Anglinarcher

You might want to contact a museum and see how they preserve insects, old fur, etc. I have done some of this in my college days, using a vacuum chamber and infusing a super glue mist....... but that was almost 30 years ago. Still, perhaps knowing that museums do something like that might suggest a direction to research.

Like Cougarftd said. Keep in mind that it is not as easy as one would like to get a lure to suspend in the first place. For example, water at sea level requires a slightly different density then water at 6000 feet elevation. Making a lure that will suspend at both is technically impossible, so most of the time they are made to suspend in lower elevations. Additionally, cold water is more dense then warm water, so a lure may suspend at 40 degrees but sink at 75 degrees F. Because most of the time people fish suspending lures in colder water, well you get the idea. What about clear water verses muddy water, well again, clear water is normally chosen but they do have different densities. The difference between a slow float, a suspend, and a slow sink is often almost immeasurable. I prefer the slow floater so I can add split rings or heavier hooks to get the right suspend. But for fishing, I prefer the slow sinker to the slow floater ---- suspender is best.... LOL Try suspending one of your lures without a clear coat at all. If it floats, then using a different clear can help. A proper application of a UV Cure or a brushed on coat of Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast will provide a much lighter clear coat. Note that I said a proper application of UV Cure - matte finishes or haze results from poor technique. Good luck.

ArdentAngler, don't discount the "larger" crayfish patterns for trout. You don't show where you are from, or if you mean rainbow trout, brown trout, or sea trout, but ....... I use some rather large crayfish patterns for brown trout that often run from 16 inches to over 30 inches in length. I catch rainbows in the 18 inch to 26 inch in length range. If you have trout in your water that size, you will probably find that you could/should have been using the larger crayfish patterns. My eyes were opened some years ago and my trout fishing looks more like bass fishing now. LOL

Mike Faupal of Alumilite is working on a UV clear with Larry Dahlberg. I got a sample of it a couple of weeks ago and this stuff is awesome, but not for sale yet. I clear coated bare metal and it would not peel or chip off. I have clear coated several other baits made from resin and the same results. I used some of the Solar Res Polyester used for UV cure on surf boards, and it is pretty good, but not the golden bullet we were looking for. http://solarez.com/productsnew/lowvocpint.html Otherwise, you can use Devoncon 2 Ton, a lure turning device, and go old school. It does still work and will give you excellent results, but it takes a lure turner and 24 hours. Hope this helps some.

Alumilite White, regular, with and without microballons, is often used for lure making. They can take Walleye and Musky teeth very well. Alumifoam is the most tooth resistant foam out there, and it has a density very close to the density of several woods. It can not only take Muskie and Walleye teeth, it handles South American Wolf fish without difficulty. Last year's Hunt for Big Fish shows had Larry Dahlberg using this stuff for surface poppers for Wolf fish and they did little damage to it, even though they destroy commercially made lures. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydF7ZCHux7s is a link to testing I did on the toughness of this material once before, so check it out and see if this stuff is what you need. The Alumilite 610 foam is a 6 pound foam and I use it a lot, but I use it under an Alumilite White shell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_L34HiflcE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t529b1xuuGU gives you and idea of how I do this. The superfoam 320 is a 3 pound foam, and it is just too soft for anything structural in my opinion. Nevertheless, it is possible to use it inside a shell. http://www.makelure.com/ is the Alumilite commercial site, and from the home page you can go to the "how to" videos and also the lure photos. There are a LOT of how to videos you really should check out. I have placed a density chart in the lure photos that show the density of several different Alumilite products as well as the density of Alumilite White with microballons. http://s1151.photobucket.com/user/aka-anglinarcher/media/Reviseddensitygraph.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4 is a link to the density chart as well. I have checked into other resin sites, and I am sure that some of the other resins are just fine. Nevertheless, the joint efforts of Mike Faupal of Alumilite and Larry Dahlberg of Hunt for Big Fish have produced the most comprehensive information and product line for the lure resin users. To answer some of your questions: 1) Teeth? Yes, as noted above. 2) Screw Eyes, yes, or through wires, or molded in. The Alumifoam and Alumilite White is as tough or tougher then wood. 3) Drill? Yes, at will. You can sand it, cut it, drill it, lathe it, ............. or mold in place. I am also an archer and I take some of my arrow cut off pieces and cap them, filled with steel BBs, and mold them in place on my larger models for super tattles and some weight transfer systems. 4) Fill materials? Bondo, epoxy, wood filler, etc. All work well and bond very well to the Alumifoam and the Alumilite White. I hope this helps some.

