Skeeter

Come on folks...... Red has a tough job here. This site is open for all people of all ages. We need to police ourselves to keep this site respectable. This has become a creditable site due to the hard work of Red and all of the moderators donating their time and hard work so that we as baitmakers are respected. I have never been admonished on this site. But, I have probably come close a couple of times. I have really made an effort to keep this an educated forum from my end, that is respected by all. Even though this site is owned and run by Red and crew, I am very honered to be a part of it. I take pride in being a part of this site and the baitmaking community. As Red has said, he posted the rules. EVERYONE needs to read them !! He isn't asking much. So let's do as he asks. If anyone has a doubt on something, then ask Red or a moderator. The staff here has always been responsive to everyone on the site. I'm sure they would be more than happy to answer any question that you have. Just like Red answered this one. Skeeter Skeeter

You betcha !!!!! Skeeter

TackleTester, Welcome aboard. There is more than enough information on this site to get the job done. Use the search feature and type in what you are looking for. Painting, weighting, etc. is all on here. Take a look. If you find something confusing, just ask. There is a ton of tallent on this site. Skeeter

The general thought is that they move to both sides. The ones that I have made do. However, I guess they could go to just one side. The one thing that I have never really paid any close attention to is whether they move about the same distance on each side. Maybe one side could be more dominant. Time to hit the pool. Skeeter

I have retired all of my grandfathers baits. I have an original Rapala minnow that is unlike all of the Rapala minnows that I have seen to date. It is thinner than others and was made in Finland. I have also retired 2 of the first 3 baits I ever made. I lost the first one. The third one caught one of the largest stringers that I have ever caught on High Rock. The paint job is a hoot. But that was one fish catching plug. I think I'll take a picture of it this weekend and post it on the site. Skeeter

KcDano, Check out this post that I did on hunting crankbaits..... http://www.tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=616&highlight=hunting jrfan8, I agree with your Japanese pro. By the way, I'm originally from Fern Creek. My family still lives there. Got too crowded for this baitmaker. TM, Don't cut them up, I'm sure jrfan8 and Dean know what they are talking about. If you want to get rid of some of those busted up baits let me know. Maybe we could work something out. Skeeter

I hope you get this ironed out. You are right..... we all put allot of time and work into our baits. But I will agree with Riverman in the fact that unless they return the so called bad baits.... they get no replacements. Skeeter

You mean the BBII was NEVER a wire thru?????? Now I'm starting to get pissed. Skeeter

In my opinion, unless what you are wrapping the baits in when you ship them is having a reaction to the epoxy, I think they are just screwing with you. I have never heard of epoxy going soft again after it has hardened. I know that solvents can cause it to go soft again, but that is all. Are they saying that all of them arrive that way? Tell them to leave the coating on them so that you can see the problem. Even if they put a solvent on them the epoxy will reharden once the solvent evaporates. Sounds awful funny to me. Skeeter

I have been using a Bass Pro Shops MH Rick Clunn crankbait rod for three years now. Im sold. I have 3 of them. Some of the guys around here use the GLoomis IMX 843 in MH. I don't think you could go wrong with St. Croix either. I have looked at allot of their rods and they are all quality. Skeeter

I'll try to get it done this weekend. Your bait will be headed your way on Mon. My son is comming over to take some pictures of my stuff before the operations on Monday. Get it to you as soon as I can. Skeeter

Definitely the old Bagleys were made better. Just more care given when they were making them. The DBIIIs to my knowledge were never wire thru. The ones that were made with the weight in the lip may have been. I have never torn one apart. I have a DKBII made this way. The hole at the end of the slot and the extended wire are to line the lip up and to keep it from twisting while the hot glue set. Bagley used hot glue to put their lips in. They will never pull out. I still have not found a clean way to get the lip out without screwing up something. I bought some a couple of years ago from the local tackle shop. They were made in the Dominican Republic. I took them back. They were a mess. Alas Bagley has been sold so many times that it is hard to say if they are still worth it. I do believe that if you can look them over before you buy they are still pretty good. My suggestion is that you get them from Lee Sission. He worked for Bagley starting in 1973. He still makes these types of lures. I saw them and talked to Lee at the Classic tackle show. Some real fine work. They are made the right way. They way they use to be made. I don't know of any commercial store bought balsa baits that will handle more than a few muskie. The clearcoats just aren't tough enough. I made a balsa bait for a guy on this site to take out and test on anything big and toothy. The balsa was completely clearcoated with Devcon. Then the paint was sprayed directly on the Devcon and then another coat of Devcon was put over the paint. That is about as bullet proof as you can make a balsa lure. Unfortunately, he took the bait and ran. He never posted how the bait held up. Skeeter

