spoonpluggergino

Print any pic. you like, than measure the printed pic. than figure the size you want from the original size to the larger or smaller size. enter that percentage in to your printer and the exact size will be printed, you do need a printer with a scanner . example printed pic is 2 inches long, you would like it 6 inches long divide 6 by 2 (100%) your percentage will be 300%, put the 2 inch pic in the scanner resize to 300% and you will get a 6 inch pic. That is the way I do it and works just fine, hopefully this helps Gino

I build lots of glide baits and the best lengths are the following 15 cm, 19 cm, and by 25 mm thick and not wider than 45 mm. The Grandmas are probably made out of softer wood where the glide baits they are made of hardwood like Maple White Oak. I stopped making baits over 22 cm it takes lots more lead and they just do not glide as good, my favored length is 19 cm. Hope this helps Gino

in muskie baits, there is definitely a difference between a minnow bait and a jerkbait and a glide bait Jerk Baits are lip less and and ballasted to barely float above water, also referred to rice and dive baits, fished by short or longer pulls Glide baits are also lip less but are ballasted where the baits sinks down around a foot a second, or less, fished with short pulls and the bait glides from side to side Minnow baits are sometime referred to twitch baits, they are longer and slender, do not dive over five feet, usually fished in shallow rocks and weeds Some muskie baits Jerk bait Striker, Suick, Smity ( Swicks can be weighted and unweighted) Glide Hell Hound, Phantom Minnow or twitch bait Crane baits, Custom X

I used the method that Ben listed above, faux finishes, I made a large bluegill with the photo finish of 3 gills, that method works really nice and easy to do

I also make muskie lures, I always center all my blanks when they are still square top an bottom. I center all the holes and make sure that some time the wood rings have a tendency to push your punch to one side or the other, I also I keep the center line facing me when drilling the holes and I lower the bit slowly and you can easily see when the bit is to one side. As other mentioned good lighting it is a must

I build many glide baits for muskie fishing, the flat sided glides with rounded top and belie with short radius router have the most flash and wobble, I also try to get my ballast closer to the center line and if I want more erratic action and more wobble I get part of the weight above the center line, but the center of the weight gravity still below the center line. I precast all my weights, so I know how long they are and the exact weight, hopefully this makes some sense, I can be confusing Gino

Hey Dave and Pete You guys are amazing, I have to read and reread your post many times before I start to understand what is going on, thanks for your great work Here are some of my finding, while building big 10 inch baits to hit deep rocks will over 20 feet. The lip I made out of S/S measuring 2-1/4 wide by 4 inches long. I took a page out from the little Bomber baits. The Bomber bait when it sits in the water because of the brass lip, the angle or attitude of the bait is at a about or more than 45 degree, so the attitude angle of the bait will affect or at least get a bait to get really deep. I made 3 identical baits one with the lip straight in to the bait, but I placed my ballast at a point forward where the bait sits almost vertical that bait will get down to over 25 feet very fast, the second and third bait that has a 15 degree and 30 degree lip placement, the ballast weight on both is installed where the baits sits in the water level, the 15 degree dives deep also, but needs more line, the third bait has a 30 degree lip angle and this one dives less and needs more line. At first I taught that the 30 degree would dive deeper than the 15 degree bait, but I was wrong. deepest diver, 0 degree lip angle, bait attitude over 45 degree angle sitting in water second deepest 15 degree lip, bait attitude level sitting in water third deepest 30 degree lip, bait attitude level sitting in water Gino

Here is a link to the Prop, where to get it and how to use it. TackleMaking.com Gino

Hey Riverman If you are worried about the screws pulling out, do what I do drill holes where you are going to install screws and the line screw eye, depending on the size of the bait, you can use hard wood dowel pins, from a 1/4 inch to 1/2 dowel pins, epoxy the wood pin in to the PVC and than install the screws, they will not come out. I do this on my PVC muskie baits and some over sized bass baits for muskie Gino

Do a search on outdoor deck builders, some of these builders carry PVC Deckboard, that is how I found mine Gino