BobP

One waring about using a parallel connection between the starting and trolling motor batteries - if you run a sonar unit, don't do it! Sonars and GPS units are usually powered by the starting battery. In the case of sonar, you don't want any connection with the trolling motor because the electric motor in the TM will cause serious interference on your sonar.

Sluggos, Zoom Super Flukes, and the various other "stick baits" usually catch more fish when "deadsticked", or cast out and allowed to sink on a semi-slack line. I especially like the Super Fluke in clear water due to its fish-like profile, while the Yamamoto Senko is notable for its alluring shimmy as it sinks. Both are heavier and cast farther than the Sluggo, and they also sink faster. As for rigging any stick bait, I like a Gamakatsu 3/0 to 5/0 EWG worm hook, depending on the length of the bait. The 3/0 will work fine on a standard Sluggo. If you want a faster sink, the Gamakatsu EWG Superline hooks are heavier wire and weigh a little more than the standard EWG's. If you want to increase the action, you should also try rigging them "wacky style" with a 1/0 or 2/0 octopus hook inserted through the middle of the bait, just as you might hook a real nightcrawler worm. That rigging gives much more action when the bait is lightly twitched, and it "moves more water" and gets noticed faster by bass... but it is less snag resistant with the hook point exposed.

I've never heard of braid "chemically harming" any part of a reel. Never. Why would it? It's just polyester fiber. In the specific case of fishing in Canada, I would use a fluoro leader for 2 reasons. First, it is tougher to cut than braid and offers protection against bite-offs by those toothy critters that infest Canadian lakes:( Second, fluoro is less visible and will improve your bite ratio in clear water, even in Canada where the fish are "less educated" than down here in the U.S. If you fish without a leader in clear water, maybe you will still do OK if there are enough ignorant fish around, or small fish that are inexperienced. But fluoro will get bit more often by wary fish - including big fish that are more experienced with lures, or which are more cautious about what they bite (one reason they got big in the first place).

If you really aren't going to use the maps, there's actually no reason to have chartplotting or mapping on your GPS at all. I've never found lake outlines to be especially useful. Any unit, even a cheapo $100 portable, will mark waypoints and direct you back to them (yes, they have a screen that looks like a compass with the direction to the waypoint indicated by an arrow.). That said, I use a Humminbird 987C with full mapping and lake contour info on a Navionics cartridge, plus side imaging capability. Lots of $$$ but it's very nice if you fish offshore spots. If your "home lake" is on the Navionics cartridge, it is a very useful tool for doping out areas where fish should be as the seasons change. You WILL see areas you've never fished that you should be exploring. My "home lake" is a small 3500 acre power generation lake but it is on the Navionics cartridges. I'd never seen a contour map of the lake before I bought the cartridge (Hot Maps Premium East). It's worth a look-see on the Navionics site to see if your lake is on the cartridge. If it is, you should consider a more capable GPS with map cartridge capability (Lowrance, Eagle, and Humminbird use Navionics).

I've had the same problem in the past depending on the software used to view and resize jpeg photos. Unfortunately, some programs just don't work well with others. I downloaded Google's free PICASA photo album program a year ago and haven't had any problems since. It is a very nice program, easy to use. Picasa finds all the JPEG files on your computer and puts them in albums. It also has an easy camera-to-computer download feature. It can fix lighting and color problems. When I want to upload a pic to TU, I export the pic from Picasa to my "personal stuff" file on the computer in the size I want (often 640x480), and I specify that the resizing process retain the quality of the original (I don't really know how it crushes pixels, but it works). Then when it's time to upload to TU, I browse to my personal folder to find the resized jpeg. Works nice.

A clearcoat containing solvent, including ETEX epoxy, will make a solvent based ink run. If india ink is solvent based, it will run just like a Sharpie.

I use a fine point calligraphy pen ($2 at Michaels). Createx black is usually the last thing I put on a bait for the kill spot so I just dip the pen in the airbrush cup. It's acrylic latex paint and won't run. The black has very finely ground pigment and flows well. Some other colors may not.

MOST compressors sold commercially come with a regulator and dial, as a safety feature on units that develop enough pressure to be hazardous, and to allow the user to dial in the required pressure for different air tools. They aren't "built in" per se. Compressors are basically an assemblage of parts and the regulator is just screwed into the air outlet.

