FrogAddict

Yep, it's still cold up here. 12 degrees in the truck this morning on the way to work. We should have ice out around mid to end of April (fingers crossed). I'm dying to test out a bunch of lures but I have to be patient I suppose.

I think it's experiment time. I'll grab one of my mistake lures and snuggle it up to a soft plastic for a week or two and then see what happens to the lure after a period of time. BTW, I posted a new weedless buzz frog on the gallery earlier today. Check it out.

Mark, Not sure. I just took the soft plastic off and stored the lure without it. But yeah, I guess that would help keep the plastic seated. I'm not sure if it would affect the top coat after time.

I have noticed that after about 3 weeks the smell is gone. This is just the degassing process. I avoid putting them in the tackle box until then. Yes, they will stick to things if you don't continue to hang them for 3-4 weeks. I avoid putting any hooks etc on them until they're done curing as well. Also, it's a good idea to not touch them without gloves on during this period. I think Solarez or Epoxy is a better solution if you're in a hurry but for me with a long winter to work with, it's not an issue. Also, I have had my GST coated lures react with soft plastics. The soft plastics kind of weld themselves to the lure. Nothing that can't be cleaned up, just a bit irritating. If I were selling, I think I'd have to consider another top coat.

Spurk, I've found that if I let them cure for about 2-3 weeks, the smell is gone. Just don't put them in the tackle box before that. I did notice that I had a soft plastic worm touching one of my lures and it sort of melted into the lure a bit. This must be a chemical reaction so if you have a lure with a soft plastic trailer etc. don't store them so they touch.

Here's my latest. It's a weedless floating buzz. It's rather large. The body is almost 4 inches long not including the prop and hooks. The diameter at it's largest point is slightly more than an inch. Overall length is about 7 inches. It's made out of PVC.This is attempt number 3. The other 2 didn't have enough buoyancy to keep all the hardware afloat so I went a bit larger than I probably needed to make sure it floated. There's a large weed island that I need to cover this year and the ability to stop this on a dime will drive em nuts (I hope). Another note, this is the first time I've ever used the airbrush to paint the spots. I typically brush them on with acrylic.Now that I have my airbrush dialed in, I have more confidence doing this type of detailed work. Nathan, I like your idea! It should work wonderfully. I employed the same hook set up on several frogs.

Welcome to the sickness Mojo.

X3, that's very cool that he is into fishing.

X2. Light coats and heat set. The cleat coat at the end is very important as well. If they are going to wrinkle, it always happens immediately. If you're not selling them, it's kind of a cool look. Just thought of something else that may be an issue. I read a post about certain lighter colored paints that seem more susceptible to wrinkling. Both of the lures that wrinkled on me recently had florescent yellow paint on them and that's where the wrinkling was the worst. Someone with a better grasp on chemistry may be able to explain that one.

First I use a plastic template that I found. I think it was for drill sizes or something. What I do is dot where I want the center of the circle to lie on the bait with a marker. I do mask off the other adjacent holes on the template with blue tape. I forgot to do that once and some over spray ruined the lure. Then I simply line up the dot in the center of the appropriate opening on my template and spray my paint. Then I use the acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby to do the iris. I use a finish nail head. The key is to dab it in the acrylic and then dab it once on a scrap piece of cardboard to get the excess paint off. Then apply it to where you want the iris to show up. Not the only way to do it but is seems to work for me.

X3, I use several light coats of trans white createx and heat set between coats.

I think the tobacco I put in my lip all day everyday is doing more to harm me than GST.

Mark, I was thinking a smaller diameter type tool. 3 inches max. i run my drill press on the lowest speed but now I'm thinking about using my bench grinder instead. Heck every time I read one of your posts, my wheels start turning (slowly but they do turn).

Sieglefish, I appreciate the heads up. I only dip one or two lures at a time and I limit my exposure to the fumes for sure. The first time I used GST I spent way to much time over an open jar dipping 12 lures and was light headed and dizzy. Never again! Now I open the jar, dip a lure or two, close jar and evacuate the area.

I should have known. The Polar Vortex is now affecting our lure making. That does it, I'm pissed. I used to work out in the garage up here in ND but had inconsistent results so I moved my operation to the basement. My marriage must be strong because it has survived so far.

Hmm, not sure what to tell you Inrll. Usually this issue comes up when someone doesn't allow for enough time between dips but that doesn't seem to be the case with you. How is the humidity where you are dipping the baits? Maybe Barr Mad Moose or Cougar or someone else has a better answer. It may just be a bad batch??

Mark, Now you have me thinking. I wonder if I found an old pulley or something similar and mounted it to my drill press and attached sandpaper if I could make a nice rounded radius sander for my flat sided lures?

Thanks Kajay, I think I get it. I hear you on the danger level of using your drill press that way. I use a ball rasp on my drill press for my popper mouths (on the lowest speed) and once in a while it'll get away from me.

Kajay, How do you make the custom concave sander heads?

A-mac, nice looking lure!

Here's the GST process that works for me (and others that I've seen) Heat set all paint layers Spray Createx Clear Coat (I do 2 coats) Dip in GST (I use a recycled pasta jar) Let hang for 2 hours min. Dip again, repeat this for 3-4 cycles The bait is fully cured in 2-3 weeks As much as you want to mess with any drips, wait until the bait cures and take care of them then. Use a wire hanging from the lowest hook hanger to help redirect the drips away from the eye.

Hmm, you could FedEx it to the hotel. It's probably cheaper than the extra bag charge.

Woodie, Exactly what product are you using?

I thought back flushing was when you flushed the toilet when you were still sitting on it.