capt mike

I think my baby bass is about ready for paint. I'm still working on the swimming action. It sinks fairly slowly and even and swims pretty good. The strange thing about it is that every few feet it will just dart out of it's track and then go back again. I think it must be a line tie issue. Anyone experience this before? Anyway, I tried the lure in my pond with the hooks on it and this bass grabbed it right next to the dock. It's in the gallery in hard baits. You can see the bait with the tackle box divider tail. The lure is still wood color, no paint at all.

What material is the lure made of? I'm having the same problem with one of my baits. I'm told that you have to heat cure the createx before topcoating. Did you heat yours? That bait looks great. How did you hinge it?

Thank you Mark for the info. I definitely plan to do a lure with the PVC. But I still want to get it right with the wood. I'm sure the wood has floating characterisitics that I will find a niche for. I make duck decoy keels with "Veranda" and "Trex" deck boards. Is that what your'e talking about? This is what I used for my lure: Tupelo Gum wood Helmsman Spar for sealer- 2 coats. Let dry 24 hrs. each Kilz 2 primer (water based) 2 coats. Let dry 24 hrs each createx opaque white 2 or 3 coats createx pearl silver etc. -layers of paint drying appx. 20-30 minutes between coats 2 part epoxy clear from barlow's tackle- let dry 48 hrs touch up dry areas with same. .....went fishing 24 hrs later. I did not sand in between any of the above coats. paint bubbled when i used it in the water after a few minutes. I also did not heat set the paint. Just found out about that process the other day on this site. Lots to learn. Having fun anyway.

I took my first bass on the new swimbait. Check it out in the gallery. I mistakienly placed it in the hard bait section. The problems have started though. The paint is peeling off in places and one of my hinge loops started pulling out. I'm going to try to remember all of the steps of this bait and maybe I can get some tips. The bait swam great at least and catches fish.

Frisket. I know what that is. I'll get some. Thanks. Also, I'm using SS cotter pins for hinges and screw eyes for hook hangers with epoxy glue. How deep do the pins or screw eyes have to be? I would hate for the line tie to pull out and loose my lure and a big bass to boot. I'm going to try the bicycle spokes. That'll be stronger than the brass i'm using.

What about the hole where the hinge pin goes in? Do you dab a drop of clear coat on that? I guess you will have a pinhole where paint is missing. I guess the fish won't know or care. I'm sure this is the most clean method since you're not trying to work in a crevice with a brush. thanks for the help.

Candle wax. Good idea. Pick it away with the ice pick when the clear dries.

Actually, to make sure it swam, I strapped lead sinkers to the bottom of the lure and tested it in my pond at the house. I made 3 trips and kept adding weight. It took (7) 1/4 oz. sinkers in the head of the bait and about 4 in the second segment. In the third I drilled smaller holes and used lead shot from a shot shell. I think I will purchase a digital gram scale for future projects. I am working on a baby bass that is only 3 segments and around 9" long. I'm a little concerned with this bait because it has an open mouth. I plan to place the line eye in the mouth. I hope it does'nt grab too much water and throw things off. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to test weights for ballast. My tape method is not so good. The duct tape would'nt stick for long after getting wet. Maybe i'll try rubberbands next time?

Thanks for the input and kind words. I swam it with the primer coat and hook. It sinks fast and slightly head first. On a medium retrieve the head has an easy wobble and the body is a quick wiggle. The fast retrieve tracked fine also. I even had a couple of small bass in my pond follow it to the bank. I'll try the video soon if I can figure out how to load it on here. I'm drying the final clearcoat. After that I'll try to make a video. Hell, I hope to bring it to the lake and get some pics of it parked in a fish's face. Can't wait for that.

I just completed my first hand built lure thanks to info from this site and a little imagination. I catch a lot of big bass on live gizzard shad so I wanted to make a swimbait to represent one. It is built from tupelo gum that I cut on my neighbor's property. It is about 9" long and weighs 5 oz. Please give me some feedback and pointers. I know I have a lot to learn. I painted the bait while it was assembled and the clearcoat gummed up the hinges. I got it loose with a pick. There must be a better way. I used 2 part epoxy from Barlow's tackle. I painted it with createx paints and my new Paasche airbrush (thanks to this site for help getting it to work), I hinged the bait with S.S. cotter pins and brass rod stock from ACE hardware. I plan to use 1" eye screws from Barlows and a 1/0 treble hook on the belly. The photos are in the hard bait gallery. Please look and tell me what you think. -Mike

Good call. I agree. I've looked at the Matt Lures Hard Bass site many times. Very nice almost taxidermy quality paint job. I was wondering if any of the taxidermy sites make stencils for small bass. I would love to do a stencil with the gold scale tips. That would be a very nice touch. I have a bass swimbait carved with all the scale detail carved in- in a cross hatch pattern over the entire body. I was thinking about doing a light spray of black over the scales in the beginning over the primer and then lightly sanding with steel wool to get the in-between scales effect. I know that taxidermists do this on reproduction blanks. What do you think? I want to use the scale texture for an added effect. Just not sure what yet. Dan, thanks for sharing those colors and your bass pattern. I presume those are WASCO paints (med. bass)? You do nice work. Who makes the gold toner?

OK, I finished up painting on my very first wood swimbait. It is carved from a Tupelo tree that I cut this year. The bait measures 9.5 inches long and weighs 5oz. It is meant to be a gizzard shad. Please comment on my pics in the hard bait gallery. I know the segments are pretty butchered. Should I go with fewer segments. The swimbait bite at my locality is a fast retrieve. I s a tight wobble preferred?

I posted a pic in the gallery of a gizzard shad and bass. I'd like to duplicate these colors on the shad. It looks like white light reflecting on the scales and dull grey showing around the edges of the scales. Any recommendations? I wish I could attach the pic but don't know how; therefore it is in the gallery under hard baits.

Thanks alot guys. I bumped up the pressure and kept water and cleaner running through the brush after every color. I painted all of the colors on my shad bait yesterday. I'll post the pics tonight when I get home. How long should I let the bait cure before clear coating?