captsully18

When I do a foil application on a bait, I coat the foil with a THIN coat of E-Tex. Paint adheres well to it. David

Mark has said it best, and his reference to "KISS" is right on. I have several swimbait rods as everyone else here has said. My best two rods are one that I built and an Okuma 7' 11" swimbait rod. These rods were built just for swimbaits and have the qualities that Mark has defined. This not to say that the other rods mentioned so far will not do the job. Whatever works for you. The main thing is to get out there and keep those swimbaits wet. David

Diemai, congrats on your lure designs. I am sure you will be very pleased with the latest joint design. I have been using exactly the same joints on my swimbait for past year and have had no problems with it. Anxious to see your baits when finished. You do very good work, and I am sure these swimbaits will be your best ever. David

Hey Dick. So glad you have found new supplier and we will once again be able to get the best topcoat available. Will not use anything else. A-Mac, in answer to your question about swimbaits.......it works great on the surface and joints. Have had no problems with DN on any part of my swimbaits. David

Thanks for the replies, guys. I think that I didn't ask the question correctly. What I really want to know is why, on 90 degree bend hooks, the line tie is turned 90 degrees from the original position. Hope this clears up what I am looking for. David

I would like to know why some jigs have hook eyes in line with the hook and others have the eye at a ninety degree angle to rest of the hook. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks. David

John, more fine work from the master swimbait maker. Thanks for sharing the pics and video's. David

Jay, I want to add my . A lot of good advice has been laid out here. I think that if money is your big concern, then this is probably not for you. Most of us here enjoy building baits as a hobby within a hobby (fishing). We can spend our time, when we cannot get on the water, designing, building, painting new baits. All of this takes time and (ugh) money. It's the enjoyment of crafting a bait and then catching fish on our own baits. All of us fall into various categories from beginner to master craftsman. There are many here, including myself, that once thought that we might save money by building our own. We found that such was not the case. But, after building a few one finds out that it is very enjoyable, and we got hooked to the madness. You mentioned that you are looking for a bait that will work in a specific way in the deep holes you fish. Building one is probably the best way to achieve this. You are probably not going to have the success you want on the first bait. This is just part of the learning curve. Don't become discouraged, keep at it and you will get just what you want. Personally, I hope you decide to jump into this wonderful hobby and achieve a bait that does just what you want it to do. Your satisfaction will be great, and you will then be hooked on the madness that all of us here enjoy. Wishing you success, and welcome to TU and the madness within. David

Just visited the Bocca site. Did I read right? Are these bearings $70 ea? I could tell from the video that they are extremely smooth. Look impressive. Would love to try them, but guess will have to wait 'til I build up some reserve. David

What he said! David

never mind David

Kris, I would love to show you some pics to show you the difference. However, I no longer have any baits top coated with D2T. Since you are fooling around with some "throw-aways" and have some coated with D2T you can convince yourself of difference by trying some DickNites over the D2T. Think you will find that paint that you have laid down will become crisper, and you will find that the DickNites will give you a much harder finish. The Devcon will stay a bit softer, and over time will yellow. After I learned about DickNites (a couple years ago) I went back and either sanded down the D2T or just coated over it. IMHO, the resident expert here is Dean McClain. He is the great one who put me onto DickNites. After seeing his baits in real life, the colors are so crisp and the coating makes one think that they are looking "into" the bait. Best way I can describe it. Have another good friend who custom painted a bait for me to take to Mexico with me. The paint was exceptional, but just didn't look quite bright enough. Took a chance and put a couple of coats of DN over his clear. The result was amazing. The colors just sprung to life, and made a great bait just a bit better. Plus, the hard finish I ended up with withstood the pounding it got from the fish, and, alas, the rocks (would rather not explain that last ). Bottom line, if you are looking for a very clear finish that is durable click on DickNites link here on the website and try some. Besides, it's easier to use 'cause there is no mixing. Storing can be a problem, but I have a pretty good method that has worked without fail for me. If you decide to go with DN, pm me and I will gladly explain. Good luck with your choice, whichever way you go, and welcome to TU. David

OK, OK, uncle, uncle, Uncle Dean. now I know you are on to my tricks. Can't keep anything from you, you sly devil. The one thing you don't know about though, is that I installed a splash pan to catch all the DN slung off. I catch it and use again the next time. David

John, River is right. Swimbaits appeal to a small percentage of fishermen. This group likes to target trophy fish 'cause they have fished long enough that numbers don't mean as much anymore. I live in Kentucky and make 7" swimbaits. Don't have a big calling for them. Make them for myself and 3 friends. We catch a whole lot of "keeper" bass on them as well as some of the larger bass that are in the area. However, we also use them quite a bit in Dale Hollow and Pickwick to target the larger smallies that are swimming down there. Also a lot of big largemouth in both lakes. These fish have Rainbow trout to feed on as their brothers and sisters in California. So these fish like the larger swimbaits. I know that others use swimbaits to target these fish, but I think they are keeping their success to themselves and not letting the word out. I bought two of your Taliapia baits to take to Mexico and had real good success on them. Taliapia are the main forage for those fish and your baits are spot on those bait fish. In fact, we stopped one of the commercial fishermen one day and he let us compare your baits to an actual taliapia. Couldn't hardly tell the difference. A flea market is a difficult place to sell baits of your caliber. Unless fishermen who know what is really going on come along you are going to hear a lot of "what do you expect to catch on those?". Just keep up your great work. You are a true artist and we need guys like you around. David

Gosh Dean. You got me to thinking about my turner. Timed it and guess what? It turns 1 1/8 turns per minute. Guess that's because I bought my rotisserie motor from Lowes and avoided those cheapie ones at Wal-Mart. David

Yeah. Be afraid......be very afraid. If you get the urge to run out and buy a squirrel roaster..........well, get some profesional help right away. David PS. my vote is for the bandsaw.