osutodd

Looks to me like just transparent green on a clear body. Maybe a chartreuse belly. The marbling effect is just the light reflecting differently over the shape of the bait .

Just experimenting with different techniques, I discovered the glue/epoxy is usually stronger than the wood, and sometimes even stronger than the eyes.

Is the scale pattern molded in or painted?

Or need to be smarter than monkeys.

Depends how many you want to do. If you really like painting and want to do as many as possible, charge just enough to cover your materials. You'll get really good at it.

I have some baits that the iridescence seems to be in the clear coat. Any idea how that might be achieved, or can the methods above produce that effect?

Did you see the little spring fly across the garage when you loosened that retaining screw? You might think you don't have parts left over!

I really like silver with lime green accents. Gold with an orange back is also a favorite if the water has a little more color.

I agree with the D2T It is fine without a turner. Just don't put it on real thick and it won't sag.

I really like moss green or burnt orange over a clear blank. Just enough to color the bait. The burnt orange ends up the color of iced tea. Whichever color I use, I go over the back with the other color. I spray the eyes black, and add a little blue glitter in the clear coat.

Another great thing to do is find the cheapest clear blanks you can to do some throwaway baits. Do some experimenting with the colors you get, and see how different they look when sprayed over different colors. An extreme example: chartreuse over clear is different than chartreuse over white, and is not even in the same ballpark over black.

I find transparent colors easier to use. The Createx Wicked line is my favorite so far, but I haven't tried many.

Thinking of what's in my tackle box, I'd say you could also angle the lip down more. But doing this will sacrifice depth.

I struggle with crawdad patterns. Still haven't done one I like. And oddly enough, sexy shad is difficult for me. My idea of what I want is so narrow that it's never good enough. Bluegills, on the other hand, I love my results. It's basically "let's see what this looks like." They're all different and unique.

I definitely prefer the two piece swimsuits. And swimbaits too.

Brilliant! Wish I had heard that tip years ago...

I like your thinking but picture it the other way - how about etex over a harder layer?

Blood scented crankbaits? Can you patent that?

The crimp swivels I bought from Do-It are actually too loose to hold on the end of the line. I don't like to put a knot at the end of the line like some suggest, and the weights won't even hold their own weight just hanging. Before pouring I give each clip a squeeze with pliers to snug them up a bit.

Been airbrushing crankbaits for a year, dipping in GST for my clear coat and just letting them hand to cure. It works OK, but I do get a drip from time to time, and always have to clean off the rear hook hanger. Now I have a turner, and was wondering what your thoughts are on which way to orient the baits. I see lots of pictures with them in different positions, so I know there are different preferences. Imagining a line from the line tie to the rear hanger, I can put them on with this line parallel to the axis of the turner, or perpendicular to the axis. I haven't been able to think of a reason it would make any difference, but I'll bet someone here has some opinions on why one is better than the other. One way, relative to the bait the force of gravity will go around the middle, like it were wearing a belt. The other way, it will shift from head to tail. Does it make any difference at all?

I think it would be pointless to put extra time and effort into making the attachment points more than 10-20% stronger than the split rings you're going to use. My experience is that the rings usually fail first.

One other thing I noticed on both tests was the screw eye starting to open up. Both had opened enough that it wouldn't have held a split ring. The twisted wire method stops this problem as well.

This afternoon I pulled apart a couple of baits I built for test purposes. Both were poplar dowels epoxied into balsa. On both tests the screw eye pulled out of the dowel after we were over 85 lbs. Since the joint between the poplar and balsa was stronger than the screw in connection, it seems logical that your method would be stronger.

Dale and Mark, Are you gluing these into hardwood or are these put straight into balsa? If it's straight into balsa, I'm putting a lot more effort into my hook hangers than necessary.

The environmental impact would depend on whether the tanks are filled with manufactured co2, or with co2 captured from the atmosphere. I have no idea how they do it. Just thinking aloud.