BobP

Yes the line tie placement affects the bait's action. It's not really a choice. Baits designed to dive up to about 5 ft usually have line ties on the bait body. Deeper divers usually have line ties on the lip. It gets harder to control a "nose tie" bait as the lip length increases. Somewhere around a 5' diver, they start to become uncontrollable and it's time to put the tie out on the lip. You'll see the principle play out if you take a look at the commercial crankbaits in your tackle box and note where the line ties change over from body to lip.

Unless it's cracked and taking on water, I'd think it has to be using different line, say sinking fluoro versus mono, or maybe you changed the trebles out? It's gotta obey the laws of physics.

Beautiful job! Almost too pretty to get wet. BTW, are the body segments cast from foam?

In the Createx line, their transparent paints are good for shading colors over underlying colors, or to spray over a clear plastic bait for a see-thru translucent effect like a watermelon plastic worm. Getting a particular color effect is hard to formulate. It depends on the underlying surface; clear plastic, white undercoated wood, foil, etc., the brand of paint, how much paint you apply, and what you picture in your mind's eye as the right color. But I think a bright green transparent Createx would be the best starting point. For green pumpkin, start with olive green. Mist the paint on thinly and build it up until you have the shade you want. Hope this helps.

Yeah, I was definitely having a senior moment. As far as fixing rise rates, the only sure way I know is to float the finished lure in the correct temp water and adjust ballast until it behaves. Hanging lead solder on the trebles works well and is easy to adjust. Then drill a hole, melt in the solder and patch.

Duh! I shoulda realized that was backwards! Benton, if it rises slowly at 70 deg, it will rise faster at 50 deg.

I don't think a valid scientific study about crankbait colors exists. At least those lab coated Berkley "scientists" haven't published it yet. I'm not sure one is possible (too many uncontrolled independent variables) so what we're left with are anecdotes based on experience and what guys believe to be true. You can hardly find a statement about color from anyone (including pro fishermen!) that isn't diametrically opposed by an equivalent authority. What works for me is trying to strike a balance. Not too wild, not too "natural". I want the crankbait I'm fishing to be seen but not so different from real prey that it's glaringly obvious. There I go again - what do bass see as "obvious"? I haven't a clue, nor does anyone else! But to me, balance means using classic crankbait colors but playing with details like color strength, shading, reflectivity and color accents. It's still crustacean dark brown or green for crawfish. It's still silver or white with a darker back for shad, etc. Basic, but playing with the details can make a difference.

Depends on how close it is to neutral bouyancy (i.e., suspending). In general, I doubt a 20 deg change would make most slow floaters sink. Other factors also come into it. If you're using fluoro line, which sinks, on the slow floater, changing to mono would probably make it still float in 20 deg cooler water.

OK, I'm no physicist, but it seems to me that the less "play" the treble has, the easier it is for the fish to leverage the bait and throw the hook. I've even heard of guys putting 2 or more split rings on baits to give the fish less leverage to throw a hook. For the same reason, many tail spinners only have a hole from top to bottom with no hook attachment to the lure itself. You tie directly to the treble and the lure slides up the line when a fish has it. No chance to gain leverage and throw the bait. So why does having NO split ring improve things? I just can't see it. I've broken hooks trying to cut the tempered steel eye and crimp them on a lure (a Chatterbait copy). Even when successful, I always felt hinky about how long the hook eye would last before it failed.

Scroll vs Band - scrollsaws are best at cutting intricate shapes on thin sheets of wood. The blade has a thin kerf, smaller teeth, and is narrower front to back than a bandsaw. It vibrates rapidly up/down, cutting only on the downstroke. A scrollsaw will get the job done, but it is slower than a bandsaw when cutting thicker wood. While scrollsaws CAN cut wood up to 2" thick, it is quite tedious to cut 1" thick hardwood on one. The bandsaw has a continuous cut and the saw teeth are larger, so it cuts much faster. JMHO, soft balsa cuts so easily that either does a good fast job on it. Hardwood is a different story, and where the bandsaw comes out on top.

Scales and 3D details: I do feel detail can make a bait more attractive to fish in clear water situations. For me, it's a balance between the trouble it takes to do versus the fishing results I expect. It can certainly make some fishermen more confident about the bait. I use scale netting and stencils to paint body details. I have a crawfish bait on which I like to carve out the body segments. None of it takes much time or trouble and that's the balance I feel is right for the baits I like to fish.

I just squirt it into a shot glass and stir. If you need info on color combos, you can get a "color wheel" at a craft or art center that tells you what mixed colors produce what result. But I just guestimate.

To answer Pikeman's question directly - yes, I think natural color baits catch more fish. Wild colors may whack'em occasionally but over time, I believe the natural colors will outfish them. I'm not necessarily talking about photo realism here, just getting the primary forage colors on your baits. Something resembling shad, crawfish and sunfish here in the S.E. Besides, I refuse to carry an endless variety of colors of any bait. It just promotes sitting in the boat re-tying lures and second guessing yourself all day instead of keeping your line wet and catching fish.

I took the clip-on trebles off my blade baits and replaced them with split rings and Gamakatsu #4 or #6 round bend trebles, same as I use on crankbaits. Won't say the Mustads are deficient but the Gamys are sharper, stronger and generally top notch. I used #1 size split rings and can tell no difference in the action. Don't know how you would attach trebles without a split ring. I do know that using a good set of split ring pliers like the Texas Tackle brand makes the job 100% easier.

