mark poulson

The AZEK PVC I use holds screw eyes just fine. I predrill a screw shank sized pilot hole, so the threads have something to grab, run the screw eyes in to cut the threads in the PVC, back them out again and coat them with brush-on crazy glue, and run them back in. Whatever glue that collects at the surface when I run them in acts as a key to keep them from unscrewing. I've never had an eye unscrew on a fish. I use twist wire for my crank line ties, set in epoxy or coated with brush-on crazy glue before they're inserted. I use small figure 8 hook hangers ( the kind that are used in plastic cranks), set in a tight fitting hole with crazy glue, for my small cranks, and I've never had one fail. Both the PVC and the glue are harder/stronger than the 12lb line I typically use for them. Whenever I've tried to remove a hanger that's crooked, I've wound up twisting the wire off instead of being able to remove the hanger and glue.

Great post!!! Thanks for taking the time to 'splain it to us. I do hang my baits before I cure them, and then remove both the drip at the bottom, and any that's in the hook hangers, before I hang them in my nail box. I rotate them every 30 seconds for three minutes, and they do fine. I just brought five cranks in from the boat. They all have the same foil finishes, with black scale shoulders and black backs. Four were dipped once in Solarez, the other three times in SC 9000. The SC 9000 does not dim the paint schemes, and it is what I used before I found Solarez. One of the Solarez baits seems to have a slight hazing on it's black back that I had to hold under a bright indoor light to see. I really had to look hard to see it, but there's definitely something there. So I'm not immune, either. Maybe it's less pronounced here than it is where there's more humidity. I don't know. I wipe my foiled baits down with denatured alcohol before I paint and coat them. Maybe that has something to do with it, too. Maybe the Solarez brings any contaminants to the surface as it cures, too. I'm no chemist, so I'm totally clueless. But whatever it is, it is so hard to see that I really had to search for it, so it's not noticeable in ordinary light, and certainly not in the water. All in all, the convenience of being able to coat a bait and have it ready to fish in less than five minutes, counting the time it takes to put on the split ring line tie and the trebles, far outweighs any hard-to-see hazing that might occur. But I am just a hobby builder, who builds cranks to fish, not to sell, so I only have me to please. A question. If the haze is due to wax on the surface that can be buffed out, wouldn't you be able to remove it by wiping it down with alcohol? Also, what kind of liquid polish do you use? I use Brasso to polish my foil before I paint or coat it, and wipe the lure down with alcohol to remove any left over polish before I proceed. I am less than thrilled with the Brasso polish, so I'd love to find another that works better.

Usually I'm the one who has weird results, so I'm puzzled at my "no haze" baits. My Solarez bottle says, "Dual-cure Polyester Gloss Resin". Is this what everone else is using?

I've never made a glide bait, but I have made numerous topwater baits, and I find that glide length is a function of lure length. The longer the lure, the longer the glide. Short top waters walk the dog almost in place, and the longer the bait, the longer the walking action, and the slower the bait needs to be worked. I would guess that would apply to glide baits, too, since their desired action is very similar.

If I were trying to do that, I'd settle on the soft plastic color first, since I find it harder to mix soft plastics to color match. For me, air brush paints are much easier to mix to achieve a color match.

Jerry, Thanks for all you've done. Everything I know about lure making I learned here at TU. This site has enriched my life. I hope the future is good for you. You've earned that. Mark

Amen!!!

I don't know why you get the haze. I haven't dipped yet with Solarez in the winter here, but I live where it seldom gets really cold, so that may have something to do with it. Maybe there's also something with building with wood, too, but I doubt that it would make that kind of a difference, since I think you seal your baits before you paint them, and you paint them and heat dry them during the entire process. When it's cold here, there's a lot of condensation on everything outside, because I live near the ocean, but it's seldom really humid. Since I do my lure making in my unheated garage, I hit my lures with a hair dryer before I dip them, just to be sure there's no moisture trapped. I'll see what happens this winter, now that I'm using Solarez. I have to admit that, even if there's some haze, I'll still use it, because being able to shape, paint, and topcoat a lure in the same day is just such an amazing time saver that I will put up with a little haziness if it happens. I'll try and remember to post how it goes this winter.

