blazt*

I got it to hunt a bit (nothing impressive) before I started messing with the bill. Should have left it alone, because when I cut a bit off and rounded the corners it stopped hunting and didn't swim as well - back to the choppy swim. It was a pretty square looking square bill before my "improvements" and I'm starting to think square bills really should be square. But the stock bill has a rounded profile. I'm going to yank the bill and start again if needed. I wound up with 3/16 oz of ballast stuffed into the belly. I put one of the finished baits in the gallery (crappy cell phone pic!) : http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/9488-kvd-25-clone-basswood/ Will it swim the same if I just put a big deep diver bill on there with the line tie on the bill or would I have to make adjustments?

A simpler solution might be to eliminate the fish.

You know what it sounds like we need in a desperate way? A watchdog group. One that puts good, strong PA ads in fishing and outdoor magazines so that sportsmen will know. Before this thread, I was not aware of this sort of thing. Sooner the better, it sure seems. And if these organizations have usurped by proxy public lands, in a way that is weasily, it seems they should get the same underhanded pitch thrown back at them. And make it a fowl.

Eyes, then devcon. Superglue the eyes in place before clearcoating if the surface isn't perfectly flat. But as rayburnguy said drilling is the way to go. If you drill sockets, superglue won't be necessary. Keep the bit straight as you drill or the wood might chip. The d2t over the eyes will hold them in place if you do a thorough job of clearing the baits. It's usually a good idea to pool a little extra d2t around the edges of the eyes, just don't let it run or sag.

That is pretty much what I wanted to know - whether it would waterproof the wood. Before posting this I was wondering if it would penetrate deep enough into the wood, because if anything bad enough to get through my clear coat with almost definitely go through to the wood. Also was concerned whether it would raise the grain or cause other effects. And if a color coat would do the sealing job on its own, or if pure clear nail topcoat was required- without the pigments, extra additives, or metal flake. Most of my hard baits are glitter coated. A thin, single layer of glitter works best- thus a flashy, matching base coat is needed to hide the gaps between glitter flakes, and to cover the nose and tail ends, which get no glitter. I: 1) Start with a base color coat, usually black 2) Add the color coat, usually gold metallic or whatever matches the glitter 3) Apply a coat of glue 4) Sprinkle the glitter on 5) Add (ctex) black back (over scale netting) and white belly 6) Clear with about 4 coats of Lurecraft Poly-Sil ( a 4:1 catalyzed urethane, I believe.)

Skeet Reese, winner of the 2009 Classic on the Red, failed to qualify this year! Has anybody fished this river? I've been studying the Red on google maps the past few days. Looks like most of the good backwater is 25-60 miles or so south of Shreveport. Most of the oxbows are silted off, or the channels leading to them are too skinny for a bass boat. At least that's the way it looks on the sat photos. I'm going to play a little poker with myself and see if I can figure out where it will be won. I want to see if I can find some realtime water temp data, and locate the deep pools. If the water is cold in late Feb the bass may be migrating up the channel, unless there is good deep water in the backwaters (or maybe a marina), which don't appear to be stable. The closer you zoom in on the sat photos, the more stained the water gets - so you can't see much structure / cover. It's probably flooded a little in the google shots unless those are cypress trees. But the trunks are underwater. The water is muddy. Zoom out and the water gets clear, you can see deeper. Has anybody taken a look? Exciting to know so many topflite anglers are going to be taking it apart piece by piece in just a few weeks!

My predatory instincts almost forced me to bite that crank out of total reflex! I remember when you could get Bagleys at Walmart for $5.00. So sad those days are gone. The first bass I caught on an artificial lure was on a Fat Cat. Firetiger. I loved that crank and the action so much, I would throw it even when I knew the water was too clear. My first big bass came on a DB III when I was about 14 or so. At some point a few years ago they started offering them at the value price of "only" (their word) $9.99!

Just wondering if I need to seal my basswood cranks before coating with nail polish. I assume the urethane clear I use will be plenty of waterproofing, but will the nail polish be ok on the wood without special treatment? I dug through the archives looking for "sealer" and found a couple of mentions about using clear nail topcoat to seal....not sure if the source was reliable though.

Sounds interesting. Are they handing money to PETA or something? Do you have an article or some info you can post? What stores have they pulled tackle from?

I can't wait to see how it unfolds. You never know how Southern weather will turn, but if it turns out to be a flippin' bite, I'm going to be watching Brauer Sr.

Final price reduction!

