diemai

@ bluegrasslover ,,,,,,,,,,,seems , that you finally got hooked on luremaking now ! congrats , ......greetz , diemai:yay:

@ Fish Like a Native At first ......welcome at TU ! I utilize smaller spring-loaded metal clamps to hold the lures by their wire eyes and/or by the the(masked) diving lip , one could also change grip with these clamps , if having multiple clamps at hand . By fixing one or two clamps to the handles of the holding clamp it is also possible to create a stand this way , only need to keep it balanced not to fall . good luck:yay: , diemai

@ spinnerb8t11 Our local European perch actually have three slightly different colors depending on their general habitat in different kinds of waters . The basic stripe pattern is the same more or less , but the base colors may differ from dark olive to almost black(bottom located habitat) to all tones of brighter greens(vegetation located habitat) and a green/yellowish base body color(open water habitat) . Also the colors of the fins do vary from a deep red to bright orange ,... whereas the red fins are on the darker colored fish and the orange ones on the yellowish ones . These are the colors of nature ,........ for a (perch) lure supposed to be fished in stained waters you might also spray something like white/silvery belly and flanks and a back of any green tone or even bright yellow belly and flanks with an orange/brown back . Paramount are the black stripes , that should always provide a good contrast to the base colors , ......these are supposed to be the "key signal" of a perch pattern , said to let the predator identify the lure as a prey , if it is mainly feeding on perch . good luck , diemai

@ jrhopkins Guess , that this is a widely spread attitude down here as well , .........but I frequently increase my lure's sizes for October/November and December before closing time 1st of January , and it hardly ever turned out bad to do so ! Always rearrange my boat tackle box for that reason for fall season . I've sometimes heard from other anglers , that ....."what kinda log's you've got on , do you wanna slay the fish with these....?" Still other fishermen would ask in astonishment......"and they really eat that big bait....?" Well , I know bettter..........! Guess , you'd need to convince potential customers , that bigger lures than 4" still not only do produce , but definately produce bigger fish ,..........so you should have at least some pictures exactly showing that on display as well . Would be not practical to take up the headaches of making smaller lures ,...... and maybe even not getting payed for them sufficiently , as people might wonder , that why a bigger lure is possibly cheaper than a smaller one:huh: ????? greetz , Dieter:yay:

@ jrhopkins Not talkin'bout swimbaits in particular , as they're not that widely used as other lures here in Germany ,...... but I hardly see any angler , that has a bigger lure tied on ,.......spoons up to 3 1/2" , plastic shads up to 6" , crankbaits also not bigger than that , but rather smaller . In my opinion they prefer having the chance of more strikes by just average fish rather than targeting the few big ones exclusively with larger lures . Also big lures most likely only produce better towards fall and winter over here , as the pike are heading out for real big snacks to save energy in the colder water . greetz , Dieter:yay:

@ Jeep I like that very bright perch design ,.... very nice blend of natural and "shock" colors:yes: ! The blade appearing not to spin is a bit irritating to the anglers senses:huh: , ......brain reports "something's not correct there.........! " Did not know , that you have LM bass in the Netherlands:huh: ! Another welldone lure:yes: , .......greetz , diemai:yay:

@ mark poulson .......some good points added;) , Mark ! greetz , Dieter:yay:

@ The_Rookie Ooops:huh: , ......I forgot to mention another one , which are cotter pins , ....passing from the belly through the entire body with at least one of their tag ends bent backward into the wood at the back portion . These are almost exclusively used on kinda rectangular cross-sectioned(more wider than high) and slender bodied muskie pullbaits , .......the famous "Suick" has such hook hangers . greetz , diemai:yay:

@ bollieca84 At first , ........welcome to TU ! There are different ways to attach hooks to a wooden lure , the most simple and fasted method are eye screws , twisted into a pilot hole , ....for added strength these may be glued in as well . Similar to these are so called "twisted wire" eyes , homemade wire forms with a twisted shank , that is epoxied into a bore into the lure . There are also some kinda "plate" hookhangers available at component suppliers , ...these are mounted to the lure blank with two small screws . The most strength against the strain of a fighting fish is provided by so-called "trough-wire harnesses" ,.... these are internal wire forms that have all hook eyes and line tie connected to one another . These thru-wire forms can be assembled in a few different ways as well , .......either glued into a slot at the belly of the lure ,........ put inbetween the lengthwise separated lure blank(two halves glued together with wire form inbetween) or a center wire shaft leading internally centered from one end to the other ,....... an eye wrapped on either end , whereas the belly eye(s) are "figure eight" forms passing through bores leading from belly to center and slid over the center shaft inside of the blank ,......of course all epoxied together . This last mentioned method is often used on lures with rotating head or tail portions , but I have also seen it on lathe-turned crankbaits in here . To find more info , just put some terms into the the search function on top right of page , ........try "screw eyes" , "twisted wire eyes" , "through wire form" , "through wire harness" , "hook hangers" , etc ..........! Also check thread "looks that simple the Finnish way"(also type term in search function bar) , there is a two part video there showing , how a balsa crankbait with a thru-wire harness is made . I am not quite sure , but I think on :-:-: Lure Making :-:-: The Official LureMaking.com Website | Tackle Components | Lure Components | Lure Making Information | Lure Making Supplies you can download the "Canadian Guide To Luremaking" , there is a chapter about wooden lures containing in this little manual ,........ I have the printed version . good luck , diemai:yay:

@ 68KingFisher I know , that this surely would not ease your bad feelings , but I really don't think , that you could now say , that rural places , that you have descided to escape to 8 years ago , are turning more unsafe . What has happened is a typical case of domestic violence , and that could happen anywhere . Nevertheless I can figure out about your anger and despare , ........if she only would have listened to her daddy's warnings ! I have had little similar problems with my own daughter as well(but she never has a baby) , .........against all talking and advice from her parents she fell for a useless cheater and hoodlum as well(in fact his entire family was) , but luckily she got away with "only" some 3000