mark poulson

Just bear in mind that the lighter/more buoyant the balsa, the weaker it usually is. That's why people turned to thru wire construction in the first place. But if you add a thick enough layer of epoxy down the center of the bait to really make it stronger, so you can use an alternate method to thru wire, it's probably going to make the lure heavier/less buoyant/less active, so you lose the very characteristic that makes balsa such a great lure wood to begin with. Guys like BobP do stuff for a reason. I'm just sayin'......

I feel for you. Scrubs has the best ideas. I really like the ice idea. Otherwise, cut a piece out of a closet floor and try to patch the carpet. Good luck.

Jason, A while back I made some deep divers with single hooks, like the Sebile cranks. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/10603-deep-diver-single-hook13/ They swim well, and dive well, but I've never gotten bit, that I know of. So I went back to trebles, and I got bit on the same lures rerigged with trebles. I think I underestimated how fish slap at deep cranks as they go by, instead of taking them totally in their mouths. I never thought about trying it with a shallower crank. Now that you've posted the question, I think I'll give it a try. Fingers crossed!

You can lay your plastic on the fiberglass boat gunnel, once it's rigged, and shoot some scent on it there. The scent won't hurt the fiberglass, and the excess it there so you can just rub your plastic in it again when you want to reapply it. It comes right off when you wipe down your boat. It really saves time when you're fishing.

Makes sense. For straight pull out, the line or knot would break before that epoxy failed, and most balsa baits are so light they don't have enough mass to provide leverage for a fish to use when it shakes it's head, like a big swimbait.

If you tie an overhand knot where you want the knees before you tie them, that should make them jump back to their bent shape after each pull.

I'm thinking of how to adapt the Messinger Frog legs mentioned by Nathan to a hollow body frog. Nathan said the legs are hair tied around a wire that's then bent to give the legs the knee joint. I'm wondering how to get a hair-wrapped wire through the leg openings on a hollow frog, and then anchoring them in place. I guess you could put another bend in the middle of the leg wire once it's been threaded through, to keep the legs centered. Hmmmm......

Thanks guys. I couldn't figure it for the life of me! Doh!!! Hahaha

Erick, Have you tried the jig rig with a fat sinker, like the tear drop shaped casting sinkers, instead of the thin one that Owner uses? The fatter sinker makes the rig bounce more on the drag.

Nathan, Nice article about your baits, along with others, in Bass Times. Congrats.

Can't we all!!! Hahaha

Skeeter, Why does the 5 min. package say water resistant, and the 30 min. package say water proof? I've had the 5 min. fail when water got under my top coat and turned the 5 min. holding my hardware twist anchors soft and mushy, so they actually backed out. Never happens with the 30 minute. Maybe you're using a different brand than Devcon.

Nathan posted about these in the Hard Baits forum. How are the legs tied with a bend in them?

SlowFISH, Maybe, like you said, the material the mold is made from can make a difference, too. RTV silicone may not cool fast enough to make pouring through the thin end a problem.

It is water resistant, not water proof. You need to find a water proof epoxy like D2T, their 30 minute epoxy and put another coat over the 5 minute. Scuff sand the 5 minute with fine grit paper, steel wool, or a scotch pad, wipe it down with denatured alcohol or acetone (move quickly if you use acetone), and then recoat it with the 30 minute.

Nathan, If you google "flap wheel sanders" you should find a bunch. Amazon has them, I know for a fact.

If your plastic is buoyant enough to float your lure with a hook in it, you might experiment with making the lure taper, from wider at the back to narrower at the belly, so there is more buoyant material up higher. It works for me with both swimbaits and cranks, so I can burn them on a really fast retrieve without any rolling over.

That is a really clever idea!

I bet you could even do the through wire in two pieces, with U shaped connections, since you're going to embed it all in epoxy when you glue the two halves together.

Griffond, It's always fun to see how other people skin a cat. Thanks.

Just remember that Devcon 5 minute epoxy is water resistant, not waterproof. Their D2T 30 minute epoxy is water proof. So are Etex and Nu Lustre 55. I don't know about Bob Smith epoxy. If you use the 5 minute to glue your halves together, be sure to top coat with something that is water proof.

I've found that the softer the plastic is, the more buoyant it is. I am always torn between a soft bait with a lot of action and a stronger bait that will hold up better. Adding salt to plastic will definitely make it sink. But salt will make fish hold onto a soft plastic longer, so, in this case, it's a trade off between buoyancy and fish holding time. I've mostly given up on trying to make my plastic baits truly floaters. I've settled for baits that will stand straight on a drop shot rig, or fall slowly on a split shot or C rig. I've switched to nylon mono for my C rig leaders, to try and give the bait additional lift, and to keep them from getting caught in rock cracks on a slow retrieve, like fluoro does..

Have you ever tried putting an angled keel on the bottom of the flat face with a hot glue gun? It won't hold up too long, but it should give you a chance to figure out what works for you without buying another mold.

I would suggest you start out buying smaller quantities, and more colors, until you find what you really like and will use. Colorants that sit too long tend to have the pigments settle to the bottom and cake up, so you have to really shake the bottle with something like a BB or a sst nut in it to break up the pigment and get it distributed evenly again. You should shake any colorant you're going to use really well every time you use it, to make sure it's well mixed.

You can only use them when the moon is full.