fatfingers

I've owned and used the Shimano Bantan Curado reel shown in the link above. In fact I've owned two of them for the last 8 years or so. The Bantam Curado is an excellent reel for the money. I've used mine to throw heavy musky baits for all these years and they are just now starting to show signs of needing a part replaced here or there. If the reel can take the punishment from musky fishing for that many years, it will hold up for many, many more years of ordinary use such as bass fishing, etc.

Here's the bait that scored for me. Its in transparent blues over foil with a shot of magenta. I've been building these for the last month or so and fishing them when I get a chance. Yesterday, (Saturday, Aug 13, 2005), the flatshad scored another musky for me, which makes three muskies in three outings. Nothing else scored on Saturday and my partner threw all manner of commercially produced and commonly used musky baits at em all day. Now thats not to say luck isn't involved in the whole process, but I still feel good having scored 3 fish in three trips on my own baits. I've been making them in three sizes: Here's the 41 inch musky I scored with the blue-over-foil bait shown above (Yea, I know its a horrible photo, but my fishing partner of 4 decades still gets so excited when we boat a musky that he shakes like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Just prior to the photo I had told him, "Now, I'd REALLY like to get a shot of this fish since it ate one of my baits, so please, calm yourself, and steady yourself and get me just one good shot...this one is the BEST of the three he shot): ...just wanted to share my excitement in having one of my concoctions turn out to be a producer in the musky department.

I can vouch for the fact that the best and most effective commercially available musky diving crankbaits are also the most sensitive when it comes to tuning, meaning that they are difficult to tune. All have very erratic almost unpredictable action. I've been experimenting lately with the size of the wire used for the line tie on the lips of deep-diving cranks that I'm now building. The lighter finer wire allows for a smaller less obtrusive line tie and a more streamlined lip profile. It also seems to create that sort of over-sensitive effect when it comes to tuning the bait; they will tune, when they do tune, they run well and erratically with that side-to-side, almost out of control thing...but they are not easy to tune.

RiverMan, I would feel better if the dog had done it, but it was my fault. I was cleaning it and over-tightened the fluid valve, which is tiny little part that takes a tiny wrench about as long as a car key. Trying to locate one locally; found the part online but its $35 plus S&H. fin, the bait is about 8 inches long; its a deeper-diving crankbait and it has a tight wobble. I've trolled it as fast a 5 mph and it runs great up to that speed. It also casts well and easily. I'll post a photo of it later if I get a chance. The pattern was my first attempt to imitate the blue/chrome pattern of a Bagley Monster Shad, which does very well in several of the rather clear reservoir I fish in for musky. I also scored with the same Magnum Flatshad bait in an orange pattern that we're calling Orange Sunshine (I don't name my baits or patterns, but my fishing buddy does and it does gives us a way of communicating without saying "that orangish one.")

Broke the fluid nozzle on my Iwata and can't paint till I secure the part... Its driving me crazy. I actually went fishing yesterday evening because I had nothing else to do! But the good news is that the Magnum Flatshad I built with transparent blues over foil has produced two muskies in two fishing trips so far, one was a 41 incher. I know many of you have caught fish on the lures you've built and I have too, but the flatshad lure is one I had high hopes for and it worked, so I'm particularly pleased. Now, I've got to order parts for the Iwata before I waste too much time fishin'...

I'd also be interested in the solution to this one. I was hoping to avoid making a two part image. Its tricky enough to paste one piece.

Having tried unsuccessfully to make a stencil of the fin near the gill plate, I'm now trying to fashion that little side fin from the wing of the proberbial and dreaded horsefly. Does anyone know where I can find sheets of decal material that can be simply run through a printer? Does such a thing exist?

Whoa! Nice! Gotta a coffee pot and a boombox in there? If so, I could live in there.

Very nice, esox. I see that you've got a drill press in there and what appears to be a paint booth. I'm still running in and out and up and down the stairs between the garage my workroom and the basement. I've got to get a paint booth cobbled together before the winter sets in.

