Yake Bait

You need to mix it well and with that you will always get some bubbles in whatever container you are mixing in. When you brush on in a thinner layer, the bubbles should come out. Use just a little acetone to thin after you mix and it will give you a little more work time. This helps a lot if you are covering a larger lure. A quick breath with a heat gun can help too but you need to be very sparing with application of heat because you can get into bubbles from trapped air in the wood. I've been having good luck with an epoxy pre-coat, then painting over that. Everythign gets sealed in and you don't have to worry about bubbles on your top coat.

The Devcon formula seems to change from time to time. Last year they went to a more clear formula and you can tell because both parts are clear in the tube. I bought a pile of it from Walmart last week and some of the tubes are more yellow on the one side and it did turn out more yellow on my lure. Didn't matter for the color scheme that I was doing but if I were doing a lighter colored lure it couuld have been noticeable. I wonder if I had some of the older stuff from last year. I clean out my local Walmart 2 ton supply regularly...

Density of epoxy is 9.2 #/gal which is greater than water 8.3 #/gal so it will increase the sink rate depending on how much you use. I always plan a little extra bouyancy on float testing to account for the change.

If you have a cordless drill, just bend a coat hanger into a jig and use a little wire to suspend the lure inside the hanger. A little tape on the trigger at a low speed and you are all set! It is all I have used for two years.

Couldn't open the link either. There was a good thread up on D2T a few weeks ago. Here is a link to that thread. http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/12494-uneven-finish.html Make sure that you are using the 20 minute stuff vs the 5 min. Also, I would recommend using somethign to turn your lure for a good half hour at least while the epoxy stiffens up. There are some very nice drying wheels that guys have built. I just use coat hanger chucked and turning slowly in my cordless drill and place a piece of tape on the trigger. I also like to seal the wood with epoxy before paint. It bonds directly to the wood and I think that you have a much smaller chance of the entire finish peeling off when you start getting hook rash or teeth marks in your lure. Good luck, Pete

AND THE RESULTS ARE... Very little difference in action. Maybe a slightly wider glide with the dual weights but almost no difference at all. The dual weight lure ended up with a slightly higher sink rate which may be more of a factor in the difference in glide.

Here they are. They will get an epoxy pre-coat this weekend then hopefully get a test run in the river before paint. Will report results when I get them.

Just finished melting lead in two spots, then balancing the lure. Hopefully can get the first coat of epoxy on tomorrow night. I may field test the pre-coated lures side by side late this week or on the weekend. Will report the results in this thread. The balance came out nice. Placement of the weight is lower on the lure which will make for a lower center of mass and I would think less belly roll but there was a nice shimmy on the fall when I did my float test so we will see! After doing this there are some advantages that I can see with regards to fewer unknowns before sealing sealing the lure. I was able to tweak the balance a bit after melting the lead and also adjust the final bouyancy. Before I targeted neutral or slight positive bouyancy on the wood plug with attached hardware before drilling out the lead hole assuming some loss of bouyancy from the displaced wood for lead hole and also epoxy coats. Other advantage that I see is ability to make standard lead holes location and depths for a given bait profile, and you can drill it to get desired final results. So far so good. We will see... Thanks for the info and replies. It is extremely helpful to tap the extensive experience and knowledge on this forum and I don't take it for granted!

Mark, I'm working on sub surface gliders.

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Most of my experience is using a single hole for the lead placed at the "center of bouyancy" or the spot that I can hold the lure and sink it level to the horizon. I find it easier to achieve desired bouyancy while keeping the lure at the proper attitude. I'm currently working on 4 plugs of the same design. Considering a dual weight placement on one of them to see what difference (if any) can be seen in the action. Any experiences with this and if it is worth experimenting with a method that I am not familiar with?

I use 5 minute epoxy for the fill work and work the epoxy into the gaps using a small toothpick. I have a small vice for my drill press that I use to position the bait to allow the epoxy to level and cure. Don't be afraid of excess, especially on a hardwood lure, as it sands off easily with 220 grit orbital palm sander.