carpholeo

I just go ahead and make my bait, put it together hooks and all, then i worry about weighting it. if you find you have a section that doesnt have enough room for a lead weight, then use tungston worm weights .

regular printer paper can expand if you dont totally saturate it with epoxy, I've never tried the tissue/foil thing, but I wanna try the printing on fabric backed with freezer paper technique.

I use an old typewriter paper called " eatons corrasable bond" and spray on adhesive. You dont have to buy the whole sheet, they have a partial sheet that you can have them cut you a piece off of.

LOL, thats the same image i used for my giant trout swimmie

SD plastics, they should still have some 1" black left. be sure to grab some free lexan from the scrap bin too.

Used to use basswood or poplar, but now I use expanded pvc.

yup

Heres a 4 piece, 4-1/2" shad i just finished, I only had to weight the first 2 sections. 1-1/2, 1 ,1, 1

where can those lead sticks obtained?

I hang them from small screw eyes, and with the expanded pvc you can test all you want without sealing the bait.

This is a transparent LC swimbait that shows the weight placement. http://www.basstackledepot.com/mm5/graphics/luck/ghost%20minnow.jpg

Dont know if its the exact same stuff that i used, but i doubt lowes has 1" thick material. A plastics supplier usually has a scrap bin with lots of free lexan and other good stuff too.

Thats exactly what what i had in mind, but sometimes the big bass out here go for the small bass when they are chasing shad, so a fast retrieve might be worth a try too.

I paid $24 for a 7"x 4' of black 1" thick expanded pvc. So if you were gonna build a room addition then it would be very expensive, but the piece i bought should make 25 or more lures, so at a buck a bait i think its a good deal.

I epoxy the printed pattern on to the lure body(not as easy as it sounds) Expanded pvc is a type of plastic that can be worked just like wood, its waterproof, floats and is easy to work with. I got mine from a local plastics supplier here in San Diego, but im sure you can find one close to you. this link has more info on the subject. http://www.interstateplastics.com/materials/detail.aspx?ID=expandedpvc-SW1102

Did a google image search and found a suitable baby bass pic, I edited the image to the exact size of the lure i wanted to make, then printed it and used the pattern to shape my lure. I used expanded PVC, I love this stuff! its the best thing since sliced bread. Anyway, after making my joints and adding test weights I dragged it across the pool, and to my amazement, it swam! Unbelievable. After fine tuning the weighting, I installed permanent weights and hooks. I tried to locate the weights in the center of each section and as low as possible. From head to tail the weighting went 103g, 74g, 37g, 0g The lure is 6" x 1.5" x 3/4" and made from expanded pvc I epoxied the printed bass image to the lure body and thats it.

I use drive belts from the local electronic surplus store, i think they were used for printers or something, they are flexable and indestructible.

I have a bunch different shape lips i use for testing, I just keep switching them till i find the right match. Of course it helps having a large built in swimming pool in the backyard for testing and tuning. But then theres always one of my idiot friends that stops by while I'm tuning a lure and shouts out "catching any thing" and I'm like " no, but stand still while I try A hook set test you moron!".

found this on a patent site........... a lipless head section pivotally hinged to the tail section, wherein the head section is shaped such that hydrodynamic forces generated when moving through water cause the head section to lift and shift an impact point of the water to a bottom of the lure thereby causing the head section to wobble side-to-side, the head section comprising a top portion and a bottom portion shaped in converging arcs and meeting at a mouth portion, the bottom portion including a throat section having an external perimeter outline when viewed from a side of the lure that is curved in a direction opposite from the converging arc of the bottom portion,

Out here in So Cal, bass have been the most popular freshwater fish for almost 50 years, it just wasnt on TV all the time like it is now.

Whats that saying.... Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. My brain hurts,maybe I should just stick to floating baits.

Then the material you remove to make room for the weight is not enough to worry about?