Musky Glenn

Thanks for posting. Musky Glenn

I use the "white as the driven snow" brick mold from Lowes. It's less than $10.00 for eight feet. I need a little extra thickness for some of my musky lures. I haven't seen the Azek brand here, could just be my old eyes. Musky Glenn

I am pretty sure the paint is not water proof. Musky Glenn

I couldn't open the video. Musky Glenn

Tackle Warehouse seems to have a bunch in stock at $7.99. Musky Glenn. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yo-Zuri_Pins_Minnow_1_4oz/descpage-YZPM.html

These folks have a set of wings and all hardware for $5.00. Don't know the size but would guess musky. Musky Glenn http://www.musky.com/Features/NewWings.htm

I have fished some different models of these winged baits and they act similar to a Jitter bug in the way they shuffle side to side. They are meant to be fished on a slow retrieve which will eliminate some of the roll.They are mesmerizing to listen to that cadence at night. Remember don't jerk until you actually feel him. Hang on tight and lock those knees! Musky Glenn

Just my $.02 worth, but the burn marks on the soft pine wood makes me think that the bit is on the dull side. I would probably cut the wood a little closer to size before putting in to the router. I congratulate you on working the bugs out. That machine can come in very handy. Musky Glenn

I bought a 20' Tracker in 07 as a striped down, no floor, no storage all welded boat. I made alum. center console, rod locker, live well and large battery/tackle box storage area. The seat in front of the console raises for additional storage. The boat is 95 inches wide across the back. The wiring under the console was the result of rewiring new motor and has now been "cleaned up". Right side bottom is the live well and on the left is the battery storage/tackle box which has a cylinder to raise the lid. This is the real purpose of this boat! Thanks for letting me share my boat photos with you. I look forward to seeing yours. Musky Glenn

I waited until I retired to buy this boat, what I should have done twenty years sooner. It likes one inch being eight feet wide in back and is 20' 3" long. I made the center console and boxes. It is a super stable jon boat. (Modified vee)

If you are working with that kind of tolerances, how much would you gain by adding an additional coat of sealer? Musky Glenn

Get a roll of masking tape and tape off what you want to keep paint off of. Get Krylon paint for plastic in the color you like, spray and let dry. When you tape off the rod, don't go around the rod, run the tape up and down for easy removal. A foot down the rod should be far enough to keep any paint off rod. Musky Glenn

I second Mattman, that was a very good reply. Enzyme- Don't rule out building one on your own. There is nothing like fishing with a hand built rod. Watch the videos on You Tube, take one of your own good quality rods that you can do without for a while. Strip it down and rebuild it in your spare time. You can reuse the same eyes, make notes of the spacing of the eyes. Try the EVA foam grips (great for winter time fishing) and don't remove the reel seat. Buy a few spools of colorful thread and give it a go. Very cheap way to see what it is all about. Don't worry about having all the tools that they may show on the videos. I still pull my thread through a book for tension. Don't do it when you are tired and expect to make mistakes that you will need to correct. Like taking an eye off and turning it around the other way. Been there done that. First thing I would do is take a rod and just wrap thread to see how you start and stop the thread, that will give you an idea of what you are getting into. Musky Glenn

Very nice idea, congratulations, can't wait to see it in action. Musky Glenn

Mark- The lure is a sinker so on the cast it never comes back to the top, so it must fill instantly. I can say that because when I take it out of the water the stream stops by the time the lure is two feet above the water. It's not instantly, but real close. You can feel it loosing weight as you lift it from the water. The shallow invader is made with two half inch wide holes in the rear end. I will just take a half inch bit and bore it back out. The plastic I have been using is remelted zoom type worms and they produce a much more flexible tail than the factory ones. This helps them come alive. I am going to add weight to get the hollow hound to stay upright. Then I will take a video and post. Musky Glenn

