mark poulson

Ray, I live in Westchester, in the Osage triangle, 5 minutes from LAX. I have 50 lbs of the bead blast medium. You're welcome to stop by and I'll give you some. I'll never use 50 lbs. Just bring your own container.

Rapala used to offer a brown trout scheme on their floating minnows. Maybe you can track down a picture of one. I'm pretty sure I have one somewhere, but I can't remember where. I found a photo: http://www.tacklecenter.com/rapala/rapala-countdown-minnows-4262?gclid=CILn85KNr8ICFe_m7AodUmUAzw

Hinge joints wear differently and have different stresses than line ties and hook hangers. You should use a thicker sst wire, or sst screw eyes, minimum .072 gauge, for your hinges. I use the .072 eyes, and sst bicycle spokes as hinge pins, and have never had a hinge failure in 10 years+-. I've use twist wire, but it was tempered spinnerbait wire and really hard to bend. I switched to screw eyes because the sst wire that was tough enough for hinges was too hard to bend. I found softer wire just doesn't hold up to the constant rubbing in hinges.

Move them inside, to a constant warm temperature, so they can really dry. If you need to leave them in an unheated workshop, try leaving a focused light shining on them overnight, so they never really get cold. Cold stops or slows down chemical reactions, like paint curing, and a cold lure will collect condensation, just like everything else left in the cold, so it never gets a chance to really dry.

Two thumbs up!! Be sure to let the paint job dry/cure inside really well before you top coat. Paint can feel dry, but still have some moisture left in it. Nothing lifts and ruins a top coat faster than trapped moisture.

Ain't customer service great! That's the reason I don't sell baits anymore.

Thanks. I've been making hard plastic tails out of the tops of margarine tubs. Cheap and easy, and they fit in a handsaw or bandsaw kerf.

Thanks. Does adding a tail of some kind affect the glide action?

You're safe. The red wine hides the paint stains. Actually, I get compliments on the varied colors it produces.

If you use a top coat that relies on a chemical reaction, like epoxy, the cold will slow it down. I would take the baits inside to coat them with epoxy. It has almost no odor, and it's solvent is denatured alcohol, so it's okay to turn and cure in the house, if your family and pets are okay with that. Solvent-based urethanes still need a minimum temperature to fully cure out, so using them in the cold will be a problem, and their fumes are not okay for inside the house. Even water-borne urethanes need a minimum temperature to fully cure. Try contacting the manufs. to see about how each top coat does in cold weather, and what their minimum temperature requirements are.

I guess you can't take a hint. Hahaha

Those baits are beautiful!

Thanks, but someone else here on TU is the source of the original AC1315 tip. I'm just an early adopter.

X2!

Heating your lure with the hair dryer before you begin painting also helps the paint underneath dry more quickly, and more completely, so you don't wind up with trapped moisture under your paint job.

Do you still play Superman on TV?

If you're adding red flake, depending on which red flake you use, it can make your watermelon green more brown, so play around with small amounts first. Some red flake bleeds when heated, turning the plastic more brown, and leaving the flake more orange. Some doesn't, so it depends on which flake you have.

BobP is the most successful and experienced balsa builder I know, so I would listen to what he says. For me, I use balsa only when I want a really buoyant, lively small lure. It generally requires more skill and time than I have to make a successful balsa bait, so I only make small, simple ones that I know will work. The thing that makes balsa such an outstanding lure material is how light and buoyant it is, so I don't want to use anything that will add more weight than is necessary. I use the super glue because it is light, and makes the wood on the surface harder and more waterproof. Plus, it is quick and easy, which is what I love!

You only say that because YOUR PAINT JOBS RULE!!! Hahaha I don't look at your paint jobs anymore. It's too expensive. The last time I did, I went out and burned down my garage. Seriously, I can see why the Pros love your stuff. Your paint jobs make the baits stand out from all the others, and that can be critical when everyone is throwing the same type of lure. Plus, having confidence in a lure will help someone fish it more, and better, because they aren't worried that they're wasting valuable tournament time on something unproductive. I think most of us here at TU aren't on the same competitive level as your customers. Fortunately for us, the fish we're after aren't subjected to the same level of angling expertise, either, so we still have a chance!

X2!! from SoCal

To me, artificial lure work for a simple reason. Bass eat living things. To them, something that moves is alive, until they've had a chance to check it out. They don't have hands, so they use their mouths to check out what's edible and what's not. If it doesn't taste bad, they'll eat it. How else can you explain eating a small bird, covered in feathers with no meaty/bloody smell or taste? Or insects on the surface, like mayflies? What made them try one in the first place? To get bigger and stronger, so they can reproduce, they eat everything they can, and as much as they can. That's genetic, and why bass instinctively eat a lure that changes direction like a prey animal trying to flee. Miss a meal, and maybe they don't survive to reproduce. There's also an instinct to eat something before the other guy eats it. Smallies are great for that. If a lure moves in a pattern a bass is familiar with, like a crank's action, then they'll hone in on it and eat it. If a lure is lying still on the surface, and then darts away, they'll think it's escaping and eat it. What a lure looks like is really only important to a bass when they've already eaten and been hooked by a lure with a similar shape and action. Then, particularly in clear water, what a lure looks like can get a bass comfortable enough to get close enough to fall prey to their reaction instinct when the lure is twitched. And why speed and flash are so critical in clear water, to disguise what would clearly look like something to avoid otherwise. I've caught fish on ugly lures that I made, because I drew a reaction strike. Not sticks, but swimbaits with clearly rudimentary paint jobs and finishes. I've caught fish on lures that are flashy, because I fished them too fast for the bass to get a really good look at them, like burning a spinnerbait. All of that is to say we exploit the bass' built-in weakness, their need to eat to survive and reproduce. In general, at least to me, a lure's paint job catches fishermen, and a lure's action catches fish.

Glad to hear that the glue isn't affected by heat setting paint. Thanks. I use Wildlife colors iridescent and color shift paints, and find they show up best over black, or dark colors. I do use the iridescent violet on clear baits to give the that violet hue, without losing their transparency. When I've shot anything over foil it reduces that shininess for me, too Hahaha It's the game I fall asleep in the middle of, and only wake up when it's over.