scoop10

Good friend of mine, and his, told me that he wanted to get rid of the business lock, stock and barrel. Said he's not interested in selling off the equipment piecemeal. Apparently, Ed Chambers looked at some of the equipment and made some offers on equipment, but again, Jerry wants to sell it all together, including the name. With that $30,000 on the "Buy It Now" deal, that may not be a bad price for buying the business itself and getting the "Lohr" name. Although he may also have an inventory of baits that he is still planning on selling for a while. If you want to know what a Lohr's lure is, go to bubbajackstackle.com

If one misses the hooks, maybe he'll get his nose stuck in that hole. Which reminds me, I once caught a 5-6 lb. bass on a Norman's DD-22 that didn't have a single hook in the fish. The bait was wedged lengthwise in her mouth, bill to tail, and she was unable to spit it.

Using acrylics is no guarantee at all that you won't have moisture problems. A bead of water shot thru your air hose just as the paint is pushing out of your gun will create a problem no matter the type of paint. Kiken, I had a lot of problems with moisture using what was a cheaper brand compressor designed for air brushes. Switched to one of the name brand, cheap Lowe's-bought compressors and haven't had a problem with or without a moisture trap. I would think in Georgia, in the summertime, moisture could certainly be a problem.

put the lip in the bait, then put masking tape over the remaining exposed lip. Take out. Measure from where the tape begins at the point where it met the bait's nose TO the end of the lip (in other words, along the length of the longest line covered by the tape). The hole(s) should be drilled at around 40 percent of that length from nose. You'll also want to center by measuring from side to side, and dividing into equal halves.

^mircata, also called g10. I believe most of the stuff in its industrial uses is green or black. Hoodaddy, why don't you post a pic? Skeeter, I'm sure has done far more experimenting and understands the physics more than I do. But one thought is, you need to apply what he says not only as it relates to the where the line-tie is on the bill, but how it relates to the bait as a whole. For example, I saw a bait posted on here a while back (don't remember whose) that I was certain wouldn't run because, even though the line tie was around the middle of the lip, the lip was positioned so far down on the bait (away from the nose) and at such an angle, that the line-tie was effectively behind (or inside of) the nose, if that makes sense. Of course, the fact that I put together a similar bait three or four years ago, which did nothing but roll, also made me understand the problem.

Think Bob has the right idea. Keep it under cover until you are ready to put it out there in sufficient quantity to make some money. At that point, if you've got a good marketing plan, you might make money on it for two seasons. The other option, imo, is to give a dozen away to some good fishermen that you know. Before long, they are their buddies will be coming to you wanting to buy it and more, and it will become one of those secret lures that a handful of guys in the know covet.

Nice stuff. Noticing your last bait there made me curious: Do redfish (or puppy drum, as we call them up here) eat little redfish?

Cool. Glad the second coat of epoxy worked out.

Just to reiterate, if you hadn't been able to scratch that paint off, I'd want some of that stuff. Certainly, the drier it is, the more likely an acrylic paint is to adhere without scratching off. But it perfectly normal for paint to come off until you put a finish on it. You have to be careful with painted lures until you have a finish on them.

Come on, Skeeter. If I didn't listen to you and Tally and some others here, I wouldn't know nothing. (BTW, sorry I never got back to you about those baits last summer. Between some unexpected expenses and high gas prices, my finances got real tight.) Also, Jason, I don't ever try to cover more than one lure at a time with a mixture of Devcon. I'm sure I waste more of the stuff that way, but IMO, just not worth the chance of messing up a lure you've poured time and energy into painting and/or carving.

One more tip: Those 1 oz or 2 oz plastic containers that are used for to-go salad dressing or ketchup make great little mixing cups. You can buy them at any restaurant supply store for around $5 for 250. One of my problems starting out was that I was mixing in too large a cup. The smaller containers make it easier.

Jason, you wisely did not follow this tutorial in detail. For starters, 5-minute epoxy has less working time than 2-ton and will eventually yellow. I have used a single drop of denatured alcohol to thin epoxy, but it's probably unnecessary and using any more could create problems. Putting your finger on a bait to test tackiness isn't a good idea, because you'll leave a partial fingerprint on it. Just put the bait on a drying wheel and let it stay there overnight. One thing not included is that flashing the lure with a hairdryer on low (and not too close), once the epoxy is applied, will help even out the finish and help get rid of bubbles.

Jason, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if it is still tacky that means you probably did not mix it thoroughly or long enough. Normally, 12 hours is more than enough. When I first started using the stuff, I had cases where I'd have tacky spots on the bait, and this was the reason. You can put another coat over that coat to correct the problem.

With a smaller band saw (9 in.) and a 1/8 in. blade, you can do most cuts with no problem. Even with a 1/4 in. blade, I rarely run into problems. And you can always make a relief cut if you're trying to make a really tight turn. A scroll saw might be fine for balsa, but I can't imagine how it would be with harder woods. Cutting eastern cedar, I ruin enough 1/8 inch band saw blades.

kelly at lurehardware.com might be someone to talk to. Also, the guy who owns on-the-line crankbaits may be a possibility.

finlander, I believe many of the posts here are referring to western cedar. Eastern cedar is harder than basswood and will hold eye screws no problem.

I know what a redfin is. what's a wiggle diggle?

fishpork, I think what you read is that some people drill their belly hole before doing the final shaping, which helps them to get the hole centered properly and serves as a "landmark" in evenly shaping the bait. If you do that, you may still have to go back and add some depth to the hole after taking off some material.

He better have a billion, because that's about what it will take. or maybe Ledford will sue him, since he's been making these baits for longer than Radchad. This is just another one of the deals where all anyone has to do is create some modifications to the basic design and they would never lose. Now, obviously someone can hire a lawyer and intimidate people. Some poor shmuck making lures out of his garage wouldn't have a chance. But just wait 'til one of the big boys goes and pays Ledford or someone else $50,000 for the rights to the name of their bait (and that's what they'll pay for, naming rights), then sells it and dares Radchad to sue. They'll be able to claim - "my bait was first." In two years time, there will be five or six "chatterbaits" on the market.

they also make gold and silver leafing pens, which are fun to play around with. I'll also try to post some pics on here of a bait that I did with Silver leafing. One side turned out very good. The other, I ended up having to go over with a leafing pen to cover a couple of holes. The nice thing about leafing is that it is so thin you can paint directly over it without having to devcon over it first to get rid of the foil line. But as said, the bad thing is that wrinkles and tears so easily, and it ain't cheap.