BobP

Thru-wire on soft balsa bass baits. Screw eyes just aren't durable for that IMO. Anything else, screw eyes - but only hand wound ss wire screws. They offer more glue surface, are less obtrusive, and make it easy to install split rings without bending them.

Wood for me. Simply because wood has been productive so I've not tried anything else.

I think Vodkaman has it. If you cast a crankbait 100' it has a dive profile to max depth but soon after starts rising back to the boat. Most crankbaits stay at max depth for only 15-20 ft. When you troll the same bait, it has the same initial dive profile. But after reaching max depth, it doesn't get upward force applied to. In fact, the line angle that caused it to dive can keep getting more acute as you pay out more line. The bait keeps working deeper until upward line drag, bait bouyancy and lip resistance reach equilibrium. Lots of baits that cast to 15-18 ft will troll 30 or 35 ft if you let 150-250 ft of line out and you're using thin braided line or wire.

We're limited in ability to imitate prey color and pattern, which can be highly variable according to the specific body of water, subspecies, time of year, what they've been feeding on, how deep they're living, sunlight penetration, etc, etc (not to mention painting skill!). If a crankbait roughly resembles a prey species like shad and looks alive, chances are a bass will hit it simply because it looks different and is behaving differently than other shad. That's what bass key on first. So how close does the color pattern have to be? Just IMO, not so exact that I have to spend 8 hrs painting each one. Practicality enters into the equation, as does the experience of thousands of fishermen using simple color schemes to catch bass. I've caught too many bass on solid white pearl baits to discount the appeal of simple patterns.

I use Dick Nite poly. Don't think there's an alligator clip that will hold a 3/4 oz Trap securely if it's wet with clearcoat. I put wire hangers on the line tie and back hook hanger and alternate the lure up/down for a few minutes until the DN's solvent flashes off. Same routine with epoxy,

1. Brown craw, chartreuse or orange belly, black and gold accent colors 2. Firetiger These are the ones that appeal to ME. The bass have their own opinions and I try to listen attentively.

Prop baits - They're easy in concept but the props can be a little fussy to install. You won't need much ballast on a basswood prop bait since the wood is fairly heavy and the hooks act as ballast. Basswood is plenty durable. I say go crazy and put props on both ends for more commotion. Ideally, finish the bait to the point where the hook hangers are installed and the wood has been waterproofed, then install some hooks and do a float test to determine if/where ballast is needed. When you order props, also order some stainless steel wire shafts with the pre-formed loop at one end for the prop shafts. I use .040" wire and size 5 props. Use spinnerbait metal beads as bearings for the props. A refinement is to mount the props on buzzbait rivets so they'll stay straight and spin a little more freely. Maybe you can find some slick asian props locally, the ones that are made with a ball bearing as used on some Japanese baits. Throw on a couple of #4 trebles and you're set. I ordered my parts from: http://www.upnorthoutdoors.com/stamina/tips.html

It may also be a matter of technique. If you're using a good brush and wetting out the bait surface properly, you'll seldom see bubbles in the finished product. I always have bubbles in my Devcon, sometimes it's even milky from all the air whipped into it. But as I brush it out on the lure the bubbles disappear. You never want to feel your brush drag on dry lure surface when you brush epoxy. Keep the brush filled so it goes on smoothly and you'll have fewer problems. I use inexpensive but good quality flat artist brushes and clean them with acetone afterwards. My last set of 5 brushes have lasted 2 yrs and counting.

Considering how well I have to mix Devcon 2T to get a good hard clearcoat, I just don't believe you can shoot it through a mix nozzle and get similar results. Maybe it's fine for gluing stuff together but unless they change the formulation too, I'm doubtful.

