barrybait

I'm just making my first bait with balsa. A super spook type bait. I sealed it with the penetrating epoxy and now used d2t to epoxy in the line tie and hangars and made a complete coat of d2t so that I can test them but on my balsa ones ( I also did basswood ) I can feel some give to the bait when I squeeze it between my fingers especially on some sides depending on the wood grain. That has me a little concerned but the balsa ones are much lighter so I am planning on several layers of d2t to strengthen. I also have solarez could use that on final coat if you members think it would be tougher. Thanks for the post, timely on my current lure.

It's a fish magnet? I already want one. I'm with Mark in that I don't want to take the fun out of it by making it work. Good luck if you decide to go for it and I have one suggestion. If it really is a fish magnet, a game changer, then keep it to yourself and get out there and win some local tournaments, then some opens. That will get you some working capital and a following for when you let out your secret. If you're winning their money they will want plenty of them. Or, hey, I've got a tournament this weekend! Best of Luck!

Maybe you could put a keel on the bottom of the hook shank section. That would drive the hook up on a strike. Might not work on matts but should work on open water/holes.

Fascinating design. Even with the above mentioned concerns I think it is an engineering marvel. Remember this is first generation and look how many generations of conventional spinning reels we have gone thru. Have to wait and see if this design survives long enough for me to dig out some cash and try one. I just bought a CI4+ yesterday thou and it seems pretty nice.

Remember all the coats and tents made of 'ripstop nylon'? I always thought that would work well for this. It's very tear resistant and you could sear the edges with a hot knife or something to keep it from fraying. I haven't tried it yet but think that the trick would be to use enough glue to put the two sides together without using so much glue that it gets on the nylon 'hinge'. If you do one section at a time you can wipe off excess glue and only have to be careful on the adjacent section.

Hey Mark, is there some way you could make the frog in two parts. If it had a top and bottom hinged at the front held in the "inflated" position with a light wire spring so the body could collapse and get more of the hook exposed during a strike.

I had the same problem that FrogAddict had above on both my neo and my badger. Turns out it is the o-ring on the small stem. It swells up. Something from the paint or cleaners is getting absorbed by the o-ring material. I keep a couple spare o-rings handy because this really shuts down your project. You can visibly see the difference in size of a swollen o-ring a significant difference.

I'm with Hawgfan. I fought the same battle, got everything clean, and finally determined it was the nozzle. I could feel an edge on it so I put it under my magnifying lamp and I could see what looked like a little chip out of the edge of the nozzle. I knew to be careful too and tried to seat the nozzle carefully each time. Hobby Lobby carries the part in my area. Don't forget your 40% off coupon. Paints great again. I think they use a lesser grade of brass and some nozzles have a weak edge. I'm eventually going to get the eclipse too but am going to keep this one working.

Biggamefish I didn't read it very closely did I. If you try it, support the carbon rod closely on each side of the screw eye necessary because of the flex of the rod. Also may want to make it replaceable. It is not very difficult to get the rod out of a wake jr. Good Luck.

Only use I have seen is when I was repairing a "wake jr." for a friend I took it apart and believe they use a carbon fiber rod for their hinge pin. I don't have any of the material and I only needed about an inch. I substituted an aluminum nail which I had to turn down slightly to fit and it worked well. Carbon fiber pin works well for the wake jr. though so go for it if you have some.

I got some from Do-it. They are white and are not good a higher speeds, want to roll but they have a good sound apparently because they catch the LM out west. My new favorite is from BustinBassBaits, they have a bait similar to the Lucky Craft LVR that is very good quality and it is clear enough that you can use transparent colors for ghost patterns. Runs true, more stable that the Do-it bait. I haven't fished them enough to know how well they catch'em thou.

I have had good luck with Solarez the low tech way. To distribute the surfacing agent I just give the container a good shake up, then I open it and pour out what I am going to use into a plastic salsa cup. Stir the cup a little while I coat the bait with a brush. I don't have a lure turner yet so I just roll it over and tip until I can see no brush marks and I am ready to expose it to sunlight. Important part for me is to only expose it to sunlight for 5 seconds or less even as you turn and roll it to expose all surface. Then get it right back inside for about 30 seconds. I will repeat this several times and you can tell it is setting up then I will finally hang it outside and turn it a couple of times to make sure and get a complete cure. This results in a gloss finish just a step down from D2T like BobP said in his post. If I let too much sunlight hit it too long, then the Solarez cures too fast and is gets cloudy.

Hey Ben. I came up with something very similar but with the additional cost of a sewing hoop. I picked two of the larger size sewing hoops at Michaels and suspend the bait with wire s-hooks and rubber bands. That way I can suspend from any point on the hoop. If there is not a hook hangar or a pin for a tail for me to attach, I can generally use the back hook hangar and then get another s-hook in to the hinge eyes. I really like it both for painting and epoxy coating. With it suspended with rubber bands, you can flex the bait slightly to open up the hinge joint for applying paint or epoxy. It is also very easy to hang it when you need your hands free. (My first version had the bait suspended inside a coil of leftover brake hydraulic tubing) Barry

I like the Walmart deal too. I use them for D2T. Before I use them, I use scissors to trim off about 1/8" of the bristles to make them a little firmer for pushing the epoxy around. Sometimes I have to pick a fiber out of the epoxy but not often.

I just recently received an order of these from Bustin Bass Baits and it was not the same version. I really like the cloudier plastic one that was sold by BB on their site and on ebay as evergreen combat flat side. This one has two weights in the weight transfer chamber and sideways hook hangars. The weights in them are larger also and overall quality of the plastic is better also. The ones supplied on this recent order are the clearer plastic. There is one weight in the transfer chamber and one as just a rattle. Both weights are smaller, the line ties are in line with the bait seam, and the plastic is not as well done. Not nearly the quality bait. They promptly refunded my purchase and I am sending them back. I hope BB can get more of the combat style ones in the future. One of my favorite baits. The other one is alibaba style cheaper version. Seams are not always fully glued, weights are small and with only one in the transfer chamber it doesn't cast as well. Two out of ten in my order, the weight transfer weight is stuck in the chamber. Frustrating.