mark poulson

First of all, beautiful lure. Now, I use the 1/4" artist's brush because I also had issues with flux brushes. I clean the brush in solvent when it's new, and dry it with a cloth, pulling on the bristles to remove any loose hairs. I still get the occasional hair. I just watch for them, and pick them off while the epoxy is still runny. The 1/4" brush puts the epoxy on fast, and it's easier to brush out and get good pressure on all parts of the lure than with the flux brush. I would never use a 1" brush, because I'd be afraid that I'd have trouble controling that much epoxy at once. One thing Hazmail taught me is to wear latex gloves when I paint, to keep finger prints (oil) off the lure and avoid dry spots caused by the oil.

Corey, I am currently using Nu Lustre 55 UV inhibited epoxy, but I have used a lot of Etex, in making my 6"-9" gliders. I have a drying wheel that's two plywood wheels mounted on a rotisserie shaft, about 14" apart, with screw eyes on the opposing faces. I mount my gliders on the wheel, using paper clips to adjust for the different lengths of the baits, and then coat them on the wheel. With the paper clips, I'm able to rotate them enough while the wheel is off to get the epoxy on all the way around. I use a soft 1/4' wide artists brush. I let the mixed epoxy sit for a few minutes to let the air bubbles out, and then, if there are still a lot of bubbles, I'll hit it with the hair dryer, to make it more runny and let the bubbles escape faster. I've heard of using a torch to get rid of the bubbles, but I've never tried it. My luck, I'd burn up my lure. I've found a good light is important so I can be sure all of the lure is covered. I try to cover the lure without putting too much on, so I don't get sags. Even with a drying wheel, sags can happen if you put it on too thick. I usually put two coats on, so I don't worry about not having a thick enough coat the first time. I coat the lure, turn it on my 1 rmp wheel for 24 hours, wipe the lure down with alcohol, let it dry (hair dryer), and re coat, letting it turn for another 24 hours. The epoxy is stiff enough after 6-8 hours that I could turn off the wheel, but I just let it run all night in my garage. When they come off the wheel, they're ready to fish. I've found that the brush must be very clean, or residue that's in it from previous sessions will get into the finish coat. I clean the brush with alcohol, and then with MEK. That seems to get all of the residue out. I also make sure the brush is completely dry before I start to coat. Any solvent still in the brush can ruin the topcoat. With a strong light, I'm able to spot blank spots, or bubbles, or residue, and deal with them while the epoxy is still runny. I also make jointed swimbaits, and, for those, I coat the insides of the joints with D2T first, since it sets quickly and is waterproof, and then, once it's set, assemble the lure and put in on the wheel for coating the faces with Nu Luster. I've found both the Etex and Nu Lustre are less brittle and tougher than D2T, and work much better for the faces of my wooden lures. One thing I've found is that the D2T can still be tacky when a joint lets two pieces touch, so I put a small piece of scotch tape at any potential contact points. And I coat the joints with Megastrike, or some other scent, before I fish them for the first time. For some reason, the fresh epoxy seems to stick to itself, even after it's cured hard and smooth, and the scent acts as a lubricant to prevent the joints from binding on a cast. I only need to do this the first time I throw that lure. After that, the joints don't stick.

I just checked you picture again. Don't tell me you carved that bait with a Swiss Army knife?!?

I agree with the weighting ideas posted above. And I think you have enough room in the three front sections to make up for removing the tail weighting, and still be able to have it sit horizontal. Dave, I like you line tie idea. I would try removing the hook hanger from the tail section, where the hook can cause drag and inhibit movement, and move it to the rear of the next section forward's belly. You can slot the tail section, and put in a lexan or plano divider tail, or you can epoxy in a sst coil, and use a Triple Trout-type plastic tail. Either way the tail will move more. I have a 10" 4 piece trout lure that has a feathered tail, and it doesn't swim like I want it to. Now that we've talked about it, I'll probably move the hook hanger forward, and slot it's tail, too.

