mark poulson

Ben, I find a faster retrieve cuts down on line tangle. That's hard to use in the winter, but it helps in warmer water. A heavier mono will also help, because it is more buoyant, so the line stays up out of the way better. A direct tie will help even more, but it will cut down on the lure's action a lot, except on the shorter ones. Short, fat lures walk the dog under water just fine with a direct tie. Making them so they swim like you want is the challenge for me. I think you should try the direct line tie and heavier mono with your lures. They should be short enough to handle it.

bassnbrad, Have you tried "T"ing your belly treble to cut down on hook rash when you're trolling? Also, a coating of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails clear nail polish in the hook swing area helps a lot, too.

I used Krylon rattle cans when I first started making wood baits, and the odor from the paint leaves pretty quickly. Let them hang for a few days in a warm place to cure out, and offgas as much solvent as possible, and you should be fine. I have not made Krylon painted baits for the salt, so I can't say it does or doesn't make a difference there, but I doubt there's much difference. Salt water is more corrosive than fresh, so durability might be more of an issue. Good luck.

Here are the ones I use: http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/B002MKP24K They are soft and flimsy when they are full of heated plastisol, like smallmouthaholic said, so be careful and take your time. I wear heavy gloves, pinch the top with a metal clip to form a smaller spout for hand pouring, and don't fill them past half full. A quarter full is ideal. I usually leave a stir rod in the cup when I pour, so I can keep the hot plastic stirred while pouring. I find the plastic stays hot enough to pour for two minutes with them, as opposed to 30 seconds with Pyrex. At least, thats how it works out for the way I pour. They are relatively cheap, so I have five. That way, I can heat several different colors at the same time, for laminates.

I've used it for paint grade cabinetry, because the grain is not pronounced, and it is soft and easy to tool. I wouldn't try it for swimbaits, because I think it is too soft. Have you done any jobs with PVC decking?

Where a lure is made is irrelevant. We all copy someone here, except maybe JRHopkins. It takes just as much skill to copy a lure from Peru as one from the US. Stick to what TU is about, which is making and sharing. Everything I know about luremaking, limited as it may be, I learned here, from generous people sharing what they've learned.

I had the same experience with epoxy pulling away from joint edges when I used epoxy on my jointed swimbaits. I got around the epoxy separating on the joint edges by coating the insides of my swimbait joints with D2T, while the bait was disassembled, and lapping it out onto the face 1/4" for a good lap of the face epoxy. Hanging them with the sharper edges down, and checking them often while the D2T set up, helped to avoid drips, and keep the epoxy on the edges. If I did wind up with a drip, I could sand or file it smooth after the D2T hardened, and still have a good coating of both the joint face and the edge. Then I assembled the bait and put it on the drying wheel, where I would coat it with Etex on the faces only. D2T seems to hold on edges better, but I was careful to round the edges slightly. Doing it that way let me coat and recoat the swimbait faces while they were assembled, without having to worry about coating inside the joints. The D2T was plenty thick enough with just one coat, while I put three coats of the Etex on the faces.

I think the Archimedes test is more for the volume of water a particular lure displaces. To get the ballasting right, I would use BobP's method, and just add weight until it floats/sinks/suspends how I want it to.

I've found that getting the bill into the lure square and true is the key to a crank running true, as long as it's properly ballasted. The wider you make the bill, the easier it is to get it off kilter and swimming poorly, so be careful when you cut the lip slot to get it square to the blank initially, and then you can usually tune the lure to swim right by adjusting the line tie, provided you've ballasted it properly, and had the shape pretty close to symetrical. Here's how I do it, and it works: I trace out the shape of a lure I want to copy onto my PVC Azek trimboard, put a line on the still rectangular blank that shows both the location and angle of the lip, and then rough out the shape on the bandsaw, leaving my tracing line. I take it to the ocillating sander to smooth up the outline down to the tracing line, and then go back over to the work bench to trace a center line around the entire bait that's half it's total thickness. Then I go back to the bandsaw and cut the lip slot, testing it with piece of lip material to get it to be a slip fit, but not sloppy. My next step is back to the sander, first with 50 grit belt, and then with an 80 grit belt, to shape the lure. I keep the lure I'm copying, with no hooks, next to me for reference while I'm shaping. I get the top to bottom profile sanded, using the center line to get the two halves close to the same, and then I round over the corners, and do the final shaping. I don't stress over getting the two sides identical, but I do check as I sand to get them as close as I can by eye. My last shaping is with 100 grit paper and then 220 grit paper on a palm sander, to smooth and even out the curves and corners, and to make the whole lure as smooth as possible. If I'm feeling anal, I'll wet sand it with 220 grit, but I usually skip that step. I drill for the eyes, and for the hook hangers, and then install the lip, and line tie if needed, with D2T. I add the split ring at the line tie, and both trebles on split rings, and do a float test. Again, I use the lure I'm copying as my guide, and add weight ( egg sinkers or split shot) to the front treble until my lure hangs like the original. I weigh the lead I wound up needing, cut off a matching amount of 1/4" lead wire, and install that in holes between the front hook hanger and the bill. I never add ballast behind that hook hanger, because it makes the lure less stable, and also it dives slower. Once I've gotten that far, I take the lure out for a test swim. I've been making square billed deep divers lately, and I used RayburnGuy's deep diver in the gallery as a model for my lips and line ties. They work really well. Thanks Ben.