Don't make eye contact. I WAS going to "exempt" all the canyon and slot reservoir guys...figured it'd ruin the joke. You're not going to let 40 ft of gin get between you and a flippin' target, are ya?

Here's the field: 2012 Bassmaster Classic Qualifiers Defending Champion Name State Kevin VanDam MI Bassmaster Elite Series Winners Name State Shaw Grigsby FL Edwin Evers OK Davy Hite SC Dean Rojas AZ Steve Kennedy AL Casey Ashley SC Denny Brauer MO David Walker TN 2011 AOY Standings Name State Ott DeFoe TN Terry Scroggins FL Alton Jones TX Keith Poche AL Greg Vinson AL Chris Lane AL Randy Howell AL Keith Combs TX Aaron Martens AL Michael Iaconelli NJ Dustin Wilks NC Ish Monroe CA Todd Faircloth TX Jared Lintner CA Bobby Lane FL Jeff Kriet OK Greg Hackney LA Kevin Wirth KY Fred Roumbanis OK Timmy Horton AL John Crews VA Stephen Browning AR Takahiro Omori TX Matt Reed TX Bill Lowen IN Marty Robinson SC Brent Chapman KS Brandon Palaniuk ID Southern Open Winners Name State Gerald Swindle AL Fletcher Shryock OH (vacant) Central Open Winners Name State Mark Tucker MO (vacant) (vacant) Northern Open Winners Name State Kelly Pratt VA (vacant) (vacant) Federation Nation Name State John Diaco NH Jamie Horton AL Tom Jessop TX Matt McCoy IN Josh Polfer ID Chris Price MD Weekend Series Name State Allan Glasgow AL 2011 Mercury College B.A.S.S Champion Name State Andrew Upshaw TX

Who's going to take it? Can KVD steal Clunn's record? Will he be too weak on the Red to contend? Once upon a time, he didn't do so well there. But you can bet he has been quietly doing his homework.

Do you mean "can I put just one treble hook on a crank?"? Because the term "single hook" usually means a hook with only one point, such as your typical worm hook. But I think you mean "only one treble" and the answer is yes, it will work without losing many fish. Put it on the rear of a crank. They nearly always take the back hook. They take either the back hook only, or both. And even then the front hooks pulls out half the time when you get 'em in close. I would say maybe 1 out of 50 bass take the front hook only ON A CRANK. Your species may vary. Topwaters and jerks will need all hooks - the bass often strike from below, aiming at the midsection and getting stuck only on the middle or front hook. And those 2 types of baits are far more sensitive to hook changes. Cranks not so much. You can run about as big as you want, which may actually improve your fish - landed ratio, as long as the lure runs right. You'll save even more money because you won't get hung as much, especially when fishing wood.

You call those people friends? The next time a stranger tries to make eye contact or start a conversation, ask to see his rod collection right off the bat. If you see more than 2 medium (translation: ultralight) trigger sticks in there, kick 'em in the sack and run. It's the best policy. Smallmouth anglers are exempt. Guys with too many rods like that in the locker (I've never owned one) wouldn't know a good hole if they drowned in it, and when you take them to yours you can see that look on their face out of the corner of your eye as you eyeball the big laydown with the stump under it- "Are we still in Kansas? Where am I supposed to cast?" Some people just don't feel right about your particular fishing style. It has a name. BASS FISHIN'!

I took the first blank out for a swim a couple days after shaping it and it swam ok (I trimmed the bill some), very much like the original but it does need some refinement. It has more thump, whick I like, but the side to side swing was a bit choppy and abrupt. This is probably just because I stuffed the two ballast weights in the belly halfway, with half hanging out. I was pretty much just trying to get the buoyancy down (moderately slow rise, so that it will grind bottom on a slow retrieve). I would guesstimate it ran about 6 ft on a shorter (90 ft maybe) cast because at the end of the retrieve it was about 4.5 ft down. I have two more waiting on hardware and when I drill them out I'll be more careful to get good ballast ports, so that the weights are well into the belly. The first one I swam was a little too big, with sides that were flatter than the master bait but otherwise the shape was an 85% match, but blank #2 is almost dead on in every way. So hopefully it will be fully awesome once it's ready to go...can't wait to teach it to swim. Mark P, I couldn't believe you started talking about hunting action relates to how deep the belly weights are positioned- I've been wondering about that for a while since it seems like it would destabilize the center of gravity- why do find tuning it that way is a pain? Do have a preffered method? Anybody? The only time I had a bait wind up a hunter was a batch of Luhr Jensen Brush Babies...happy accident...I cut the "brush cams" off the sides and they started hunting like crazy.I was thinking maybe put the egg weights I'm using on a toothpick and use that to slide them in and out for easy adjustment while testing. Also I too have thought about an adjustable line tie for prototyping but couldn't see anything in my mind that wouldn't be too fat and have too much resistance in the water...do have a link or some pics for that by any chance? Next question: If I wanted to convert the 2.5 body to a deep diver, with a big lip running almost straight out, what adjustments would I probably be looking at to get the same action? For those that haven't heard, these KVDs are made to hunt of of the box. The 2011 Classic was won with a KVD 1.5 . I only had one each - a 1.5 and a 2.5 - but despite the cold water they wouldn't even breathe on the 1.5, even though the one I had hunted a lot more than the big one.

