clemmy

Amazing that they’re using microwaves and a sausage grinder at that level. Just thought those pouring (I don’t anymore unfortunately) would enjoy it. Clemmy

Thanks all for the advice! I guess I need to start taking pictures and inventory, lol.

Quick question: How does one ship colorant? I have a ton of colorant, almost all unused. I never was able to set up my shop due to health, and looks like now it won’t be possible. Anyway, I have about a 30 gallon tubs worth, mostly from MF, LC and Bears, but no clue what the shipping legalities are at this point. Has anyone looked into this? Thanks, Craig

Hey Guys, I haven’t been on in ages, unfortunately health curtailed my baitmaking. I got rid of all my soft plastic stuff, but am going up north on a fishing trip to LotW in Minnesota in a month, and I had a simple dipped tube color idea I wanted to try, and was wondering if anyone knew of any company still custom dipping tubes instead of molding? Thanks, Craig

Hello All, I was thinking on making some bladed Chatterbait style baits for a trip to Minnesota. I was just wondering if anyone has ever compared the hunting action of a 90 degree jighead vs. a 60 or 30 degree like is normally used? Just wondering what if any action change happens for a given blade setup. Thanks, Craig

We don’t need no stink’n badges!

As Travis said, Swede was the one that used to provide the pellets before he passed. His source was the same as Rapala. I remember that there was different characteristics of propionate, so yo using the correct one was important. If any can read Finnish, I’m sure the info is common knowledge on their luremaking forum.

Hello, Just wondering if ProTec”s Orange glow powder paint actually glows orange? I know some products are colored but still glow green. Thanks, Craig

Monte is correct

Jeff is spot on. Think of it in terms of fine art. You can try to make a version of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, but it would look horrible in comparison to a master. There is also so much you can do with finishes/technique in terms of basecoats, layering, foils, candies, textures, effects, fades, etc. And there is research on why you are painting in this pattern/manner. Have you researched vision, color transmission, strike triggers, various types of contrast? You need to know the depth a certain bait is used at, and what way it is fished and at what time of year. Even clearcoating can give you an edge in clarity, scratch resistance, impact resistance, etc. If you’ve put the years of practice, research, etc. in, I think it will show compared a fly by night person that thinks it’s easy. Craig

Are you looking for color change paint or interference, as you mention both. Not sure what’s wrong with Createx or Golden? Many airbrush paints offer interference colors, including taxidermy airbrush paints, and even acrylic inks. For color change you could try the FolkArt craft paints, I’ve read here that folks like them thinned with a .5 airbrush tip. Another option would be buying the powder and adding to your clear. A limiting factor on any would be your airbrush tip size. Most would likely not work well with a .2 or .18 tip.

Not tried a Spike it, but JJ’s Magic dyes silicone skirting well. It crinkles up at first, but then relaxes again as the dye dries. Craig

Dave, Don’t forget it’s not just the COG, but the distribution. 20 grams at each end of a bait (or in whatever axis) would be a lot different than 40 grams near the COG. Craig

It wouldn’t be too hard if you know someone that scubas. That’s essentially what M. Romanack did for the precision trolling/casting. Had divers with poles marked every foot and watched what level the bait went buy at. F. Prokop in Australia used a universities flume tank for his book, Don’t forget unless you are taking about trolling the castability of a bait will have a major effect on the running depth. Craig

Dave, The original question was what would you do if a big company wanted 10k baits a month. Nice problem to have I guess, but the only option for most of us would be either: A) Outsource to someplace with cheap labor like China, Vietnam or in your case Indonesia. Your plan sounds like essentially you are outsourcing to yourself. Nice thing about that would be you would be there for quality control. B ) Sell your bait to an established company. I believe RAD lures actually did both with the Chatterbait. They got more orders than they could handle, so outsourced to Vietnam (GLC if I remember correctly), then eventually sold out to Z Man. Of course they had a patent which helped. The marketing, etc. issues are very real, as is distribution, etc. but the premise was you already have a 10k/Month order. Now if one were independently wealthy, or slowly built up the business, one might ramp up production and tooling. But this wouldn’t help with sudden large orders like if your bait won a major tournament. Craig