Vodkaman

Longhorn. Thank's for that. You probably just save me from major hassle as I will be starting some POP work in the near future. I will try it, but as a test piece. I will report back 'go' or 'no go', Probably in a month, when I get back to UK. Cheers.

I would be vary wary of anything but through wire. The way I wire all of mine, flat or round is as follows. I drill from the eye location through and out of the bottom of the lure, as shallow an angle as I can, drill length allowing. I then cut a trench with a dremel cutting wheel down the belly to the tail hook eye position. The trench should be deep enough to take the wire and a generous dump of epoxy. I form the line eye. Then thread it through the hole. Set it in the trench and estimate the hook eye position, allowing for shortening due to twist. Pull the wire out of the trench, form the hook eye and epoxy in place with five min. If you use a belly hook, just add a single twist where required. Once sealed and sanded, you will never see the trench.

Bored, I flicked my cigarette butt aiming at the tip of the rod. Unfortunately, my aim was too good and lost 40 yds of line. I had only 10 yds left and no spare spool. Lots of lessons learned to contemplate on the 45 minute trek back to the car.

I agree with Woody, the lip looks to be too far back, I tried something similar with the same unsatisfactory result. The angle of the lip will be giving you a combination of 'wobble' and waggle' about 50% of each. The flat sides will be resisting the waggle and to a lesser extent, the wobble. To maximise the 'wobble' action, you need a shallow angle lip. This will also help with the diving part of your problem. The length of the lip looks too short in relation to the length, but my baits are only three inches long and I have no experience of such large lures. It pains me to say it, but a lot of trial and error is involved. I suggest that you mount a temporary lip made of copper or brass sheet, glued with a soft rubber type cement. This can then easily be removed when you arrive at your final solution. The soft metal will allow you to try out diferent angles and is easily trimmed with snips to try diferent lengths and shapes. Start off an inch longer and wider with a rounded end. Trim away until it does what you want. Take extra sheet with you so if you trim too much off, just super glue another piece on. I agree with Rofish also. A thinner lip produces more pronounced turbulence which gives the lure the action. This can be done by cutting a 45 deg chamfer on the back side of the lip. Not knife edge, or you will cut the line. Make lots of notes and diagrams. Let us know how you get on.

It looks way too good to feed to the fish. So glad you didn't hide the art under a coat of paint. I'd make a frame and stick it on the wall.

Nasty stuff. As an apprentice, I was always given the titanium panels to be drilled. Slow speed and press very hard, otherwise too much heat builds up and you fry the bit. If you do a web search, they say the same things. Place the sheet on a metal plate, if you use a wooden bench top, you will just make a dimple. If the metal is tarnished, you need to clean this off first, as it is actually harder than the metal. Wear safety glasses.

Action! You should have seen it. Waggled like crazy, all the way down the trash can and you should have heard it rattle! Just kidding, I already have the best part of an hour invested in this little beaut', no way am I going to bin it.

You have my sympathies. I'm stuck with the brush, I cannot risk any overspray from rattle cans as I live in digs. I've already drilled a hole in the table which I will end up having to pay for. My first attempt at a 'hand job' was a perch pattern. Ended up looking like a six legged frog. It will NEVER see the light of day let alone a flash. Now, I stick to abstract patterns and avoid straight lines like the plague. You could tie the lure tightly by the eyes at each end, in a frame. This will allow you to turn the bait axially while using the brush, I haven't tried the idea myself. Let me know any of your tips. Good luck with it.

Unfortunately, I am stuck with the spinning rod, at least for the near future. It was my intention to do spinning and had no idea that I was going to get into cranks and even if I had, I would have probably bought the same equipment thinking that cranks and spinners were basically the same type of lures. Yes, I'm getting the broadside helicopter effect. I did find that by not trying so hard to 'wang' the thing out there that it actually flew further. My main problem is my fishing past as a light weight float and maggot angler. I take your point about the stiffer rod probably being more effective. It seems you have to give the lure a chance to balance itself in the air. If you force it, the lure becomes totally unstable and never recovers. I obviously need to learn more on this subject and will be trying a few things out this weekend.

