A-Mac

This is just how I go about it. What ever I sand on one side of the lure, I do the exact same to the other side before moving on. For example, I always sand the the backs of my lures first. I'll take heavy sandpaper 150 grit and do two -four swipes down one side of my lure to get a flat planed surface. Next, I do the exact same to the other half of the back (keeping in mind how many swipes it took to sand the other side). After that, you should have a lure with two symetrical sides. Then, pull out some sandpaper that is a little finer grit and round the edges. Its much easier to keep a bait symetrical by doing this because you don't have to remember every step. You know that if your sanded angles are off, then the lure will not round out symetrical either. Hope this provides some guidance! Forgive my Paint work on this one.

JBlaze ur bait is bombproof! I love the way you rigged your bait through wire! The DNA hinge is quite intriguing too. I'm curious, with that hinge style would that lure get the infamous squeek that is so desired on buzzbaits? It has to make some major commotion comming through the water.

I really really like the flip flop colors. Hold a shad or a bluegill or any fish up to the light next time you have the chance. There is almost always some sort of color changing iridescences. These color changes are not extremely evident but they do occur... which makes the flip flip paint awesome. I seem to get the best affect from it when its applied over black. It brings a lot of life to your favorite colors.

Balsa is an extremely easy wood to use... sometimes too easy. Basswood seemed to test my scroll saw but balsa worked ok. I eventually got a bandsaw since my swimbaits are aspen (which put the last nail in the coffin on the scroll saw). Sears has a craftsman bandsaw model thats a 100 bucks (which is cheaper than most scroll saws). I have menard's similar style bandsaw which works well too. They are smaller but do a great job on cutting lures. I changed my original blade to one that was narrower to allow more detailed movement. This is just a heads up that if you do make the switch, you don't have to spend 300 bucks on a big bandsaw. Good luck!

Before repainting, I would experiment with a few by drilling a small hole in the bottom of one of the rattle chambers. I would probably work with the middle main chamber. After drilling a small hole, I would insert X number of lead shot. Slap a piece of electrical tape over the hole and experiment in a bath tub until you get the desired rise rate. Once you get the desired rate, I would get some 1 minute epoxy and patch the hole. Sand once the epoxy has cured and you should be ready to paint. That is how I would go about it anyways.

I haven't used alumilite. Featherlite molds pretty well and can demold in about an hour. Featherlite also carves and sands very easily. However, Featherlite isn't as durable as a hardwood. My original swimbaits were made from aspe and the durability was amazing. I haven't really tested my featherlite products fully yet, but I sense that the bait isn't as strong as wood. Also, featherlite needs to be weighted... I think alumilite requires adding microballoons if I'm not mistaken.

This isn't much of a helpful post from me but sometimes wood densities can really throw a lure out of sync. Even within the same wood plank densities can be different. I've come accross this problem on occasion with my smaller cranks. There isn't anything you can do about it. My advice, make another one the exact same way as you did the original and see if it swims any different. Not saying that this is for sure the problem. Considering that you made this lure identical to the original and have a different swim, it just sounds like a wood density issue that I've had before. This is also another reason why guys start switching to pvc. Also, try applying silly puddy to the bait in different areas. Sometimes, the hydrodynamics can be slightly off and can be greatly affected by the wood's density. Just my Good luck.

Yeah, that might not be a bad idea Mark. I just tested the lure ( I put a real light layer of d2t on it yesterday), and it swims quite nicely. However, it floats pretty high. I think I may drill another couple holes and add a little bit more weight. My guess is, I should have put double the weight instead of 1.5 times what my other lures are. Since this lure is only about 2.25" long, d2t tends to really add weight to my lures. 3 thin coats is about equivalent to the weight that I put in my normal flat sided cranks. But hey, no problems... I think this is the first time that I ever had a new lure work perfect on its first trial! For once, this lure isn't headed to the "tacklebox of misfit lures!"

Yeah, I almost forgot about the weight difference since I pretty much just glued two wood pieces to the sides. Before foiling, I drill small holes into the bottom and inserted some small #7 lead shot. So weight wise, I took a guess and put in about have again more weight than my normal baits to hopefully counter the baits new distended air bladder. Fingers crossed. I'm mainly interested to see what type of action it will produce, since about half the surface area is still almost completely flat. I'm working a takemefishing casting booth this weekend in Louisville, Ky and they have a lunker trailer... so I might just have to play a little bit once the crowds leave Thanks for the input.

lure looks like a fancy disco ball! It was quite tedious, but it wasn't impossible. Nothing different then normal foiling, just takes a little bit longer. So, goal one accomplished. Next, I have to see if it works in water... then, what I believe will be the hard part (if this lure even makes it to this step)... foiling featherlite. Thanks again everyone! http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00091.jpg http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00092.jpg

All interesting posts, most of which I would have never even considered. The mesh under the foil thing is neat! Guess thats why this site has the best of the best when it comes to this stuff. I'm currently using candy wrapper foil, so its very thin but also very fragile. Since the first one I posted is balsa, I think I'm going w/ BobP's method first. I'm going to cover the belly with foil and let it overlap onto the rest of the bait, then glue a piece of foil trimmed for the area outside of the belly. Once the bait is covered, I'm goin to use my taiwanese ratchet tool to roll my scales on... very carefully. However, if this bait does work and I feel it necessary to make one out of featherlite, I have an idea. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit attached to my cheap ratchet, its been around a long, long time and rolled several hundred baits. My game plan for a plastic bait is as follows: I'm going to apply a few coats of spray adhesive to the bait and let it dry. Spray adhesive tends to foam up a little bit and never hardens. I use it currently to apply foil to flat balsa and it works like a charm. Once I've got a few layers of spray adhesive built up, the spray glue should form a softer surface, which I'm hopeing will be as forgiving as balsa. Then I will apply the foil like BobP mentioned and roll as if it were a wooden bait. We shall see, got to get the wood one down first. Thanks everyone for your input! I'll post pics asap.