Fish have 2 bite modes: active feeding and reaction. I think most crankbait bites are reaction mode where the bait approaches the fish and it instinctively bites, for territorial reasons, opportunistic feeding, or just becaue it's programmed to bite things smaller than it is. The color scheme may not matter much in this mode, except related to water clarity and visibility. The depth of the lure, direction, speed, size, and wiggle are more important. For actively feeding bass, I think the color scheme gains some importance. All crankbaits look injured compared to their model species when swimming and you're hoping the bass picks yours out from the healthy crowd to actively feed on. The more it resembles the other prey, the better. The 2 bite modes are theoretical constructs that simplify the real world, which is filled with an infinity of gray zones. But it can suggest some crankbait choices and eliminate others in specific circumstances. Alternative theory: You'll never ever know why pea brained bass behave like they do. Just keep throwing different stuff until you get lucky or your arm falls off

That's a huge subject and there are lots of posts about airbrush selection, paint types and techniques here on the hardbait forum, but you need to search each topic to get hours of reading (use the SEARCH button on the menu at the top of the page). Most get started with a medium priced airbrush like the Paasche VL or a Badger Crescendo and they paint with acrylic latex colors formulated for airbrushes, like Createx. You can use an airbrush compressor, a tool compressor or bottled compressed gas. The basic paint strategy is simple: start at the bottom of the lure and work your way up. Most prey species have light bottoms and darker tops and you generally want to paint dark colors over light colors. Hope that's at least a start!

Probably nobody has this particular airbrush. Without getting into other considerations, it's generally true that the smaller the tip is, the finer lines you can paint. Getting a fine tip airbrush doesn't mean you can do fine lines however. All of us imagine it, few of us can do it. It still takes skill and experience to get 2 sides of a bait the same. As a comparative jump off point, an Iwata HP series brush has a .02 mm fine tip. You also should consider that most of your painting will NOT be fine lines, but shading and color coating larger areas. A fine tip isn't always ideal for that.

Wel, if you go to a home center, I think a 10" band saw would be what I'd pick. They can be sat on a work bench top and start at around $100. The band saw has a continuous thin saw blade that runs around two large wheels. The blade has teeth that cut downward and it clears all the sawdust from the cut as it works. A scroll saw also sits on a bench top and has a much smaller, thinner blade with fine teeth. The blade is clamped between 2 arms that vibrate rapidly up and down. It also cuts on the downstroke, but its fine teeth cut much more slowly. Either will do the job, the band saw will just do it easier and faster on hardwoods. It can be pretty tedious to cut 1" thick hardwood on a scroll saw.

I use a scroll saw because that's what I had handy but I think a small band saw would be faster, easier to use, and roughly the same cost. If you rarely do anything but balsa, either is fine. For hardwood, a scroll saw is pretty slow.

I think 5 min repairs will yellow and show up. IMO, 5 min just won't level properly. If you're used to 5 min, anything else seems thin but 2T is thicker than just about any other popular clearcoat epoxy. I do a single coat. If you run into a fisheye or void, you can sometimes patch it if you're a clearcoat artiste but often the best thing to do is recoat the whole bait. Thicker is not better.... it's just thicker. If the bait is fully coated and neat looking, I don't care how thin it is. Epoxies are naturally very durable. And loading on a bunch of epoxy usually has bad effects on crankbait performance.

I don't think it matters as long as you get everything straight and everything done before clearcoating. For hardwood lures, I drill all the holes before shaping but glue everything but the lip just before I waterproof and paint. I scribe a centerline around the lure while it's still "square" to make sure the holes will be straight. If I shape the lure before drilling, that line might disappear. I install the lip just before I clearcoat so it won't get marred. In the meantime, I use a "false lip" with a hole drilled in it during waterproofing and painting. It's just a square piece of lip material with a hole drilled in the end. The false lip keeps waterproofing and paint out of the lip slot, gives you something to clamp onto with forceps while painting, and the hole is handy for hanging the bait to dry. For a secure friction fit, I use a little masking tape as needed.

Lip shape is one factor in a shallow wood cover bait. Bouyancy, body shape, size of trebles, and lip length and angle are more important, IMO. I can't count the times I hear pro anglers say square lipped baits are best for wood cover. It's funny that one of the baits most highly prized among pros for shallow wood cover is the D-Bait. It has a round lip. I just fish for fun but can't distinguish a probability of snagging based on lip shape alone.

Tough question. There are lots of variations in bluegill patterns, and lots of variations in live bluegills. Take a look at the hardbait pics to see if any are close to what you're looking for. I can only suggest you experiment with the paint to mix something that is close to what you feel the colors should be. As long as you get the bars on there and the accent colors close to realistic, the bass will probably approve. At least Apple Barrel is relatively cheap. You can wash it off and try again if you're not satisfied.

Honestly I think it's not more than 1 ft of depth on a deep diver. That extra foot may be important for somebody, but not me. The extra depth is due to the thinness of the micarta and nothing else. I don't like it because it makes a 3" crankbait look like a 5" crankbait. For shallow crankbaits that you're constantly running into cover, things are different. The fact that micarta's not clear is not much of an issue with a short lip and it has a much better, sharper rebound off hard cover. JMHO.

Dampeoples, you can't keep an airbrush too clean, too often. The more fastidious you are about cleaning, the less trouble it will ever give. Between colors, I use a spray bottle to shoot water into the cup to remove the wet paint, then shoot some through the brush. Then I remove the cup's dried paint ring with a Qtip wetted with lacquer thinner or acetone. Those 2 solvents are quick and won't leave any particles behind. Then I shoot a cup of Windex to further clean paint out of the tip. If the spray pattern looks OK, on to the next color. It takes less time to do it than to say it. The airbrush stays connected. The airbrush isn't squeaky clean after this, even if you used a solvent instead of Windex - there's still paint in there! At the end of the session, disassemble the airbrush, clean the parts with solvent, and run water through the barrel. If you wait for "a later time TBD" to do the after-session cleaning - trouble WILL find you.