I agree, and it works well at times. Personally I think that deep water swimbaits are an underrated technique.

I have posted on this subject before, but probably not on this forum. If any of you have any chemistry background, you will know how to look up the solubility of different materials in different reagents. Water is considered a universal solvent and even oil will dissolve in it, but it is a small amount and different oils dissolve in different amounts and at different rates. So, size of oil drops makes no difference, but water temperature does (oil drops is a mixing thing, not a dissolving thing). It should be noted that all you need to do to test this is to use some salt in a pan. Mix salt into cold water until it stops dissolving, then add some more. Now heat the water and more salt dissolves. This is true of all materials that dissolve into other materials. So, what have we learned? Oil does dissolve in water, and IF a fish is predisposed to smell that trace oil, it can. Is a water or oil based solvent better? Sorry, that is not a valid question, it depends on too many variables. Consider that salt is considered a good additive, scent or taste, and it is a sold, so now you have solid verses oils verses water based to add to your list of variables. Ouch! It is the solubility of the material and the fish's ability to detect that scent. I can tell you two very different things. First, I do not allow any oil or water scents to be used in my boat, to include sprays. It took me 8+ hours to clean my boat last fall after a summer of partners dunking lures and having drops fall off onto my boat. If they want to add scent, I require the stick type that does not splash, drip, overspray, etc......... Second, when I am by myself, because I know how to stop it from getting all over my boat, I will add scents. When I do add scents, I have learned by observation that paste or jelly type scents stick a lot longer in cold water, meaning you get a lot less dissolved in the water. I have also observed that they do not seem to work as well in very cold water when compared to a light oil or water based scent, or salt. LOL OK, so maybe a third item. On some days some I have noticed that some scents work better then others. I remember one time some years ago when we had fish following lures to the boat all day, but no hook ups. After several different scents, we found an old oil based "night crawler" scent and it was fish on. The one person that refused to use that scent, caught nothing until he added it and he joined the catch. Another time the same thing happened, but it was a completely different scent that worked. On some days, no scent will work. I will admit, after 50+ years of dedicated fishing, I have only seen scents turn fish off a couple of times, I have seen scents really work maybe 10% of the time. The rest of the time scents are to give us confidence, and do little but mess my boat up.

The airbrush should be great. I use a Paasche Talon, but they work a lot alike. I suggest simple paints to begin with, but stick with air brush paints because the pigments are fine ground and more consistent. Createx is a good starting paint, and it does have a lot of options. Also stick with latex paints until/unless you get a good air mask and a paint booth. My compressor is an air brush compressor from Harbor Freight. It actually works just fine for what I do. It comes with a cheap air brush of its own and I use it for a back up or for questionable paints. You will find that templates are a great help to start. Check out YouTube for vacuum forming templates as a guide. Most of all, have fun. I consider myself a NON-Artist, and yet I have actually had people want to buy my lures just for the paint job. If I can do it, I know you can.

The case of the missing foam .............. the latest mystery about lure making? LOL I make lures with Alumilite White on the bottom and as a thin outer layer and an expanding foam for a top core. I discovered that if I dipped the lure in Solarez and just let it drip off the extra before curing, ..... Well almost a year later the foam is dissolving away in my lures. The ones with other top coats, or the ones that I just painted Solarez on and then cured were fine. I suspect the dipped ones had uncured solvent that eventually ate the foam from inside the lures.

