A-Mac

@ Mark I really appreciate all the info on the reverse joint tests. Haven't gotten around to try it yet, but I have a new hinge style that your reverse joints should be killer on. Its all on paper for the moment and may be a few months before any protos are made. Just figured I'd say thanks for sharing!

My cranks are constructed from two separate halves of wood. So to make it a thru wire, I make a stencil using a scrap block of wood and a few nails and wrap the wire in the shape that I want it... perfect every time. then just put your weight in add a little super glue and clamp it together for a few minutes.

Gorrila super glue (or any other super glue gel). It's fast (I leave clamped for about 4 min.), its not messy unless you get sloppy, and it slightly penetrates the wood to alloy a wicked chemical bond. I use super glue for almost everything. On hinge pieces and lips I will coat with epoxy to prevent any water sepage. Nevertheless, I've never had any bait failures (unless I bashed a bridge piling a few too many times and broke the lip).

If you can get your hands on some liquid nitrogen I think it would be best to "flash freeze" the fish first to provide the freshest detail. In order to keep your fish straight (and prevent degredation) you should also euthanize first. Believe it or not, seltzer water can be used for euthanasia. However, I don't know the correct mix of seltzer water to h2o. My advice is to pour a little in a 5 gal bucket over the matter of 3 minute intervals until the fish looses its ability to regulate its air bladder. If you somehow have access to MS222 (found in aquaculture labs) this is prefered but very $$$. Either way, once the fish is euthanized you have a few minutes to figure out how to flashs freeze the fish w/out it flopping.

first pour came out better than I expected. Its not perfect (wouldn't sell it) but it will have a happy home in my tackle box w/ all the other misfit lures:teef:. I put a scale patter in the wood that I made the mold from, and I think it was just too much detail for the wood to handle (had some chips as a result). I think I will actually pour my next lures w/ less detail, then carve into the featherlite the scales, then make a final mold. Nevertheless, I'm impressed w/ the featherlite. Its like Christmas all over again when pulling apart the silicon:) Thanks guys for your recomendations!

I ordered some jig hooks from them a couple years ago. If I remember correectly, it was by far the best deal out there and they seemed to ship fairly quick. (Think it boiled down to like 15 cents a hook on mustad ultra points when ordered by the thousand... 2 years ago)

Well I think we can conclude that kill spots represent different meanings on different fish. :?My prediction for the spot being on the back of a fish would try and get its predetors to attack from the rear. If the fish has spines (like the fingermark bream) a posterior attack could easily be lethal for a predator (kind of like choking). Ever seen a dead bass w/ a bluegill stuck in its throat? they are normally being consumed tail first. As for the poor threadfin having a kill spot more toward the head, it has no spines to prevent a rear attack. So a head attack is just putting itself out of its misery. Bon app

enviro-tex might work pretty well for those too. However, you would have to have a lure turner and it would take a day to dry. On the plus side, you'd have a tough, perfectly smooth finish. Propionate pellets might not be a bad gamble. It drys extremely fast in comparison to all other epoxies.

appreciate the reply tigger. I decided to wait on the through-wire set-up and left small countersunk areas on the lure to mark appropriate drill locations. I did brush the smooth-on silicone first then topped it off by pouring, it looks like it should work. I figured I will give this a try first as a practice run and see how the rtv really works. Just got to sit back and watch the fireworks now Husky, I remember you made a post about conserving the rtv by using 100% silicon as a filler. When you do this do you allow the primary rtv layer to cure first, then put the bits of silicone on, followed by a final layer of rtv? Or did you put the rtv down, then put the 100% on (while it was still tacky) then finish off w/ rtv before the primary layer had cured? Thanks for the info guys!

For those of you that pour featherlite (or similar) baits, I had a couple questions about making a 2 piece mold. Should I pour w/ the wires (line ties and hinge wires) in or is it worth the hassel? On a detailed lure should I brush on the rtv first and then pour over? A buddy of mine mentioned he had heard of this to help prevent air bubbles. Anywho, I figured that I would be better off asking the pros. Any info on pouring this stuff is greatly appreciated:worship:

i use the cheapest fly tying vises available. sportsmans warehouse sells them for about 9 bucks apiece and they work great!

lets do an experiment! for you guys south of the permafrost line make a lure that actually has 2 eyes on its side, full detail eyes. Also, make one with a normal kill spot and one with no spot. If you hybrid guys are trolling than this experiment would have less angler biasness since you can have all 3 in the water and no skill level as a factor. I'd love to hear if the big fish theory holds true for a lure with a full detail eye for a kill spot. Aside from this, when making a lure your best interest is to match the fish from that particular body of water. For instance, a creek chub has a dark line transcending posteriorly approximately where its lateral line is, if its in clear water. A creek chub in stained or muddy water has a very lite resemblence of a line (you can see it if you hold the fish at different angles). As a result, I make two different creek chub patterns and throw them based on water clarity. Here is something else that is interesting, I took a black nose dace and put it in a white bucket... the colors fade and are practically absent in comparison to the SAME fish that was removed from a creek (w/ a dark bottom) 5 minutes before. I've been sampling agriculture ditches and creeks for Purdue for the last year so I took the oportunity to apply what I've learned to my fishing... heck, its not everyday you get to go fishing w/ electricity:wink:

you can make a lure turner quite easily. I used a batery operated drill gun that had infinite variable speed (don't even think they make them w/out these days) and a small squeeze clamp. I mount the lure in my drill gun by clamping down on a wire loop (make sure its real tight!) and then brush on epoxy (devcon 2 ton (walmart). After completely covering the bait I put my squeeze clamp on over the trigger and adjust it to the SLOWEST speed possible. After it turns for about 10min I take a pinch of glitter and sprinkle it over the lure in the desired areas. It isn't necessary to put another clear coating on the lure because the glitter will adhere quite well, but I normally do anyways just for the added weight (since my lures are balsa). Let the lure turn for at a solid hour to ensure that your clear has hardened to the point that it won't run. I advise that if you choose to start making several at a time to make a lure turner.