carpholeo, I just went to the gallery to check the proportions of the baits I posted there. My 4 1/2" wooden body (6" overall with the plastic tail) 3 part baits seem to be divided in a 1/1/1 ratio. My 6 1/2" (8" overall) and and my 8 1/2" (10 inch overall) 4 part baits seem to be divided in a 2/1/1/1 ratio. Not sure why, except that the 10" was my first jointed bait, so I used that ratio, scaled down for the 8". I drew the 2/1/1 ratio on my 6" bait after it was outlined, but before it was cut, and saw I would have trouble getting hinges and weighting in the sections if I made them that small, so I went to the 1/1/1 ratio, and it worked. I've caught fish on all of them, so I know the ratio isn't that important. But I do think that the bigger the head, and the farther forward the weight in it is distributed, the more stable it will be. I start with the weighted hook hanger as far back in the head as I can make it, and then add balast in the belly of the head moving forward until I have enough. I really don't worry about the head being stable. The line tie will tend to pull it straight, and, if it is erratic, so much the better. I try to remember that rear weighted lures, like gliders and top waters, are much easier to work in a walk the dog, or 180 degree retrieve, and try to keep the weight toward the rear of each section that I do weight, to make it less stable on the pause. Like a jack knifing truck, where the cab stops, and the trailers just keep coming. Even with the 1/1/1 ratio, the heads on the 6" baits are also pretty stable, on a fast retrieve, and wiggle a little on a slower retrieve. Not scientific, but it works out that way.

I don't think there's such a thing as too much swim action. A wildly swimming swimbait looks like a panicked baitfish or trout. As for weighting, I just looked at the successful lures that are available commercially, tried to make my section divisions similar, and use their hook hanger locations as my guide. I use weighted hook hangers, so I've already got 1/8oz ballast weight per hook hanger, and then just add weight near those points until I get the lure to sit in the water the way I want it. Basically, that's horizontal, either sinking or floating. I don't know if there's a formula for it. Mostly, I think it's trial and error. One tip is, don't do a final paint scheme and topcoat until you're really happy with how the lure swims. Seal, weight, prime, and test. I've had lures that I finished completely, without a thorough testing first, hanging over my bench for years, laughing at me, and it's taken me a lot of will power to finally strip all the finish off and rework them. Save yourself the angst, and test well first.

I've found that, in two joint baits, the farther forward the front section is weighted, the less the head wobbles. I use weighted hook hangers, and the second hanger is in the front part of the last section, but that doesn't affect the action. I get a flag flapping action from two section baits. In three joint baits, I never weight the last section, and the head seems to be more stable because of the extra section. My rear hook hanger is in the back of the third section. I get a pronounced S shaped snakelike swimming action with three section baits. This is what I've learned through trial and error. I have no idea why it's true.

Generally speaking, the larger the wheels on a bandsaw, the longer the blade, and the longer it will last. But bigger saws are more expensive. So it's a tradeoff. Any saw will do the job if the blade is sharp, but smaller saws will labor under a load with a dull blade, and the blade will wander (drift) all over, making following a line difficult, and, at a certain point, burning both the wood, and the saw motor. If you're going to make a lot of baits, and use it a lot, invest in a minimum 14" floor model bandsaw. The blades are very common, and are long enough to last a while. Blade length is function of both wheel diameter, and the distance between the wheels. The small table top bandsaws available nowadays have such short blades they dull quickly, and their motors are very small.

Ah, so deska!

It may seem expensive, but I only use 2 grams per lure per coat, and that's on 6" wooden lures, so it really goes a long way. I just hope the shelf life is good.

Arrrgh, you're a hard man, Shane! You're right. I should catch more fish. I switch up between different lures during the day, and they all see their share of the water. And I caught a fish on a new lure Sunday, so I was jazzed. But I was disappointed that the silver based paint scheme that i worked so hard to make is now turning golden. I've switched to the Nu Lustre 55 UV protected formula to stop that. Fingers crossed.

Mike, I'm no expert, but, if I'm retieing a skirt whose rubber band has broken, or is threatening to, I use 50lb braid off one of my reels, and coat it with brush-on crazy glue. I lose the jig before the skirt comes off. For production, a fine wire would probably be the way to go, but I've never tried that.