My answers are Yep and, uh, Yep. I can't speak to the durability of any particular tool compressor I haven't used, but that one seems like it's in the ballpark. I like that it has a 3 gal tank versus 1 or 2 gals on some compressors. The bigger the tank, the less often the compressor runs and the longer it lasts, all things equal. That black knob and dial on the side are the pressure regulator and gauge, btw.

A compressor pumps up to its maximum pressure when you turn it on, then cuts off. When you activate your airbrush, the pressure drops. The working pressure is the psi your compressor sustains with the airbrush running continuously. For large tool compressors, you may not even be able to notice the difference running an airbrush. For a small Chinese airbrush compressor, you definitely will. It may pump up to 35-40 lbs max psi (max psi is the always higher and so it's what they always advertise) but when you hit the trigger, the working pressure may drop to 15 psi - which is sub par. When air is compressed, then allowed to expand into your airbrush hose, the water vapor it carries condenses into droplets. The moisture trap collects that so it doesn't reach your airbrush. Most traps collect the water into a reservoir and you can empty them, so are permanent. Some use water attractive crystals that turn blue as they become saturated. You have to change the crystals in that type. A pressure regulator is a simple valve, like a water faucet, but for air. They often are sold with a pressure gauge attached. You can get all this stuff, plus a tool compressor and the fittings to connect it, and some PTFE plumber's tape, at most home centers. Bigger is better if you want a compressor that can be used to drive other tools. But most bait builders are satisfied with a small tool compressor that develops something in the 100-120 psi max range and has a 1 or 2 gallon air storage tank. Prices run $50 on up, depending where you buy them, the capacity, and the quality. The bigger the storage tank, the less often the unit will run so the quieter it will be. But keep in mind that a tool compressor, and even most small airbrush compressors are not quiet.

I can't say Trex has no place in lure building but IMO, you would be better off with a body material that has at least a slow float with hardware, lip and ballast included. Building crankbaits is a lot easier if you work with just a few body materials. E.g., as you work with balsa, you get a feel for its buoyancy and what it takes to build balsa baits that dive and swim the way you want - how it shapes, how much ballast it requires, how to best fit lips and hardware into balsa, and how to finish it. Switch to another body material and you start from scratch. Unless you plan to become a Trex crankbiat expert, I'd let it go. The cost of crankbait materials is insignificant compared to the work you put into them and their worth as fish catching lures.

As long as you have no problem painting over wet paint and have fully dry paint before you clearcoat, I don't see a difference.

I use DN over all the brands with no paint-associated problems.

I use a Dremel for shaping/sanding, drilling holes, sanding lips, you name it. I keep 2 so have a hot spare. The main problem with the basic 2 speed or variable speed Dremels with mechanical switches is wood dust gets inside and gums everything up over time. I haven't tried any of the higher end Dremels with electronic switches. You eventually become a Dremel service tech. They are simple, no internal "gotchas", and you can usually fix them easily. 90% of service is blowing out the dust, maybe replacing the motor brushes, and oiling the shaft bearings. Dremel has long 3-5 yr warranties and super good service. Send yours in and a replacement usually arrives the same week. I recently got a Foredom SR rotary tool. It's the hang up style tool, more powerful than a Dremel and can take bits with up to 1/4" shanks (Dremel is max 1/8"), has a foot control. I wanted the Foredom's larger diameter sanding drum because the little Dremel drums tend to dig in if you hit soft grain while rounding over baits. The Foredom is a nice tool, I just haven't gotten used to it, compared to 10+ yrs with a Dremel in my hand. I don't think the Foredom does anything better but it's more powerful. But lets face it, when you're hand shaping a 2" piece of wood, you aren't going to need lots of power because you better be using a light touch!

Yes, decking like Trex contains plastic and wood but I don't know if it's expanded PVC. I resurfaced my porch with a Trex-like product and it seemed heavier than pressure treated pine so I don't think it's expanded, in which case buoyancy would be a big ??. The white expanded PVC board is used mostly for exterior house trim, which is a non-traffic, light duty application.

You can use just about any sheet material for templates but I like frisket material that is made for the purpose. 2 things you want - a film you can cut easily with an Xacto knife, and a template you can bend to conform to the sides of a crankbait. Frisket material is a clear plastic film with a peel off paper backing. The tip I have for using it is to never remove the paper backing. If you do, it becomes a one-time template. Besides, the adhesive on the film is often strong enough to pull fresh paint off the lure. Leave the backing on, shoot one side, dry the template, reverse it and do the other side. Voila, both sides exactly the same. Then save the template for next time. Frisket material is sold in art and hobby stores.

