mark poulson

Could the salt in that tube be what's making it milky looking?

If I understand Gliders' test, it's to see which glue resists unscrewing, not pull out. If the threads on a screw eye are truly smooth, there is nothing for either glue to bond to mechanically, so they just coat the surrounding material, or form a pocket, to make stronger female threads in the bait. That will make pull out harder, but not unscrewing.

Since neither glue has anything to bond to on the screw eye, and there is no squeeze out to stop them from rotating, I think they'll come out with close to the same force.

One of the benefits of dipping my plastic KO blanks in clean acetone quickly before I paint them is that it melts the top layer of plastic a little, and kind of self-seals any small leaks. Of course, big leaks are another story, and leaving the bait in the acetone for any length of time can actually create big leaks because it does melt the plastic. I learned that the hard way.

This was a VMC hook. I like them because they have the eye closed with a dab of epoxy, so the braid doesn't get caught/cut on the end of the hook wire. I was hoping you'd say it was because of my massive, powerful hook sets! Hahaha

If I wanted to see the effect of different angled tails on a bait, I would experiment with store bought baits. If I couldn't find a bait with the tail angle I wanted to try, I'd cut the tail off one and reglue it at the angle I was interested in, using some kind of soft plastic glue like Mend It so the glue joint wouldn't be stiff.

Be sure your bait is completely dry inside before you paint and seal it. I use a hair dryer to heat it repeatedly so the moisture in it gets out more easily. Then use a drop of super glue to seal the hook hanger that is leaking. Don't rush. Trapped moisture will cause problems down the road.

I was able to level out my swimbait by moving the line tie up onto the forehead a bit. Think rattletrap. Also, a bigger, wider swim tail will add lift to the tail.

I was retying a flipping setup for a kid in the boat, with 65lb braid and a snell knot. When I went to pull the snell down tight, the hook eye broke, with the half away from the hook just coming off. I was using a VMC flipping hook, and had caught several fish on it. Has anyone here had a similar experience, or did I just get a bad hook?

Dale, When I was making swimbaits, the big thing was trying to conceal the hinge joints as much as possible, to avoid a see-thru look and get a more "realistic" effect. That's why I've always used a V joint cut. Plus it allowed me to use the sides of the V to limit the bait movement at each joint, so I could get a more subtle movement everywhere but the tail, which I made looser on purpose so it would swim better even on a slow retrieve. A double V makes sense. I just never tried it.

Musky Glenn, I checked all the sites on my Google search, and you're right. They're all "not available". Sorry for the bad tip.

From my experience, calling the IRS is like stepping in dog crap and then walking across a white carpet. If you're going to make a business of lure making, find a local CPA who handles small businesses, and pay them to help you. You'll need their help eventually, and it will be money well spent.

Here's a link to two photos showing my hinge joints. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/4214-reversed-joint-7-trout/ I made these as a test of the action with a reverse joint, with the cupped face at the front of each section. It was a failure, because it did not swim at slow speed, like the baits with the cupped face at the back.

The only thing worse than not knowing what lure it is must be not being able to find another one. Good luck. Google it. I found some.

Someone on another forum posted a crank and said he used some ribbon to get the irregular effect.

Now you tell me! That stuff is a bear to get off your teeth!

Don't make me take that drive north now! Hahaha

I know nothing about computers and milling, but I'm guessing it takes a lot of time to write a computer code for those milling machines, and time is money.

Thanks.

If you put avocado bag netting over regular tulle netting, you get a 3D effect. Here's a bait I made a long time ago using that technique: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/4216-black-crappie-repaint/

http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/29482-why-pvc/

Damn assumptions! I assumed he was injecting. We all know what they say about assuming. Hahaha I hand pour with NorPro silcone cups, pinched down with a big paper clip to get a small pouring stream. I keep my stir rod in the cup, and stir between cavities. Keeping the stream centered in the sprue mouth, so it gets down quickly, helps. Even though it seems counterintuitive, hand pouring at 335 works better for me, because the cavities fill better, even though hot plastic shrinks more. Just keep them topped off, so there's always hot plastic available to be sucked into the cavity.

I just got an email announcement that it's started. Go to their site, and, since you're in Mexico, use Cyber16B at checkout to get a 15% discount on your order, if it's big enough. Domestic orders over $75 use Cyber16A, and get a 10% discount.

You might also consider buying Do It's Essential senko mold. It shoots great, and is cheap. But I do still have to inject slowly, and hold pressure, or I get denting with it, too.

I think you're going to have to play around with plastic temps, holding pressure intervals, and topping off, until you find what works for your mold. I made a three cavity pop mold for 7" senkos. I have to shoot it at 315+-, and hold pressure for a ten count, or I get denting. I also have to top off each chamber several times, because it takes a lot of plastic. I made a three cavity mold because I can only manage three cavities before the plastic gets too cool to shoot. Even then, half the time the third cavity doesn't fill right. I don't preheat my injector. That might help me keep the plastic hot longer, but I'm just pouring for myself, so getting two baits from each shooting is fine for me.