kahawai

thanks esoteric! the foam seems to behave well and action is like my wood version. as a bare material the surface feels a little harder than some woods(ie you can't make a mark on it with your fingernail) . i'm still experimenting with the ideal weighting, but its going to be somewhere 3.5 to 4 oz. Peter

when i make balsa baits- -cut 2 identical profiles(as opposed to cutting a single thick piece lengthwise) from a balsa plank, - spot glue them together, carve and shape. - seperate the 2 halves, put thru wire and weights in. glue together with devcon. - coat with 30 min devcon - paint. - topcoat with 30 min devcon. never had problems, even with pike, and saltwater fish. peter

about 6 inches. look for "imakatsu javallon". sellers are mostly based in japan but i've found them honest and reliable. there are several models the 160, is 160mm(16cm) which is the largest they do. i think theres a 110 model as well.

hi guys, its 16cm long. there's normally a few on sale on ebay, as well as cheaper copies. one of the guys on the softbait forum has managed to pour a few of his own by making a mold from an original. Peter

some of the guys here have very sophisticated clamping systems which hold all 4 sides of the mold when curing. my mold making skills aren't all that good yet, so all i do is use packing tape to bind the mold and also use the hardest grade RTV i can find. the eyes are actually beads, from a shop that sells loose beads for people who make their own costume jewellery. the range is extensive andyou can get them in glass, acrylic, faux pearl, or a variety of semi-precious stones. i was the only male in the shop buying the beads by the way.

husky, i used foam-it 15 and an RTV Silicone mold. the foam needs a lot of lead to get it to slow sink. i tried casting the lead into the lures but had trouble getting it to stay centred. after several failures i ended up with the usual method of drilling holes to add the weight and then sealing them. I'm interested to find out how you more experienced foamies add weight to your lures? i also found that each lure has a slightly different buoyancy, am guessing this is to do with room temperature and my inconsistency of measuring the parts- so i can't simply add the same amount of weight to all the lures - they have to be weighted and balanced individually to get the slow sink. Peter

thanks for the feedback guys. its a musky/pike sized lure - about 8 inches. With gentle pulls of the rod, the action is a left right wide gliding. Peter

hi all, after much trial and error and lots of good advice from the board, here are my latest lures. its my first batch out of foam of a lure i've made before. i call it the "pirarucu glider". i must say i'm prteey plesed with the results, although i haven't strealined the process of weighting them yet. hope you like them! peter

nice work. always interesting to see how new methods and techniques work out. remember to post the finshed lure. tight lines Peter

was wondering if anyone here makes their own hard plastic tails and fins? i was thinking of using something like featherlite or to cast tails and fins- but my concern is that it would not be strong enough to be cast in such thin sections. anyone got suggestions of a suitable material?

are you referring to musky style jerkbaits or pointer style jerkbaits? for musky style baits i find action depends on body shape, weight distribution and line attachment, for bass "jerkbaits" you need to add lip size and angle to the list- my process would be - carve body. attach line tie, hook hangers. and weigh bait(temporary attahcment) to suspend. test the lure action, adjust lure action by - tweaking/ or changing line tie location/changing weight distribution, and also lip angle/size shape- i sometimes even make some minor alterations to the lure body shape. there are so many variations and each can affect the action that the process is one of trial and error, and should occur kind of simultaneously. I personally would not make a finished floating bait that had a good action , then weigh it to suspend and expect it to swim the same way. i find the weight kills the action significantly if you do this. Peter

hi Swede, i'm in the UK and am interested in this plastic granulate you mentioned- is it known by any other name or is there a trade name? perhaps there's a link to more information that i can follow up? Thanks Peter

hi, i'm no foam expert( just starting out actually) but a search look on the smooth-on website turned up a possible product called "Flame Out 7 Flame Resistant Rigid Foam" - i think its more costly than normal foam though.

