hazmail

Nice one Dave, AND simple. Thanks Pete.

Do you mean something like these?? http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/1886-harliquin/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/1841-found-nemo/ If so, there is a description of the process (rough) in the first post. Pete

I recently weighted a lot of small crawdads to make them neutral, using 3mm lead shot - I drilled 2 X 3mm (1/8" ) holes on the seam at the bottom and just pressed them in, filed them smooth and then sealed with epoxy -- similar to what you are all saying I know, but if you keep the size down you don't have to drill all the way through the blank casing, where on the seam and around the hangers, the plastic is quite a bit thicker . Pete

Me!! I get into K.C from San Fran on the night of 27th (9.15pm), hire a car the next day (28th), should be in Clinton by lunch time. Really starting to get excited/motivated and looking forward to meeting everyone again. So if I don't recognize anyone it will be because of the 22 hours in the air Pete

Thanks Sonny, I will have to try that one next time I'm bending. Pete

[i've been working on glitter-coated cranks a lot lately. The final base coat of glitter puts off brilliant flash even indoors on an overcast day, as much or more than a highly polised spinnerbait blade, but after clearing with D2T it's just not as flashy. This is almost the opposite of what I would expect. I'm not sure if it's because the Devcon diffuses light more than auto clears, etc. but I really want to know if a different clear or clearcoating technique would give me better results. Because the glitter is rough before being cleared, a fairly heavy coat or two is needed to cover it well. But I've noticed even on the first light coat reflectivity takes a noticeable roll downhill. Really want to know what you guys who have experience with D2T and other topcoats over foil, gliitter, or even pearls think about this! Blazt --If you are selling them, then you need the 'flash on the rack' to sell them-- BUT once they are under the water, it does not matter much whether it's a matte or gloss finish, once they are wet they are all 'Gloss'-- Of course there is different clarities to all finishes and I suggest that a thin coat in air, like an 'Auto clear', is going to flash a lot more then some epoxies (on the rack)--One coat of epoxy clear, in thickness, is equivalent to about six coats of auto clear - generally the more you put on, the more opaque they become. Unfortunately, fish in the real world live in the water, not in our dusty old sheds, where we continuously gaze (with the aid of a spotlight) at that latest 'perfect finish' we have concocted. Don't get too tied up in the looks, fish have different eyes--------------------- they're looking for food, not finish. Pete

R.M -- similar to Angus etc, I have recently made tube collars for the drive on a rotisserie for the Bar BQ (used a microwave motor)-- To get a strong 'coupling' get some Aluminum tube slightly smaller than the all thread, then with a 3 cornered file, file 3 tapered flutes in the all thread similar to a thread tap, then screw it into the Al tube where it will easily cut a tight and parallel thread. Next is the motor shaft size, if it is not the same as the 'all thread', aluminum tubing comes in neat slip fit sizes (into each other), so just go up or down from the original size until it fits and pin/ loktite the pieces togeather -- If the motor shaft is round, grind/ file a flat on it, find a small machine screw and again file 3 flutes in the screw and tap it into the side of the tube and then down onto the flat face of the motor shaft , dab a bit of silicone on it to stop it vibrating loose. Sounds bodgy I know, but these home made 'taps' make a nice neat, tight thread in Al, I do it on my boat all the time, best part is you can pull it apart without busting anything. If you have the 'taps', all the more easy. Should take about 15 mins . Pete. Pete

Sorry Dave , I meant to add that the plastic sheet is 'high impact plastic' and because those stencils are whole of lure stencils (75% anyway) it needs to be thicker as when thin plastic is vacuumed it tends to go too thin on the corners. I just used a shop vac, nothing special - I got one from Aldi here for $45 but it blew up in no time, so I am now using the house vac at the moment. Pete

Tim- Here (in Austarlia) I go to the plastics guy and buy a 6' x 4' sheet 1.5 mm thick @ about $10 - not sure where you would get it in North Dakota. Pete

Who needs Solunar Tables when you can do this to find fish: http://dvice.com/arc...fishing-for.php

