mark poulson

Proto #3 looks great. Nice action. What happens when you burn it? What kind of hinges and tail did you use?

Thanks. That makes perfect sense, although I'm not sure how much that means coming from me, since I spend hours making lures and fishing.

Really nice lures, and great paint jobs. Now, can I ask if your screen name, "Boskabouter", has any special significance?

I use cotter pins and egg sinkers (a tip I learned from someone here) as hook hangers, with the cotter pin passing through the egg sinker and then bent and cut off, so there are two ears. I fill the hanger hole with 5 min epoxy, slowly push the hanger in until the epoxy comes up out of the sinker hole and it sits flush. Of course, I'm making larger wood baits, but small sst. cotter pins should work for cranks. Just cut them to length, and spread/bend the ends so they don't pull out.

Rookie, Down here in SoCal, we use toothpaste to prevent cavities, not to fill them!

You can pinch some split shot on the treble or hang some drop shot weights on the hooks to get the weighting close. After you seal the lure, of course. I typically start with a weighted hook hanger, since the hook position is usually where I want my weight, and work back toward the head from there if I need more weight. Your hook is farther forward than I usually put my first hook hanger, so you might want to add some weight just behind the hook hanger, far enough away to leave enough wood to keep the hanger connection strong. If the tail is floating up, and you don't want it to, try using stickon weights, like the Suspend Dots or Strips, to figure out how much to put where. Remember to take the time to test the lure after you've weighted it, and before you finish paint it, so you don't wind up with a pretty paper weight. And allow 2-3 grams for paint and epoxy. So you should keep that much lead out after you've figured out how much you want to add to allow for the finish. Good luck. And don't be afraid to drill out some weight, or add more. I've learned a lot from my mistakes.

The threads on the Master brush aren't as polished as on the Iwata, so extra care must be taken not to cross thread when cleaning. Still haven't fired it up. Damn work keeps getting in the way! Work is waaaay overrated.

Pred., I'm so glad you asked that. I was going to ask that, too, but I am tired of looking ignorant.

Great looking baits. You are a master with rattle cans, for sure. Do you use a clear coat for a top coat?

I haven't built a box/light setup yet for my wheel, so, when it's really cold in my garage, I leave the lights on, and a small electric heater set on medium. Keeps the temps up to mid 60's overnight.

I found an Iwata knockoff, a Master Airbrush, on Airbrush Depot, for $75 out the door. It had the MAC valve, a .025m tip, and looks just like the $400 Iwata. I haven't hooked it up yet. I'll let you know how it works when I have given it a test run. It does have a tip that's cut into four triangular sections. I'm very curious to see how that affects spray pattern.

If I were making a through wire lure, I'd either soak it in a very low viscosity sealer, like a wood preservative, after I'd done all the drilling, or I'd split the blank in half, either before or after shaping, and groove for the wires. Then I'd be able to set the wire rig in and glue it completely when I glue the halves back together.

Where did you get the bluegill photo? You lure has inspired me to try photo copying.

That's terrific! My hat's off to you. As Nova said, ":worship:".

What would happen.........if you sanded the aluminite on both sides to purposely expose the air bubbles and open them, then primed and finished the lure? Seems to me that would make a unique underwater hydro signature for the lure, but, since it's foam or plastic, wouldn't affect it's buoyancy or durability. Just a question. I don't pour baits, so I'm totally ignorant about the process. I just remember Rick Clunn saying fish remember the underwater signature of lures, so he came out with a line of lures with notches on the side.

You Da Man!!!!

No offense taken. I was just frustrated at my own ignorance.

I wan't joking. Thanks for the translation. My wife and my two older kids (24 and 19) are fluent in Spanish, having taken it in school for years, and the oldest lived in Spain for a year and a half. My Spanish is mostly street Spanish, even though I grew up in a mixed neighborhood. I stayed away from French after my best friend started to take it in school, and it drove him crazy! No? Oi!

Pete, What's the name brand of the brush?

ernel, I pulled up that thread, and started reading, but I had to stop before my kid grew up and left home and I missed it. How does the story end? If I were making a lipped crank, I'd find one that was similar to what I wanted, copy it, but with my own design, and test it. On the prototype, I'd probably put a line of holes in the bill, so I could use a removable line tie to test the action with each position.

Where's the translation key? I can barely speak English, let alone French.

I just looked at the lure again, and it's still amazing. Great job.

I think he means the dreaded "Epoxy", but don't tell him I told you.

FF, Would you recommend stencils too? Seriously, I have a 1 rpm rotisserie motor on my wheel, which is a pair of 14" diameter plywood discs mounted on the rotisserie shaft, so the lures are suspended between the discs. The actual speed that the lures move is compounded by the distance they are from the center of the shaft (Vodkaman, help me out here). I use Envirotex Lite, and, as long as I don't put too much on (which I learned the hard way), it doesn't sag while turning. Again, the actual speed the lure is moving depends on where on the disc I mount it. I have two concentric rings of eye bolts, 4 per ring, one ring has a 4" radius, and the other is a 6" radius. I divided each disk into eight pie shaped sections, and put the eye bolts on alternating sections, so no one lure is directly below the other, and I can coat them on the wheel. In practice I've found coating inner lures when the outer ring is full of four lures is a pain, so I mostly use the outer ring. So much for my genius idea. But, in a pinch, it works. And I've found no difference in the epoxy coats from either ring. But I do try to balance the load on the discs, to make life easier on the little motor.

PB, you're too much!