barr5150

I found that getting the back of the lip slot square to the lure is key. Then all I need to do is bottom the lip in the slot and adjust it by eye side to side. You could easily cut the slot by hand before you shape the lure using a homemade miter box (as mentioned above).

I'm using cedar (the ruff sawn stuff from menards, I believe it's red cedar). The lures are made for bass, but you never know what someone else is going to use it for? I'd hate to have a lip like this pull out because I didn't take a couple extra steps that would prevent it. The lip I pictured above seemed like a simple way to get the cranks I'm already making down a bit deeper.

Thanks for the replies guys! Tater...what do you figure makes the lip hard to tune? If you already been down that road I trust your experience and I'm not going to mess with it I'm just curious. I thought about trying the lexan, I actually even bought a sheet, but putting the line tie in it would require going to a through wire bait which I was trying to stay away from. Maybe I should that consider that too? If you look at the picture below it will show you how I have been making my cranks. Screw eyes and circuit board lips. By changing the lip angle, size and shape I pretty much have the water column covered from super shallow down to around +/- 6 feet, maybe 5 feet? I saw the lips from janns and thought I could get the same bait deeper with that style lip. It seems to me that unless the line tie gets moved out from the nose of the bait out on to the lip you'll never get the bait to run any deeper. These lips looked like a simple solution?

How do you guys attach a lip like the one pictured below? Is epoxy enough to hold it or would you pin it some how also? I've only used circuit board type lips up till now but I'd like to try a few cranks with this style. I assume that with the line tie in the lip it's gonna have to be pretty strong.

Well so far I'm sold on this stuff! I did a 3 coats on a handful of cranks Friday afternoon and fished them Sunday. Today I have them sitting outside in the sun all day to see if the clear wants to gets soft again or not? I didn't have any createx clear but I did give the lures a light coat of rattle can acrylic before the GST and they worked fine together. No peeling or crazing. Very easy product to use and the odor really isn't bad in my opinion.

Another general question... Some of the other topcoats I've used like to eat my signature. To avoid it I normally just hit the lure with a couple quick sprits of acrylic clear ( rattle can), let it dry and then dip the lure in the top coat. I've also had problems with createx black running too. Has anyone had problems with this wanting to eat their signature and or the rattle can clear?

Well I picked up a gallon about an hour ago. Menards had it on sale for $25 and change. I've been following this thread for awhile and I'm really hoping this stuff works out for me!

I meant dipping the top coat waiting 24 hrs between coats.

Thank you! I'm trying to get a feel for this stuff before I use it. Would you think there would be any problem top coating 24hrs apart? Sometimes I might only get an hour or so at a time to be in the garage. I was wondering if I could dip the baits and wait till the next day when I had a little more time and dip them again? Also, I read above that the lure would not need to be scuffed between coats. Does that seem right?

rhersh...how long did you wait between each of the 4 top coats?

The shallow runner he sells ( Mann's replica ) is awesome. I've done a bunch of them and they have all been good. The stumpy he sells runs good as well as his DT -10. I have a few of his RC 2.5's but I haven't tried them yet.

And you think your mad at the vendor now??? I'd like to see what happens when a 5 pounder swims off with nothing but a treble hook and the hanger!!! Not that funny really! If it helps, I use e-tex on my stuff and after a spin it seems to make the hangers a little stronger. Not sure if maybe a little leaches down in next to them or not but they seem better. Will they be okay, who knows? I made a post a while back about knock-off's and what's good and from where but I got little support. Your situation is exactly why I posted it. If we are all here to help each other our experiences with knockoff's and the companies that sell them should be put together and pinned to the top of the board like the hardbait cookbook. I was kinda thinking that some of the vendors might be promoters of the site and nobody wanted to step on any toes. My opinion is if the crankbait doesn't work others should know about it.

I have some of the stumpy's and aside from some loose hook hangers they swim. I don't think you'll have any problem with them.

Wow! Not what I expected to hear! I respect you for not dropping any names but I'm pretty sure I know who your dealing with. I guess all I can say is good thing they were cheap!

I've never tried it but you can pour your own? I saw it done on like mythbusters or something. Looked simple?

If you get anywhere with it let us know. I have 20 or 25 they can have back!

I bought some of the same ones and couldn't do anything with them. Glad to hear it wasn't just me!

You could always paint them?

Hillbilly your recent post is what sparked my intrest in pouring my own baits. AWESOME work by the way! Your video was great! I can't wait, like I'm sure alot of others on this board, for the higher quality videos. Especially the ones on making your own mold! I'm not sure I have the patience for making the molds but I'd like to try. In the mean time I thought if I could by a set and figure out how it works I'd be pretty happy. I'm not looking to start a buisness or anything, just pour a few for me and some friends.

I've looked around a bit I haven't seen any for sale. Making the molds yourself doesn't appear to be all that easy and I haven't found a great deal of info on how to even do it. I know there are companies that will make cranks for you but what about just the mold?

It changed for me as well. An all new look!

The cookbook is pinned to the top of the hardbait forum. Pictures would be nice though.

I'm with muskydan, createx flour green should be all you need. It almost matches the color of a rapala fire tiger perfect right out of the bottle.

Thanks for the ideas guys. I was gonna go with the stickers but I think hand painting them adds something?