BobP

are they changing the formula? I buy Devcon 2 Ton in syringes at Walmart and in some of the recent packs, the hardener seems to be more yellow than usual and has a distinct fishy amine smell (similar to the Devcon 5 min epoxy) that I did not notice in other batches of 2 Ton the past several years. Anybody else experience this, or am I just getting senile? The mixed epoxy also seems a bit thicker than before. If Devcon is changing formulas, this is not a good thing.

Lip fitting - I admit to not paying alot of attention to how snugly the lip fits but have been told by materials engineers that epoxy does have an ideal film thickness for maximum strength. Translation - don't fit the lips too tight or the bond may be weak. I try to fit bill so they drag a bit but don't have to be forced into the slot, and I glue them separately with 5 min epoxy just before clearcoating. To me, fitting the bill is maybe the most critical step in the building process. If I'm ever gonna sweat trying to get something "just so" - this is the time.

McMaster-Carr carries 1/16" polycarbonate. They have good prices and fast service, in my experience.

Flat cranks generally have a tighter faster wiggle and thump harder than round cranks. Round cranks have a softer wider action and all other things held equal, are more bouyant because they displace more water. A rule of thumb that I don't necessarily believe is use flat cranks in cold water, round cranks in hot. Personally, I prefer flat sided crankbaits year round - but as always, you have to let the fish tell you what they want on a given day.

Devcon 5 Minute Epoxy. Waterproof, very strong and quick to use.

I checked my Paasche VL when I had similar problems and found I had mixed up the tips/cones/needles and was using a mis-matched set. My VL with #1 tip runs thinned acrylic latex OK with a compressor that has a working pressure (constant) of 30-35 psi. I most often use a #3 tip and it works OK at pressures as low as 15-20 psi. Personally, I don't expect lots of detail with acrylic hobby paints and a VL but it's sufficient for basecoating, shading and shooting over friskets and scale netting. For detail like gills, kill spots and crawdad legs, I use Sharpie Pens. I've used 2-3 airbrush sets in the last 2 yrs and my gut feeling is a gravity fed brush like an Iwata and lacquer paints, or at least fine semi transparent acrylics would probably be needed for me to get much better at detail. But at this stage, the VL/acrylics get what I want done.

A couple of years ago, Mark Romanack put out a book on how deep crankbaits get with 14lb line on a 75 ft cast, measured by a diver as cranks were cast and retrieved through an underwater course. The book has dive profiles on numerous crankbaits. The deepest was the 1/2 oz Luhr Jensen Hotlips Express, at over 20 ft. If you've ever seen one, it has a curved cloverleaf shaped bill. I've tried them and while they may get deep, they don't seem to have much vibration like some others, like the DD-22 (which I think goes to about 17-18 ft). Deepest models usually have long bills with rounded ends. What counts is not only how deep a crank gets, but how quickly it gets to depth and how long it stays there. The longer it stays at max depth, the better it will fish.

Balsa requires more ballast for an equivalent float level. The most durable method for hardware is a through-wire frame. I scribe a center line on the bait after cutting out the rough blank and use a razor blade to split the bait after shaping, when I'm ready for the wire frame. 5 min epoxy gets it back together and gives the bait a strong backbone. On large minnow baits you can cut a slot in the belly for the hardware instead. However, if you undercoat with epoxy and use screws with lots of glue surface (like hand twisted stainless wire), just screws will do fine for bass lures. Personally, I wouldn't use standard tapered eye screws on balsa. When installing screws, predrill, use a length of wire to get epoxy thoroughly into the depth of the hole, then coat the screw with epoxy and install.

Never used poplar so haven't had the problem but if you want to lighten the rear of the bait, I'd consider drilling out an air cavity in the top back. When the lure is undercoated and waterproof, stick some tape over the hole and test float the lure with the treble hooks installed, enlarging the hole until you get the float you want. Superglue or epoxy a piece of aluminum from a soda can over the hole to seal it. You can sand the aluminum down to blend it into the body. Remember, your finish and epoxy clearcoat will add a little weight too (maybe .03-.04 oz). If you want to get frisky, you might add a glass bead to the chamber for a rattle, but beware of adding weight high in the bait or it may fall over at rest

McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com) has 12"x12" polycarbonate sheets in various thicknesses, plus G-10 and G-11 circuitboard material. Very competitive prices and good service. I think they ship from Atlanta, which makes for fast deliveries to the SE.

For me, ballast is a trial and error process but you eventually get to where your guestimates are better. When I'm uncertain, I hold off ballasting the bait until the crank is waterproof with hardware and bill installed, then hang lead solder on the belly hook until I get the float level and attitude I'm looking for. Drill a hole(s) and melt in the solder with a soldering iron, patch with wood filler.

I use both but mostly Devcon because the Flexcoat takes longer to cure. Either does a good job but In my experience, the Devcon stays clear and unyellowed longer on the crank. Sometimes, I use a rod epoxy when I want to add minimal weight like re-clearcoating a suspending crankbait. But you can also thin Devcon with lacquer thinner to get a thin coating (remembering that epoxy thinned with a solvent can smear solvent based colors on the bait).

