RiverMan

I know of a builder that has such a product but he won't tell me what it is. He says that it is completely dry in 4 hours....and no skeeter it's not Devcon. I think there are products out there that haven't been brought up yet on this board...I know there's at least one anyway. jed

Well, I will give him another solid week or longer but I can't wait forever either. I would feel bad tho if the payment showed up just after the baits left for another home, lol. jed

I have two small heaters running in my drying room as well and it keeps it at about 80 degrees. I would prefer to keep it at about 90 like I can during the summer as this speeds up the drying time considerably. I wish there was a way to speed up the dry time of etex, that is its biggest downfall as far as I am concerned. If we could get the dry time down to 4 hours or less that would be perfect. Jed

You know Nova I didn't even realize I had mentioned "Canada" when I wrote it, certainly wasn't trying to suggest anything negative about our Northern neighbors......I apologize if it seemed like that. Lunge, Thank you for the offer but if the baits aren't paid for soon they will likely be going to several musky shows in the midwest. Woodsac...glad you mentioned counting the days, the last bait was purchased on the 23rd and by my count it's been 11 working days...I will wait 15 (at least) as you have suggested. Jed

I like that policy Jim, sounds fair enough to me. I almost hate to offer them the option of paying the Ebay fees tho to not get the negative feedback as then someone else gets to deal with them. Most all of my sales go the PayPal and I hate to make it "mandatory". Thanks for the input. Woodsac...I will count the days and see what happens...but good point. Jed

Just curious what you guys think about this. I had a guy from Canada bid and win three of my baits on Ebay. It's been close to three weeks and he hasn't paid me for them yet. I have written him several times and the last time he mentioned something about Canada having a holiday but that the check "was in the mail". I want to be fair to him but at the same time I don't want to wait forever...................so my question to you guys is..................how long do I wait? Jed

Toggle on the "before" button and it will take you to the "after" photo from the tsunami. The photos in Indonesia starting at number 5 are devastating! Sad. jed http://homepage.mac.com/demark/tsunami/

Have only caught small and large.....no comparison, the smallmouth smoke em! I would love to catch stripers and peacock bass someday tho, they look awesome! The pic is of me about 20 yrs ago, maybe longer, with a smallmouth just over 4lbs. If you look on the tip of the rod (a berkley lightening rod) you will see the tiniest of baits. This was a small 1" rubber shad-like bait that I was making at that time from two-part plaster molds......imagine that? They would never turn out very smooth because at that time I didn't know how to finish off the plaster but they were very effective nevertheless. I was fishing a small river near my home in Washington and had thrown grubs first and when nothing happend I tied on this old reliable bait. The fish picked it up as it was gently tumbling down through a narrow shoot. Jed

I have had this happen only once. A guy wrote me from "Europe" saying he was a "poor college student" that loved to fish and would really like one of my lures for "free". The first time he wrote I just deleted it. A few weeks or so later he wrote again, same story which made me think he was just mailing the letter out to whoever in hopes someone would take the bait. Anyway, this time I wrote back and told him that "I have alot of time into each lure and you are asking me to donate my time to you, would you like to donate an hour of work to me"? He wrote me back and said he understood and was sorry, never heard from him again. Jed

Good questions Lunge...I don't really know for sure. What I do know is that when I cut out 30 baits, at least 10 of them will have minor ups and downs along the back and belly which require me to adjust them on the belt sander. These baits swim the same as all the rest but it just buggs me, that's all. I cut out 30 the other night tho as I mentioned above and they were much better...maybe 5 or so with some waves along the back and belly. I will experiment with tightening the blade some next time, that may be part of the problem too as I do notice it flexing considerably. Jed

Now that you mention it Bob my blade does have a significant amount of flex to it, particularly when cutting around corners. I set it up according to the saw instructions but will play some with tightening it up. I always watch the guides closely. TY. RM

Thems is nice....yeehaw!

Have you tried letting the FC set up some before applying it? I don't think many guys use FC to finish lures on this site but certainly there are some. If I were to use the FC I would let it set up for 10 or 15 minutes until it was slightly syrup-like and then apply it. This will allow you to put on coats that are slightly thicker than you could otherwise. Beyond that order yourself some Envirotex lite or use Devcon from Wal-Mart. jed

I like all three of the ideas you guys shared, thank you. Those things you create Ken are amazing! I traced out the baits like I usually do and tried doing what you said Skeeter and cut just along the outside. I'm a tall lanky guy and I tend to have the band saw a fair distance below me so I moved it up a bit which helped me follow the blade line considerably. These two things helped alot...still not perfect but way better. Thank you again guys. Jed

I have cut out dozens and dozens of baits with my bandsaw and yet I still have trouble keeping them consistent from one to the next. I don't expect them to be perfect but I would like to get them close. I am using a thin blade because the wider blades and thus bigger teeth cause me to cut too fast and then I end up with more problems. I seem to have the most problems with keeping the back and belly consistent....any suggestion on how to improve this? Thank you! jed

