more like the baitfish I am trying to mimic and secondly it allows the final clear-coat to go on more evenly. 4. Choose a shape that is similar to a production bait you like for your first attempts. I have learned over hundreds of hours of experimentation that some shapes will glide, others will not. 5. Your glider when weighted properly should fall slowly while maintaining a horizontal posture toward the bottom of the test vessel (water bucket)..at least this is how I weight mine. 6. Woods less than 3/4" (1.9cm) are hard to get to glide consistently...woods at 1" (2.54cm) are very easy to get to glide. 7. I have never built a bait that has a wide glide to it like a Manta...if you want a bait to glide wide use round stock as these will consistenly glide far wider than flat stock wood of any shape. Jed

Great looking bait! jed

Elmers for paper, and the adhesive backed foil for foiled baits. jed

I don't build any floaters so take this info for what it is worth...next to nothing, lol. If you are trying to build a floater don't worry about trying to match the weight amounts on 101, there are too many variables with woods to make yours match their drawings. What you want to do is to weight the wood so that it sits in the water the way you want it to. I would look at some other floaters and see how much of the bait is underwater and try to make yours similar. Make sure you include the hooks on each bait too when testing for weight so that you can get an a close estimate of what the finished product will look like in the water. I would set it up so that it sits just a tad high so that once you get paint and epoxy on it things will be about right. I am guessing by your username that you are wanting to build something like a big spook, jackpot, or weagle.......these baits are weighted heavier toward toward the tail to get them to walk on the surface. Regarding woods, you may find that oak is just too heavy to be used for a floater...it would probably make a good wood tho for gliders altho shaping it will be a chore. If you are wanting to stick with the oak you will probably be able to add very, very little weight as oak is quite dense. For floaters a better choice would probably be pine. Best of luck. Jed