Well I have now made three hollow bodied hound lures, just trying to reduce weight. This last one shows more promise than the first two did. I took it to the lake a couple of days ago and my weight was to high so the lure wanted to lay on its side part of the time. Even with this problem some of the time it would right itself. When it did stand up it would walk back and forth just like it should. I came home and tore the weight out that was up high and layed it out along the bottom of the lure. How nice it is to have access through the top of the lure. The biggest thing that I did to this lure to get some action out of it was to make the bottom thicker so that I had more room up the sides to get a bigger radius on the bottom. This photo shows the thicker bottom section that will be glued back between the two sides. Allow the pvc plumbing glue to set over night as it softens the pvc causing it to tear easily. Here you can see the radius that allowed the lure to wobble rather than glide which I believe allowed it to walk right and left. A good way to hold small parts when you want to do routing on them is to use this shelf liner. It has good grip to the table and to the lure allowing you to rout with out clamping. Also makes a nice pattern to spray through. I use spring clamps to hold sides together while the glue dries. The short piece of brick mold is what I buy to make these lure out of. On the left is this lure just after being sawed into sections. On the right is the same size piece with 1/4 inch sawed off one side. I was able to save more weight with the one on the right than the hollow type. I haven't thrown it yet to see what it will do. An over head view of the thickness of the two lures. The thinner one has 6 half ounce sinkers spread out along the bottom. If I get the thicker one to work I will glue the top in solid instead of with removable pins. For RayburnGuy and all the other non musky fishermen. Musky fishermen take it for granted the size of lures that we use all the time. So just to let you see the size of these large musky lures here it is beside a Bill Norman (some Texas Red color) DD22. The rods we use are stiff enough to get these heavy lures started on a cast. Then the lures weight does the rest. They are very easy to work back. So far the hollow hound drains quickly and is "light" to cast. Here is one photo of an expanded size Shallow Invader. What I wanted to show here is the technique for pouring. I sacrificed one section of my three section mold that I use to pour replacement tails. I can back my pvc lure tight to the mold and let it pour inside the lure making a better bond than any way that I have glued them together. Believe it or not, but they do trim up nicely. All this was from the ideas given here on TU. Couldn't have done it with out you guys. Hope it helps someone else. Musky Glenn

Well I have now made three hollow bodied hound lures, just trying to reduce weight. This last one shows more promise than the first two did. I took it to the lake a couple of days ago and my weight was to high so the lure wanted to lay on its side part of the time. Even with this problem some of the time it would right itself. When it did stand up it would walk back and forth just like it should. I came home and tore the weight out that was up high and layed it out along the bottom of the lure. How nice it is to have access through the top of the lure. The biggest thing that I did to this lure to get some action out of it was to make the bottom thicker so that I had more room up the sides to get a bigger radius on the bottom.

I don't know how I have missed the "hook book", I sure am old enough to have seen it, but haven't. I would like to have one of those 20/0 hooks and one of those two foot long rubber worms you used to see hanging in tackle shops. I would have it rigged up on well rope and tied on a broom stick rod, just to haul down the interstate. Musky Glenn

Thats good RayburnGuy, I have a closet full of computers that almost work. Musky Glenn

I definitely would go handle both of them just to get a feel. I hate buying rods through a catalog or website. Nothing like shaking a rod and seeing how it "wiggles". I would mount a reel on each rod and see how they feel that way. Sometimes handles don't fit the fingers like you like. Good luck. Musky Glenn

Here is the web site for the lakes under the control of Duke Energy in North Carolina. http://www.duke-energy.com/lakes/levels.asp

RayBurnGuy, Did you happen to see any places that sell slow speed gears for the round Garcia reels? I would really like to have a set of slow left hand gears. What was the site where you found your end cap? Musky Glenn

I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday and they had an epoxy that both bottles were clear that they were selling for $10.99. It didn't tell the strength but that is still a good buy for a 9 ounce pack. The name was Extreme "something or other". Most of the epoxies that I am familiar with are lower in strength when both parts are clear. This may or may not be true of this epoxy. Musky Glenn

Thats good Ben.

Odd to me that it set up on the outside. May be something different. Musky Glenn