Skeeter

I said a prayer for the both of you and your families. The loss of people that we love can never be an easy thing. I guess death has taken someone from us all at one time or another. The only thing that I know to do is pray for peace for all concerned. God Bless, Jeff

Richoc, You da man.... Keep using that Envirotex!!!! It is the best quality clearcoat that there is. As long as something no larger than a bluegill hits it your lure and it bumps into something no harder than coontail moss your bait will hold up just fine. Bass Catcher, Don't worry, it won't yellow. Skeeter aka........Devil Anse Hatfield

The 300 will probably not behave exactly like the wiggle wart for several reasons: 1. The body size, style, and weight are not the same. 2. They are made out of different materials. 3. The lip on the wiggle wart comes out at an angle. The lip on the 300 is straight. I have dropped the angle on a 300 lip 5 deg. and to me it gives the lure too much wobble. However, I did catch fish on it. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there are different sizes of wiggle warts. I would try the one out of a larger wiggle wart. Give it a try. This is how some great crankbaits are made. Skeeter.

Tbait, Yankee go home! Sam, Devcon. Skeeter

Jed, You're welcome. Don't feel bad, it is a natural thing to start at the beginning of the cut. Took me awhile to figure it out. Skeeter

Start your cut in the middle of the back and in the middle of the lowest part of the belly. You will have to go backwards on half of the cuts on both sides. The bit kicking can still happen, but you will reduce the chances by doing it this way. Skeeter

