Troul Hawk

Sounds like it was hard, but your glad! SHWEW! Good Job!!

Ahhhh! OK! Good to know! Thanks.

I wonder if those are Sonny McFarlands "Flat Shad baits" He has closed his www page due to backlog, but you can see his work by by-passing the index page and going here. I never noticed but the spot does seem low on his baits. http://www.flatshadbaits.com/Flat%20Baits.htm

My football jig mold has a strange weed guard and it is much smaller than a normal base pin, BUT what I have found is I have a drill bit (sorry have no idea what size) that fits perfectly into the weedguard slot, and even though it is small it makes a nice pilot hole for a drill out after I pour/powdercoat them. Note: I use the smooth end of the drill bit, not the blade end. Hope this helps! (I really shouldjust buy a new football mold, but once something works, my cheapness really shines.)

Hey Gang, Here are a couple of shots of my first ever swimbaits using the injector. I couldn't help myself and tried a dipped blade before injecting and the only thing I wish I woulda done was paid better attention to which side was the dorsal side of the bait, DUH. Well, at any rate I am happy with the results, these are a dirty pearl color with 1/2 chartreuse and 1/2 grey dipped blade. It would be totally easy to dip the blade early in black and then cut a strip out with an exacto knife to make it a very thin line.

I have found that this RTV is flexible, tear resistant, picks up extremely small detail and is very long lasting. http://www.micromark.com/TEN-TO-ONE-and-HIGH-TEAR-STRENGTH-MOLD-RUBBER-28-FL-OZ,8155.html If you poured half the mold and let the RTV cure, then painted on mold release on all the sides but the base and then poured the second half it would create a clamshell effect. Was this what you were looking for?

I just got my mold in and I do not see any reason the hinge could possibly be bad or wrong? the mold works like a chanp and the insert is great. What gives? I have injected four baits so far. I like the idea of it, the baits are nice to look at, and I expect good results from them. I am learning, but I gotta say that I like the experience so far.

AWESOME!! I am ready to buy up some green pumpkin. WOO HOO! THANKS Mike!

WOW, and I should be kicked for not getting more runners from ya all along! I just so happen to think about runners during the cold winter and hot hot summer. Hmmmmmm I guess fishing gets in the way of my bait making.

I am interested in the teflon pin idea, this is news to me and would be worth a try, but gosh I don't want to buy 25 feet / $70 worth of the stuff. Anyone willing to clip a section off and let me buy it from ya? maybe enough for a dozen pins or so.

Hey gang, Just wondering if anyone has any other sources for fine round/frogs hair living rubber? In particular I am looking for a shade of green, and I call it "army green" some might call it avacado, BUT I can not find it anywhere and was wondering if anyone had a source. The green rubber at livingrubber.com is too dark for my needs and is more of a deep green. Too green IMHO. THANKS!!!!

Very, very cool. Thanks for sharing that Tyler! I never would have guessed that worm to turn out like it did. Shweet.

Wow, that is great to hear. I don't sell, and am a bit naive in this department, but how can "The Tornado" be compared with "Hag's Tornado?" To me those are two completely separate terms. If you search the United States patent and trademark office they clearly state that 'The Tornado" are the words used. Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) At any rate, I am glad to hear that the little guy got the break, and that the folks at BPS are decent folks.

Related???? maybe. I don't know how many TU folks utilize the 'RSS Feed'..........I love it. Just so folks know, if a topic gets moved from one forum to the other, the RSS feed link will subsequently break and show the following message. "Invalid Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator"

I am interested in your source as well. Can you share? BTW...I do the same thing, pull the rubber and clip it slowly allowing the strands to spring back. On a batch of Green I own, I have to break it into three sub-sections before I clip it, it is way to sticky to cut at once.

Until you get your fluid bed, one thing I suggest is to hold the hook eye with hemostats, it blocks almost all of it. You can also use a paint brush with fluffy bristles to "tap" your paint onto the hot jighead, that way you can control the amount you put on. Juyst do it over a box to catch the fly.

Never hurts to hear the safety stuff. Great thread, and thanks for the info. I wear a respirator, but still pour under the exhaust fan. Haven't burnt any plastic yet, but that is a matter of time I am sure.

Yes, those are very nice, and excellent work! Need a "tester". LOL. Gotta ask.

I have had plenty of success in the past catching fish with tubes, but one of the PRIME times I like to use them is mid to early summer, after the bluegill spawn and the young of the year are about 2-3" and are everywhere. I will throw a store bought tube and dip the tail in chartreuse dye. Now I have this to throw. Here is the formula: Dip 1: No bleed chartreuse Dip 2: (the back)White pepper plastic, added 10 drops of grey and 2 of blue, a sprinkle of blue holographic glitter. Dip 3: 2 oz White pepper plastic, add 1/4 oz of purple plastic (add sticker eyes) Dip 4: Clearcoat, gold holo. glitter, blue holo glitter. So about a month ago I contacted Bojon and ordered one of his kits. I was blown away. It is such a wonderful set of tools that really teaches you how to proceed. It took me a bit to get the setup ready, but well...take a look...I dove in and went for a "core shot" four color tube. Trying to re-create that baby bluegill look. I should mention that I used Carolina Mikes runners for the plastic, it worked well for tube dipping. I am now addicted to making tubes! I don't think I created the hyperlinks right to the larger images in the photo gallery, so here is the URL to copy and paste. LOL. Tackleunderground Home - Luremakers Photo Gallery - First tubes "Bojon Special"

YUP...the only way to go. One difference is that someone here at TU mentioned using Marine GOOP and MAN that stuff is the shiznit for weed guards. Sorry I would give credit, but can't remember who mentioned it.

I have had great luck holding the bait by the eyelet with a pair of hemostats, and then dipping them in. It gets on the hemo's but you can clean them by burning the excess off every now and then. An added bonus, the hemo's make it easy to rotate the bait in the heat source and transfer from one hand to the other. (OH and for those jigheads that I had already dipped and the eyelet filled, here is what I have done: Take a large flipping style hook, and cut the hook at the bend, so you have a straight shank "wire" then super heat this so it glows red hot, then simply push this through the already baked on paint and it will clear it and then make the residual super brittle so that a eyelet cleaner can finish it up pretty clean)

I had this same problem and it was that the lead was too soft. I now try to add a large wheel weight to 3/4 pot of soft lead. Totally a "guesstimate" on my behalf, but my springs are solid as a rock now.