KelpKritter

Has anyone who runs the bent tag end back into the bait had trouble with tuning? I put a simple u-shaped hanger with bent tag ends into the lip only and the bait ran great. Did it again with a hanger turned back into the lip slot and the bait rolled and I could not get it tuned to run straight. With the second effort I could not get the wire to lay straight under the lip and am wondering if that may be causing the bait to roll. DaveB. KelpKritter

Thank you everyone for your input. I believe the misunderstanding in the early posts about tag ends was simply that, a misunderstanding. I was trying to achieve the use of a small amount of material for the tow eye, similar to a figure 8 hanger. The tag ends I was referring to were merely 1/8" long. I was trying to avoid having the wire extend into the lip slot. I have had bass straighten factory hooks, thus I change all my baits out to xx or xxx hooks. If a bass can do that I am sure it could pull this very small tow eye. BTW I fish a buttoned drag because of the structure I fish in the local saltwater scene. As I continue to experiment I will post results/ideas, but I agree this is a useful thread and a lot can be learned by it as the tow eye is a pretty critical link between you and your fish. Thanks again, DaveB. KelpKritter

benton B, I am not an expert, thus the question, but I have to disagree that all of the pressure is on on the bill itself. I am not at all worried about the lip coming out of the bait. If there is no pressure on the tow eye my question would be, why are so many baits of this nature designed with a tow eye that comes back into the bait itself? I have only experienced trouble trying to bend wire to make this connection. A simple U shaped eye pushed through the bill with the tag ends bent over is much easier and cleaner IMO, but it sure does not appear to be very strong. At least not placed in 1/16 lexan. I appreciate the input and will continue to sample different ideas and approaches. DaveB. KelpKritter

TJ, Is the bait in the photo the one you bent the tag ends back on? That bill looks like one I was describing with the deep belly that has the hanger imbedded in the the bill. How much of a tag end do you find successful? I am working on deep diving cranks with large bills, 2"+. BTW I am in Ontario and don't recognize that pond. I fish primarily saltwater bass but am known to hit Perris on occasion. DaveB. KelpKritter

Paul, Next week, when things slow down a bit at work, I am going to put up a few pictures of the things I have been working on and hopefully get a little feedback from the veteran builders. DaveB. KelpKritter

I have been working on some baits and am close to satisfied with a few but need some input on tow eyes. One bait, a stick, has the eye coming out of the nose and is real clean and strong. I like this for this bait. However, my shad type cranks are not as nice. One bait is completly through wired including the tow eye which comes out of the front of the body and then is bent up midway through the lip. I like the strength but it is not very clean. On another bait I have tried to simply fold back the tag ends on the tow eye under the bill and epoxy into a small groove made in the bill. This is very clean, like factory baits, but seems weak because of the small surface area. Factory baits have deep belly in the lip for a figure 8 type hanger which provides holding power. What are your preferences or tricks to get a style that is strong and clean looking. Thanks for the advice, DaveB. KelpKritter

Paul, Looks real nice in the water, cannot wait to see one of your great paint jobs on the bait. Curious to see the specs on that bait. I have been working on one that is almost identical in shape. One is a glider and I like the action. When I put a bill on the second one I did not get any wiggle at all. I think the bill may be to narrow. Mine is six inches laong and weighs about 3/4 ounce. My relative in Holland fishes mostly by trolling and throwing lures. I know he fishes pike, but not sure about the zander. What do you think about lure choices. PM me if you prefer. DaveB. KelpKritter

I have yet to epoxy finish any of my baits as I am just starting out and still in earlier phases, but here are my thoughts. First, was the alcohol burner, which I also use in rod building, but as you mentioned, may not be the answer. Another rod building tip I used and may be helpful here is blowing on the bait thru a hollow ball point pen. It moves the epoxy around enough to break up the a lot of the bubbles. However,I do not know how effective the final result will be using this method only as I always go over the rod with the alcohol flame as a last step. DaveB. KelpKritter

Paul, My in-laws are in Southern California, along with myself. My father-in-law has a sister in Grand Rapids. My father-in-laws parents grew up in Birdaard and moved to Zeist when their children were young. I know pike fishing is big in the Netherlands and my father-in-laws cousin is still in Holland and is a pretty serious angler. I would like to make some baits for him. Any suggestions on style, size, and colors that he might find success with? DaveB. KelpKritter

Paul, Thank you for the response. I have been thinking of some ways to attach line ties, but thought the placement had a lot to do with how deep the lure would run also. I see you are in Fryslan. My father-in-law grew up in Fryslan and has been in America now for a little over 40 years. Small world! Thanks again, DaveB. KelpKritter