DEEP WATER CRANKBAITING Deep water crankbaiting is a mental discipline and a physical skill that has to be learned like any other technique. It is a mental discipline because that is what it takes to find rock piles, ledges, stumps, and other structure out in the middle of nowhere. Other than using the best detailed topo map that you can find, there are no shortcuts. page_break It is just the plain hard work of search and find. But the discipline does not stop there. After you have found the structure it is just as important to understand what you have found and how to explore that spot effectively. Being able to cut out distractions and concentrate on learning what you have found and knowing what your lure is doing and where it is on that structure takes a ton concentration. The skill comes in knowing how to saturate that structure methodically and mechanically being able to consistently present your lure accurately and repeatedly. When you find a point or a piece of structure that you want to fish, take your time and analyze the spot and come up with a plan on how to fish it effectively before you move into the area. Think before you do. After you do this over a period of time, you will learn how to analyze areas quickly and know the best plan of attack to take. When you decide to leave the area you need to be confident that you have worked the structure properly. So many people listen to the "PROS" and take everything that they have to say as gospel. I have read so much on this subject that it would make most folks head spin. I have caught so many pros contradicting themselves, that to me it has become a joke. Very few pros REALLY KNOW what they are talking about when it comes to deep cranking. Years ago, I made a list of what pros had to say about crankbaiting from equipment, to lures, and techniques. Over a one year period of time, I tried something on that list during my fishing trips to see if it was really so. I tried different equipment setups, lure presentations, and actual lures. Through my own experiences and experiments I have discovered that allot of what the experts have written just isn?t true. What we all need to do is clear our heads of all of the garbage that we have read and find it out for ourselves. We really need to think about and scrutinize what we read and what we hear. Some of you reading this article may be thinking "Who in the heck made you the expert ?? But what I am about to tell you is the way it is. First you need to get the right equipment to get the job done. I will start with the rod. The rod needs to be a medium to medium heavy graphite rod. Your casting distance and accuracy is greatly enhanced with graphite. Your ability to ?feel? the lure is also much better with graphite. Glass rods are not as accurate for the average crankbaiter. If you throw with them enough you can become accurate, but you will never achieve the casting distance and sensitivity that you can with graphite. Composite rods could work, but I have found most of them to be heavy. Super high modulus graphite rods have no place here, they break. Boron is definitely out. They will break if the fish surges under the boat. Boron rods are notorious for breaking when bent beyond 90 degrees. For years the standard length for this technique has been 7ft. But what you really need to use is what is comfortable for you. Someone that is 5?2? may have trouble swinging such a long rod. Slinging a crankbait everywhere except where you want it just doesn?t cut it. Forget what the pros and your buddies say. If a rod is cumbersome to use, you need to find something that fits. If you can be accurate and efficient with your equipment then you will be much more effective. The rod should also be light in weight. Throwing deep crankbaits for hours is a tough job. Doing it with a rod that has the weight of a boat anchor is even tougher. Point your rod tip straight at the bait as you retrieve it. By doing this you increase your feel of the bait tremendously. Your feel of the bait will be at the reel where your hand is and it will not be absorbed by the rod. Next is the reel. Again, the reel should be light weight and match your rod along with the size of your hands. Putting a heavy reel on a light rod just defeats the purpose. Also using a reel that is just too big for your hands to comfortably palm will make your setup ineffective and consistently inaccurate in making your lure presentations. Round or low profile reels? That is your decision. The thought of many over the years has been that the gears of round reels are bigger and stronger which allows easier cranking of deep running crankbaits. Personally, I have found very little difference between the two to really make this choice a factor. Your equipment has to be capable of very long casts to get a lure to hit the 20ft. mark. Reels require allot of skill to cast a crankbait 60 yards and beyond. This is the kind of distance that you need to really be effective. But once you get the right setup, you will be amazed how effortless long distance casting can be. Use a high speed reel. Todays high speed reels have plenty of power to bring in any bass. Making very long casts puts out allot of line. If you need to take up slack or retrieve a lure back in quickly to make another cast, then low speed reels can wear you out. As far as lure speed goes, you can control that factor. If you get into the rut of just chunk and wind then you are not concentrating. If you find yourself doing this allot, then go use another technique or go home and watch the game on T.V. Fishing line is the next factor. The best all around line is plain monofilament. 10lb. test is the standard. I throw 12lb. and I know of others that will even throw 6lb. to 8lb. test. Fishermen that use glass rods prefer copolymer line. They can get some of the feel back through their line that they are loosing by using glass rods. The problem with copolymer line is that the two parts of the line will eventually separate weakening the line. Unless you are willing to re-spool your reel after every trip, I would stay away from it. Braid is just too sensitive. You feel so much that you can?t distinguish if a fish hit your lure or bumped into a rock. You will be setting the hook all of the time. Plus you can?t get the casting distance from braid that you can with mono. Mono also has stretch to it. This can help with surging fish at the boat. If you really pay attention to what the fish is doing and adjust to fight him properly, then you will rarely loose a fish. Dropping line test will give you thinner line diameter and will add some depth to your lure. But you will not gain much. In truth you may gain about 6 inches in depth going from 12lb. test to 10lb. test. If you are fishing 12lb. test and need an extra foot of depth from your lure, then go to 8lb. test or even 6lb. Sound ridiculous? If you really need that lure to go deeper, then all I have to say is.... ?Whatever it takes?. The final consideration of this article is the selection of the crankbait itself. We all know that there are baits from companies on the common market that say they will hit the 20ft. mark. However, I am constantly reading comments from fishermen that these baits will not dive as deep as they claim. My first thought is that the equipment most fishermen are using is not capable of getting the distance that is required to get the bait to that depth. Hopefully the suggestions in the above paragraphs can help you to eliminate that factor. Take the time and really tune the crankbait that you are using. This will help both you and the lure tremendously. Most crankbaits use up a large percentage of the casting distance just reaching their maximum depth potential. Then the lure has to have enough distance to work the bottom once it reaches the desired depth. Remember, most store bought crankbaits travel in an arch. It goes down at an angle, works the bottom, and then comes back up at an angle. On a good cast a store bought crankbait on average is working in the strike area only 30 percent of the distance casted. Plastic crankbaits and commercial balsa crankbaits are just too buoyant. They take longer to reach maximum depth and when stopped they rise too fast. They also have a problem with spiraling as they rise. If you are REALLY SERIOUS about deep water crankbaiting, then a custom crankbait is the way to go. Do your homework and find a GOOD crankbait maker. Good crankbait makers will listen to your needs and concerns and either help you with the selection of one of their current lures, or design a lure that will get the job done for you. The performance of a well handmade crankbait is superior to anything that you can buy off of the shelf. Skeeter