I don't use lacquer so can't comment on it. I use various brands of acrylics including Polytranspar, Createx, Smith Wildlife, and Van Dykes. I mix and match brands and dry each "shot" with a hair dryer and have had no issues with different brands being incompatible. I like Createx as a base palette becaue their paint is very consistent. Smith Wildlife has some nice fish colors but I'll use any brand if the color's right. The single brand/color I use the most is Polytranspar Superhide White for color basecoating. It has lots of white pigment and covers wood grain fast, it sprays well, and it dries quickly to a hard gloss that's more durable than any airbrush paint I've tried.

Big eyes, small ones, painted ones, what color, 3D? It's an interesting question from the viewpoint of what catches fish. Do bass like to see eyes on a bait? Or do they bite faster if they can't see the eyes, and so can't be seen by them? I haven't been able to detect a difference among the eye choices in regard to catch ratios, so think it boils down to what the fisherman thinks looks good.

I usually take a carbide cylinder shaping bit and make recesses for 3D eyes, or at least flat areas for flat adhesive eyes. Plastic baits are usually thick skinned enough to do that. If you can't, or think it may drill through the plastic, it's usually better to paint the eyes in. Solvent clearcoats and stick-on eyes just don't get along that well. If you stick them on a curved surface, the solvent will often break them loose and you end up with a mess.

Hey, it's worth a try but my experience is that I need a heavily pigmented white color basecoat to really hide wood grain, so I'm doubtful that mixing some white paint into an epoxy undercoat would be enough to get the opaque basecoat I want.

Amen, go with braided hose. In the specific case of a Revolution BR, you will probably use it for all stages of bait painting since its .3mm tip is large enough for color basecoating but fine enough to do the rest too. Until you feel the need to add another airbrush to your tool kit, you probably won't need to worry about hose adapters for different brands, manifolds, quick disconnects, etc.

Low pressure (I go 10-12psi), thinner paint, closer (maybe take off the airbrush tip guard), a steady hand and good trigger control. To me, it's the hardest thing, especially when you need to do it the same for 2 sides of the bait. The solution I choose is using templates. Fast, no drama, and the results are identical on both sides. Plus you can use the template many more times to do other baits.

You see cutouts on the rear of lots of airbrushes, for the reason 68KF said. On an Iwata HP+, there's also an external nut on the very back of the brush that controls how far back you can pull the trigger and thus, how much paint you can release. I never use mine. The MAC air valve is a knob on the bottom front of some higher cost Iwata brushes that controls the air pressure used by the airbrush. It's entirely redundant with the pressure contol knob on your compressor system but it can be handy if that pressure control knob is not in a handy place. It is the latest "extra cost feature" for Iwata airbrushes but it comes at a premium price for what it does. Some guys like it. When all is said and done, what I want an airbrush to do is atomize paint well, shoot a good consistent spray cone, and be durable. It's too easy to lose sight of what's important with all the little gimmicks that are available.

I think we hobby and custom builders/painters tend to put on a belt on AND suspenders when we get up in the morning, and then treat crankbaits the same way - there's no such thing as overkill! Can't be too durable! Can't have too much protection! If one coat is good, 10 coats must be better! Sometimes we can go too far. I dip in DN and let it dry for 24 hrs, then usually dip a second coat. If you dip again too soon, you get blemishes. To me, an immutable law of crankbait finish is "The more you do to it, the more often you will screw up". So I'm experimenting with one dip of DN on bass baits to see if that's enough. Results seem good so far.

I got a Revolution BR about a year ago, new on EBay for about $70. I'm not an Iwata expert, didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and have never used an Eclipse so can't comment on whether one is better than the other, or why. I can only say I like the Revolution BR just fine. It's every bit as good quality-wise as an HP model (which I also use), just with a larger tip and without "nice to have but unnecessary features" like a trigger stop or a MAC valve for air control. JMHO, you would want a large cup or even a syphon feed brush with a big reservoir if you paint large items but the ?1/16? oz B cup is the right size and small enough no to get in the way visually on crankbaits.