Here's mine: Just for fun, please post yours.

Chubby nubs? I think the women use to call me that...or was it Stubby Chub? Can't remember... I don't know if you could use a router on the plastic or not, Husky. I tried to talk a buddy of mine into letting me use his lathe on the stuff to see if it could be turned; at first he agreed and then he got cold feet. (What a wussy. What's the worse that could happen? Plastic melting and steel fragments flying? Right? So you wear a helmet. What's the big deal, right?) Thanks for the Monster Lure Garage compliments. As a newbie wannabe on the board, it feels good.

Tried foiling for the first time and found a trick that I'd like to share... Most of you probably know of this one, but for what its worth... I glued plain old aluminum foil onto the body, trimmed it with the exacto knife and then applied scales as follows: Take the bait and stretch some netting over the bait...burnish the netting pattern into the foil gently but thoroughly...I used a popsicle stick to burnish Here's how it looks when its done...

I'll have to stop down there again to check out the technical official name for this plastic stuff. You've guy have got me curious now! Riverman, I think you'll be finding out first-hand in a few days anyway.

Bo, I will ask next time. The material has a porous texture to it after sanding/shaping. Prior to that it is smooth. But I'll find out what specific type of plastic we're talking here and post it. So far, using the plastic, I've made glidebaits, and crankbaits which worked fine, and a stickbait (grandma type bait) and a jerkbait, which failed. The stuff has a property which seems to lie somewhere between floating and nuetrally buoyant. Any weight added to the bait, even hook hangers and hooks, causes it to sink slowly.

Excellent article and you have excellent writing skills as well. I found myself nodding my head a number of times as I read. I think that fishing, and hunting for that matter, is something that none of us should take all that seriously for fear that we'll "ruin" it. As you mentioned, unless you actually fish for a paycheck, it is probably more important to enjoy the entire experience than to carry a yardstick with which to "measure your success." I am new to this website. A large part of the reason I am here, is that like others, I have found that my fascination for the tackle itself is one of reasons I enjoy the sport as a diversion and hobby. For now at least, I hope that I can remember to build what pleases me and not use the opinions of others or even the fish themselves as a 'yardstick' to measure my success. The bottom line: If you are doing something that relates to fishing or even actually fishing and you are having a good time...you are doing it right. Great topic, Skeeter.

Beautiful stuff. I'm very curious as to how the run because I've never seen anything like them. It looks as though they run rather shallow and with a wild wobble. Very interesting as well as amazing.

Lapala, yes, I guess you could say I have a theory or idea about the copper/orange color combination. My fishing partner and I have had outstanding results with muskies when using a color called orange tiger in the 6 inch floating grandma bait. We've raised and caught fish on that lure in the color at times when nothing else worked and a few of the fish were giants, one was a 50+ inch fish. About two weeks ago, I picked up that particular grandma and whipped it out about 25 yards, twitched it twice and a 43 incher about removed my favorite rod/reel combination from my hands. So I have, for quite some time, tried to duplicate and modify that color and pattern in other baits styles. I also had an bait called an Eddie glider in a similar color that also produced when other baits produced only follows or no results at all. The Eddie was more of a copper colored bait and on three occasions I connected when I threw the bait as a last resort (because it was rather ugly in fact). The copper pearl is a color my brother turned me on to and I've used only over a black base coat so far. It is very subtle and requires about 20 to 30 coats to get the effect that I'm trying to achieve. It is a fun color to use and it is pleasing because it changes hues in direct sunlight. The problem with musky fishing is that the species often feeds in spurts; you may at times get only a 45 minute window each day when muskies are truly actively feeding and even then you have to be at the right place and quickly try a variety of baits to see what is working and what is not. So, trying a new color pattern becomes a function of luck and intuition and luck with copius quantities of good fortune thrown in for good measure. But that is all part of the fun/twisted sick futility/addiction of musky fishing I guess. I am trying to come up with a color scheme that fades the copper into a burnt orange and then into a brilliant pearl orange, then yellow which fades into a white pearl belly. The mind can imagine it if the well-worn fingers of mine could only execute more efficiently. Here's a cigar style glider that was yet another attempt at the same...