Good question. You can go to the Tactics page at Bass Fishing Home Page and get 100 answers, most of which are reasonable! I agree with Skeeter - you fish with a combo of reel/rod/line whose parts are interdependent. I like a graphite rod with flexible tip section and a hard copolymer like 10 lb Izor Line Platinum, or a 12 lb fluorocarbon. With a fiberglass rod, I use fluorocarbon or braid. The bottom line is you need some flex in the system, either the line or the rod, for crankbaits. Another issue is how the line handles in cold weather. Hard copolys and fluoro develop memory in the cold and that's a problem. In winter, try a soft mono like Trilene XL or Basspro Excel. If you're looking for ONLY ONE line, I also like McCoys Mean Green (green or clear). It's a copoly with moderately low stretch, good knot strength and doesn't develop significant memory even in cold weather. It's about the only line I can keep on my reels year round.

I don't mind paying for Createx. Their pearl white and blue are excellent. You can shoot Createx straight out of the bottle because it's formulated for airbrush use. But when visiting the local hobby shop or Walmart, I'm looking for specific shades and there's always a wider selection of other hobby acrylics like Apple Barrel, etc. I've never had any problem using them - just thin them so they shoot consistently. My most used? Apple Barrel Flat White for undercoating.

I also use a VL, most often with the medium tip. It's easy to get the tips/needles/cones mixed up and the brush won't work well if they are. Try to keep them separate. Createx is one of the best acrylics and it's designed for airbrushes. It's more than twice the price of generic hobby acrylics, however. Also, I just prefer the color on some cheaper paints rather than Createx. You can do fine with generics like Apple Barrel, etc if you thin them. I just use tap water in a little spray bottle and squirt it into the paint in the airbrush cup before I attach it to the brush. Mix it in with one of those little mixing sticks that come with Devcon epoxy. The paint needs to be no thicker than milk. Using a hair dryer to set the just-sprayed paint before shooting the next color makes things go much faster. Always undercoat all baits with a highly pigmented flat white before you shoot colors. I clean my VL with just cool water. A round toothpick used GENTLY helps clean the inside of the cone and the spout of the color cup.

My first compressor was a chinese Central Pneumatic that put out max 30 psi, 2cfm and will do about 15 constant psi when running a Paasche VL airbrush. I recently got a better, more powerful Badger compressor that runs at 30-45 psi constant pressure. The Central Pneumatic worked OK but more pressure is sometimes better up to a reasonable level (maybe 50 psi?). A big thing to consider is where you will use the airbrush. If it's a garage, a pancake compressor may be a good choice. If it's in the house, a dedicated airbush compressor runs quietly, being designed for use in nail salons and art studios. I transferred my gauge and water trap to the Badger and it filters out lots of water when used in the garage where there's high humidity in the summer. Can't think what you'd use a dedicated airbrush compressor for, except airbrushing. A larger pancake compressor can be used for a bunch of stuff, from pumping up your tires to running air tools like nailers and paint sprayers.

IMO, the best consistent quality, variety of design and performance from any line of plastic crankbaits is from LUCKY CRAFT, hands down. I used to think $15 for a crankbait was absurd but after buying 200 baits from various manufacturers, I came to feel that it's worth it to know you can break a LC crank out of its package, tie it on and it will run straight and catch fish 99% of the time. Now I feel life is too short NOT to use them.

Maybe guys with longer memory can chime in but I've heard Poe's went through a couple of turns in quality, from good to bad and maybe back again. But they have alot more competition these days. I got a bunch of awful looking 400's and 400P's out of the $2 bin at Wally World when I first started refinishing/tinkering and I still have a couple of "highly tweaked" ones in my box though I don't often throw deep cranks. They were made in Guatemala or Mexico and had a very thick white undercoat that was pretty tough. Sometimes you CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear so I wouldn't hesitate to experiment on baits that aren't working for you. They'd eventually end up in the Bozo Bin otherwise.

I don't know what kind of special flex material LC uses on their "Live Pointers" but think it would be very difficult to assemble and finish one without an automated production line. I was given one when they first came out, couldn't get it to swim right except at very slow retrieve speeds. Sort of a neat idea (didn't it win an ICAST award 2 yrs ago?) but personally, I haven't heard of any pro jerkbait fishermen extolling its virtues, unlike the rest of the LC lures. Gotta admit, they're my favorite brand regardless of cost! Maybe others have a different experience with them?

I try to leave the thick plastic undercoat intact on a Poe's. If you feel 3-4 hundreths of an ounce of extra finish won't hurt the action, just sand the existing finish smooth and paint over it. I assume the crank with the off center ballast is a poor performer and seldom catches fish. If so, anything you do to fix it is warranted, but I'd want to end up with about the same ballast weight. I'd drill it out until the bait floats level and then insert the same amount just in front of the existing ballast. Patch with wood filler.

