mark poulson

I've seen hooks with solid rings, but I've never used one for fresh water. I typically rig my creatures with a Mustad Mega Bite EWG 5/0, and tie directly to the hook eye. Those hooks have enough of a bite to accommodate center rigging on a fat Ika, which helps increase my hookup ratio.

If you use PVC decking instead of trimboard, it's more dense, so it will require adding less ballast to achieve the same weight, but it may affect how the lure moves. I prefer decking for my larger floating walking baits, because it does require less ballast. The decking I use is still plenty buoyant enough to float the lure with (2) 2/0 Owner trebles and split rings. And I always have to add ballast to the belly, past the mid point, to get the lure to walk correctly. But, for you, a sinking lure that is identical in size and shape to the original will have to weigh the same to achieve the same sink rate. Dieter is right about removing some of the buoyant material from the sides, so it will sink more easily and weigh less overall, but I have no idea how that lure moves, so I can't comment on how to make it without losing the action that makes it successful.

You may also have some paint dried in the little holes in the nozzle, so try soaking the nozzle parts in acetone, and then backflushing with acetone, and then with water, to see if that helps. I have a couple of the Master airbrushes, and find this helps when they don't want to spray. The brushes I have both have the MAC valve, and I use them for detail work, so they would clog more easily because I'm spraying at lower pressure and paint volume, but they work with Createx, as long as I thin it. I avoid dry tip between coats by resting my brush in a tupperware with a little water in the bottom, so the tip is in the water. I guess I could design a tupperware with a hole, and a wet sponge inside, and put my brush in there upright while I'm painting, but I'm too lazy. Try thinning your paint with the 4011 reducer, like Gunnie says, and see if that doesn't help.

Glenn, As long as you are making that size lure, and want it to sink at the rate you want, I'm afraid you're stuck. Vodkaman Dave did a chart on this, I think. It has to do with an old Greek named Archimedes, who bragged so much about the fish he caught on his "secret" bait that the gods got pissed, so they cursed him, and made water so dense that his lure wouldn't work any more. I guess the moral of that story is if you have a bait the works, keep it to yourself. Anyway, in order for a lure to sink, it has to weigh more than the volume of the water it displaces. I don't know that particular lure, but it sounds like a sub-surface glider. The only way to make the lure lighter, and still have it that big, is to make it hollow, with through chambers, so water can take the place of the lure material. I don't know if that's possible without totally changing action of the lure. Sorry.

Thanks BobV for taking the time and trouble to give me such a clear and thorough answer.

There are lots of great ideas out there. Bear came up with a solution to two color injection at a reasonable price for smaller guys who pour for money. It may not be everything everyone wants, but it's enough of what most people seem to need, to make it worthwhile for multi-pourers who don't want to, or can't, make their own two color injector. Hats off to him for his time and trouble. I hope he does well with it.

Just what are the dangers from phthalates? I've heard they are bad, but just what do they do?

The PVC I was talking about for practice painting is just plain old white PVC pipe. The PVC I use for making baits is AZEK decking and trimboard. They both carve like wood, but without grain issues, so it is easy to work with. Plus, they are both buoyant and waterproof, so there is no sealing needed, and water intrusion is never a problem.

Starting over is just how most of us started, too. When I first started paint lures, I redid my paint jobs over and over, trying to get it right. As I painted more baits, I learned what worked for me as basic paint schemes, and what didn't work. I learned how to paint scales, blend colors, and mist over color schemes with another color to achieve a different effect. It does take practice, and time, but it's not rocket science if I can do it. I'm no artist, but now I can to a serviceable paint scheme that catches fish. To save yourself aggravation, you can get a piece of white PVC pipe and practice on that, until you get the paint the way you want it. It's easier to clean a failed paint job off a piece of plastic pipe than off a plastic crankbait. Don't be discouraged. We all started where you are.

bodfish, The softness and action may be the reason they get bit, but the large amount of salt is the reason the fish hold onto them so long. Fish bite baits with action, but they eat baits with salt. I've had too many gut hooked fish with senkos and Ikas to doubt it. And since I've switched to trailer with salt, fish hold my jigs a lot longer, so I can use a reel down and swing hookset.

I really think a lot depends on how buoyant your building material is, and how you shape your crank. I learned to build swimbaits and walking baits from scratch, but I started to build cranks by copying my favorite commercial baits, so I had a much shorter learning curve, and avoided a lot of beginner's mistakes. I like to keep the ballast between the bill and the belly hook hanger if possible. I think it helps the action of the bait, and also gives it a more head down position at rest, which initiates the diving action more quickly. I used a Rapala DT16 as a model when I started making deeper diving cranks. It's ballast is right behind, and under, the bill. Because it is a balsa bait, it is very buoyant, so the rest of the crank's body has enough lift to keep the bait from wanting to roll, or blow out. I use PVC trimboard for my diving cranks. Even though it is very buoyant, it isn't balsa, so I leave the tail section on my cranks a little thicker on purpose, to keep the crank more buoyant. That seems to have allowed me to put the ballast in front, and it also helps the cranks to back out of snaggs better. I find that paying attention to centerline symetry, and float testing my cranks until they sit in the water the same way each time as a similar, successful lure, like a DT16, works for me. One of the tricks I use in making swimbaits that don't roll I carried over into my flat sided cranks. I taper my cranks, so they are thicker along the back than on the belly. This makes them "naturally" more bottom heavy, since there is less buoyant material toward the belly, so they don't tend to roll, even on a fast retrieve. When I figured out how to do that with jointed swimbaits, it really made a huge difference in being able to burn a bait back to the boat without it rolling over, and it works for cranks, too. I've been lucky so far, and have only had to tweak my line ties a little to make my cranks run straight, instead of playing around with shaving the bills or changing the ballast. I'd suggest you find a similar bait to the one you want to make, and really examine what makes it perform the way it does, and then imitate that.

If that's a balsa bait, you might get a smoother eye recess with a sanding drum on a Dremel. Balsa is really hard to drill cleanly.

freon, By backflushing I mean putting my finger over the tip with the paint cup full of water, and pulling the trigger all the way, both for air and for paint. This forces the air/paint/water mixture back through the brush, and cleans it. I also loosen the nozzle assebly a little and back flush again. This helps clean the little holes in the nozzle. By doing this while holding the tip and cup of the brush underwater in the bigger water tub, I can really flush the whole thing. I have a soft, cheap artist's brush that I use to kind of scrub both the cup and the tip, too, to loosen any paint that's dried there, and then I backflush. I still pull the needle out and wipe it off after each color, too.

You can "save" the discolored jigs, if they are just for your own use, by coating them with a colored nail polish. It holds up pretty well, and can be touched up easily.

Use the 4011 reducer.

When my powder doesn't "float" I shake the reservoir to get it up and floating as I dip.