Matt- that one pictured, over wed beds goes to about 2-3' with a very subtle Rapala 'Original' action-- here are some more (2") that go to about 8' , all stencilled--

If Rick Clunn is right, and fish get conditioned to the hydralic signature of common cranks, then any crank with a different movement in the water should work, as long as it's well made. I know, on our SoCal lakes, fish do get conditioned pretty quickly to new stuff. The scrounger was deadly for a couple of seasons, and then the fish got used to it. I would have thought new generations of fish would be "dumb", and go for the old stuff, but it seems like they learn as a group, and leave the same lures alone that were deadly only a few years ago. Having said that, cranks and blades still catch them. You just have to pick you spots. The one thing that may be different is how well the Japanese square bill cranks, and now the Strike King KVD square bills, come through cover. Getting just the right lip size, angle, and buoyancy to help them come over branches without snagging IS rocket science. I am much more aggressive with a plastic square bill than with a balsa square bill. I'm sure a lot of that is due to the "indestructibility" of plastic, but the Lucky Craft BDS 1 is still amazing. This post has been edited by mark poulson: Yesterday, 08:04 AM Not sure who 'Rick Clunn' is BUT---Interesting insight Mark, I have been many times a victim of Trout and their apparent hereditary memory/ avoidance of that lure that worked last Winter, well that's what I put it down to anyway. Sometimes I think it's our amnesia, we are that snowed under with new lures/pattern's, we tend to forget what really worked 30 years back. Pete

Concrete, very durable but it's not clear. pete

Try mixing 'white pearl' with any colour ------------------------- I said, get a colour, any colour and mix the pearl with it, maybe 10%, interesting outcomes. pete

I have been 'decking' out my little van with this stuff for the past 2 months, great stuff, water proof, wind proof, mildew proof, sun proof??? :huh:nothing is sun proof here!!! --- BUT watch the dust. Pete

I'm with you 'Rookie', if we are not buying them ($26 ea here) we are copying them, this brings the market back down to the blank price, which is less than a $ here. Next thing you know you are working for $2 an hour like they are. Ya know, most Jap baits they are beautifully finished, something Europe, U.S and WE can't seem to match--this is the killer here, we are still back in the 80's when it comes to innovation and lures. Pete

I went Jerry's route http://www.ustream.t...uwebcast/videos and made a vacuum former, a bit of setting up but worth the effort-- I use high impact plastic for the stencil.

Hi Balls, long time, no hear--a bit like me, I have been sidetracked lately and only made 3 lures this year!!!!!!!!!!!! For uploading pictures, join "Photobucket" ( http://photobucket.com/ ) copy and paste your pictures onto your 'desk top', then go to 'photobucket' , click 'Upload' or if you have a few 'Bulk Upload' and it will ask you from where on your computer, scroll up to 'Desktop' or wherever you hide them , click 'Desktop' and it will load all your pictures from there (be patient),, once loaded, click on the pictures you want to upload, then click 'upload' and it will do the rest--go to your T.U post and type your message or whatever--- to add a picture go back to 'Photobucket', hover over the picture you want and click "IMG code" (it will say 'copied)-- go back to your masssage and right click then left click 'paste', the link will appear on your post, looking something like this: http//i206.photobucket.com/albums/b290/hazmail/Socks.jpg When you click 'Add Reply' this link will automatically come up with your picture---you have to do this for every picture individually. Sounds like tedium but really it only takes a few seconds for each picture,,,- once you get used to it. Vodkaman showed me years back and I'm a 'Troglodyte' Pete

Loverly bit of work there Dave - I was surprised to see how much the epoxy and lip influenced the "MC" of the lure, although on close exam the % surface area is quite large on the front /base compared to the top/rear. As you say, all bets are off once we get in the water. Welll done - Pete

Ranger- there has been a few posts on this, if you go here there are a few ideas - http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/17658-air-brush-nozzel-question/page__p__133972__hl__%2Bspatter+%2Bpaint__fromsearch__1#entry133972 My version is post #9. Pete