mark poulson

Dave, I have had really good luck with the AC1315, especially over plastic baits. I also have found that Createx white seems to be more affected, too. Maybe it has something to do with the pigments. I find that I have to dip really fast, or the solvent softens any paint that is a little thicker. I am just going to keep the soft plastics away from my hard baits.

I put some Zoom trick worms on another batch of rats and they caused no problems. It's weird.

I had several rat baits, dipped in AC1315 and painted with Createx/Wicked White colors develop problems. It was posted earlier here that someone (sorry I don't remember who) had problems with soft plastics melting the AC1315 finish. At that time, I draped a couple of Robo worms over some cranks I had dipped, and left them for a week, with no problems. Well, I opened my wake bait box Friday, and found that all four of the jointed rat baits I had made, and equipped with some old BPS floating worms for tails, had problems. The tails had been folded back over the lure bodies for storage, and I hadn't opened that box for several months. Where the worms had been in contact with the lure bodies the AC1315 had melted, on a couple all the way through to the PVC trimboard body. The worms were vintage 2000, so they may have been a different formulation than the Robo worms I draped over the cranks for a test, or maybe they just stayed in a hot plano box in a tackle locker too long, but the finish and the paint were affected. When I saw what happened, I took the worms off the baits and stored them separately, so I could reattach them when I want to use the baits. The baits are still melted and stick today, Sunday, so I have them hanging over my bench to deal with, somehow. Maybe just wipe with alcohol and redip. I'll let you know what I figure out. I do know I won't be leaving the worm tails attached after I've finished throwing the baits next time! Doh!!!!

I have an old Pemco tackle box in the garage with holes melted in the plastic trays. I had forgotten about that.

I am wondering if the formula for plastisol has changed in the last 10+ years. I pulled out some old Bass Pro floating worms to use as tails on my 2 piece rats, and left them attached for two months in my tackle compartment. When I pulled them out to tie up for tomorrow, where the worms had been in contact with the rat body the plastic had softened/melted the AC1315 top coat and the Createx paint. I haven't had that experience, so far, with anything else I've dipped in the AC1315, so I'm wondering if the old worms are a different formulation, or if it's just from leaving them rigged for so long. Any ideas?

Dipping doesn't atomize the solvents like spraying does. I am careful because, back in the '70s, I sprayed a wood preservative (with no mask) that had dioxins in it, and wound up with scaring on my spinal cord and brain from a virus that got past my blood/brain barrier, due to the dioxin. The can had no warnings about how to use it, and I bought it at a local lumberyard. Once you're damaged, you're damaged, so I say err on the side of caution, or you could wind up like me!

I have found that having the rear of a walking bait weighted more that the front give the rear more inertia to overcome the force of the water when it slows. On the pause, the lighter head stops more quickly due to water resistance, and the rear keeps moving, jack knifing like JRammit says. For me, the smaller/lighter the walking bait, the farther down toward vertical it can sit on the pause and still walk. In fact, small baits need that rear weight to cast well, but they are still easy to get up walking because they are small. I keep my 7" walkers almost horizontal, with about 1/3 of the top of the head out of the water, resting almost level. That way they are easier to walk, and they are heavy enough to cast well without a huge tail weight. But, if I want the nose to dive slightly on the pull, I would probably have to give it some kind of a diving plane, like the example you posted. Moving the line tie higher would also cause the nose to dive on the pull, but it might spoil the walk the dog action.

Matt, I don't use auto clears because I am a hobby builder, and don't want to invest in the breathing and ventilation system that would make it safe for me to use. I use a solvent based concrete sealer that I can dip outside, with a fan blowing behind me. It stays clear after prolonged use, but I don't know if it would work for commercial production http://www.directcolors.com/product/ac-1315-high-gloss-concrete-sealer/

If you're worried about messing up your master, make a good silicone mold of it. The money you spend on the mold making silicone will be worth it if your master is preserved. Smoothon makes lots of silicone mold making products. I don't know which one is best for you, but someone here will.

You might also try spraying the back and shoulders with pearlized white before you spray your purple, and shoot light coats of the purple to get to the shade you want. The pearlized white should keep the chartreuse from turning the purple brown, or, at the least, limit it to just the transition line.

How do you find anything? I mean, it's so.......clean!

Is that the stuff that the Glad brand of tupperware-type storage containers is made from? I know from personal experience it doesn't like to be dropped when it's full.

Let us know what he says.

Contact Baitjunky, and ask him about it.

Because I soak my air brush in a tub of water between colors, and to back flush it, I get that sometimes. I think the dirty water gets into the plunger shaft assembly that the trigger pushed down when I'm painting. I use a quick disconnect, so I disconnect the air hose, back the trigger assembly out of the bottom of the brush, put a drop of air brush lube into the bottom of the brush, and screw the trigger assembly back in. That way, the lube comes in with the next blast of air, and lubes the plunger shaft and O ring.

Those poor fish are going to have nightmares about the Great Ghost Crawdad! Hahaha

"Are you talkin' to me?!" Hahaha

Erick, A few years ago a buddy who fishes tubes a lot asked me if I could dip one with allen wrench, so it would have a hex shape. After asking here if it would work, I tried it. It was easy, but the outside rounded itself off, so the hex shape was lost. Any long, thin metal piece can be used for dipping tubes. I bet you could even use wood dowels, as long as they were sealed and sanded smooth. The hollow body swimbaits are just dipped using a spoon shaped tool. Frank from here has a video somewhere showing how he does it. I remember seeing a round disc with half a dozen shafts attached that someone here used to dip six tubes at a time. So it's not hard to do. Just takes some time to get a system that works for you. I would think finding a dipping tray that is the right size and depth, and that can be kept hot on a hot plate, would be the hardest part. And then, of course, there is the cutting of the tails, which is a whole 'nother subject!

Drat!!! Hahaha No free lunch, I guess.

I wonder if there are fumes with the CAB paint?

If the resin is truly hard, take it back and exchange it. If it's just very viscous and won't flow, I'm guessing it is cold. I use a hair dryer to warm my epoxy parts, separately, in the winter, so they will both flow easily. Resin is always thicker than hardener, anyway, but both should flow, at least like honey, or you have bad epoxy.

You can also find big syringes like that at medical supplies. They are used for amniocentesis on pregnant women.

I think the biggest problem is that most people grow up now in cities, totally removed from the natural world. Playing in the dirt, falling and getting up, seeing that the meat we eat comes from dead animals, all those life lessons are lost on people who only know concrete and asphalt, and super markets. People who grow up in cities are afraid of everything, because there are so many dangerous things in cities. Pollution is concentrated in cities, traffic is worse, poverty is more concentrated and closer. Even the parks they go to are filled with junkies and drugs at night, so they have to watch out for everything there, too. I grew up 5 blocks from a swamp, behind the local playground, where all the kids would play all summer. Our alleys were dirt, so we could hunt for lizards and snakes behind our own homes. I learned about how to handle black widows and scorpions from the older kids. And any parent could swat any kid who misbehaved, and get a thank you from the kid's own parents. Times have changed. Common sense is now the most uncommon thing.

For me, no. I take a commercial lure that runs the depth I want to match, and use that as a guide for lure size, lip size, line tie attachment, and lip angle. They spend a lot of money on R & R to get their baits to work, so I "use" their research. Once I have made a similar lure, and it works, I vary off of that design, to see if I can make something different that still works.