A sanding sealer's purpose is to close off the wood grain so it won't rise when hit by paint. A primer's purpose may be twofold - either to stop staining when painting oily woods like red cedar, or to promote the adhesion of subsequent paint layers. Some coatings do more than one job, so terminology can be confusing. For non-oily woods, a simple routine is to use a 50/50 solution of Devcon Two Ton epoxy mixed with acetone as a sealer/waterproofer, then shoot a white acrylic latex basecoat, then colors, and top it off with straight Devcon Two Ton as a clearcoat.

Wikipedia to the rescue! Methylated spirit is the Brit equivalent of denatured alcohol here in the U.S. It is ethyl alcohol to which has been added one or several chemicals to render it undrinkable. Undrinkable = denatured. To bad, I feel like drinking my airbrush cleaner some days but can't afford to use Jameson to clean my airbrush.

In my experience, the Jann's bodies are more uniform and have a better primer. The only problem with ready-mades is the lip slots are usually not cut and it can be difficult to cut a straight lip slot in a bait that is already fully shaped.

I like building "extreme" action baits too because they have lots of action while being retrieved short distances. Not a great bait to burn over a grass bed but its often just the thing for aggravating a fish to bite in a laydown tree or other heavy shore cover. Great substitute for a spinnerbait some days.

If you didn't do it this time, it's more accurate to cut the lip slot when you first cut out the bait profile and it's still "square". Cutting a straight slot on finished bait that has no flat sides is not easy. When I replace the lip on an existing bait, I cut the slot large so there's some wiggle room to adjust the lip straight even if the slot isn't. Gluing the lip in is straightforward. Dry fit it to make sure it's straight, then mix a little 5 min epoxy and use a piece of wire to work it into the slot, making sure all the interior slot surface gets wetted out. I like the slot to be about half full of glue. Then stick in the lip, adjust it straight and wipe off the epoxy that squeezed out the sides. You don't need to apply epoxy to both the slot and the lip. If you do, epoxy will squeeze out the front of the slot onto the lip, and it's hard to wipe off without messing up the lip. It doesn't take much epoxy for a durable lip installation. The epoxy clearcoat you'll brush on later will fill in any gaps and reinforce the job. Check the straightness of the lip from several angles, sighting down from the top of the bait and down the bottom from the tail, using the hook hangers as an index. In 5 mins, it will be permanent.

Maybe it boils down to preferences and specific fishing conditions. If I'm fishing a brush pile that's holding bass in 20 ft of water, I prefer a slow floating crankbait. I can get it back 90% of the time if it snags without using a lure retriever. I like that because I don't want to put my boat over the top of the cover and lower a heavy weight to the brush pile to bang it around and snag my lure, disturbing the bass, which will certainly be gone in short order. Tournament anglers routinely break off snagged crankbaits to avoid disturbing the fish in such circumstances. I'm a pleasure fisherman so don't go to that extreme but on the highly pressured lakes where I fish, I don't want to want to ruin a good fishing spot either if it can be avoided. So for me, a slow floating bait is more practical.

Bubbling paint in the cup signifies the airbrush tip is getting clogged. Thin your paint down to the consistency of milk. When air is released into the mix chamber of the brush, it has 2 possible outlets - the tip, where it should be going, or the paint cup, where it shouldn't.

Rofish, all crankbaits eventually snag on cover if they are fished properly. You can usually get a floating crankbait back. It "wants" to back off snags and float to the surface. That's not true of sinking crankbaits. A second consideration is action. The heavier a crankbait is, the harder it is to get good action from it. When you talk about very heavy crankbaits, I think you're slipping from the crankbait universe into jigs. We're crankbait makers and afficionados. But if the bass are 30 ft deep, I say forget it and throw a carolina rig or a spoon. It's the difference between feasible and practical.

Ideal is 70 degrees and up. Possible is anything above freezing. I paint in the garage year round as long as my fingers can stand the cold. And I always flash dry acrylic latex with a hair dryer. I'll take baits inside to cure an epoxy clearcoat but they will cure in the garage, just a little slower. You should have no problems in San Angelo.

