mark poulson

Great video and lures Dieter! In my limited crankbait making, I have found that, for smaller bass lures, 3-4", putting the ballast as close to the belly hook hanger, so the center of gravity is there, really increases the wiggle. I also find that a longer lure body seems to cast better than a short, stubby body, and to be more stable on the retrieve. Maybe it's more aerodynamic and hydrodynamic, too. I just made my first homemade pointy lipped cranks, copies of an older Bandit crank, and they both cast really well, with a wide wiggle, which was a surprise. Here are a couple of pics from the Hard Bait Gallery: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/15244-homemade-bandits/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/15242-homemade-bandit-3/ I put 1 gram lead balls above the belly hook hanger to make a one knocker rattle. The second pic shows the location, as well as the lip shape. I wonder if the more curved, banana shape of these lures, along with the thinner tail, enhance the wiggling, too. Anyway, they both swim well, and the smaller one has already caught multiple fish.

Seems like I have short term memory when it comes to my own safety procedures. So, since I moved north, I've fallen back into some old bad habits when it comes to lure making. I still have a box fan blowing out of my garage shop, and I have it on high, with the big door open, when I pour plastics. But lately it's been cold, so I've been using super glue and nail polish inside, with the big door closed. Mistake! Even with a dust mask, my sinuses are thrashed today. I'm going to Home Depot to buy a solvent respirator.

It all depends on the materials I use, and the application methods I've developed for those materials. If it's a pattern I've painted before, and a clear plastic crank, 20-30 minutes for three colors, including cleanup, before it's ready to top coat. If it's a new pattern that I'm kind of designing as I go, it can take an hour or more. That's all with water-based air brush paints. With nail polish, it takes longer, if I'm doing multiple coats or colors, because each coat has to really set before the next, or I get mixing of colors. If I'm using Glonation paint over a clear plastic crank, it takes 2 hours for me to really be sure the paint is dry, using a hair dryer repeatedly, and then I coat it with nail polish, and leave that to dry overnight.

Ray, Just be sure the plate won't melt you cups. I don't know how hot they can get, or the melting point of Norpro cups. I do known the silicone doesn't transmit heat like glass does, so it may be a wasted effort to put them on a hot plate. Jig Man's insulated cup would probably be more effective, but I've found that just pinching the mouth of the cups closed between pours keeps the plastic temps up enough that I can inject, clean out and relube the injector, open my molds and cut off the sprues, put both the injector plastic and the sprues back in the cup, and only have to reheat for 30 seconds+- to get the plastic hot enough to inject again. I do stir the crap out of it, once it's reheated, to be sure everything is remelted. Nothing spoils an injection like lumpy plastic.

Jig Man, Can you still pinch off the mouth of the cup to make a smaller pour spout?

Dave, I can see it working if I'm injecting, or dipping, but not for hand pours. The problem for me with using pop as an insulating jackets for my Norpro cups is that it is rigid, so I can't pinch down the mouth of the cup to make a pour spout. And because the silicone is a pretty good insulator on it's own, I couldn't pinch the cup shut between injections to preserve heat, so I'd be having to reheat more, and longer. Lastly, it would make the cups even heavier and more awkward to handle. I like that I can grip the edge of the silicone cup with my gloved hand, bend it down, and pull it out of the microwave, without fear that I will drop two cups of hot plastisol.

Baitjunky sells Lurecraft colorant, so you know it has to be good.

I only dipped a couple of times, because a buddy wanted a particular tube he couldn't find anywhere. Basically, you need to find a rod the size of the tube you want's interior, and dip it repeatedly into your hot plastic, letting it cool enough between dips so the next dip will coat the first, and not just remelt it. Doing this repeatedly will give you thicker tubes. You can even do different interior and exterior colors by dipping in different colors. For me, a metal rod worked best, with the end slightly rounded over or chamfered to make the head stronger. You can redip ony the head to make it even thicker/stronger. I've seen setups with multiple rods mounted to a handle, so you can make more than one tube at a time. I only used one rod, and I sprayed it with PAM first, because I wanted to be sure it would strip easily. I cut the tails by hand, but there are tail cutters available. Use the search here to find some. Keeping the plastic hot enough is key. I found that 330+- was a good dipping temp., and I only got three dips before I had to reheat. This is one technique where Frank's hot plate and glass beakers would really help keep the plastic at the right temp to dip repeatedly. I think he has a video showing how he dips, and his setup. It was for hollow belly baits, but the principal is the same as for tubes.

I pinch the tops of my Norpro cups shut with large black paper clip, like chip clips, and the plastic stays hot a lot longer. They're the same clips I use to make pour spouts with, by pinching down one side of the cup until it makes a smaller opening.

I figured it was spell checked. I find putting periods in p.o.p defeats spellcheck, if I remember.

I will say that Predator Bass Baits has a great lure in it's rattling Wiggle Wark knockoff. I can burn them back to the boat with a fast retrieve, and they will "hunt". If I hold the rod tip high, I can burn them over the tops of the grass and they move like a chatterbait, very erratic. His 4" Sammie knockoffs walk really easily, and catch fish. His Megabass P.o.p. X knockoff also works, and can be walked, too. I've had good luck with his 1.5 and 2.5 square bills. I've also had good luck with the square bills from Bustin Bass Baits, and his Buzzjet Jr. knockoff works really well. That is not to say these are the only good sources for plastic knockoffs. They are just the only ones I've had personal experience with.

Do you have to factor in quantum weirdness?

