Flaswimbaiter

I use AC foil (sure tape) with Devcon clear. The clear does not stick as well as it does with wood, but it does work. I hade a huge snook rip up a foiled bait and it did not peel, I patched with UV resin and kept using it. you can see some damage on this side, but the other side was much worse. Here a some other examples.

Do a search for lure blanks on google of aliexpress. Make sure to prime or the paint won’t stick.

For painting definitely check out Marlins baits. Do you have the equipment yet? If not make a separate post asking for help, he have guys on here who make their own baits at others who paint blanks. Both of which have decades of experience. I bought cheap blanks on Aliexpress to practice on.

What ever you feel like making, a three or four piece multi jointed bait like a shad or rat or wake bait. One piece baits are fun and very effective like a spook, large crank, lipless, or oversized jerk bait. Marlins baits and engineered angler are good channels. Go back to their earlier vids.

I was out in the garage repainting some jig heads and noticed I had some chrome spray paint. I put a dark gray primer on the jig and cover it with a chrome and it looks beautiful. Do you think I can prime one of my Baits, paint the base white and black and then do the scales with this chrome spray paint? Do you think the oil and the water-based paints will get along? And do you think after I clearcoat it that it will dull the chrome?

This says it all. If you are new to making baits, starting with a glide is quite ambitious (which is not a bad thing). Maybe try a few wakes and multi jointed baits first to get a feel for how your wood reacts to your weight and to get an understanding of how to balance a bait.

I meant to post this bait of mine similar to yours earlier, take a look at the lip and the line tile location. I just poured the bait a second time to make more of a jerk bait than a crank bait. All I have to do is change the lip width and length . This has a nice wide wobble. also noticed how small the tail is.

Looks good. Feels good to make progress. I would recommend pushing your joint back a little to at least 50/50, you should notice a difference. I use normally use 60/40. Not to say your configuration won’t work, but if you look at most of the more successful Baits on the market, they have a smaller backend. as for the cleaner cuts, the wood you’re using could be too soft. Take a look at Marlins Baits on YouTube. I make a 90° cut on my guideline come in with a sharp knife at an angle and sand on the backside of your cut. Your first cuts should be exaggerated so as you sand you don’t take away from the detail.

Make a blank without weight test it and then make the internal one. I test mine then drill the holes, I am assuming yours are machine made or split design.

I would temporarily glue a weight on different spots and tank or swim test it.

Besides your basic colors you should also get Pearl white, pearl black, silver, sepia, metallic charcoal, moss green, burnt sienna, and ochre yellow. Wish I had known about these colors when I was new to painting.

The lip seems a little far back. That line tie next to the lip should make it wobble wear as the one on the nose should make it shimmy.

Any kind of lip will prob impart some action. I was thinking of a tear drop shaped lipless crank with a lot of forward weight. The fat bottom should keep with from wobbling. If you go with a lipped bait try putting the line tie way forward on the lip, this should kill the action.

I would say so. Most glides that roll for me it’s either that or the ratio of buoyancy vs weight. What I mean by that is if your resin bait is too heavy and you have to put less weight to get it to be slow sink, there may not be enough weight to actually stabilize it. I hope that makes sense. The tail can also be a factor. Too long, too stiff or too short. I just made a mini mullet glide, it worked perfectly until paint and clear and now its action is different. Still trying to get it tuned.

I use polyurethane and superglue for sealing and Devcon 2 ton epoxy for clear. It’s crude, but it’s durable. But no clear is full proof.

A agree with Big E. I use Tupelo for floating swimbaits and poplar for sinking ones because of the buoyancy. I just made a 7” three piece floater with Tupelo and it’s taking a crapload of lead just to balance it.

Lead produces fumes, not vapors. Therefore, an N95 should be sufficient. It can also be absorbed so gloves should also be worn. I use tools when melting lead so I don’t touch it until it’s cool. I believe you would need to be in contact with lead for quite a while before it becomes a health issues such as someone that works with it daily. When an employee is overexposed that have to be removed for a certain amount of time to recover. Some amount can be removed by your body, but depending on the amount is can also be stored, so it’s best to err on the side of caution.