OK, talking casting and not trolling: As of 2000 per Mark Romanack's "Precision Casting", the deepest crankbait among off-the-shelf commercial cranks was the 3/4 oz Luhr Jensen Hot Lips Express at 22 ft on 10 lb line. It's ALMOST surprising how "deep divers" like the DD-22 actually run 16-18 ft. They must test those things on 2 lb test in a whirlpool. My buddy sez he has a Brian's Bee 24 that will do 23-24 ft. Maybe. They have a BIG body, a HUGE lip and weight 1 1/4 oz. How long would you want to cast THAT on 8 lb line? Getting a floating crankbait past 20ft is difficult and most times, like Mark P sez, you're better off opting for a jigging spoon, blade bait, jig, or carolina rig. Something that sinks. C-rigging a floating crankbait is also an option. But there are a few crazies around that love to fish extreme deep crankbaits. A few of the custom builders here on TU facilitate their mental illness But beyond 25 ft with a slow floating crankbait? I just don't believe it.

Well, here's some info from Wikipedia: lacquer is a paint containing lacquer thinner and usually nitrocellulose (a wood product) with resins to provide flexibility. Acrylic latex is water based paint containing synthetic polymers like acrylic and vinyl acrylic as binders. It has no actual latex content. The more acrylic it has the better the paint and higher the price. Enamel is a generic term that nowadays means only "hard surface paint". It formerly was a term used to describe generic oil based paint but now there are water based "acylic enamels". As to what primers/paints/clearcoats can be used in combination, it's a crap shoot unless you use matched products from one family of one manufacturer's coatings. You can largely avoid the issue by using epoxy as a waterproofer and a clearcoat (it is basically inert after curing) and sandwiching color between them. That lets you spray acrylic latex paint that contains no VOC's and has very few toxic effects. The other "school" of crankbait paint is lacquer based paints. They have a nice sheen and color quality that some prefer over acrylics, but of course you should wear a NIOSH approved face mask when spraying them. You have to experiment with solvent based coatings to see if they are compatible. It's not possible to tell from just reading the contents on the can. Typically, you need to use an extended drying time between solvent based coatings to allow all of the VOC's to evaporate before the next coating is applied. IMO guys make crankbait paint harder than it has to be. I stick to epoxy or propionate for undercoats, acrylic for color, and Devcon 2T or Dick Nite polyurethane for clearcoat. It works for me and I don't have to worry about paint disasters very often.

Member Submitted Tutorials - It's sort of a case of "you can't get there from here". But you can if you: Click on FORUMS at the top of this page Click on Member Submitted Tutorials on the bottom of that page. Scroll down to the bottom of the results and change "Last 100 days" to "Beginning" That will display all the tutorials that exist on TU.

The most rod shaking deep divers I've fished are balsa, like the Brian's Bee 24 or the Sisson P-20 and I think that's due to weight distribution, particularly the lower center of gravity in a balsa versus a plastic bait, just like on shallow divers. I do think the line at depth and at distance doesn't transmit thump very easily, especially the 8 and 10 lb line often used on deep divers. But I don't think the pressure at depth is so great as to "crush" wood or the air inside, else we'd be seeing mangled balsa deep divers coming back to the boat...and we don't. It wouldn't surprise me if the added pressure and water density at depth dampens the wiggle at bit. Back to PB's question, I think balsa and plastic deep divers will act the same, all other build features held equal (but they never are).

Player's choice. 220 leaves marks that can show in the final finish and it's is fast enough to erase body details that I like to preserve, so I mostly use 400. KcDano is right about a blast cabinet if you do alot of repainting. Here's one tip: buy some Norton 3X sandpaper. It's by far the best I've used. A single 1"x3" piece will sand a dozen basswood baits.

Several TU guys use Windex to thin. I've tried it but didn't see enough difference from plain water to change over. Plus, I figure Windex has some soap in it and that probably acts to delay/retard/reduce the cohesion of the paint particles. I do use Windex to clean my brush between colors.

It scrubs clean with a toothbrush and dish soap.