Here's the finished plastic cranker. I've never tried this emerald color for muskies; it makes me horny but we'll have to see if the beast gets the same reaction. So far I'm pleased with the way it runs. I may have to reinforce the plastic lip with a pin or a screw because the musky has been known to rip them clean off after the strike. On that note, I'm trying this one this weekend... Its made of popular and seems almost too thin for musky-type stressing, but it runs well. I'm sort of wondering how thin a bait can be before they are able to rip the hook hangers out.

For what its worth... I spend a ton of money on fishing gear each year and for that reason alone I try to make my gear last, especially the lures, and I'm sure that we all do When I fished for other species, I also used Plano compartmental plastic boxes. When I moved on to musky fishing, I purchased and still use the standard tackle box which hangs the baits vertically. You might try fabricating a box to hang your best baits; it is much kinder to the finish because there is far less horizontal friction to the baits and they tend to hold up a lot better. Also I tend to think that the sun passing through the clear plastic takes its toll because the solar effect raises the temp within the box a lot more than you might imagine; that may have been what caused the envirotex finish to soften up and allow the hook from one bait to easily penetrate the damaged lure.

I cannot answer for all fisherman or all species of fish, but I can say that from my rather lengthy experience with musky fishing, color is VERY big deal. I know of a few colors that I'm pretty sure make them hurl. They despise red in my area at least, and I'm pretty sure I've heard them laugh out loud at gray. That said, when the wood dust settles and the overspray clears, I find that I still paint what feels good for me. Muskys suck anyway.

Thanks, Jed. I've been trying out this copper pearl stuff on the backs of a few of the baits and its something that you can't really photograph. If you shoot it over black, which I did on the orangish bait shown above, it turns from black to a striking copper color in the light. I also shot red and white pearls on the same bait. The bottom one isn't finished of course, but I put on eyes on it to get a feel for the perspective prior to painting and I knew I'd be trying it on the water to see if it would run and while I've never caught anything in the way of musky or pike with an all white lure...you never know. I visited my local plastic supplier again the other day. Things went well. I was able to acquire some 3/4 inch material.

Above are a couple of shots of a glider I finished using the plastic for the body. The glider runs deep and has a fast action, which is something I favor in a musky bait. I like the bait to dart at speed to trigger strikes. The grandma type bait that I posted previously on this thread (the one that sort of glows in the light) was a failure. It will not run. I'm finding that the properties of the plastic do not lend themselves to a floating type bait. Although the plastic does in fact float, it seems to have a minimal amount of bouyancy and sinks easily...therefore the minnow-type bait tends to roll over too easily. This evening I was out musky fishing (scored a nice fat 36 incher by the way), and I tried the bait shown below (prior to painting it this time }....it runs excellent. I had it going 5.5 mph while trolling and it ran straight and well.

I've been using Krylon Fusion on both wood and plastic and also over old lures (for repainting). It works fine for me on all of those applications; dries well and won't easily run or sag. I'm inclined to try the Kilz method that Jed mentions though. It must certainly be cheaper and it would be "on hand" longer. Seems like I'm always running out of Fusion. Oh, and one of you guys must live fairly close to me...the Devcon 2 ton is being sold out at all the local Walmarts!

Oh boy. Just checked the mine. The one I bought at Walmart is 2 1/3 rpm's....is that too slow?????

Here's the 6 inch bait I just finished clearing. You can see the belly was left unpainted. The scaling on the sides is painted directly over the plastic without primer. Held at an angle to the light, it seems to sort of "light up" and almost glow as the light passes through the plastic, although its hard to capture with the camera.