diemai

Made some crankbaits equipped with the typical Finnish saddle lips quite a while ago , ...made a narrow and straight sawcut on the blank still in square , 90° offset , off course , , ....and after final body shaping I've widened the cut with small Dremel cylindrical router bits , particulary in depth and on the sides , fitting the lip in bit by bit , .....a finacky and time comsuming job as these lips are not only cupped , but also curved downward . http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/2630-finnish-style-lips/ Cheers , diemai

@ redg8r Thanks a lot for your constant work to keep the site going , Jerry , ....all fine again from my side , .........the new speedy access makes the daily browse-thru enjoyable again , ........cheers, Dieter

Over here in Europe glidebaits are very popular for pikefishing , ....but we call them jerkbaits . The first models came over here from the US musky scene about 20 years ago and we've somewhat downscaled them from the original 8"-10" sizes to just 5" or 6" lengths and also heaps and heaps of new and different models were locally designed through the years . During recent years even some very small models were thrown on the market , just to target other species as pike , ......namely zander(European Walleye) , perch and asp , maybe even bigger trout . Here is one of the most popular commercial ones over here , ..smallest size available 5cms (2") : http://www.salmo.com.pl/en/slider/ So I do not see any reason , why this lure type should not be able to attract other species than muskie or pike , ......it's not a matter of whether they'd bite it or not , but a matter of whether the glidebait can reach the fish , ...as they are not that much suited for a very deep presentation , as it takes ages to let them sink to 20 feet + depth . But I do not see any limitations in shallower waters . If you wanna learn more about European glidebait making , check out this site , ....click on "jerkbaits" on left column : http://www.lurebuilding.nl/indexeng.html Cheers , diemai

I'm a great fan of topwater lures also sporting a diving action , ....here are my three favourites : Also I've made a few of knock-offs of this one many years ago , floats on the surface at rest and features a hunting wiggle , when jerked below the surface , ....but the action depends much on the location of the tow eye : http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://shurstrikelures.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/c3ssccbco.jpg&imgrefurl=http://shurstrikelures.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/shur-strike-darters/&h=2304&w=3072&sz=2216&tbnid=bHTYTA7gD4m0UM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__LDpj7DfyryuGv8cGV T8ISvWV2jk=&docid=SULpFBjOT4j2EM&sa=X&ei=YV8jUY38FInntQacsoDADw&ved=0CEAQ9QEwAg&dur=4669 Here are some more homemade lures of mine , that might catch your interest : http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/2693-spinner-plugs/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/2665-curiosity/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/2655-curiosity/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/gallery/image/2562-cuptails/ (there might be multiple pictures available displaying different views of the lures) Can't quite figure out , whether it would be essential to tie feathers to your lures , .....in this case one might have to alter the lure's shapes , probably leave a little round extension to tie on the feathers ? off to work , ..............cheers , diemai

Hi , folks , Some of us do not fish lures exclusively , but sometimes also throw bottom sinker set-ups . These might turn into extremely dangerous , ...yes , ...even possibly lethal projectiles when snagged into a tree on the opposite bank due to a missed cast . So , if such missed cast should ever happen to you , ...think twice before you haul back your rod in anger , ......it might come back at you : http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4796133/Hook-line-n-stinger-as-weight-smashes-into-anglers-cheek.html cheers , diemai

..........had similar issues with Etex on spraypaint(not all lures of that bunch , but some) , so I know , how it goes , ...small holes would cause some kinda "bubbles" , as water creeps inbetween paint(or foil in this case) and the topcoat layers ,.........later they do chip off or one can peel them off in larger pieces and the lure would be bare of topcoat in the end . I have some foiled lures(used aluminium plumbers tape) primed with short curing epoxy for once or twice , ....after they received a handbrush painted color design and finally another three coats of the epoxy . Did not have such issues like you at all with the few lures that I did this way . I strongly believe , that it is a matter of a lack of proper adhesion of the laquer to the foil , ........have you cleaned the surface thoroughly before applying the topcoat ? ...I always wipe off mine with a clean paper tissue soaked with denatured alcohol , after I'd try not to touch them anymore with nothing else but the epoxy brush . Cheers, diemai

I can only second to the statements made above , ......some days ago someone shot me a PM asking for help , ...I'm not the fasted guy in typing , anyway , .......after having used 15 minutes to write in the morning before leaving for the job , the PM did not submit due to previously mentioned server problems , and I had to do it all over again , when I got back from work in the late afternooon , ...quite annoying , indeed . Another point is , .......also mentioned above , ....is it only me or someone else also seems to notice , that the general amount of posts and (new)topics is on decline ? Could surely blame it on the slow access as well , at least partly , ...I guess . If it is neccessary to raise funds , I'll surely be with it as well , if neccessary , .......probably also possible to organize internet auctions of donated homemade lures for the purpose , ......I've seen such on another lure site before , ...but just for charity , not for the site upkeep . Cheers, diemai PS : @ jonesey1961 Welcome to the TackleUnderground , hope you're going to enjoy yourself in here !

