mark poulson

I really like your ideas. It's a great use for old braid, too.

BobP, Does propionate soak into balsa?

I want my poppers to start out buoyant, and then I add weight behind the front hook hanger to get them to hang down almost vertical, about 75-80 degrees. By keeping the weight up from the tail, I can walk the dog with the poppers, too. Where you put the line tie is important. Try putting it in the center of the concave face for more popping. Higher in the face seems to make it chug more, and not spit as much, but it walks the dog better. As for your swimbait, I think crankbait is right. Try moving your line tie up onto the top of the lure, and back from the nose a little, like a rattle trap. That way, the front of the lure acts like a diving bill, and forces the lure to move side to side on the retrieve. I would put a slight concave up from the nose to the line tie, like a long, thin cupped bill, to help it catch water and activate the swimming action. You're on the right track!

I guess it's okay to disagree...see what I get for sharing my "porno" videos.

I don't want to get in a pissing contest about waves. I'm no engineer, so I'm just going by what I've read, and what I've seen. Waves on the surface of the water move slowly, and can be affected by wind. Waves under the surface of the water move faster, because water is a much denser medium. That's why a sonar unit will read more depth when the transducer is out of the water and the sound is traveling through the air than when it's in the same depth, but in water. Air is not as dense as water, so the sonar ping travels through it more slowly. My kids used to tap on the glass of the aquarium, and the fish would all twitch, because the tap move almost instantaneously it seemed, because water transmitted the vibration so fast. It is almost like the string of balls suspended from an overhead dowel. When you drop one at one end, the one at the other end moves. Steel is more dense than water, so it transmits the energy of the first ball faster. But water is more dense than air, and the energy from a vibrating blade moves throught the water much faster than if it were in the air. I'm betting that the waves generated on the surface of water are very much dependent on surface tension and wind as to their speed. That's why sailors used to "pour oil on troubled waters", to slow the speed and power of the surface waves in choppy seas. How many times have you heard how talking in a boat doesn't affect the fish, but dropping something onto the deck does. It's because there is a direct transfer of the energy from whatever is dropped to the water, and that is transfered down to the fish, like a sonar ping, while the energy of talking is lost before it can transfer to the water. Like I said, I'm no engineer, but I did sleep in a Motel 6 last night. Hahaha

Kitchen hood exhaust motors are typically explosion proof, so they don't start grease fires. Bath fan motors are not.

I didn't post the video link as a Rick Clunn promotion. Just as an interesting take on spinnerbaits by someone who fishes, successfully, for a living. I didn't see him promoting his stuff in the video as the important part, just his views on water displacement. As for how fast water displacement waves travel in water, remember water does not compress, so any displacement will be transfered quickly. Sonar signals travel much faster in water than in air, because water is much more dense, and they are pressure waves, too. Pressure waves in water travel in the same way, because water does not compress. Anyone who has seen the damage depth charges do to submarines will testify to that. Surface waves are different than underwater pressure waves, and that's why distroyers dropping the depth charges aren't affected in the same way. Over the years, fishing with guys who threw willows and Colorado blades in my boat, I've found Indiana blades are much more effective than willows. I used to fish Colorado/willow tandem spinnerbaits, but, since I found Indiana blades years ago, I've switched to Colorado/Indiana, or willow/Indiana in clear, and have had good success. Hank Parker said that the Indiana has the flash of the willow, and the thump of the Colorado, and that's why he fishes them. And he didn't mention brand or manuf. Anyway, it was just something I thought would be interesting to watch, and I don't take anything said here as a personal attack. I know you all hate me! Hahaha

Switching to PVC as a building material is a sure cure.

Will heating mylar make it shrink to the contours of a bait?

The risks from inhaled fumes are not limited to lung damage. Years ago I sprayed a wood preservative without a spray mask, and inhaled some of the fumes. The chemicals in it lowered my blood/brain barrier, and allowed a virus to attack my spinal cord. I wound up with permanent nerve damage. So don't take these risks lightly.

As I said, I don't know him personally. But he is obviously a fisherman, and, just as obviously, a conservationist. Pretty daring, almost Left Coast. Hahaha If a person can be judged by the company he keeps, I'd say he's okay, judging by the number of top flight people I've met who work for him in the Fisheries Dept. All of them care about the fish, and the fishermen. I hope every State gets the same type of Fish and Game dept. we have in CA.

This was posted on Western Bass. It's great to hear what someone who is one of, if not the best bass fisherman of all time has to say about spinnerbaits. http://www.westernbass.com/dotcom/tv/videopage.html?id=0001040

Try standing and working at your kitchen counter, usually 36+",and your bathroom counter, usually 30"+. Then try sitting at them, too. That will give you an idea of what works best for you. I'm 5'9", and use a stool, too. My main work area is my garage central 4'X8' work table, which is 30" tall. I both sit and stand there, and it's fine. And there's storage underneath. I do have 37" high perimeter wook benches, and have my drill press table at 42", where my fly tying vise is clamped. So I have different heights for different things, but I can always raise stuff on my 30" table to work on it comforably. Maybe have two heights. A 30" desktop height area, and a 36" work bench area, for both sitting and standing. I find I use both a lot. Grinders, vises, and benchtop machines are usually designed for 36" counters, so you're not stooped when you work at them. Whatever you decide, make sure you have lots of lighting. Working in poor lighting is like being blind. And dust collection, so your work area, and your lungs, don't wind up coated with sawdust.

