mark poulson

This is where I got them, and what I paid: http://www.zeiners.com/doit/essential_series_soft_plastic_molds.html

I bought two of their craw molds from Zeiner's. Fast delivery, great price, and the molds shoot perfect right out of the gate. I had the same experience with the Essential senko molds.

I find that a quick dip is needed with AC1315, or I get wrinkling, too.

Who will be the first to post a video of nudes swimming in that proposed 150' high, glass bottomed pool? I'm sure we could all learn something by watching their swimming action.

I find, if the mold has alignment pins, clamps are a lot faster than screw-on knobs.

I have no idea about the gloss vs matte question, but, in regards to Garco wrinkling your paint, you need to be sure the solvent in Garco doesn't react with the paints you use. No matter how long you dry and cure a paint job, if the top coat contains a solvent for the paint it will wrinkle, to some extent. The best way I've found to tell if a top coat "plays nice" is to make a test piece, using your typical paint scheme, and then top coating it, to see if there are any problems.

If I were only doing one, I'd tie it so it was bent in one direction. Using an artists bristle brush, I'd brush my urethane or AC1315 onto the faces of the opened joints and a wider brush to coat the face of the lure toward me, let it dry/cure, and then bend it the other way and repeat the process. That way I would have the most control over where the top coat goes.

Have you tried painting the tail portion of the mold with the contrasting color you want before you pour?

I use them for hook hangers, without the lead, in my small cranks, so I only use the smaller sizes, too.

I did like Ben suggested, and ordered it online from Home Depot. It will be delivered to my local store for me to pick up, and they'll notify me by email when it arrives.

I fish with the guy who brought the Tora Tube to prominence, Dan Warme, and he still calls all tubes Gitzits. He even made a video with the Garland brothers on Gitzit fishing, back in the late 90's. He knows stuff about fishing them that amazes me still, and we've been fishing together for years.

I've found the AZEK decking is stronger, and slightly less buoyant, than their trim board, about the same as poplar. I drill tight pilot holes for my hardware, screw the sst screw eyes in and back out again, to cut threads into the PVC, then coat with brush-on super glue and run them back in. The excess makes a little mound around the eye, and keeps it from turning. I have never had a screw eye come out. I've make baits with the trim that are only 1/2" thick, and the largest bass I've caught on that one is 7 lbs. PVC doesn't like impacts with concrete. It can crack where any lip is cut into it. But I've fished cranks, jerkbaits, glidebaits, and jointed swimbaits made from it since JR Hopkins first suggested using it, and never had a bait fail from a fish.

Canyon Plastics, the original makers of the Gitzit, makes soft tubes. They are great for clear, pressured waters. But there are tubes out there with thicker heads, so you can use an offset hook and still have a relatively soft tube that will hold up. Look at some of the flipping tubes on Tackle Warehouse.

I get mine here: http://www.barlowstackle.com/Inserts-for-Do-It-Molds-C160.aspx I don't know where to buy them wholesale.

Hahaha...Bob, you're such a meanie! I had my own company for 40 years, and, before that, I was a union carpenter for 11 years. When I made journeyman, my take home was a little over $100 a week. When I left the union, they were taking more than that out of my check for withholding and benefits, and a journeyman was making $25+- an hour. When I folded my business, carpenters were making roughly the same $25/hour, even though the cost of living in the 40 years had gone up astronomically. Real wages, in relation to the cost of living, have been in a 40 year decline, and so has minimum wage, even though the wealth in this country has grown exponentially. We don't see the benefits of that wealth because it is earned oversees, on the backs of cheap labor, and using the tools and methods first developed here, by US workers. All we see is service jobs, to serve the wealthy. If you have a needed skill, you're paid. If not, you're ignored. That is not the American way. A person willing to work hard 40 hours a week should be able to survive, raise a family, and build a future for their kids. This race to the bottom/dog-eat-dog system is not how we insure a decent future for our kids. All it does is make rich people richer, at our expense.

When you pay minimum wage, and only hire part timers to avoid paying benefits, that's what you get.

Yeah, I always tie them on with the "palm" facing out. Maybe I need to try trimming some of the tip off, so the fibers at the outside end are stiffer.

Do any of the alloys, like what's used for tire weights, make lead less toxic

I tried some guinea fowl feathers, because I like the dappled pattern on them, but they don't flare at all when they're wet. Is there something I can do to them to get them to flare?

The lead wire makes weighting/ballasting easier for me. I use PVC, so I can drill my ballast holes deep, add a section of wire, snugged into the hole but not installed, and see how the bait floats/sinks. I can shorten the wire, or add a second piece, until I get the ballasting the way I want it, and then cut up the wire and spread it between my ballast locations, again only snug, until I'm happy with the attitude of the bait (how it sits/falls). Once I'm happy, I dry the bait, push the wire all the way up into the bait, add a drop of crazy glue, and bondo over the holes. Using lead wire also gives me a consistent weight per inch of ballast, so I can repeat it quickly (or at least really close) the next time I want to build that lure.

But no one should be "cheap labor". If you're willing to work, you deserve a decent wage. And decent means you can live off it, and raise a family.

Use a dust mask when you pour, so you aren't tempted to go to your mouth with anything before you have a chance to wash your hands. Be careful. Lead poisoning is no joke, and can ruin your life.

I use the gap filling ZAP super glue (more working time), and, once the spring is where I want it, I use their accelerant to set the glue. Any waterproof epoxy will work, too, but you have to wait for it to cure.

I used 1/4" lead wire, in 1/4" holes drilled up from the belly. For me, the key was to get both sections to sink at the same rate, so there was very little friction in the hinges.

I just glue them into the brush guard hole. It's a trick Rayburn Ben taught me years ago. I have also drilled holes into jigs without brush guards, and glued them in, too. That also works. If it's a small jig, with a single wire weed guard, you can just cut the wire down to 3/4" long, thread the worm onto the wire, and then embed the hook like you always do. If you can manage to put a hook bend into the end of the wire, or even a slight kink, so much the better.