Hi , folks , ................came across this site last night , thought I should share the link in here , too . This site offers a wide collection of internet videos displaying the swimming action of a huge variety of different lures and lure types . Might come in useful for purchase or for making certain models at home . Seemingly international footage , ......may it be lures trolled at boatside , displayed in swimming pools or real underwater shots of fish grabbing plastic lures , ....not boring in my point of view ! Get your own opinions here : http://lurevideos.com/ Cheers, diemai

Forgot to mention , ......when applying epoxy topcoat straight on sealer treated timber , no matter what linseed oil or the wood sealer from the tool mart , it tends to "de-mix" on the blanks surface somehow , leaving some spots uncovered after having cured . To encounter this problem , one should use the brush to spread the setting epoxy over the blanks surface as long as possible , just almost until it reaches it's jelly condition(I'm using fast curing epoxy exclusively) . But a second or even third epoxy layer would even out the problem entirely . Good luck , diemai .

I have years of experience with boiled linseed oil , it was recommended in a certain luremaking book over here well about 12 years ago or maybe even more . It says to soak your lure blanks in a 50/50 mixture of turpentine and boiled linseed oil for 3-5 days , after let dry for 2-3 weeks , ....at least until the timber would have lost the smell of it . Through the years I have tried this method on abachewood , lime(basswood) , teak and local pinewood lure blanks , ......and I've found , that it is only suited for the lighter and less dense abache wood . During the past two years I've also done it with a few natural slingshot forks from birchwood , but not painted these afterwards , but just waxed them . As for lures again , ......lime did lose too much of its yet already smaller buoyancy , teak remains somewhat tacky due to it's oil contents and pine also generates some kind of reactions caused by the resin contents , some blanks did split up or I had problems with paint adhesion . Finally abache reacts quite well , ......the waterproofing works well either , .....I have some abache lures more than 10 years old , their bite marks and hook rashes reach down to the sheer wood , ...still using them each season again , and they do not seem to soak up water , .......being topwater lures , I never sensed them to get to hang deeper in the water after a while of use . But also a big drawback with these : After months or years the linseed oil treatment might cause brighter colors on your lures to become somewhat brownish , in worst case some very ugly and dark brown stains would evolve underneath the lures topcoat . It will not neccessarely happen to every lure , but also it is unpredictable , ......I believe , that it depends on the individual grain of every single piece of timber used , .......somehow a little share of the linseedoil mixture sets inside of it and does not entirely evaporate from the blank during the drying process and causes the problem after a longer period of time . But as I've said , does not happen to all of my lures . Also it is more likely to happen , when solvent based primers and color paints are used , .........so any acrylic paints should be a better option . I've also found , that if a lure turns brown on it's white belly after while , this would not happen on spots , where ballast was glued into the belly , ....my last bunch of linseed oil treated abache lures I've primed with two coats of epoxy prior to the acrylic white primer and acrylic paint pattern(after 3 epoxy topcoats again) , ...just to separate the primer and color paints from the sheer wood , ........but just did it recently , ...time will tell , whether my theory would be right and no more brown stains would reach the surface of the lure . Even , if everything should work out well , ...your wood would turn a little darker after the treatment , woodgrains will show more pronounced , ....looking good on ntural slingshot forks IMO . So well , ....you see , that linseed oil is quite tricky in conjunction with paints , ......guess , it's rather more suited for gun stocks , natural slingshots or similar , .......all of other timbers but abache I'm dipping into ordinary liquid wood sealer from the tool mart , just to have a little protection ,......there are better sealing methods around , f. e. just yesterday I've started to dissolve propionate pellets in acetone , wanna try this sealing method for the first time , as I've finally found a source for the pellets in Europe . good luck , diemai

Yo-Zuri Snap Beans : http://www.yo-zuri.com/OnlineStore/Classic_Lures/Ultra_Lites/details/Snap_Beans.html Have a look around the web for best prices . good luck , diemai