diemai

That lure just swims great , very pronounced "snake-like" action ! Since I don't have much experience with swimbaits , I am now wondering , what is the cause for this superbe action , is it the four sections or the lip or both perfectly corresponding one another(only made one swimbait so far without lip/three sections). Also the plastic tail does its share to the general appearance , that's obvious . great lure , greetz , diemai

@ borderbasser As far , as I am concerned , any wood parts bonded with special wood glue have to be clamped , whilst glue is curing . Surely I don't know about your design and construction , but if it is headache to set carpenters ,-or spring loaded clamps , maybe you could use some sort of wedges ? There is another special glue over here called "UHU-hart" , it is especially made for building model planes , also model boats of wood . It is clear , sets within 15 min(full strength after 24 hrs) , but I don't think , that I would trust it for lures without any mechanical fitting , unless these are made of balsa(soaks very well into the pores of balsa , you can't break that bond , the wood would crack up) . good luck , diemai

@ finfever Maybe true , but don't I think , that you should bother about it , it is summer season in the northern hemisphere , thus a lot of leisuretime activities take place(also fishing:)) , so less people probably take the time to make lures or sit at the computer screen too often . On a German luremaking site with almost 500 members there hasn't been a single new post since about one week now , presently it is just vacation season over here , and in fall its gonna be best for predator fishing . greetz , diemai

In Germany there is a special waterproof version of a popular(white) wood glue available called "Ponal" by "Henkel" . You should have such available in the States as well , for example for making outdoor garden furniture or wooden boats . I am using this stuff to glue 1" abachewood boards together(not available in thicker measures) , when I need a thicker blank to turn down a more voluminous lure and also lures , that consist of two halves with internal wire harness . Never had any problems , even put some of these blanks into turpentine/linseedoil to preserve them , didn't harm the glue bond a single bit ! Some I've been fishing for years already , no failure visible ! Good Luck , diemai

@ smitty919 I am of same opinion like scottishghillie , just a very small dash of red just under the bill or tail would have been enough for my taste , also the attached feathers on the tailhook might minor the wobbling action . But surely the fish would make the final judgement on your lure:yes: , still a nice piece of work:yay: ! greetz , diemai

@ smitty919 I like your paint design , kept simple but somehow impressive , takes it to the point ! And that's , what I wanna say : As long , as it has these vertical dark stripes on a more or less lighter background (no matter , of what base color) , it is a perch ! I believe , that it is the stripes , that trigger the strikes , when feeding on perch , the predators will go for these ! @ Downriver Tackle Thanks for that pic , now I know , how your local perch look like ! Slightly different to our European ones , ours have a bigger first fin on the back compared to the one ahead of tail , also they have a large black spot on the front end of the first bigger fin . Also the tail fin and all belly fins are red/orange , but all in all , they don't seem to be that much different ! greetz , diemai

@ MstormC Certainly you can read between the lines of my previous post , that I wasn't too satisfied with commercial storage systems , most European ones are way too small for more voluminous and/or longer lures . That's why I wrote quite a few lines describing how I made my storage bag . Sadly the commercial pouch shown is no longer available . It was exclusively made for a large German mailorder shop , so they are sold out with it obviously , I have three of these . But 8" plus in-lines might also not fit in , really depends on the width of their blades and hooks , the length would fit . There is also another homemade design , that is sometimes published in German angling magazines , doesn't look neat and professional , but works pretty well , originally it was designed to carry so-called pirks(large jigging spoons of several ounces of weight)along for saltwater boatfishing the Baltic or North atlantic coast . It simply consists of a larger plastic bucket with a top lid , preferably an oval one(cleaned up wall paint buckets are fine) . One or two inches below its top rim(depending on length of bucktails, pirks most likely have no dressed hooks)you would drill a line of smaller holes all around the buckets circumference , keep at least minimum 1" distance between them, maybe more , not to weaken the wall of the bucket too much:wink: . Also to keep distance between the single hung-up lures later . After just take a sufficient length of copperwire(rigid cable remainders still plastic coated are fine)and thread it through the aligned holes to make up for loops inside of the bucket , knot or crimp the tag ends somehow , so that the wire can't pull out anymore . You can now hang your lures onto the loops inside of the bucket , even have some space for bulk storage at its bottom , you may close its lid , and also drill some drainage holes or even rivet an old car seat belt onto it as a shoulder strap(fittings should be reinforced) . If you don't wanna show up at the waters edge with this cheap made "lure container" , you could at least utilize it for lure storage at home:wink: . It is not suited for double or triple hooked baits , these would still tangle inside the bucket , but for pirks , spoons and in-lines it should be OK ! Would be nice to see your new page style lure holder , to be honest , I don't have a clue how it would look like ! greetz , Dieter

@ summitlures If you're on a tight budget , you've gotta make compromises:yes: . For instance use small brushpaint cans instead of an airbrush , I guess , that those small modellmaking paints by Humbrol or Revell are even cheaper than acrylic paints(at least over here in Germany) . For instance , for a brush-painted rainbow trout pattern 5 to 6 different colors should be enough . If fishing for non-toothy predatory fish , it won't absolutely be neccessary to apply tough topcoats of epoxy or E-tex or whatsoever brand , a few coats of ordinary floorboard lacquer will do as well . I started out this way as well , and those lures also caught fish , and that`s what you make them for , not to win a beauty contest . As said before , you've gotta make compromises ! good luck and success , diemai