Shane, Again, I'm no expert, or artist. If I were going to make a lure dark red on one part, and fade into lighter red on another, I'd paint both parts with the lighter red in a transparent red, until I got the light shade I wanted, and then go over the part I wanted darker with several more coats, until the red darkened as much as I wanted. I guess a person could undercoat the darker red part first with a dark red, and then try to fade to lighter on the sides. I'd experiment with different methods, one at a time, and see what I could come up with. Try priming a scrap of the same wood with about the same profile, so the shading will reflect what will happen on the lure, and practice different methods until you find one that fits. Use a hair dryer to heat set/dry each coat, both to save time between coats, and to insure that there's no water left in the previous coat which could vaporize under the top coat and cause it to fail. Practice is the best teacher. You'll learn pretty quickly by just trying. And don't be afraid to fail. I've always learned as much or more from my mistakes. Of course, I've made a lot of them, so, by now, I should be a genieass!

Shane, There's no need to use a sealer when you're repainting plastic cranks. Just sand the surface with fine paper, to insure a good bond with the new paint, prime, and go. I don't even prime if the crank is of clear plastic, and I want a transparent paint job. Just fine sand, wipe with alcohol to clean off the dust and your finger prints, and paint. I use cheap latex gloves (thanks Pete) to avoid finger prints, which can cause the paint and/or the topcoat not to adhere. This problem is called fish eyes, I think, and it leaves blank spots on the lure, since the bond of the paint/topcoat is broken by the oil in the fingerprints.

Minesapint, That is a beautiful place. Of course, when the wind gets up, I bet it can be pretty "interesting". Dave, Indonesia???

Sounds to me you may have things a little backwards, at least from my experience. I hope you've done a sealer and a primer first. After quite a few trials and errors, I've come up with a system that works for me. Remember, I'm a carpenter, not an artist. The first thing I do, after I've sanded a lure with 220, is seal it with either Minwax Polyacrylic, or Minwax Wood Hardener. Lately, I've only used the Wood Hardener, and am really happy with the results so far. I let whichever one I use dry overnight, and then lightly sand it with 220 again to remove any wood that's been raised. I don't worry too much about a perfectly smooth wood surface. A little grain telegraphing through just gives the lure additional surfaces for reflective highlights, and the final epoxy coat will smooth it all off anyway. Next, I put on a Krylon white primer, and let it dry overnight. It is a really soft coating, and I usually spray two coats on a few minutes apart, so I want it as hard as possible before I start my painting. Then I start my painting. I do a base coat of the lightest color I want first, and then move to my other colors. I am not an artist, so I usually do two base colors plus a scale pattern. I do a light colored coat, like pearlized white or silver, on the whole lure, a scale pattern with a flip flop or iridescent color over drywall mesh tape, and then a darker color on the back, spraying at an angle from over the back to get a shadowing on the shoulders. I sometimes do an accent strip, like chartreuse or hot flamingo, after I've done the two main colors. I've found that if I do a pastel fixative coat after I've done my scale pattern, I can undo the next coat without ruining the base and scale pattern. And if I do another fixative coat after I've done the back and shoulders, I can play around with accent colors without ruining the work I've done up to that point. The water based paints I use (Createx, Auto Aire, Wildlife, Apple Barrel) aren't affected by the Krylon pastel fixative coat, as long as I let it dry before the next color coat. After I've finished my paint scheme, I usually spray on some Krylon glitter, dry it with a hair drier, let it sit for a couple of hours, and then topcoat with epoxy. I've used D2T and Envirotex Lite as topcoats, and each has it's good points, but both yellow in the sun. Now I'm using Nu Luster 55 with UV inhibitors, to prevent yellowing. So far, so good. Good luck.

I started with twist wires, but I found that I was making my joints too tight, and the wires had no adjustment, other than squeezing them to elongate the loop. Tight joints, while esthetically pleasing, really hamper swimming action. That's why I settled on screw eyes, which I can adjust to get the joint and swimming action the way I want before gluing them in.

For me, CDs are too brittle for lips. I use the dividers out of plastic plano-type storage containers. Probably not good for bouncing over rocks, but they work fine for shallow cranks.

Mike, You should post this on the wire baits forum. Those guys have all the answers.

There's a thread about 15 down from this one in which Jeep asked a similar question, and Captsully, for one, responded.