Coley

The Devcon clearcoat is called 2 Ton Epoxy. Like Chip says you will have to rotate your bait to keep the epoxy from sagging. I will assume the tn infront of brian stands for Tennessee. I live in TN, the Columbia area, I have a good friend around Waverly, and one in Smyrna that make baits. Are you close, hands on is the best teacher. And finally, no matter how good your confidence gets, don't call Chip about Envirotex, he put you on the best stuff to start with. I believe he has stock in the company. Donot use the Devcon 5 min epoxy. You probably won't be able to finish a bait before it starts to set up and it will turn yellow before the sun comes up. Coley

Welcome Vinny, we are always glad to have new members to share with. Looking forward to your posts. Coley

No, not silly. Super neat, I agree with Deadly on that. Coley

You can tell what I did by looking at pic. It swims better this way than it does forward.

I realize it's not important to some, but it is to me. You good photographers out there. How do you take a good picture of a bait, up close without the flash reflecting on the bait?? And keep the photo clear and not grainy?? Coley

Yea, it kinda looks that way. You did a good job. Coley

Thanks a million guys. I am terribly addicted to this hobby. Always looking for something different. An easier way to do things. Those designs are not paint, they are oversize commas cut from thin vinyl. The eyes, unless 3 D are the same. The baits really look better than the pictures. The vinyl is so thin you can't feel it under the devcon. Coley

Several new ones. Black ones, Red ones and orange ones. Moved to Gallery Coley

They look good as always Chip. I notice your name is signed different on the center shad than the other two. Are any of these decals?? Coley

Cody, after you glued your photo onto the wood, did you give it a coat of Devcon 2T before any painting was done? Coley

That's just great, kid's is what its all about. Here's my 7 yr. grandson old with his first catfish. We caught 16 and he got to reel all of them in. Coley

Hey Jerry, like the new opening page. It's a nice facelift to a great site. You said you didn't have time to fish, if there is anyway I can help you with the site, I will be glad to do so. I am retired and have the time. About the only thing I know about computers is how to turn it on, but I am willing to learn. Coley

I could be wrong, but I think the inkjet will only run if it gets wet. My photo finish baits are not sealed with anything before applying to my baits. I used titebond (water based glue) to attach the pic to my wood and devcon 2T for my first clear coat. I used regular white printer paper to print my pics on. Coley

Welcome back Chip, I understood where both of you were coming from. Lets forget it and get on with luremaking, that's what were here for. Coley

Go here and scroll down about 8 posts. You will find a lot of information on how to do this. http://www.tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=2094&highlight= Coley

Riverman, if your drilling through at an angle on a flat sided bait, then your drill bit and your table are not lined up properly or your drilling through too fast. This will cause a small bit to wander off. Coley

What I have found with a bait leaning to one side or the other is, that the weight is off center or not enough weight. If your bait is 3/4 under water, amount of weight is not the problem. Also, hooks and line tie need to be in a straight line. Try twisting the line tie a little to the right, this is called tuning. Then bend it over to the right, all this facing the front of the bait. It just sounds like weight off center to me. Coley

Your craw bait looks great. If you want to try something interesting, put the lip in the rear of the dbait. I tested one like that today, it swims better backwards than it does forward. Nice tight wiggle. I had to add small split shot just behind the lip slot to get lip down. I guess moving the hook to the front end raised the tail a tad. Coley

Yes, you have to sand the shine off the the epoxy or the paint won't stick. It will bead up. Coley

Your right, you get what you pay for. I bought a Grizzly mini-lathe over a year ago. It's still going strong. I turn pens and lures on it. Cast iron base, tool rest and variable speed 0-4500 with turn of a dial. Grizzly is huge and they have excellent tools. About a month ago I bought their ultimate 14" bandsaw. I will put it up against any 14" saw out there for quality and features. Coley

Hey dtrs5kprs, I cut the lip slot the last thing. The reason I want to cut it while I cut the bait out is this: The slot will tell me if I have a perfect alignment between table and blade and that the rest of the bait is square. And I want my lures to be identical as possible. I have a 14" Grizzly bandsaw, blade flex is not a problem. If you look across the top edge of the lip slot in the blocks in the picture you will see a perfectly straight line, this tells me everything is ok. If you had a small misalignment in in your saw, you could wait until you sliced the baits up to cut the lip slot. But, it seems to me, if you sliced them without aligning the table and the blade, you will just compound the problem. Coley

Thanks Joe, the top bait in the picture looks like it has a Jann's 340-109 lip in it. Is that right?? Thats exactly what I am doing. I have two made from western cedar and the action is unreal. It wiggles very hard on a horizontal axis. Vibration in the rod tip is very strong. I am wanting to make some out of balsa to see what they will do. Thanks, Coley

I would like to know what the action is of a dbait?? What would the action be if you moved the line tie away from the bait and down the lip about 1/2"?? Coley

I have done that too, Skeeter. I have bent the cotter pin in all kind of shapes. I have tried to pull them out of baits and they will not come. You will tear the bait up trying. You can get the cotter pin outside the bait and twist it into, leaving the lead and all inside. I use this method for several reasons. Lead is a pain in the rear to drill. The cotter pin is cheap and easy to put a split ring on. I can buy egg sinkers and others fairly cheap, the guy at the bait shop charged me .03 for a 1/4 oz. That's cheaper than I can fool around making them. Coley

I have read a lot about adding weight and hook hangers to balsa baits. I use a 1/16 " x 1 1/4" 18-8 SS cotter pin. I also use an egg sinker. The sinkers come in many different sizes. Put the cotter pin through the egg sinker ( no drilling required) and bend it down into a "U" shape. Drill the hole in the balsa deep enough to accept the weight and cotter pin. Put some epoxy into the hole and push the weight in just below the edge of the hole. The epoxy will flow around the "U" bend in the cotter pin holding it in. Picture tells the story. Coley