OMG Rookie! ROFL! HAHAHAHA... Damn I love this site! Thank you all for your helps! Regardless of what species each of us calls a "lunker.," it really is unreal what you can get when you put together a world of wood wittlin' paint sprayin obsession... you get baits that are as unique as they come. May the new year bring yet another revolution in lure making!

I really like using e-tex in this situation since it is much thinner coat then Devcon but provides a nice coating over foil. I've tried propionate pellet mixture but I can't get the finish to be crystal clear for some reason (so I use this as a wood sealer now). I normally follow up w/ D2T after painting to get the thicker coat (and to add some weight). D2T seems to have no adverse affects when put over e-tex. hope this helps

actually, i got a quick question about featherlite. I'm working on a more detailed bluegill than what is in my avatar and plan to use it as a blank for featherlite. As much as I love a and respect wooden baits I just want to be able to make a handful of "perfect baits" once and be able to repeat them. I haven't ordered the stuff yet so I don't know anything about working with it other than what I've read in threads. Does featherlite put off fumes? I'm in an apartment at the moment and we're getting ice storms in Indiana and was looking to pour indoors when I do get the stuff. Thanks, any info would be appreciated.

i recommend hobby lobby synthetic paint brushes too. You get about 30 times the material for about the same price. however, you are limited w/ color selection going with the brushes. Snax, do you paint/dye your brushes to get desired colors? Reason being, I like using the pure white brushes. I've experimented w/ sharpie markers to try and color but I feel there may be a little better technique. Quite honestly, you've given more than enough information in all the posts amongst all the topics on this site, so if you want to keep this one under wraps I won't mind. I'm planning on playing w/ the glue gun technique tonight after my exams... Can't Wait!!!

I really appreciate the input on the fibers snax. I've been stuck in my ways using super glue and putting small clumps in at a time. It works well until you get a lil glue on your fingers... which then leads to something similar to the chaos theory:flame: can't wait to try this new method thanks for the info!

brilliant vodkaman! now i think we're getting somewhere. as long as e-tex doesn't have adverse affects w/ the jelly (or doesn't harden around the fins as a result) i think this will work! think we are on the right track to a solution now.

o yeah, that all makes sense. Mark's definately a good one to take advice from on lure making. by trickier on my previous post (making v hinge), i actually got ticked off to the point where i had to build a machine to do it. I just take a dremel once it cuts the bait out and sand in my V into the head and the posterior portion of the middle section. However, it cuts my front V shapes which is half the battle. (better discriptions of this are under homebrew tools) http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00073.jpg http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00074.jpg http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj100/amcalexa/IMG00075.jpg as for my internal weight and cap method- sorry, no pics at the moment.

you hit several points between etex and d2t just then. d2t is fast to cure but working time is low (I have noticed that the clearer the tubes of epoxy (non-yellow) are the longer work time you have). As for the random dry spots, I think Mark is right on the money. I'm going to take his advice and get some latex gloves. also, i mix my epoxies for a solid 2-2.5 minutes before putting it on the lure. good thing about this- no more soft finishes bad thing- you get tons of mini air bubbles (d2t) Thankfully, I think the only people that notice the air bubbles are other lure makers. heres a delima i've come across. when using microfibetts on my lure i can't use e-tex (even though I like it better for larger lures due to working time). while the lure is turning, e-tex will grab the microfibetts and flow towards the ends w/ capilary action. so after waiting 24 hours for the lure to dry, i come to find that all my fins are hard as rock. does anyone use a certain technique to prevent e-tex from doing this? oh yeah heres a lil technique I used the other day. for those of you that are as religious about super glue as I but hate it getting everywhere you can squeeze it into a syringe. As long as you have a large enough needle you can squirt small amounts into hard to reach places (works excellent for swimbait hinges!). just cap when your finished and the glue stays good in the syringe (sometimes you have to break off a small bit of the needle or replace).

nice! i especially like the smaller ones (those look killer for the spring)! yeah, being in college makes buying gifts completely out of question, so crankbaits are about the only gift I can give. Even if the person doesn't fish, people tend to display hand crafted crankbaits as art. It makes for a unique gift (and something you can't buy w/ a bass pro gift card).

i use the V shaped hinge in my swimbaits. It looks cleaner to me (closes the gap a little) but requires lots of extra steps. It also makes it a lot trickier to put together. I epoxy my bait before assembly and then spot epoxy afterwards. As for the weighting, I cut into the section I want to put weight in. To do this, I cut straight up from the bottom of the section and towards the front. I then cut in from the front of the section perpendicular to the first cut. I then take a drill bit/ dremel tool and bore out the middle throughout the rest of the bottom part of that section. I fill it with weight and glue the "cap" that I cut off back on. Sand it smooth to make it flush, seal the bait, and start painting. An end result is a perfect paint job w/ no evidence of inserted weight (since you seal the seam before painting). Thats my trick and it works very nicely. p.s. if you are using pvc u can temporarily glue the "cap" back on and play w/ weights in water before any sealing.