Epoxy has been done to death, but I can still think of two points worth a mention. 1. Work under a strong light. This makes it much easier to spot the missed patches and the lure can be rotated above the lamp to utilise the heat to keep the epoxy fluid while examining the lure. Do not apply the epoxy over the lamp, if you drip, the bulb could burst. 2. Always mix too much epoxy. The stuff is not cheap, but compared with the time some of you guys put in on the paint job, why risk it.

Longball. You were correct, he was not referring to me. It was silly of me to think that he was, oops.

Cheesehead. You are absolutely right to be suspicious of me. I have not posted a single picture or shown any of my work. I have demonstrated a lot of knowledge in some areas, mostly to do with my engineering background and research that I have done on this subject over the last three months. I have no doubt demonstrated a severe lack of knowledge in some areas also, despite trying to keep my mouth shut and learn. I haven't shown any work yet for two reasons. I do not have my camera with me, I am working away from home. The second reason is, I have nothing to show as yet, but I am getting close. Hopefully, when I do, I will convince you of my sincerity. I have, however already posted three unique designs and furthered the general knowledge of how the lure actually works. You may not consider the designs to be hugely ground breaking, but you cannot deny that they are original. Not the kind of thing you would expect from a mole. On the other hand, they could be three ideas that my company has rejected and are throwing them out to you to convince you that I am genuine. I assume you are a privateer as you are not showing a link at the bottom of your post. We are both in the same situation. You are obviously keen to further your knowledge as well as helping others on the way, you are an avid contributor and I have learned much from your posts. It is such a shame that your very best ideas will never see the light of day. Tally, what info would that be then?

The safest way to use a router and the best way to faithfully reproduce your desired shape is to create templates and use the guide bush system. Most routers are sold with a guide bush. This item is usually examined by the excited new owner for about 5 seconds and then cast back into the box from whence it came, just incase it was important. Never mind the instructions, lets plug it in and feel the power arrh arrh arrh! Using the template/guide bush technique, your fingers need never approach within twelve inches of the cutter. The down side is that you have to accept more waste material. If you try to squeeze just one more blank from your stock sheet, the fingers get closer and accidents happen. I am hoping that one of the experienced professional wood artists will step in and give us a tutorial in template routering techniques. I did a search on the web, everyone has a book on the subject, no one is giving the knowledge away for free. I am prepared to post my own thoughts and methods, but I am by no means an expert and I am afraid of leading you down the crooked path that leads to the emergency room. Scribing a line and offering it up to a router bit should be a criminal offence, it is that dangerous.

I agree with all the sentiments expressed above. The world wide web is a wonderful thing for learning. If it was not for TU and the wealth of information, I would probably given up on this hobby long ago. TU isn't just about information, it provides the enthusiasm needed to continue through the failures and provides the eternal light at the end of the tunnel. I agree with the 'earning it' statement to a certain extent, but, no matter how much information you put on the plate, the new lure designer has still an enormous amount to learn for himself. He is going to spend hours whittling firewood, feel a fool chugging his latest creation in the bath tub, trying to find a hint of the action he was hoping for, burn gallons of fuel travelling back and forth to the lake for testing. Why? Because we do not have all the answers to give him. It amuses me when a new user posts for the first time and asks the big questions, 'Is their a formula for the lip', 'How do you calculate the weight location' etc. The same questions that I wanted answers to and no one could answer. In fact, I decided to make the quest for the answers to these questions a big part of my hobby as well as designing the lure that swims how and where I want it to. The big questions are complex and need to be broken down into smaller problems, I have had some success on the way, as I have had with my lure designs. I would post my results if I could just finish something. I digress, but the point that I am working around to is that most of you have been designing lures for many years and no doubt have made some neat discoveries, come up with some unique techniques, novel ideas, new construction methods etc. I know I have. Many of you will be thinking why should I share this with anyone. Their is only one justification for not bringing the new stuff to the table and that is you intend to use the invention or idea to make a business. I can totally respect that and have considered the same with my ideas. I have decided that a business is not the route that I am going to take and so will be bringing my ideas, humble as they may be, to the table. Others will be thinking, if I publish this idea, someone is going to use it and make money from it and I won't get anything. True, you probably won't get any money for the idea, but you will get more than you are receiving at the moment. You will get the credit for the idea and the respect of your peers. The biggest names in lure design scan this site, whether they are members or not, trying to find new ideas. Every time the new lure incorporating your idea is discussed by the site, the knowledgeable ones will remember whose idea it was and someone will make reference to that fact. That I would consider success and feel proud of my achievement and recognition. So I say, if you do not intend to make a business from your idea, bring it out. There is no justification for hoarding it to be printed on your grave, nobody reads gravestones.