Ben, I think you're right. I know for my poppers and sammies, I never worry about the lure hanging down, because the belly hooks always orient them when I start the retrieve. I do add whatever ballast I need on the belly, between the front and rear hooks, just to help them walk better. Dieter's popper only has a rear treble, so it doesn't have built-in belly drag that hooks provide.

JerryG said "If any enviro extremists spent half the time I have spent on the water over the past 30 years then they would actually have an understanding of our fisheries and even if they didn't fish I am willing to bet they would be on our side." That is true and is the real tragedy of the situation. We're fighting each other, while the oil companies are stealing our resources, and despoiling our world. No one wants a healthy environment more than we fishermen, who rely on clean, healthy water to support our fish, and our passion. I personally know a few of the DFG staff here in CA, and they are all fisheries biologists, and lots are bass fishermen, too. Their concern is protecting the fisheries, first and foremost, but they meet with the tournament organizations and fishing clubs every year, both to educate us, and to find out from us what's working, and what isn't, in terms of their regulations and proceedures, when we apply for our annual and event permits for tournaments. They go out of their way to accomodate us, because they know, in our hearts, we share the same goal, a strong, healthy fishery. The DFG in CA is headed by a fisherman, someone who has been involved with fishing for his entire adult life. I'm guessing he's on our side. But I don't know who makes the decisions as far as the closures. I'm pretty sure it has to be another body, who don't care about fishing. I don't know the head of the DFG, Charlton Bonham, personally, but here's his resume: Charlton “Chuck” Bonham was appointed as Director of the California Department of Fish and Game, effective September 6, 2011. Prior to his appointment as Director of Fish and Game, Mr. Bonham served in a number of roles for Trout Unlimited over ten years, including since 2004 as the organization’s California director. Mr. Bonham was responsible for developing, managing, and implementing TU's programs in California. These programs include the California Water Project, Sportsmen’s Conservation Project, and restoration and watershed projects in both northern and Southern California. In addition, Mr. Bonham was a senior attorney for the organization. Mr. Bonham also served on the Board of Directors of the Delta Conservancy, whose mission is to conserve, sustain and enhance the cultural, agricultural, recreational, wildlife and natural habitat resources of the River Delta region, as well as develop and promote sustainable protection, management and stewardship programs through research and education. Mr. Bonham received his J.D. and Environmental and Natural Resources Law Certificate from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, Oregon. Before Trout Unlimited, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, West Africa, and an instructor and guide at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, in Bryson City, N.C. Mr. Bonham brings a diverse background and a longstanding appreciation for the outdoors to the position.

Maybe you could use Createx, or some other T shirt, heat set paint, over the fabric cement, to get a nice paint job. It might be tricky, because you need to reach a certain temperature (check the Createx website for the exact temp) to get the paint to crosslink and be come waterproof. That temperature might affect your foam. But I don't know that for sure. Just another problem to solve. Maybe you could use Createx, or some other T shirt, heat set paint, over the fabric cement, to get a nice paint job. It might be tricky, because you need to reach a certain temperature (check the Createx website for the exact temp) to get the paint to crosslink and be come waterproof. That temperature might affect your foam. But I don't know that for sure. Just another problem to solve.

I use bicycle spokes, which are sst, for my hinge pins. They can be pushed out of the PVC, using another piece of spoke, if you make sure the hinge pin hole goes all the way through.

Dieter, Great video. I seem to learn as much or more from my mistakes. Thanks for sharing yours, so I can learn from them, too. Your wife has to be the most patient woman in Germany! Have a wonderful holiday season. Mark

Great video! It's amazing how PVC let's you make, paint, and top coat a bait in one day, and fish it the next.

I think I still have an old 8-track in the garage somewhere. Scary.

Interesting idea. Let us know how it works.

Someone here on TU, I think it was Jed, suggested drilling a tight hole in the tops of the component bottles, and leaving the syringes in there all the time. The Flexcoat tips are slightly tapered, so you can get a snug fit. Then, when you want to mix up some epoxy, hold the syringe in, turn the bottle upside down, and draw down the plunger until you have what you want. It is easy. Turn the bottle right side up, remove the syringe, and squirt it into a mixing cup. Then put the syringe back into the bottle top, and it's sealed and ready for storage. It works for me, and having the correct ratio, by volume, has eliminated bad batches for me.

Like Yogi said, "You don't know what you don't know". I was thinking copyright, but that's because I'm old. HAHAHA

Sounds like a fun project. Thanks. P.S. I will not knock off your concept. I just like making things, and figuring out how to make them work.

That was a neat video. Things have come a long way since I worked in my uncle's machine shop in the '60s. The book I was talking about is "Machinery's Handbook", for machine shop and drafting-room, by Erik Oberg and F.D. Jones. It was originally published in 1914, by The Industrial Press, New York. I love to read how people figured out the stuff that is programed into those CNC machines in you video. No doubt the machines are faster and more accurate that people, but they aren't as smart as people like you.