Rick, I am also working on a hinged swimbait, but it is far from finished as I continue to work on joint spacing and bait profile so I cannot be of much help, but do a search and you will find a great number of ideas on this site. BTW are those spiny lobster in your avatar? If so, are you a So Cal resident? I fish San Diego to Marina del Rey and plan on using the baits I am making for the calicos I hunt on a regular basis. DaveB. KelpKritter

After doing a few searches I have found some of what I am looking for but could use some more specific advice. I have shaped some 4" taildancer style baits and some 3" flatsided cranks. I want to get as much depth as possible on the dive, 15' if possible. I believe a longer lip is needed but have used production baits that dive this deep with different lip angles, what is best? Also, with lips how what is screw eye and how do you attach it to the lexan lip. Finally, a post I found stated .032-.040 wire for thru bait wiring, is this good for these size baits. Looking forward to finishing off some new baits. Thanks for the help, DaveB. KelpKritter

This subject can be hard to understand, but here is a good description of the issue. http://www.saltwaterbassanglers.com/articles.htm The bottom line IMO with red is simple, if you target fish in environments where red is a food source use lures that are red in color. Even though the color red is seen as black to a fish after a certain depth it is still the same food source. A red crawdad on the surface is still a red crawdad at depth, however the fish sees it as a black crawdad but does it stop eating crawdads? Hope this helps, DaveB.

Nova, Thanks for the heads up. After I posted the last thread I thought about how I might make a two-piece mold to start the process. In the end I want one-piece molds. The two-piece is going to take some work because of angles and what not, but I think I can make it work. Thanks again, DaveB.

Sorry, I got ahead of myself. The master is made from baked sculpey clay. My guess is that if I use pop or resin on this it will ruin my master when I try to remove it, hence the thought of using silicone. I thought I saw something similar to what was mentioned about regular old silicone out of a tube from the local home center. Hope that helps clarify my needs, DaveB.

I just finished the final master for a new swimbait I am working on. I now want to create some molds 4-6 to reproduce the baits. I posted a similar question awhile back but could use some more advise. Someone suggested making a silicone mold, pouring a few baits using recycled plastic and then creating my final mold out of my desired material. My question is, how do I make the silicone mold and what materials do I need? I believe I recall seeing a tutorial in the past but cannot find it now. I also did a search for silicone and am not confident I understand how to tackle the problem. Any concise to the point details would be greatly appreciated. BTW I don't want to spend a lot early in the process. I like the look of the master but want to it test before putting it into full production. I would like to have room to modify if necessary. Thanks again, DaveB.

My biggest concern is how the sculpey master will come out of materials like POP or resin. I have made molds using both materials before, but with a soft plastic as the master. What are the other options are out there or is the POP or resin a good material to use with the clay? DaveB.

Hope someone can help me figure out the mold making process for a new master. Read quite a bit a few weeks back in the tutorials but can seem to find them after the website issues. I will be pouring swimbaits in sizes from 3 to 6.5 inches with most baits coming in at five inches. I would like to have at least four cavities and up to as many as six in what will be a one sided mold as the baits have a flat top edge. I just bought some sculpey and want to find out what materials I can work with to make the molds after the sculpey is made into the master and how to most effeciently get multiple cavities off of the original master. Thanks for any and all responses, Dave B.

If I remember correctly the Mustads are a bit cheaper and are great hooks. If you fish the calicos with Spectra few baits are lost to the kelp as they cut through nicely. I don't think you would have a problem with a 4/0 hook in a 3/4 oz. mold but dont quote me on it. I know some who pour with the same hooks and molds and have had to make a small cut with a Dremmel tool. Cannot comment on the fit of the hook in a 1/2 oz. mold, but my choice for the smaller head would be a finer wire hook. The original hooks I bought were the fine wire and worked great on bigger heads but they were not what I was looking for in pouring bigger heads. The packages I have do not have the full SKU # but they are a Black Nickel 90' bend that are super sharp. They were bought through Stamina and would be great on a smaller head. Good Luck, DaveB.

Steve, I also live in So. Cal and fish saltwater bass primarily. The hooks I use when I pour my leadheads are Mustad 32786BLN. They are heavy guage 60 degree flippin hooks and they work great in the Do-It molds. I use 4/0 on the 3/4 and 1 oz. heads and 5/0 on the 1 and 1.5 oz. heads and some 6/0 on the 1.5 oz. heads for a little variety depending on what size swimbaits I am throwing. I do not remember if I ordered from Barlows are Stamina. Both can be found on the web. Hope this helps, DaveB.