I do believe they worked. Nice Gills.

LOL - OK guys, close, very close. I think what you want is something tough, but flexible. Something that can take a beating but come back to shape again and again. Alumilite makes just that product, but it is not Alumisol or Plastisol. http://www.alumilite.com/Category.cfm?Category=CastingResins should take you to the page. Look at the Flex 80, or perhaps the Flex 70. http://www.alumilite.com/ProdDetail.cfm?Category=CastingResins&Name=Flex80 If you go to http://www.river2seausa.com/topwater/481-whopper-plopper-130.html you will see the Wopper Plopper that was designed, and originally made by Larry Dahlberg. In his design, he uses Flex 80 for the tail/plopper/blade. I have one that has caught a lot of fish, bounced of a lot of rocks, and it just flexes out of the way and comes back to shape. I expect that someday there will be nothing left of the lure but a metal wire with that Flex 80 blade on the back. I am sure that there are other products out there, but I can assure you that for what you want, either the Flex 70 or 80 will do what you need. PS, it is easy to mold. Check out http://www.makelure.com/HowTos.cfm for the video of making the Wopper Plopper to see how easy it is to mold with that stuff.

LOL - my first batch was crystalized as well, so I took it back. I later learned that the better stuff will almost always crystalize after time, especially if it goes through high and low temperature cycles. Just take the closed bottle and soak it in hot water until the crystals go away, then allow it to cool slowly. It will be fine again for some time, but I f not used up, of if you let it get cold again next winter, it will do it again.

It really depends. On a jointed swimbait that counts on hydrodynamic flutter instead of a paddle tail, soft, even very soft, is just fine. On a swimbait with a paddle tail or with a side flap like the little fishie syle, stiffer plastic helps. On a side note, even the paddle tail style can be extremely soft if the tail has the correct design. Kinda of hard to describe it, but ...... it can be very effective. I hate to say it, but buy normal softness and add hardner of softner and once you know what works for that bait style and size, you can then buy that softness next time.

Have you tried them yet? Is that a wire I see coming of the back of the eye?

Do you have a boat suggestion, mine is not color but type. I think I will put the fishing partners in the second boat and keep my baits with me.

I beg to differ a bit with the negative rap on the foams. OK, maybe I am just a super design and pour guy, but I always use foams. What I usually do is pour mine from Alumilite products. I make up some Alumilite White with microballons, a small amount, and I pour it into the mold and rotate the mold to distribute the material. This coats the inside of the mold and provides a very paintable surface. I then make up the foam and pour, allowing the extra to come out of the vents and pour holes. The key is to mix fast and pour faster. The Alumifoam skins well and has the same density as a white cedar. This stuff is more difficult to pour without over expanding, but figure it will expand a little more then two and a little less then three times the original volume. This stuff is so tough that it is almost hammer proof. When using a silicone mold, I normally have a couple of plywood boards for the sides and I put a couple of clamps on it to help maintain dimensional stability. The Alumilite 610 (6 pound density with 10X expansion) foam has about the same density as balsa and is about as tough when it comes to pull out of screws as balsa, but it is a bit more resistant to breaking. I use through wire construction in the mold when I pour with this material. This stuff extrudes out of the pour holes and vents when it is still pretty soft. I normally just hold my mold together with a few rubber bands. I use this stuff with the Alumilite White skin and so far even muskie have not destroyed it -- but one did shatter when it hit a rock cliff at high speed on a cast. LOL I find that both of the Alumilite foams mentioned skin smooth. They clean up well with a little sandpaper and a bit of wood filler fills any imperfections. I also find that if I hit the material with 600 grit sandpaper, hit it with a little alcohol, then mist it with a rattle can of clear lacquer, any paint will stick to it. FYI, this is just what I do with wood lures that I seal first. I cannot comment on other foams, these are the ones that I started out with. I tried the Alumilite 320 and found it to be far to soft for my use, but with an expansion of about 20 times, who knows what can be done with it. I would not discount the foams for your uses; they are just different. With a little practice, you can make excellent lures from it. I have attached a picture of what I do with these foams, and for what it is worth, I think this is more then a simple spook, etc.....