@ MstormC Here are some pics showing some of my storage pouches . The one with the bucktails in it I bought from a German mailorder shop a few years ago , it does not have a shoulder strap , it is supposed to be put into another shoulder bag . But has a textile latch on its back side , so I can hang it on the gunwall of my small boat , very convinient ! The jerkbait storage bag is homemade , I just riveted some lenghts of 5" drain pipe together , afterwards I cut some grooves to accommodate the hooks into their rims . For cutting and drilling the rivet holes I used my "Dremel" , to bond the pipes I took simple pop rivets . What I mean to tell you by these pictures is just to look around for some easy accessible material , you could build something up to suit your needs , if you can't find something fitting in a shop . Square pipes are hard to find(with round ones you loose some space) , but maybe you could be lucky, you could try electric wiring cable canals , these are available in rectangular shape , but one side is designed to open . Maybe even any kind of plastic containers would do as well , you may just tape them together(attention , won't be wormproof !) You could use many plastic or even metal boxes , at first you must determine about the size of the finished tubing pack , so that it would fit in without wasting space . But you could also use almost any bag with a top lid opening to insert the tubing pack(as long , as it fits in reasonably) . I don't know about the USA , but in Europe many different sized bags for fishing are available , maybe army surplus stores would be an option , too ? Just let your imagination run wild , it is not that hard to build such tubing storage bags(or boxes) , the problem is rather to get an idea and a hold on the required material:yes: . good luck , diemai

@ Jeep I am not into fly-tying and other "hairy " stuff , but I always look at things with a "could-I-use-this-for-lures" attitude . How about checking fibres of dust brooms , radiator brooms , maybe also artificial hair , that they sell in so-called "Afro-Shops" for those "Rasta" hairstyles(also have them in brighter colors) , you should have these shops in Holland as well , here in Hamburg we have quite a few for our African citizens. Just let your imagination take over ! greetz , Dieter

Pete seems to be a bit confused today , never mind:yay: , sometimes happens to everyone , that has passed his 30's . It's the capital "D" , I guesss ? Greetz , Dieter

Doesn't matter how you store your lures , wether hanging down in a kinda rack or laying separately in the compartments of a stowaway box , put it in a dry , possibly warmer place after fishing and open it up to dry your lures . greetz , diemai

The trout is just great , love its motions:yes: ! great job:yay: , diemai

@ DSV I ALWAYS test prior to painting ! Once I have thought , that I could save myself from that extra work , and got punished instantly:( ! Had a bunch of 5 equal jerkbaits , same model , same size , same dimensions and same wood(teakwood kitchen boards). Wanted to weight them slowly sinking , and after having determined about the neccessary weight on two lures , I stopped my waterbucket trials , just embedded the same size of an olive sinker into all of these lures . After finally topcoating them I've found two jerks still to be floating ! Still can fish them this way , but it tought me a lesson , not to leave out this step on ANY single lure ! greetz , Dieter

@ mark poulson Very wise , but yet funny , statement about the mistakes:lol:! truly ! Dieter

@ socalkid Here are two pics of homemade spooks , first shows how I determine about the weighting(amount and location) in my workshop . For this purpose I'd apply a temporary coat of acrylic clear gloss onto the lure , so that it won't soak water at this stage . After this is done , I'd drill the weighthole at proper location and epoxy in the weight . For priming I sand the temporary clearcoat a little rough again . Second pic shows , how about the finished lure finally swims . Good Luck , diemai

@ mark poulson At a glance I can't see nothing wrong with them , too , so BobP is right to say , that the fish would have the last word about them ! Should have seen my early weird designs , they'd rise up a good laugh , I bet ! Greetz , Dieter

How about those stick-on 3D eyes made by "Whitchcraft" , put into small sockets , they look quite well to me ! And did you check the eye advertisment on the sidebar here on TU (Lisa & Ed's Eyes & More) ? Greetz diemai

@ DSV A pretty nice bunch o' lures , now the bug has finally bitten you , I suppose ! And you're so fast , hats off ! great job , Dieter

@ mark poulson Very exciting fishing experience:yay: , nice read , thanks ! @ LKN4DDB Wall Of Shame:lol: ! I have littered my early failures already some years ago , might have been interesting from a present point of view how I tried to eliminate any laws of physics back in my early luremaking career:lol: . Greetz , diemai

@ Vodkaman Cool idea about that testing swimbait(ups , may I call it "bait" , when not meant to catch fish:huh: ?) . I should have done such as well with many projects through all those years , would have saved me from a lot of disappointment ! But I simply did not take the time:nuhuh: ! I mean , it is just a psycological thing , you know and plan right from the start on a "tester" , not on a lure , so your homemade lure could never turn out to be a disappointing failure , and if the "test device" doesn't work , you'd gladly drill some more holes for eyes and weights into it until it looks like a piece of cheese , and it might not even bother you a bit ! good success , Dieter