A friend for whom I make crankbaits only uses crosslock snaps and does just fine. I tune my other baits with split rings installed because I and my other recipients fish them that way. It usually won't make a difference - but sometimes it does. Right now I have a box of 40 cranks to tune. Tuning them will hopefully train me to tie knots faster Cranks that have a narrow tuning range and run close to "the ragged edge" of control need to be tuned with exactly the hardware they will be fished with. Other cranks are a lot more forgiving so it's a case-by-case thing.

Hey, maybe a cup under the treble will HELP the action - who knows? It's an experiment. I think cupping the trebles and limiting their swing would have a definite effect on hydrodynamics, don't you? IMO if you have a "perfect" bait (not what we think but what bass think!) the best policy is leave it alone. Don't repaint or re-clearcoat it just for cosmetic reasons. Don't change the size of the trebles. Don't monkey with the bill. Just fish it until the bass tell you it's toast. If it's a poor fish catcher, experiment away. You have nothing to lose. Beauty is as beauty does.

You can check out some of the tutorials on this board and get a good idea of how it's done. You don't need much; wood, Devcon 2 Ton epoxy, stainless steel wire (I use .029" 180lb test leader wire), a 12"x12" sheet of polycarbonate (e.g. Lexan) for the lip (if needed), lead or silver solder and a soldering iron to put in the ballast, and whichever colors of aerosol latex paint you like (and use a flat white to basecoat before coloring). I use a disk sander to taper baits and a Dremel sanding drum to round off edges. You will probably want other tools and supplies to fine tune subsequent baits but this short list will do to start.

Some trebles scratch finish, it's just in the cards and trying to jury rig a fix may throw the bait off balance, diminish the action, etc. Round bend hooks are usually the worst offenders. I'd try a different treble with more angle in the tines. I've had good results with Gamakatsu EWG trebles. They're very sturdy and have short shanks. Mustad Ultrapoints are a similar style but have longer shanks. I prefer the Gamys. I don't think you'll experience any less hooking and holding power.

I see alot of TU queries on crankbait bills but not much specific design feedback. I get my body/bill designs by trial and error and/or by usiing a factory crankbait as a base model. I think most other builders may do the same. Why exactly does a particular bill work great and another not at all? I don?t know all the reasons but trying variations on a basic design has generated a few tentative conclusions. Here they are for what they?re worth, and I hope other builders will chime in with their thoughts and specifics regarding their bill designs and why they work on their crankbaits. There are times when I want a change from the "same ole" with a different body shape and bill that will run with a different wobble or at a different depth. I wish there was better info about bill design, beyond the basic principles of ?longer goes deeper? and ?wider bill, wider wobble?. Here?s the data and some observations on my best crankbait (and its bill). Crank: This is a thin, flat sided, medium shallow runner (see pic) with the following stats: 10mm wide, 65mm long, max 25mm tall, tapered tail, basswood, .33 oz without trebles. The ballast is in front of the belly treble and gives it a head down attitude and a slow rise when paused. It has a tight wiggle, a good amount of thump and runs 3-4 ft deep. Cranks with tight action are popular in cold water but I think they work great year round. I carved rather crude body segments into the bait and painted it ?summer craw? pattern to give the bass a different look. This past June, I caught a 17lb, 5 fish limit on a very tough clear water lake in 2 hours. Too bad it wasn?t a tournament! Maybe that was a fluke but I don?t think so because the crank has continued to catch good bass since then. Bill: Fan shaped, exposed length (measured under the bill) 17mm, max width 18mm. Bill angle (measured from a horizontal line between the nose and tail) is 34 degrees. Comments: I used .031" (1/32?) G-10 circuit board because it is the thinnest material I know with excellent rebound and hardness. Circuit board also goes by the name of G-10, Micarta, FR-4. It is a high-pressure laminate of epoxy over a fiberglass or linen substrate. It bounces off cover sharply and it?s super thin, which makes the bait dive a bit deeper than it would with a thicker material like polycarbonate or plastic. It's easily cut and shaped with tin snips and a Dremel sander. The fan shape was derived from a Flatshad, a popular commercial crank among tournament anglers, plus some prototype bill experiments. I upsized the bill from the Flatshad because this crank averages .03 - .04 oz heavier due to an epoxy clearcoat and more ballast. I figured extra bill area was required to get an equivalent action. The .031? brass wire line tie is on the bait?s nose, touching the bill. I feel this placement is important to get max thump. I was leery of such thin soft wire for the line tie but so far, 15+ bass up to 5 lbs haven?t deformed it, so it seems OK. I?m happy with this bait but feel it still has room for improvement. I suspect more bill angle or a placing the ballast higher inside the bait might be interesting. Would more bill angle generate more thump? Wider wobble? More or less control? How about the ballast placement? A larger balsa variant of this bait with a proportionally larger bill, placed slightly lower on the chin at about 45 degrees, had enough thump to numb my left hand after hours of fishing. That was TOO much vibration (never thought I?d say that!). I don?t have a Cray mainframe to perform hydrodynamic calculations like they do for atomic submarines. Help me out here!