mark poulson

Tim, Great video! I saved it in my docs. I've seen bass chase trout out of the water, but never actually seen them feeding. Interesting how the trout escapes sometimes when taken tail first. Also, interesting to see the subtle swimming motion of the trout at slow speeds. They actually do make an S shape, but not very pronounced. I had thought only the tail moved, but the video shows clearly the belly moves in the opposite direction from the tail, and the head is almost motionless. I've had good success with a silver/white trout paint scheme. I still darken the back and shoulders, but not much, just a light blue/grey misting to contrast it to the sides and belly. Works great in low light and dirty water. I'm going to paint up another 8" with that scheme, and I'll post it in the gallery when it's done. I don't know how small you're planning to make your lure, but I found that, if I really squint, I can make a four piece that's 6", but the segments are so small it's tough for me to get the hardware and ballast into them. Good luck.

Thanks Dave. That's a big help, and a big relief.

Help! In the past, I've use some 1/4" lead that came in a coil for ballast. I can't find the source where I got it. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Tony, I started painting three years ago. I started with rattle cans, and found this forum when I was trying to figure out what was making my paint bubble. I had already made lures that caught fish, but I wanted a better, more durable and colorful system. Here's what I learned. Painting is like throwing a baitcaster. Nothing takes the place of practice. And anyone can do it, since I can. And you'll probably learn more from you own mistakes than from our advice initially. If you are serious about painting, invest in a decent gravity fed airbrush, compressor, regulator, and water separator. You can find sources for all those things here on the forum. Buy some airbrush paints, and start. If you're repainting plastic cranks, sealing and priming won't be an issue. If you're repainting wood cranks, do a search here for wood sealers, primers, and paints. After you've tried some things yourself, you'll have a much better idea what everyone here is talking about, and your questions will be easier for us to answer.

If it's gooey, it's probably full of sap. That will be a nightmare to seal and finish. Riverman's right. Unless you have tons of time to burn, don't waste any of it experimenting with an aromatic wood that's full of sap. If the sealer doesn't fail right away, it will as soon as you hit it with a hair dryer to set your paint. And, if you use rattle cans, the minute the sun hits it, the topcoat and paint will bubble and fail. Just the nature of wood. That's the reason painters use shellac to seal knots and pitch pockets in wood. Pitch, which is just sap, burns right through oil base paints, since it has some of the same chemicals in it that the paints do.

I like the sinuous action, too. I guess the action catches both the fish and the lure maker. Vortices are like quarks, they're everywhere.

Jed, Thanks for the quick reply. I'm sure Vodkaman know why that is the case. There are undoubtedly many vortexes involved. All my three piece lure swim like a flag whipping in the wind. Head steady, tail wagging like my dog at dinner time. It's a great action for sinking lures that are pulled up and over structure, and accelerated as they approach the structure. More of a panicked action. I get lots of reaction bites on them. But that sinuous swim is the best for floaters, and sinkers that are being retrieved slow and steady. I think it's more of a natural feeding action that the bass, and other predators, identify as a real fish. One of the most successful soft plastic swimbaits, the Huddleston, has just the tail moving on the retrieve though, at any speed, and it is killer. That soft plastic boot tail is the best, period. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Looks great! Winner, winner!!!!! Did you make it a four piece when you added the hard tail? I haven't been able to get that swimming action with a three piece lure. Jealous!!!!

Great tip on the epoxy. Thanks. As for coating the joints, I coat my joints with D2T before I assemble, and then coat the rest of the lure with my other epoxy, Nu Lustre 55 (Etex-like) on my drying wheel after assembly.

MY SECRET'S OUT!!!!!!! Man, that is one cool machine. My cross the street neighbor actually runs one of those for Ratheon. He's told me about it, but it's really cool to see it in action. Thanks.

Try mixing the glitter with Minwas Polyacrylic, and painting that on where you want it. I think the Polyacrylic is a little thicker than the lacquer, and holds the glitter out a little farther from the painted lure face, so you get more of a 3D effect.

It's a swimbait, so when and where you throw it probably has more to do with catching fish than modifications, or even paint jobs. Low light, early morning, late afternoon, shallow feeding flats with flooded brush, windy points, those are the times and places that are high percentage for swimbaits. It will probably work right now, thrown shallow over bedding fish. They don't like other fish in the area of their beds, and will try to kill it, or drive it off. Try paralleling the shoreline tight in spawning areas.

I got a really "irridescent" effect by mixing fine glitter into Minwax Polyacrylic, and then painting it on where I wanted it. I'm waiting for a buddy to give me some soft plastic highlite powder to try with this method. I think having the particles suspended in the clear keeps the slightly above the paint scheme below, and really enhances the 3D effect. I'm also going to try adding some irridescent Createx to the Polyacrylic, to see if that also works.

Try poplar. It's a bouyant hardwood that shapes and carves well, and is strong. Keeping the wood light, even though you want it to sink, lets you concentrate enough ballast in the belly to keep the lure running true at all speeds. Another thing to try is to try to achieve a V cross section from top to bottom. That seems to help keep a sinking bait running true. Look at a rattle trap, for example.