Threw it in the pool the other day. Meant to write you about it. You do good work my friend. I can't wait to throw it. I'll cry though if I scratch it. The box is an excellent touch. I will have to find a way to mount that for the collection also. With all that is and has been going on.... I probably won't get out in the boat untill mid Sept. That will be the earliest date that I can fish. My son broke his hip in Iraq. He is home now. He wants to go out badly too. So I guess we will just fill the boat with cripples and go after the bass. By the way... killer job on the lure. The action, paint and the finish are all first rate. Thank you. Skeeter

Since day one you have always done excellent work Coley. I always look forward to what you come up with next. Skeeter

If you are going to do it yourself, the way that you are doing it now is the best way. You can go to companies and have wire bent like the bagleys, but usually the minimum order is around 10,000. Unless the lip is thick enough where the wire goes in then the hole will become sloppy and the wire will become loose as time and tuning happens. The bait will never tune once that happens. Some of the older bagleys have this problem today. Skeeter

Don't be such a girl TM. Get out there and thow them. It's really an excellent way to put larger than average fish in the livewell. My stringer weights have really increased since I started this. It's hard work and it will take time to learn, but it's worth it. Skeeter

Don't grease the spool races!! This will kill your casting distance. The Cardiff is a nice reel. I have played with one in the store but have never really used one. I do have some Shimano Scorpion 1000s. They have that slight noise too when they are new. Once I threw them a couple of trips and then relubed them, the noise lessened quite a bit. I don't know where it comes from. It sounds like the spool, but nowhere on the reel does the spool touch the frame. The handle moving in and out is normal. Just about all reels do this. There is usually a C clip at the top of the shaft that the main gear and the handle sit on to keep that shaft from moving back and forth even more. This keeps the gears in line. Don't worry about it unless it is severe. Take the 200 out and throw it for an eight hour day or two. This should start the break in of the reel pretty good. Then grease the reel gears and use only a drop of oil on the bearings. The sound should either be gone or less noisey. Skeeter

Jerry did some work on the site and some got accidentally blown away. Mine were in the ones smoked too. Yep bud, there gone. He put a post about it on the site. Skeeter

Check with Funny Farm. He does allot of this type of work. Skeeter

I had three baits made the same way and only one did the same thing. The others are still being used after more than a year. Maybe it was something with that one piece of wood. : Skeeter

I have to agree with Charlie. I have never enjoyed myself more than the time that we spent at the show. Charlie is truely a first class individual. If the rest of us could be half the personality that he is then we could all have a reel good time. We tried this about a year ago and just couldn't get it together. But if we could come up with some kind of plan for a rondeveaux then I will be there. Skeeter

Then my thought is that the white undercoat that you used did not stick to the Devcon sealer coat. I only use lacquer paint as an undercoat when shooting straight onto Devcon. Skeeter

More than likely your white undercoat did not stick to the wood on that part of the bait. I had the same thing happen when I used sanding sealer for the wood and my latex white undercoat. I wouldn't rule out the moisture thing either. But my guess is that your undercoat didn't stick. Skeeter

You're all crazy. I have one old plano crankbait box for storage. Other than that I have one tackle box with selected lures and that is all. I only carry three rods on the boat. Only two on deck at any one time. That's all of the tackle that I need to fish for bass any time of year, anywhere in the States. Skeeter

Devcon is a resin based epoxy. If it gets cold it gets like really thick maple syrup. The perfect operating temp. for Devcon is 70 - 75 deg. Above 75 the stuff starts to set fairly quickly. Below 70 deg. for every 5 deg. lower add 10 min. of spin time on the wheel before just hanging it to dry. Raising the heat makes the Devcon more runny. But it will set faster. What Red is talking about is that you can store mixed Devcon at 40 deg. (like in the fridge) and it won't start to set for about 24 hrs. However, it is too thick at that temp. to work with. Skeeter