eastman03

Never seen this one, a band saw jig looks pretty cool too.

I prefer to cut my lip slots while the wood is in block form as well, but if you are making many lures at a time, it can help to build a table saw jig like this to make repeatable cuts.

You are correct, don't worry. Epoxy twist eyes are very strong!

You are right, epoxy probably is stronger, and like a good engineer he got asked that a lot, and did some testing! lol

I've had two big fish tear hooks out of lures (big muskies). Luckily they were both in the net, the fish thrashes, it kinda gets hooked in the net and it puts a ton of torque on the hook occasionally. I also wear a seatbelt, but have never gotten into an accident. haha To play devils advocate, I prefer to see thru wire lures (I really am only talking about bigger musky lures). I especially prefer it when some lures go for 100$ plus dollars. It's kinda like buying a Lambo with crank windows. When you buy a premium hand made lures, I don't mind paying the price, but I like to see all the best features. It's not the first fish or the tenth, it's after years of abuse, is that eye going to pull out? Not on the most well made lures. It makes the construction of a crankbait much more complicated! There are good ways to install a screw eye, and probably bad ways. Check out this video where he tests the pull out strength of different eyes. Interesting

Krylon looking glass gives you pretty good results, ill second that. I don't have any experience outside foil and a few types of 'metallic' spray paint.

That is awesome! The eyes look great. I'd be interested in some instructions on how to do that. Make a little tutorial and put it in the how to section (just an idea).

As far as a finish goes, I've heard it is a good idea to use a 'mid coat' before doing the final epoxy job ( or other finish for that matter). Has anyone tried this. It seem like a great idea, it would eliminate any contamination issues I think. I keep sharing videos from this guys page (not mine btw), but he explains the idea of a mid coat starting at 9 minutes. I'm going to try it on an upcoming batch of lures i'm working on.

Thanks @swimb8s!

No problem @fishordie79, I really like his approach and information that he gives about all aspects of lure building. His channel is newer, so youtube doesn't really push it quite yet.

This is a somewhat related video about finding the center of buoyancy (not my video). It's based on a topwater lure, but the principles would be the same. Check out his other videos, very informative youtube channel.

Thanks for the tips guys. I think i'm going to try what you suggested kinda @JD_mudbug and cut a hole in the polycarbonate so the lense can see through, but the edges will still hold it in. That would be a simple solution to the fogging problem seeing as the camera has no problem being submerged. I do own a Spydro camera (very similar to a waterwolf camera). And I have some really cool footage of muskies striking my crankbaits! (and also missing them). But I wanted to make a lure that I can cast without an awkward camera attached to the leader, something that I can actually fish, and potentially get a muskie to hit the camera itself! It's just a side project I'm slowly working on for fun.

I can't see the pic, but everyone using epoxy struggles when starting out it seems. Stick with it, I love the finish and toughness of epoxy! Lots of great tips here..

@bigblue2 You had asked about the lure I posted with 4 eyes, I figured I would start a new topic, so I wouldn't hijack that one. I have a few ideas I need to bounce off the group as well. This is my take on a 'flaptail' lure for muskies, I will have to get better photos of the finished lure. Several versions have been around for many years, and I've made a few of my own small versions of this one. The long wire out the back will get an eye on it, and then a swivel with a large single blade. So it is a top water lure with a blade out the back. So how this monstrosity came to be was when I was turning the lures on my lathe, and I realized that my previous version of the flap tail could almost accommodate my go pro hero camera. And being a fan of taking lures to the extreme, or combining features of lures, I figured i'd make an even larger flap tail! And instead of a single blade behind the lure, I will drag behind an entire bucktail!! I've gone mad with ideas in our long Canadian winters haha. The added benefit of the size would allow me to create a pocket in the back to install my gopro camera inside the lure. lol I could capture a muskie strike from inside the fishes mouth. The prototype worked, no fish yet on this particular one. I had some issues with the lense fogging up after a few casts. So I will be tweaking the idea, the weighting of the lure and angle of the camera. There are two pics of the lure in it's building stage. As you can see I ended up screwing a polycarbonate cover on the back of the lure body to keep the camera in. The hole on the top of the lure is for pressing the record button on the camera. The camera is completely water proof and is able to work under water. Either way I figured I would try to prevent water from entering the cavity. So I put a gasket between the polycarbonate and the wood. Then I glued a rubber gasket that was stretchy enough to still hit the record button on the top hole. Which I also covered with a plastic plug. However, my problem was still getting moisture in behind the polycarbonate, and fogging everything up. How should I go about securing the camera in, but avoiding this problem. I don't mind if the camera is exposed completely underwater, but it needs to be secure some how in the lure obviously. The last pic is the lure on the epoxy drying wheel.

