Spinner

I had the same issue. I have solved it by putting a very light coat on first, let it dry, then apply light coats until I reach the desired color. That first light coat seals the netting and generally does not allow the second coat to bleed through. Spinner

This has become a mission of mine. A few years back I grabbed some baits from the $1 bargain box and they ended up in Canada with me on Musky opener. Low and behold a cold front settled in and we continued to downsize lures until these found their way onto my line. They resulted in several Muskys up to 41inches. Not bad for a 4 inch $1 dollar minnow bait. My rational is some lure manufacturers must start with a low price to get in the store. Don't be afraid to try a few. Spinner

Interesting. One went right, one left. Were you able to determine why this happened? Were the baits similar in design? Spinner

Classy move. This site just gets better and better! Spinner

You know you're "hooked" when you find yourself lure shopping and thinking, "Ya, I could make that." Spinner

Baits look great. Enough already.....go fishin"!

Last Friday or Saturday mine arrived as well. Spinner

One thing I learned is to never change your bait until you have tried and tested the modification. I make several blanks, modify the lip setting several ways, then see which setting gives me the result I was looking for. Then I reproduce that version and paint, not the other way around. The little things can become big issues in building. Spinner

Got out this weekend before a front came in that dropped rain and temps. They were still hitting a bit short (it's still early for bass in Iowa) but ended up with 13, all on my own baits. Three I took pictures of and lost the best one of the group. Smiled all day, and into the next. Worked on these baits all winter and dreamed of how they would work. Nice when the actually do. There is nothing like catching fish with your own hand made creations. It does rock! Spinner

Finally got out this weekend to test run my "winter production" of crank baits. Most required little or no tuning except one. Of course, this is the one I really liked due to a paint job. How I can make the same model several times and have one not perform still baffles me. Skeeter, of course, is correct. I asked him the same questions you are about two years ago. Number one issue is weight. Low in the belly works best for me. Second is the "line of sight". Look down the bait and make sure the line is correct. Belly and back, hooks, and lip/tie is all in line with each other. If it blows or loops in the same direction, look for the imperfection that would allow this to happen. It is the little things. I have had a lip in straight, but it was deeper on one corner than the other. This allowed it to dig at one corner and caused it to loop as you have suggested. Hope some of this has helped. When you find the issue, make sure you add in a process to correct it when you build the bait. Document everything. This saves on the frustration index. Spinner.

I have been making flat sided crankbaits and they have performed well for me. I use my dremel with a small over-rounding bit to round the edges. I would like to try my hand at making baits that are a bit more oval. More of a taper at the top and bottom. Has anyone had success doing this without losing any fingers? I have hand-tapered baits but it is time consuming and difficult to keep balanced. Any ideas? Thanks. Spinner

I use one of the following methods to check a new blank. 1. Have a tight slot that will hold the bill for testing. 2. Add a drop of Gorilla glue. When you are done testing you can remove the lip, clean it off and use it again. Spinner

I use the dremel rounding over bit for small 2-2 1/4 inch bass lures. The dremel router table is a large enough platform to work off of and to keep fingers away. Speed is slow enough not to kick the wood and fast enough not to burn. Gives a consistent rounded edge for smaller baits. I have only ever found one bit, if you need/want more of a sloped corner this one bit won't do it. Spinner

Have you ever seen women at a baby shower? Instead of wrapping a gift in a box, it is now common to give a little decorative bag that contains the gift. Gift tissue is creatively "stuffed" into the top of the bag to hide the present. Back home we used to call it crepe (spelling?) paper. This may, in fact, have been invented by a man who could never figure out how to wrap a present. Spinner

I have worked with Aspen. It carves and sands well with little or no grain to contend with. I have not had any finishing problems with paint or clear coat. You do need to treat it like a hardwood. Buoyancy is completly different from cedar. If you use a model or design that works well with cedar and attach your hardware with no additional weighting, you may end up with a sinking bait. It is a nice wood to work with but has different charachteristics. Spinner