Forgive what may be an obvious question, but what's the real difference in performance?

Smaaart idea!!!

The "teeth" would need to be finer. Hahaha

One "drawback" I've found with Solarez is that it is fragile over foil. The softer foil doesn't give it a rigid surface, so impacts from rocks result in chips and small, localized fracturing. Since I use PVC instead of wood, water intrusion isn't a problem, but I stop fishing a lure that's damaged, so the foil doesn't get water under it, until it dries out and I can repair it on the water with clear nail polish or super glue, or redip in back in the garage. Of course, a much better alternative is not to cast the lure into the rocks, but what fun would that be? Hahaha

Bill, That looks better than what I've done! Congrats!!! I hope you did well in your tourney. Mark

Just file off a little of the 1/2 oz, until it's the right weight.

For pure flash, try adding some silver Flashabou, the thin silver mylar strips, to you skirts, extending the flashabou past the skirt 3/4" or so to make a built-in trailer. It works in both clear and off colored water.

It is said that in bass fishing, confidence is everything, because it allows you to fish your lures correctly, and get the most out of them. I will never approach the level of artistic expertise that Cadman has achieved, but I do have confidence that my jigs and spinnerbaits will, and do, catch fish. If you are just a hobby builder, like me, I'd suggest you find a relatively inexpensive, not-too time consuming way to paint your stuff, so you do have time to fish. I've found that powdercoating jigs, which I use and lose a lot, makes sense, but only one color. I add details with nail polish, either clears with glitter, or solids to add eyes. For spinnerbaits, an airbrushed base coat, added shoulder/back accents, and then details by hand with an artist's brush, all water based paints like Createx, followed by 3D eyes and D2T epoxy topcoat, is a system that works for me. It's fun to fart around in the garage when I have time making stuff, but it's much more fun fishing, so I try not to let lure building consume me.

Red sharpie is notorious for bleeding. When I dip a crank that I've added red sharpie gills to, I spray with Createx clear. But, sometimes, I leave it uncovered, so that I get a "bleeding gills" effect when I dip it and then hang it by the nose to drip dry. I find that heat setting the sharpie, just like I do with Createx, reduces the amount it bleeds this way.

I do the same on my square bills and wake baits.

Very nicely done. I do the same thing, but I use small needle nose vice grips, held vertically, to twist the wire, and I leave about 3/4" of the twist, to bend down and use as an additional plastic trailer hanger.

If you want to keep a 2 part mold together with minimum seams, try making matching open faced plywood boxes, with 1X perimeters, and putting 8D finish nails in the 1X as locators. I make my mold boxes with 1/4" plywood, and drill my locator holes before I make the actual mold, so the two halves line up perfectly. I hold the two mold halves together with small bar clamps. If I need more pressure, I add a loose piece of 3/4" plywood to each side before I clamp. With the 3/4" ply reinforcement, I can put as many clamps as I want without deforming the mold. With all the trouble we go through to make masters and molds, a little more time and effort to make a reinforced mold box is a small price to pay for better baits.

I drill my twist wire hole before I insert the lip. I usually wind up with a partial hole in the upper part of the slot, too, but it fills with epoxy when I fill both the hole and the slot before I insert the lip and twist wire. I drill some partial holes (dents) into both sides of the part of the lip that's going into the slot, for an added key. I coat both the twist wire and the lip dents with epoxy before I insert them into the slot, and the tension of the bent twist wire, which I never seem to get perfectly straight, against the bottom of the hole I drill holds the lip tight against the upper side of the lip slot, an added bonus. I really need to learn how to twist my line tie wires better! Hahaha

Someone posted this link on Western Bass: http://www.villagetackle.com/ If you don't tie your own, it's an option.

I will be trying the O ring method the next time I make up a skirt. Thanks.

I assemble my skirt using the round skirt maker ( from Skirts Unlimited?) with rubber bands, and then put the bait in my vice and wrap it twice in front of the skirt with wire. After I pull the wire up and twist it tight, I cut off the rubber skirt with an exacto knife.