Haha, great points. Pea brained brutes that are designed to hunt and eat! I choose eyes based on whatever looks good to me. I don't have a big selection of sizes and colors, sometimes ill paint them on as well. I went even farther! If two eyes are good on a bait, maybe four eyes will be twice as good! haha

I use this method to make an assortment of different sizes of lead cylinders which I can simply insert into a hole in the belly of my cranks. I didn't use aluminum in my mold, just two pieces of hardwood. As for melting my lead, a simple torch and a old steel ladle to melt a bit of lead and pour into the molds. I'll make up a bunch of weights so they are ready for use. Then as others have said, ill use the baking soda/super glue trick to fill the hole in, or car body filler (bondo).

I use stainless steel tig welding rod for wire in my crankbaits. Any welding shop will carry this, and it can come in a range of sizes. For my muskie lures I use .051" up to .062" I believe, but there are lots of different sizes. They come in perfectly straight lengths, which is nice, and seem to hold up to abuse. Not sure if that answers your question exactly, but it is an option for wire.

Great point BobP. The epoxy I use is ETEX as well as Ecopoxy UV resin. Both are slow curing and I have time to mix the epoxy for several minutes, then let it rest for 10 min or so. It really does seem to help the epoxy cure more evenly. I use a disposable 1 inch foam brush that you can get from dollar stores to apply the epoxy (not that I think it would solve your problems). This is a post that has been brought up several times in the past and is my go to checklist for getting good results.

First of all, fantastic looking lures and paint jobs! Second of all Ohh man! I feel your pain! I was in a very similar boat. All the work it takes to carefully design, shape, weight and painstakingly pain a bait only to have it ruined by a final epoxy layer, that hurts. I also make lures for pike and musky, and I do love epoxy. Stick with it! I have found for me that to get the best results, I have to make sure the room I do the epoxy in is at least room temp, if not slightly higher. I used to do my epoxy in the garage where I make the baits, but the cooler environment played havoc with my epoxy and all the problems I had. What helped me (besides learning all the contamination issues), was warming up the bottles of epoxy in warm water for a while before I applied it. And making sure that wherever they cure on my turner, that room is at least 20 degrees Celsius. Lots of guys will turn on a light near the baits to keep that area a bit warmer. That seemed to help me a lot. The epoxy on the last few rounds of baits I did have turned out really well. Good luck, and stick with it. Many people will recommend other finishes, but I agree, epoxy done right looks amazing on a lure.

Welcome here and welcome to lure building! its an awesome hobby. Learn to search for answers on this forum, I just use google and add tackleunderground to the search. If you have a question, I can almost guarantee it's been discussed here. Youtube is your best friend also. Marling baits. Solarfalls baits. Check out Engineered Angler! Great channel with lots of tips and tricks for the lure builder. His channel is amazing. As for paints, there are a lot of cheap paints you can use, but as a beginner these paints (like dollar store stuff) are not great and can give you problems like clogging and stuff. if you are airbrushing, invest in some createx or testors aztek paints that are ready to airbrush. Get a proper thinner as well and practice practice practice. You really don't need much to get started, just keep making stuff and testing out and honing your skills. Post any more questions if you have them, conversation is kinda slow now, but it picks up in winter usually (that's when I do all my lure building).

.5 needle with my badger patriot combined with an airbrush flow improved to delay tip dry really helped me clean less and paint more.

Love making lures from wood! I feel like the home lure builders like myself slow down a bit in summer. More fishing less building and posting. It’s my winter past time. I totally agree with you Mark shaping and carving is fun and relaxing I’m working on a copy of my favourite soft bait. A Hybrid bulldawg type lure. I may have to Try the pvc, I really enjoy working with wood. But it is less predictable.

I'll third that! My local glass shop let me come take a look and gave me all sorts of pieces of polycarbonate. In return I made them a larger lure for display with their company name on it, just for fun. They were so pumped, I have basically an unlimited source for lip material now! Another spot I have got some from is a plastic's distributor. They had a bunch of cut offs that they let me buy for cheap.

Like the others said, measure carefully, equal parts by volume. Mix for a couple minutes. I also let it sit for 10 minutes, it really seems to help prevent fish eyes and other problems. Make sure your room and the epoxy are at least at 70 degrees, you can even warm the bottle up a bit in the sink with warm water beforehand. Cold weather and cold epoxy were a source or major problems for me. Put the lure on a bbq rotisserie and let it spin overnight. I use a 1" foam brush. I make large lures for muskies, the foam brush works well. Disposable.

Set the resin part in hot water for 10 minutes to unchrystalize it if it looks lumpy or unclear.