Lance

My experience has been that the slower drying devcon dries a lot clearer. The fast dry kind of has an amber look to it.

I make weight forward spinners to fish for bass and stripe with. The weight forward spinner is better for me because it doesn't twist my line near as bad as a true "in-line spinner". I attach the weight to the wire with d2t and the weight prevents the momentum of the blade from twisting the wire and thus twisting the line.

First lure I made was a chug bug replica which is easy as compared to a most others. You can get a book called The Complete Book of Tackle Making by Boyd Pfeiffer which wil get you started. I don't do everything exactly the way he does things in the book but it is a good place to start as well as this web site. As far as cost goes making lures is sort of like fishing itself in that it is what you want it to be. Can be pretty costly, or you can approach it like I do and try to do everything as cheap as possible. My objective isn't trying to create works of great art but rather make practical working lures that catch fish and save me money over the store bought lures. Don't get me wrong now; I enjoy looking at the lures displayed on this site, these guys make great looking lures that I am sure catch fish but I live in an apartment on a budget so at this point my lure making is more about saving money than anything. As I say it is as you want it to be.

Yes, I have tried to bend the blade just in front of the split ring hole at close to a 90 degree angle then insert a mounting screw thru the hole to attach the blade/lip to the crankbait. If you tighten the mounting screw very tight and then brush over it with d2t epoxy it will hold. When you bend the blade however the silver finish on the blade usualy cracks and peals some. I still prefer to just cut a slit and insert the blade into the slit and epoxy it in. When it comes to tuning a crankbait I always bend the line tie screw and not the lip itself. If you measure the width of the lip and make the line tie exactly center it gives you a good starting point. Janns recently issued their 2010 catalog and they have a couple of new shapes of metal lure lips you may be interested in also. I cant see why you couldn't cut your own custom metal lips, but I don't know how to cut metal.

I have an old lure from 1970 something that is made of plastic that works on the same principle, the difference is that it is shaped like an old bayou boogie. It has a hole in its "face" and a hole on its back. As far as making one from wood I am sure it could be done but it would present some unique challenges like how woule you bore the hole and if you had the hole bored how would you apply the sealer and epoxy with a straight handle brush. Just my opinion but too much trouble for me for what it would actualy be worth.

Good idea I will try to remember it. Thanks!

I haven't ever actualy made a lip in that way, however; I do use indiana or colorado blades for lips. Just cut a slot as if you were using a plastic lip and epoxy it in. Before inserting the lip and epoxying it in though, I screw in a 1 and 1/16 in" screw with a split ring placed parrallel to where the plane of the lip will be and I try to end up with the eye of the screw with split ring centered on the lip. This usualy means only screwing it in about 3/4 in" so as to leave about a 1/4 in" exposed. Lots of times the lure will run correct on the first try but if not just bend the part of the screw (line tie) in the opposite direction slightly. I usually use a #5 indiana blade for a medium diver or a #2 colorado for a shalow runner. Also you can order metal screw on lips from Janns for shallow runners. I like to carve Heddon river runts and use these metal lips from Janns. I think the flash of the metal lip actually atracts fish sometimes and it is a lot tougher than plastic. Is this explaination about as clear as mud? If not ask away.

I am getting ready to place an order with Janns and I notice they offer an "imported" treble hook called BTH hooks. I have always used eagle claw laser sharps in the past but I notice the BTH hooks are a good bit cheaper and being the cheap skate I am I was wondering if anybody out there has any experience with these hooks?

I tried this recently and it has worked reasonably well me so far, although I have only molded a few. I was looking for the most inexpensive way to mold my own soft plastics and that is what I came up with. I bought some POP from wally world. Built a cardboard box about 12 x 6 inches using strips of cardboard taped together with duck tape. Lined the inside with aluminum foil, greased the worm I was using as a model with a thin coat of vaseline, placed it in the bottom of the box with the flat side of the worm facing down (cant make completely round worms this way). The vaseline helps hold it in place while the plaster is being poured over it. Mix the POP, pour it into the box enough to cover the model worm about an inch deep. When the plaster is set turn the box upside down, remove the foil and model worm from the plaster. Go back to Wally world or if you're smarter than me just pick up a can of heat resistant car engine paint at the same time you buy your POP. Paint the mold and let it dry completely. The paint helps keep the plastic from sticking when it dries in the mold. You can also use a small amount of vegetable oil in the mold if you desire. I have a ton of old plastics that were battle scarred and too beaten up to use again but I never throw them in the water for fear a fish my swallow them and die so what I do is melt them down in a gravy pan or any pan with a spout over no higher than medium heat. When the plastic is liquid I pour it in the mold, let it cool, remove it, cool it in a pan of cool water, and trim it up with a utility razor blade. Like I said this is a very elementary way of doing it but it is also the cheapest way if all you want is a few worms at a time and you are just looking for something to do with all your old scrap plastic. One tip is dont try to mix colors always melt the same color plastics together. If you want multi colored worms melt the colors in seperate pans. You can also make custom molds this way by using different parts from seperate worms as your model. I made a worm with a craw claw at the tail and three tenacles coming out each side. I caught a three pound spot on it a couple weeks ago so I know it works.