You could clip the leading hook on the front treble. Or you could clip the leading hook on all the trebles, which would probably allow you to upsize hooks. Likewise, run double hooks instead of trebles...but there are very few doubles to choose from, sadly. You'll be able to slide over those annoying subsurface logs jutting out from the bank, too, without that front treble catching. I do this on all my topwaters for this reason, and my hookup ratio is close to 100%. If this were a topwater, I'd say wax the last few feet of your line. Do you tie directly to the line tie on this lure, with no split ring? If so, you could cinch the knot down extra tight at a 45 or 90 deg. up angle. I do this with jigs to get better action, but it might keep the line just far enough away from that front hook.

The KVD 2.5 runs 7 ft, at least, out of the box. I have confirmed this on the water with 150' casts and 10 lb, .012" line. My understanding of lure design elements is halfway well rounded these days, but not real sharp - and I'm not sure what gives this square bill the ability to get so deep. I suspect it has something to do with the steep angles on the sides of the bill, which give the bill a narrower profile. There is also a spine molded on the underside of the bill that flows seamlessly into the body as it widens. I wonder if the twin ballast (one large steel ball just rear of the front hanger, one smaller ball just to the front.) maybe works with the bill to achieve a better dive angle? Have you tried using the plastic dividers for testing? The ones I used (Plano) have ridges molded in them that allow the bill to stay in the slot without shifting and without glue on a moderate retrieve. On a faster retrieve they would probably flex downward, making the test moot, but they are nice and easy to trim on the water even with small scissors. I just wanted to see if I could get an extra foot or two of depth. I realize even that is a long shot.

I don't see why you felt the need to post this. Who dedicated TU to custom tackle...yourself? Here is what TU is about and who it is for: Tackleunderground.com is an online community of fishing tackle enthusiasts and makers brought together from the world over. Tackleunderground.com boasts the planets largest group of minds and talent in the industry from weekend hobbyists to full time manufacturers in one place. What we do Tackleunderground.com allows you to create, exhibit & discuss techniques related to fishing tackle production and improving it's effective use. Our community encompasses a wide range of skill-sets from the weekend warrior modifying an existing bait on up to scratch-built tackle & full scale manufacturing. Now, I don't see the word "custom" at all, or the implication that TU is "dedicated" to custom tackle making. Even the faintest irony is completely lost on me. Hopefully we can get back to talking shop.

I twisted my own for the first time today. Open end held in chuck of drill, closed end around alan wrench about 1/2 of target diameter. Fire away. Easy. Cheap.

You'd probably like Lurecraft Polysil. I think it's a urethane- it's mixed with a catalyst and you would need a graduated cylinder (cheap on ebay) to get the ratio exact. It's tough as hell, clear as water, high gloss, goes on thin as you like, easy to mix, brushable, dippable, sprayable with respirator, and when thinned down flashes off before it can crawl anywhere. Flexible enough to make any curve. $25 hazmat fee to ship any quantity, but worth it.

Sounds good. I wonder if you could mold something for complex curves, or just use the inside radius of a plastic bait with sandpaper glued in for more complex curves. On the inside of that KVD there is a lot of molded crap you'd have to cut away first though.

Here it is with the hangers in. I wish you could really see the curves all the way down to the nose geometry, it came out almost perfect. Definitely not quite down to the last mil of course, but I was suprised. It's sealed w/ superglue..how much of that do I need anyway? I put just enough down to change the color of the wood uniformly...should I use more? Is it waterproof now? Hopefully I can get good enough to make one of these an hour...from block to topcoat. That might be dreamin' though. Thanks everybody for pitching in...I was grateful to have so many ideas to pull from and so much interesting reading. I look forward to a long career of making wood baits. Should have done this sooner, but you know how that goes.