Using silicone cups instead of Pyrex keeps the plastic hot longer,so you have less reheating cycles. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SILICONE-MEASURE-STIR-POUR-1-2-CUPS-MEASURING-NEW-/190490076167?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item7216ef2a2c

Smith Paints make Wildlife Colors, and they have an irridescent line that color shifts. I use the violet a lot. Nova is right on about adding color, or glitter, to waterborne clear coat. Keep it mixed, and brush it on where you want it, or coat the whole lure.

Man, who said hosting a website wasn't fun??? Hahaha

Try contacting Jeremy directly. Here's the contact link: http://blackdogbaits.com/contact/

For me, slow is the key. I try and drill the hole for the swivel just the depth I need, and no more. Then I add a drop of the gap filling crazy glue, making sure it runs down the sides of the hole. I use a small piece of wire to coat the inside of the hole with the glue from the same drop, and slide the swivel in slowly. I make the hole a little sloppy, so the air that's trapped can escape. The gap filling glue will take care of any voids. Last, I keep the swivel facing up, and use the accelerant to set the glue up fast. I try and twist the swivel at this point, to be sure it's free. If it seems to be sticking, I turn it to face the way a screw eye would face, and curse. Grrrrr!!!!!! Hahaha I think I could get away with cutting off the loop of the swivel that's buried in the hole, or leaving it and ignoring it, and just gluing in the barrel of the swivel, since I use PVC and it holds really well. If I'm making a wood lure, I coat the hole with runny crazy glue first, to reinforce the wood, and then glue in the swivel once the first glue has set. Just be sure and test fit the swivel after the first glue sets, so you can ream the hole if necessary to get an easy fit. I've tried to remove swivels that froze after the glue had set, and the wire broke before I could get the swivel barrel back out. I wound up drilling another hole next to the loopless swivel, and adding another swivel, more carefully this time. I know swivels help in big baits to cut down on the leverage a heavy bait provides when a fish shakes it's head, but I don't use swivels on cranks and topwaters any more. Too much trouble. Instead, I "T" the front treble, to cut down on hook rash, and that works fine. Cranks and topwaters that are 4" or less don't weigh enough to give the fish any advantage from their weight in the fight. Bear in mind I am just a hobbiest, and don't sell, so I don't have to worry about customer satisfaction. But I have baits I made years ago that still catch fish, and that is what I'm after.

If you want to add rattles, you can do it in the same air cell. A couple of BB's don't weigh that much. Just be sure you coat the bondo with crazy glue, to reinforce it, after you've sanded it to shape, so the BB's don't knock the discs loose when they rattle.

You can always lighten your lures by drilling a hole in the upper half, and capping them with a disc cut from an aluminum can and bondo, creating an air cell. Just be sure to seal the inside of the hole before you cap it, so the air is trapped and can't bleed out into the surrounding wood.

They are beautiful! Did you use a photo before you clearcoated, or did you draw the details by hand?

If you're just a hobbiest, or a fisherman like me who is too cheap to buy stuff, try carving your lures out of PVC trimboard by AZEK.

Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

Try this link: http://lurepartsonline.com/s.nl/sc.1/category.477/.f

Thanks a million.

I just went to their site, and they do look like Iwata knockoffs. But the prices are low, so don't be surprised if they don't perform like a quality brush. That said, they are inexpensive enough that you won't be out much if they aren't any good, and, if they are good, you may have found a diamond in the rough.

Cadman, The mold is the Do-It Football Jig mold FBB-38, and the hook is a Mustad 32746BLN jig hook, size 2/0.