I can't recall this ever happening to me Gordy other than times when I ended up with a whole bunch of bubbles. My guess tho is that you didn't get the stuff mixed properly. Make sure you mix the Devcon in a small container, not on a flat surface. If you mix in a container you are certain to include all parts of the epoxy in the mix. If you continue to have problems I would suggest you write Skeeter or Nathan. Jed

Spectacular job! Jed

Champ......same story here, the neons will spray it seems no matter what. Last night I was spraying some walmart black and it would work, stop, work, stop, very annoying. I have some better paints that never clog the brush but they don't seem to cover very well, it's like there isn't any pigment in them or something, probably why they spray so well, lol. I don't know, I'm clueless when it comes to these paints but I keep on spraying!! Jed

Hey now Nova our taxes make perfect sense if you happen to make more than a million dollars a year and/or own a huge corporation! lol. For the all the rest of us snails in the sand...........too bad!! Jed

I have it and if you spend about two weeks here you will be far beyond the knowledge provided in the book. The author did a great job but the experience here is unbeatable. jed

You may be right Boatnik, the guy that advised me has no legal training himself but has sold fishing and hunting related items for a long time....I will have to quiz him further. If what you are saying is true tho, that we lure builders could be held "personally liable", then it seems any of us could be held liable in the event a lure we build leads to an injury, whether we sell it or not. What about a guy that builds a few baits and decides to sell them or give them to an acquaintance? On another forum of this site we have been discussing "donating" items to charity. What if one of those items leads to the injury of a child? For that matter, what about a guy that builds a chair and sells it to someone? The possibility for liability would go on forever wouldn't it? I don't know, it's a stretch but I'm sure you are correct in assuming there is the possibility for some "sue happy" person to pursue legal action. When I was a kid, I used to watch my dad sit at a desk working on his business records. I can vividly remember him saying "the government makes liars of everyone". Jed

Hi Boatnik, You do bring up some good questions. I have my business registered with the State but see no reason to "copyright" my logo or lure designs. I'm a biologist, not an accountant but this is how I see it. As far as someone "stealing" my designs, they can do that anytime they want to anyway. None of the lures I am making are "unique" therefore I see no reason to copyright them...yes they are my design but they are simply modifications to approaches that have been used for decades and longer. Now if someone were to take my logo and I felt strongly enough about protecting it I could show that I was using that "logo" at a date prior to when they were which will give me some protection. If someone were to hurt themselves on my bait, well they could do that whether or not I have my logo and designs copyrighted and not only that but if they were to seek legal compensation from my business for that injury they would find there is nothing to sue for....other than a few wood bodies, some paint and an airbrush that clogs alot. It may be that I could also be held "personally responsible" but I have been advised that this is not possible so long as I am selling the baits under my business name. jed

Hey Celtic....glad to see I'm not the only one that likes to "turn up the pressure". Jed

BlackJack is right, the tax concern is a valid one and I have been keeping careful records of all my sales in this past year to deal with it. If your baits are selling at $10.00, leave the price there, why come down? There are mass production bait such as Lucky Craft that are more than that each...if anything I would go up! Regarding a business name it's no big deal, register your name with the state in which you are living in, think it was 50 dollars here in Oregon. As far as a federal tax ID#, it's my understanding you use your SS# unless you are hiring employees. I see no reason to copyright your business name or logo as there really isn't any big advantage for someone else to use it anyway. And the fact that you are using your company name now and can likely prove that in court provides you with some protection. Patents? Forget it, every possible concept you can think of has a dozen patents covering it, save your money. RM

Shane, This is something that took me a long time to figure out. I couldn't find anywhere where people talked about "how thin or how thick" it should be. Anyway, after many hours of experimentation this is where I ended up. I normally mix the paint right in the airbrush bottle....pour a bit of the paint from the walmart container into the bottle. Now let a little water drip in, mix well. Now while looking into the container from the top, I make a circular motion with my hand to get the paint spinning in the bottle. When you stop the bottle, the paint should continue spinning for just a second, like one revolution, if it goes round and round like water it's too thin. If it stops immediately, too thick! This is a good starting point...at least it works for me. Some other indicators include...won't set up on the bait after a couple minutes, too thin, shoots out like spider webs, too thick. Once you get the brush spraying try to keep going, the walmart stuff likes to dry and clog the brush. If this happens open the brush tip up until you get good paint, the close it back up to where you can spray a small pattern again. If you get an uneven pattern, turn the brush all the way down and see if there is a bit of paint right on the tip....clean this off with a toothpic. Oh, and one other thing, spray between 35 and 50 pounds of pressure...I know everyone is going to say this is way too high but if you don't good luck getting the walmart paint to work for you. Keep a bucket of water handy and if the brush completely clogs take the bottle off and submerge the brush in the water, open the tip and spray out all you can...put your finger on the end of the brush and force air backwards...do this 5 times or so then blow out all the water, reattach the bottle and get back to painting. WalMart paint is tough to use but it's cheap and all I have available to me. I keep meaning to order to better paint but haven't gotten around to it. Best of luck. jed