mark poulson

If you seal the end grain of your raw wood it will dry more evenly when it's in storage.

If you're just starting out, I recommend using PVC trimboard as your bait making material. There's a sticky at the top of this forum page.

My notifications still will not open. Also, the menu banner doesn't follows me as I scroll down like it did before.

I have one of their 5" Keitech molds, and it pours really easily. The tail is thin, so I need to add 1 tsp of hardener per cup to my BJ med. plastisol to get it to swim the way I want.

I wonder if talc/baby powder would keep that from happening, like it does with rubber jig skirts.

That is smart, and a good way to find out how responsive a seller is without having to lay out any money up front.

I use AC 1315 sealer sometimes. The only problem I've had is that soft plastics melt the sealer if they stay in contact for more than an hour. I use clear nail polish for my rats where the soft plastic worm tails attach, and that acts as a barrier so I can still use the tails.

BobP here makes balsa baits, and he sometimes uses Solarez UV resin to seal. I've used it as a top coat, but never tried it as a sealer. It is much thicker than super glue, so it might give you a one coat paintable surface.

Try putting propionate in the search box at the bottom of the More tab menu in the upper right hand corner of this forum page, if you haven't already tried. I am a one-off hobby builder, so my methods aren't for mass producing baits. I use runny super glue to seal my balsa baits, two coats applied with my finger. It penetrates, locks the grain, makes the bait's surface harder/stronger, and I can paint over it, once it's sanded smooth. I'm sure there are lots of other methods, but that is the one that works for me.

That looks good!

That's a great idea! Which wire do you use?

That's exactly how a Duo Realis Spinbait 80 falls on a semi-slack line. It's slightly tail down, and wobbles side to side as it falls.

I usually shoot for a slow rising bait, and then use my line choice, either mono or fluoro, to get it to either rise faster or suspend/slow sink. I now fish the CA Delta, so suspending baits are not effective for me. I need them to rise on the pause, or they get hung up in the weeds.

Thanks for the heads up. How did you know I was thinking about trying the GP? Hahaha

They don't play fair, do they?

We had huge eucalyptus (gum) trees at the back of our yard when I was a kid. The wood was really wild and twisty, and had a lot of sap. I could never get it dry enough to carve without checking and twisting after I was done.

I do the same, both in the black color and in wire tie, but I use thread to place and hold my skirt material, so I can add different colors in different places. I've never been able to get the colors in the right places with my skirt tool. Too clumsy, I guess. I like to add just a partial tab to give the jig more bulk. I don't think it slows the fall of the jig that much, but it really spreads out once it hits the bottom.

Does anyone here use flat rubber in their jig skirts?

Wouldn't multiple thin layers be more prone to chipping than the one thick layer you achieve by recoating within 24 hours? I was told by an Etex tech that no sanding was needed between coats only if recoated within 24 hours. Longer than that, and she said it was important to scuff the surface and then wipe down with alcohol before applying another coat.

Do you fill and drain the cavities one at a time?

I keep reading about how colder water makes floaters suspend, but, somehow, it runs counter to what my mind tells me. Cold water is more dense, so the bait displaces less water, and should float. I always think back to how steel floats on molten lead. Any help understanding this would be appreciated.

Are all airbrush needles the same diameter?

I'm guessing it's because the pigment particles are too big. When I'm priming with Wicked White, I thin with the 4012, and then pull the needle back an eight of an inch and lock it there before I start to paint. That opens the nozzle more when I actually start to spray the paint. That seems to let me shoot the bigger particles with my HP-C, which has a 3.5 needle.

Assuming you scuff up the etex before you paint, you might try an etching primer that will bite into the sealing epoxy and give a good surface to bond to for the paint. http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/auto/primers/self-etching-primer/ I've never trolled for or caught muskies, so I don't know how it will hold up to them, but it should hold up better than not using it. Thanks to Cadman, I use it on lead heads, like spinnerbaits and jigs, before I paint them with Createx with an artist's brush, and then top coat with Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails clear. The finish holds up to tulles, weeds, and the occasional rock collisions.

Contact the paint manuf., and ask them what's the best way to thin their sealer without losing it's film strength.