hi, on the jointed lures i've made so far i've used 2 other methods apart from linked screw eyes- 1. through wired (interlinking front and back wire), with the wire running in the middle of the bait(balsa) - 2. through wired (interlinking front and back wire), in a slot cut into the bottom and top of the lure. both work well but are fairly time consuming to do. ideas i am toying around with(some similiar to those already suggested) - 1. using 2 wires as a spine onto which segments are threaded/glued- for security i'd use titanium as normal wire might get fatigued and fail(myabe i'm paranoid) the "jackall mask" hybrid lures use titanium wire embedded in sof plastic i think. - www.jackall.co.jp/ 2. same idea but use a strap (fibreglass or nylon strap) as the spine. 3. use a hinge of some sort. i've been looking at small door/cupboard hinges. stainless steel hinges (boating accesories) are expensive though. a japanese lure manufacturer uses a custom hinge- http://www.lure-fly.com/vagabond/ , look at the "jointed-arrow" lures 4. pin jointed. for examples see the 3:16 hardbaits or evergreen combat lures(esdrive or timberflash) having said all that on hard wood baits, 2 screw eyes may be the simplest method... Peter

nice idea with the pen tubes shawn. the egg analogy is great- the erratic movement of the unboiled egg is what i'm looking for. i was hoping that as the bearings were moving only in one plane(ie back and forth) that the stop start would give the lure an extra push or life-like lurch. your foamies look fantastic. are they wired thru? and would you trust screw eyes on foam-it 15? regards Peter

i tried something similiar, but inserted the aluminium tube lengthwise along the body of the lure. i used the largest size tube and BBs that i could fit within the body of the lure. i was trying to get a musky glidebait that would have that little bit of extra glide due to the inertia of the ball bearings. the idea went like this- at the start of the twitch the lure would accelerate and the BBs would run to the rear of the tube, at the stop of the twitch the lure would slow down glide to one side BUT the BBs would continue moving forward and hit the front end of the tube- hopefully pushing the lure a little bit extra in the glide. did it work? the lure glided, but no more than usual. side effects 1. the lure rattled real loud. 2. the lure casts well and sits tail down after the cast. 3. during retrieve the lure sits nose down on the pause. if someone gets this idea to work - let me know how please! regards Peter

hi travis, Thanks for the generous advice! i can't wait to give it a go. will post pictures when i do manage to make the baits! regards Peter

hi, i'm thinking of starting making some lures in foam and have done a search on the forum and looked at the tutorials. however i've still got a couple of questions which i'd like to pose to the foam experts- 1. how well does foam reproduce detail? does the lure have to be smooth or can there be carved mouth/gills or scale texture? my worry is that the foam will flake/break or get stuck to the mould. 2. can 16lb foam hold a screw in eye securely? anyone tried this for heavy duty baits for musky and pike? or perhaps someone has done a pull test? 3. whats the best mould material? is there a something cheaper than RTV silicone? any experience casting foam into moldmax or other smooth-on rubbers? 4. any other advice greatly appreciated. regards Peter

hi, i don't know if you guys are familiar with this site, but it blew my mind the first time i saw it. http://www.painter-net.com/ check it out if you haven't before. its worth your while. Peter

hey it happens to everyone(i hope!). i just clean the paint off with a rag and thinner/alcohol, and try again. what i find works for me is to wrap the mesh around and over the top of the lure and secure the bottom edge with a whole row of clothes pegs. dont spray too much paint. undercoat the lure with white and let it dry before applying the mesh. the angle/direction of spraying also affects the effect. i tend to spray darker tones from the rear of the lure and light tones from the front direction. look at this website - http://www.lurebuilding.nl/indexeng.html look at "techniques", "colour patterns", and click on some of the scale patterned lures to see the clotehs peg arrangement. useful site too. peter

hi savacs, mine are thru wired too. i weight each section to hang horizontally. this means a front and back type arrangement for the longer section(like you would a glider) and a middle arrangement for the shorter sections. regards Peter

hi, for firetigr and others non-musky fishos who are not familiar with glidebaits theres some good poolside videos at http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/muskievideo.asp the riverrun manta is as good as any to get an idea what a glidebait does. regards Peter

a couple more pictures..

hi, i'm pretty new here. i am located in the UK and fish mainly for pike. been making lures for a few years now. attached are images of a couple of lures from my latest batch. photo finish thanks to knowledge gained from here. action is "S" swimming motion with a little roll. Peter