Once I've gotten the bait shaped, and the hardware and bill drilled for and slotted, I use a wooden jawed clamp to hold the bait parallel to the drill press table, so my holes will all have the same orientation. I drill a small pilot hole through the bait, from side to side, where I want the rattle to go . That way I can locate my knocker so I don't run into their locations. I use a 5/16" brad point bit to drill a shallow (1/16"+) hole from each for my aluminum disc rattle caps. Then I use a 1/4" brad point bit to drill the rattle hole, using the small pilot hole as a guide and drilling half way from each side. I run the 1/4" bit through from side to side, once I've gotten them connected, to make sure the chase for the rattle is smooth. If you're using wood (I use PVC) at this point you probably want to seal the 1/4" rattle shaft with super glue, and clean/smooth the hole with the 1/4" bit, before you proceed. I use a 5/16" hole punch to make two aluminum discs from a soda or beer can. Using the handle of an exacto knife, I push one of the discs into the 5/16" hole on one side of the lure. It is the perfect size for this. Once the disc is centered and seated, I use some gap filling super glue to glue the disc in, and I use the accelerant for the glue to help it set quickly. Then I turn the lure over, add the 1 gram lead ball, make sure it moves freely, and then glue in the other aluminum disc to close the rattle chamber. I use bondo to fill the recesses over the rattle caps. I cut 5/16" holes in blue painters tape to mask the bait before I bondo, so I keep it off the lure's face. I just file and sand the bondo down until it's really close to the lure and I start hitting the tape. Then I remove the tape and finish sand with 120 grit. My final step is to reinforce the bondo by putting a drop of runny super glue onto each spot, and spreading it with my finger. It makes the bondo stronger, and the excess glue just seals the lure around the holes. I hope this helps.

You might get better responses if you post this in the Wire Baits Forum.

Have you tried preheating the molds, so they don't cool the plastic before it bonds? I use a heat gun for this.

Dave's right. I gave mine away because it was useless for heating soft plastics.

"Another general ongoing project, is to develop a lure dynamics theory, that explains the movements of all types of lures, as there cannot be one rule for cranks and another for swimbaits." Now you're starting to scare me! "One ring to rule them all."

I put it on over my top coat, once it lure has cured. It is always the last coating I put on. For spinnerbait blades and other metal blade baits, I wipe them down with clean acetone first.

Joe, I have built suspending baits out of PVC trimboard. The challenge is to get the ballast just right, and to get the bait to "hang" at the angle you want on the pause. One of the things I learned the hard way is to allow for the weight of your paint and topcoat when you're ballasting, and subtract that weight from the ballast you install. I used the largest trebles and split rings on my initial float testing, so that, if I wound up with a bait that sank once it was finished, I could make it lighter by using smaller hooks and hardware, and by using mono instead of fluoro. I found it is almost impossible to get a bait that truly suspends. They all rise or sink slowly, depending on water temps. So I carry Suspend Dots, so I can add weight if I need to. But you can get close, if you use a bucket of water near the lake temps for your float testing. Another thing I found is that smaller suspending lures don't have a lot of physical room for ballast, so I used screw eyes for the hook hangers and line tie, since they are heavier than twist wires, and also removable, if the bait winds up too heavy. Here's a link to a smaller jerkbait-shaped lure I made. It is slow sink, but could easily+- be made to suspend by playing with the ballast: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/13886-20141217-070125-resized/

Since my jigs seem to like rocks a lot, and only last a couple of trips before they sleep with the fishes, I use clear nail polish if I want to toughen the finish. They have it for $1 at the dollar stores. But mostly I use it to add glitter. It lets me add whatever soft plastic glitter I want to my standard powder paint colored jigs, when I want it, and give the additional protection, too. I add the glitter to a partial bottle of clear, and it lasts, without melting or gumming up. I just wish I didn't catch so many rocks!

Which plastic are you using, in terms of hardness. The harder the plastic, the better it will hold up. For me, it's a tossup. In the past, I ordered soft plastic, and added some hardener for my swimbaits and flipping baits, which seem to need a tougher plastic. But the next gallon I order will be medium, and I'll add softener if I need softer plastic, since most of the baits I use now need a tougher plastic.

I used to make and sell jointed swimbaits. I soon realized that having to make something was a job, and that took the fun out of it. I already had a job that actually paid. So I quit selling, and began having fun again. I still make the occasional jointed swimbait for a friend who fishes competitively, but he's the exception.

Bob, Once I've gotten the shape close to the profile I want, I hold the blank so I can sight down it from the back or front, in front of a bright light (usually the sunlit driveway) so all I see it the dark cross section perimeter as I move it back and forth. The bright light shows the blank in silhouette, and the entire back of the lure gets looked at, one part at a time. I do the same with the belly. I can tell pretty quickly if I need to adjust the shape for symmetry. I used to do this with my wood baits, when I made wood baits, and it worked. I never saw the grain, because the light behind the bait was too bright. But I can see where balsa might require a higher degree of symmetry, because it is so light and lively.

I pull some plastic in, then shoot it back out again, before I fill the injector, to heat the injector, when I'm too lazy to preheat it. I tried burping, and wound up with hot plastic canon when the trapped air had a little hot plastic in front of it. I try to hold the injector vertical when I fill it, so it doesn't suck up air, and I hold it vertical when I inject, so any trapped air goes up toward the plunger. I haven't had any problems with trapped air, but I am a hobby pourer, not a production person.

It sounds like you got a bad batch. Mine is two years old, and still works great. I would contact the manuf.