I've attached a couple pics a prototype shad bait I'm working on. In the pics, you can see the bait has flat sides except for the distended belly. I've done several hundred foil jobs on this style lure without the belly (lure was flat sided) with great success; however, I think I've just thrown myself a curveball:?. I typically roll a rachet handle over the lure for scale effects after I've applied the foil. Any ideas on how I should tackle this one and still keep a nice clean finish? Also, if tests work out for this one, I'd like to make this one out of featherlite. Has anyone tried foiling featherlite (with imprinted scale patterns)? I tried hunting around with the search but didn't find what I was looking for. Any info is appreciated http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00089.jpg http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00090.jpg

I had a similar discussion w/ snax on one of his shad swimbaits (which does swim). I made a bluegill lure that had no action whatsoever with pectoral fins. As I started to slowly snip away the fins little by little , the bait began to get much more action. Finally, I hacked them off and the lure had the best action. The difference in between snax's shad lure and the placement of fins on my bluegill may have made the most significant difference. Snax's shad has the fins on the first section of the lure, my bluegill had them on the second. Then again, several other hydrodynamic factors could have taken place since a bluegill profile is dissimilar to a shad. All you can do is guess and test!

I've always considered baits with free swimming action (no forced water displacement) throughout multiple joints "swim" baits. If it has a lip, i coin it a crankbait, whether it is for waking the surface or diving 20ft. A jerk bait, well I guess thats in the eyes of the beholder and what type of fish you seek. I typically view a jerk bait as any minnow shaped bait in the lines of an original rapala. Anywho, not saying I'm right by any means... just chippin' in my I can see where this would be important, especially when marketing a lure.

this is a little of subject, but I can relate it to this problem. It makes me think, every power tool out their has a laser guide on them these days for very similar reasons. I sometimes wish my airbrush had one, especially for doing small detail w/out stencils.

Nice work! I guess this means the reserve will be going up on ebay;)? I guess spinach to popeye is like to the rookie! I will say, most cases I can figure out how paint is thrown down. Not with your baits, the cyan coloration on your sunfish is just sick! Many a nights of I have spent trying to figure that one out. So congrats for making it to the big time! By the way, your advice that you messaged me a couple weeks back saved me a chunk of time and some cash... which went toward a case of pbr!

If i could start over with a different compressor I would deffinately get one of the little 1-2 gal compressors that are sold at menards and sears. They are less than a hundred bucks, come w/ regulators (still need the moisture trap), have up to 100psi (in case you needed it for something other than airbrushing), and won't run constantly. An air compressor that constantly runs when you paint can get anoying, and I'm sure my neighbors down below in my apt don't appreciate it much either. As far as I see it, specific airbrush compresors are over rated and over priced.

thanks guys. i'm gonna give that quarter full deal a shot. I had a feeling it would just be one of those things that takes a lot of time and a paycheck worth of guess-n-test to get the technique down. Since my bait has 2 hinges and is only 5" long (including a hinged tail) there are a couple narrow areas, especially around areas that are slotted for microfibetts (which is where my bubble problems are poppin up). I'm gonna do a couple pours over the next few days... I'll make a post if something seems to work well. Plan on making a trip to illinois to fish a powerplant lake this weekend! Bad thing is, its suppose to be -12 tonight at Purdue! Its all good though, I hear there hittin' trick worms and maybe a proto gill bait

Yup... thats right, yet another featherlite question. So I've been trying to pour up a swimbait (about 5" long) but I'm running into troubles w/ bubbles/craters in the casted sections. I try to be as careful as possible to not inject bubbles (which is a challenge w/in itself) and have tried different techniques to try and get rid of them. However, my options are starting to run thin. Any ideas? Also, is there anything that I can fill in the holes w/ so I don't waste a lure? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

do you think spraying a release agent is enough? or should i use vaseline to coat the insides of the mold too?

i've been experimenting w/ the platinum smooth sil 910. I just finished my final 2 part mold and haven't even had the chance to fully test it. i learned the hard way about the release agent and wasted about 25 bucks in silicone. the platinum stuff seems pretty cool (only have one pour so far) and it shows amazing detail (sometimes a little too much!). as far as the life of the mold... i'm not sure. i'm pretty sure mattlures uses platinum too, but i'm not sure which hardness (910 is the softest). Good luck w/ your mold, it took me 3 mold pours before I got one that I liked (and got the vents situated the way I wanted them).

I'm experimenting w/ a 2 piece mold as we speak. If you are going to use this method make sure you get the release agent (otherwise both halves will stick together). If you go to youtube, then punch in something along the lines of "smooth on two piece mold" it will give you a pretty good video for the whole technique. As for weighting, I'm still experimenting and haven't quite got the density figured out. It seems to take far less weight than wood for sure.

And you do all this w/ a McDonald's straw Rookie! Appreciate the info, especially about shooting at high psi.