It started out as a very silly joke, the USA Brit thing. But, as I was drawing it, I started to think that their might be something to it, it might just work. Incidently, hope I didn't upset anyone, sometimes humour goes too far.

I've just looked 'Elmers Glue All'. I thought that this was some kind of product that was only available in America, as I cannot remember ever seeing the name on my shopping trips to the DIY stores. It's wood glue, we call it PVA. I wish I had known this three months ago. Now I have to go back and read all the articles again that I stopped reading because of 'Elmers'. As someone who is new to this industry, one of the most annoying things is brand names, I sometimes think you guys are on the devcon payroll. It's EPOXY and comes in various brands. I've never seen devcon yet. I respectfully request that you consider the overseas beginners when you refer to products. I could keep on going on this tack. Their are so many phrases that you take for granted. Because it is obvious to me that it is common knowledge, I have been too embarrassed to ask. I found all my answers through research and PM's. I know, I should have posted, because if I don't know then their must be others. One more request, it would be nice if, when you refer to a lure, if you could include a link to a picture, so we can emmediately see what you are talking about. Sorry for the whinge and thank's to all contributors, I am learning more every day.

You should try your local electronics shop. I'm not talking radio's and TV's, a proper electronics components shop. They usually have tons of it. The usual stuff is copper clad, but they also sell blank boards. The same shop will sell etching solution for dissolving the copper if you want clean boards, but if you are painting them why bother. A quick buff with the dremel, a coat of clear and you have a nice copper reflector.

Cal. You just inspired me to come up with a brand new lure design, take a look at squealer. There is a rattle in the tail so you can listen to it!

Cal. I believe you (diddle deng deng dennnng).

Yes, I'd like to see the whole process, not just the rattle.

Sorry LaPala, typing with my boxing gloves on. Maybe we should get back to discussing the lure?

Don't feel too bad about it, Haven't worked it out myself yet. Hopefully, another more knowledgeable member will be able to help us out with an image of the 'prop bait'. Have a nice day!

Steady on Mr Bone! I'm so intellectually challenged, I can't think of an amusing reply. Actually, I am staring out of the window at a pea souper as I write. Hopefully, it will protect us Brits from the 'neukulor' fall out. So, how about a picture of the 'tallywhancker' then?

I top coated a balsa bait last night at room temperature. Because it was originally sealed with epoxy, I was not concerned with the possibility of craters and was anticipating another perfect finish. The chemical reaction heated air inside found a weak spot in my seal coat and burst through just before the epoxy went off. The resulting crater was 8mm dia. An Idea for balsa baits would be to deliberately introduce a fault with a pin, in a convenient place were the damage would be minimised. This could prevent damage by letting the air out sooner in the process, while the epoxy is still fluid. Just an idea I'll be testing this weekend. Does anyone have any feed back on the 'heating' method.

I tried to look the lure up on the web, to get an idea of what you were all talking about, ended up in a bunch of porn sites and got a warning from my boss! If you could be so kind, could you post a picture for us beginners. Many thank's