OK, I wanted to speak out on this one. I think the basics have been covered, and in my list of what makes any bait work, color is never near the top, but is always on the list. Un-painted IS a color, fresh lead a silver, oxidized lead a dark gray. For walleye, color is extremely important, at times. I have experienced this over and over where one rod has one color jig and worm, the second rod another, and one rod out fishes the other. I often fish two rods from the front of the boat when moving very slowly searching for fish, each line almost directly under the boat. Trout can be the same way, but bass seem to be a lot less color concerned. Other species seem to have their own color issues. Having said that, I find that eyes make a difference, but details like scales, gills, dark top and light bottom, etc., are for fishermen not fish when it comes to jig heads. I tend to paint up the basics in jig colors. I like to have some silver (fresh lead), some dark gray (oxidized lead), some white, some black, some olive, some chartreuse, and having some orange is always a good idea. Side note, how can I get that dark oxidized lead color quicker?????? I know that this is just my experience, but I experiment a lot, so good luck on whatever you decide.

I like your thoughts, but most 3D prints are not that smooth. For those that try this, expect some finish sanding before you make your mold. Now, with the improvements in 3D printers, this post may be obsolete before you read it. LOL

I'll be honest, I use to sell some archery stuff, etc., on EBay and I would not sell outside the US for that very reason. It seems that trying to figure out how the shippers are going to (edited) you is almost impossible. I figure that it is probably just as hard to ship in to the US. So much for the so called free trade agreements.

Some dip or brush with acetone, but I see no need in my baits. I often spray my baits with a little clear or white lacquer, or Krylon, or acrylic, or ..... I know some sand the bait with 400 grit sandpaper before they paint. Normally I touch up my bait with 400 grit sandpaper, then mist with a clear acrylic rattle can, then after about 10 minutes I paint my base coat with white Createx or equivalent. I get very good results doing this, and as mentioned by quickdraw, I find that I get as good a result as a cleared and sealed wood bait. I asked about a primer from a Taxidermy company and they just use lacquer for a base coat because they find that the resins are so smooth that even their paints won't stick to them without it. If there is a better "primer" I have yet to find out about it.

Nope, not one red cent. Have you called them? Their customer service is second to none, Mike will even talk to you personally. No need to drag their reputation down until you have talked to them. Just saying.....

Has anyone got a chance to try the newest concept yet?

Alumilite softens with too much heat as well.

I often make the original blank for my baits from a type of clay that hardens when heated, like Sculpy or Femo clay. The key is to get a sulfur free clay so you can make molds from silicone if desired. With clay, you can sand, add more, cut, drill, whatever you desire, and you can always put the blank back in the oven. This means you can never sand to much because you can always add the clay back and reheat. This is the most forgiving method IMHO. Sometimes I make the blank out of wood, but as indicated by Patrick, that takes carving skills. If you do intend to carve from wood, the key is to go slow. It often takes me a week or more, a few minutes here a few minutes there, before get what I want. The problem with wood is that if you go too far, you need to start over. But then again, NO ONE has ever said I was an artist. Sometimes the key is to get a talented artist to do the clay modeling or the carving..... If that is really important to you. Now, once you get the blank correct, then the real work comes. Making a mold from POP, RTV Silicone, etc., is not that hard; making a mold that fills correctly is a bit of an art form in itself. Some of my molds are squish molds, some are open pour, some are injection, and none are ever right the first try. I always find I need to add vent channels, vent holes, larger or smaller injection holes, ........... The key is to not get too overwhelmed to start with. Learn your craft slowly at first, ask a LOT of questions, give as much detail as you can. Remember also that some of the very best lures were the simplest ones. Don't get too complex at first. AND MOST OF ALL, HAVE FUN!

Perhaps a change in resins Is called for??????