mark poulson

Dave, I think the narrow back/wide bottom cross section of the Speed Trap forces the water to flow down along the sides of the lure, and creates low pressure areas (eddies) as it passes the relatively flat bottom. That might have something to do with how stable the lure swims, even on a really fast retrieve. Whatever causes it, it is a killer lure!

There have been a lot of threads about how long unmixed epoxy lasts, before "goes bad", and I think this may help answer that question. I just completed one have of a two part POP mold, and wanted to seal it with epoxy before I poured the second part. I had some Etex up on a shelf in my garage that was more than ten years old. It has been through temps from low 30's to 100's over the years. I haven't used it in at least five years, but I decided to see if it was still good. The catalyst was still liquid, but the resin had turned solid for the most part. There was still a bit of liquid resin left, so I drained it into a salsa cup, added the same volume of the catalyst, mixed it very thoroughly, and then added another 25% denatured alcohol to thin it. I brushed the mix onto the dried/cured POP mold half, wetting it completely, and left it to cure overnight. When I checked it this morning it had cured out hard, clear, and shiny, and I'm going to go down this afternoon and pour the second half ove the mold. I had to chuck the resin bottle, since all that was left was hardened resin, but it showed me that, as long as the resin is liquid, it is good to use, at least for sealing POP.

Dave, One of the most successful crankbaits of all time, the Luhr Jensen Speed Trap, has the same wide belly/narrow back cross section, and it is still amazing in how well it catches fish. In addition, it is almost arrow head-shaped, widening from a pointed nose to a wide belly 2/3 of the way back, before tapering back down a pointed tail, all the while maintaining that wide belly/narrow back cross section. I made a solid copy from PVC, and it works!

That is the truth!

I just finished a gallon of Bait Plastics' medium, which I found to be too soft for my baits, and ordered a gallon of their med/saltwater, hoping it will be more like the Baitjunkys med. I used to use. Adding softener is much easier than adding hardener.

I'm in favor, too.

I buy medium plastic, and then add one or the other when I want softer or harder plastic. Softener makes stiff plastic softer. I add it when I add salt, because salt makes plastic stiffer, or if I'm pouring finesse worms. Hardener makes soft plastic stiffer. I add it to my swimbait plastic, to make the tails swim better. Some baits just work better with harder plastic. I don't ever add hardener to hot plastic. Add hardener before you heat your plastic, and mix it thoroughly, or you'll wind up with hard lumps from unmixed hardener. For reheats, where I want to add more hardener, I mix the hardener into new plastic first, so it is completely mixed, and then cut up the stuff I want to reheat, and add the new stuff before I reheat it all together. I add heat stabilizer so my reheated plastic doesn't get scorched when I reheat it all to 350 to kick over the new stuff.

Warning! My whole jar went bad when I let it sit too long, because I thought it was empty.

I can pull my hand pour/injector laminates apart if I really try, but I've never had them come apart when I've fished them.

Man, you're no fun!

Wash with dishwashing liquid, rinse, dry, and then dip quickly in clean acetone. It is a solvent for just about everything.

A cellphone camera is your friend.

I always misspell stuff, too.

Top is green pumpkin/pick your flake. Bottom is light orange/pick your flake. I use green pumpkin/black for the top, and light orange/red and chartreuse for the bottom. I add my flake to my heated plastic first, and then stir in my colorant drop by drop until it looks about right. Close counts.

Since bass hunt a lot by detecting vibrations with their lateral line, maybe the higher frequency rattles are felt more than heard, and that's why they still work.

I always add my glitter/flake to my already heated plastic before I add my colorant. I have found that, for me, the glitter alone will change the color of the plastic, and I want to see that color change already included in the plastic before I try to achieve a certain color by adding colorant.

Do a test with your paint and a coat of Createx Gloss Clear, to see if it give a good barrier. I say use gloss because it is the strongest coating.

Am I the only one here who has actually had Merthiolate put on a cut when I was a kid? It always looked like a dark orange/yellow/brown to me, and dried more brownish.

You might try running the eyes in and back out, to cut the threads in the wood, and then adding a couple of drops of runny super glue into the hole, to reinforce the threads. Then coat the eye's threads with gel type super glue, and run it back in quickly. Once the super glue sets, you will have a strong installation, especially if you leave the glue squeeze out around the eye, to act as a lock preventing unscrewing. I do that with balsa baits, and have never had one unscrew or fail. But I have never fished for musky, or even seen one in person, so I may be very wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. Hahaha

I have not. I don't really use chrome too much for my baits, so I haven't tried it. It looks like it is cheap enough to try, and see how you like it.

Be sure the rounds have already been shot. Otherwise, you can get a really loud, onetime rattle. Hahaha

Metal will be louder.

Years ago JR Hopkins posted a picture of how he used painter's tape sandwich to hold the paint brush bristles in position while he glued them with epoxy. He is an artist.

Sounds like you may have gotten a bad batch. Contact LureWorks and tell them what's going on.

I've had that happen with light blue robo worms over the years, but I have no idea why.