Acetone will remove the Devcon. Skeeter

Beautiful job Trout! Excellent work on the details. Skeeter

Got this from the Klass Kote site: DURABILITY Continued, prolonged, outside exposures to ultra-violet light may cause some degree of oxidization (chalking) and/or induce slight color fading. Normal periods of exposure will not affect the film. In most conditions, KLASS KOTE will retain its outstanding protective integrity. The Devcon is NOT affecting the action of your lure. The problem is somewhere else. Skeeter

Excellent job! Beautiful paint schemes. Work like that does the site proud. Skeeter

I agree with Chip. You've done a beautiful job. Skeeter

If Devcon is going on yellow then you are doing it wrong..... period. Skeeter

Feels real damn good doesn't it Tally? I know how much work you put into that bait. Not only can you feel good about your skills, but you can also feel good that you KNOW what a deep running crankbait needs to do. Not many people really know. Congratulations my friend! Skeeter

If Craig puts a schematic of a bait on the board then I am completely comfortable that the thing is totally accurate. The reason there was no mention of a dowel rod was because they aren't used. Which also stresses the point that pros and magazines don't always know what they are talking about. Allot of so called great baitmakers don't have it all together either. If you are using the dowel rod then you are making a better constructed bait than the original. This is why most of us started making baits to begin with. We were tired of paying for garbage. There is no big commercial bait maker out there that can build baits as we do because it is too time consuming meaning they cannot maximize their profit making potential. Same with some custom baitmakers also. As with anything you need to do your homework. Skeeter

Real beautiful lure Chip ! You did an excellent job. Skeeter

Great jed, i think you should. we should all experiment and search for new methods. but you better get your fingers in shape in case that little feller your clearcoating needs an acetone rub down. Skeeter

all of the crankbaits in my box are ones that i make except for two... a norman deep tiny n and a bomber 6a. Skeeter

i have broken my wrist this week, so you guys are going to have to put up with my left handed typing for about 8 weeks. the only time that i ever had trouble with devcon delaminating was with a balsa bait that i did not seal completely. water got to the wood an the wood swelled causing the delamination and eventually a crack. I took a chip out of one other from sending it 70 mph into a basketball size rock. but the bait was still sealed. water could still not reach the paint. No need in worrying about the temp of the water with devcon. it does not effect it to cause failures. i know what some folks have said, but i have fished my baits in 42 deg water for 8 hrs and have never had a failure or spider webbing. the baits were smacking rock piles all day long. in my opinion something wasn't right. you guys use whatever you like. it is a personal preference. i am also changing my opinion..... i think that EVERYONE that makes lures should use something other than devcon to clearcoat their lures. devcon just doesn't cut it. i am going to order my envirotex and a big propane torch tommorrow!!!!! Skeeter

Great job Dave.... that bait oughta kick butt. Let us know how it does. Skeeter

Well I already know that the bait is made of hardwood. Lessen the weight by 1/16 oz. and try again. Or make your lures out of balsa, it is much more forgiving. Skeeter

I know Calvin and I know his baits. He lives about 30 miles from my home. He has been kind enough to share alot of information with me. I won't tell you what he uses to fill that void, I won't give away another craftsmans' secrets. The rattles are high quality glass rattles. I use the same ones. They are expensive. So much so that CJ bought his own machine and now produces his own. It is a single steel bearing in a glass tube. There are two sizes, 5mm and 7mm. The 5mm are the best. They have a much better "click" than the 7mm. The 7mm has a spring type sound to them. Your bait has the 5mm in it. The 5mm rattle is 1/2 inch wide. Skeeter

Chip. Are you saying that you are producing 415 lures a month?!!!!!! Dude, they would have to bury me if I did that. It is killing me right now just thinking about trying to produce that many. Skeeter

Personally I like the Smokey Joel. But they all look real good to me. The guy is lucky having you to make baits for him Chip. Especially since you have started using a premium clearcoat. Yep, those baits should last that guy a lifetime. Sure beats using that torch doesn't it? Skeeter

There WONDERFUL Coly. You're really getting off on this tape thing huh? The designs a really unique and look beautiful on the baits. Your painting has come a long way from a year ago. You do good work my friend. Skeeter