FrogAddict

I think you should put together a travel lure making kit. Pack it up like the salespeople of old used to. Have some built in legs so your suitcase becomes your work station. Get a little air compressor like the make up people use. It would probably keep you out of trouble after hours on the road. I can see it now, get a real old suitcase, plaster the outside with fishing decals etc.

A-mac, If you find a good product that can both seal/smooth out imperfections and topcoat before dipping in GST I may dance a jig.

First off, I love this Forum. You get all kinds but everyone comes at it with a healthy amount of respect. Mark, I appreciate your advice. I'm guessing in my situation, I'll go with your method but I really appreciate the more scientific approach of the engineer types. Hmm, I might have to go get a scale. Seems like another thread is going to make me spend more money! Mark, I really like the idea of labeling the jerk baits so I know what's what on the water.

I'm going to attempt a couple suspending jerks. I do this is a fun hobby and build using pvc mostly. Can't I just build the lure, drill a couple holes for ballast and add ballast until I get the desired suspending action in a test tank? I know I'll have to add hooks etc when testing but this seems to be a bit less time consuming and most importantly, I don't have to do any math!

Mason, I don't have much experience with diving lips. I make mostly top waters. I did just do a couple crankbaits but I used the plastic from a rubbermaid storage deal that we were going to throw out and I did dip the lip as well. Hasn't seemed to hurt anything but I don't sell my lures. I don't care too much what they look like as long as they catch fish. I wonder if dipping the lip adds any strength to my homemade concoction? Barr, Thanks! It's the easiest topcoat process if you have the time.

I've been using it for a bit now. No way to test on the water up here in ND yet. Here's a couple things to consider. When painting, make sure to heat set each layer. If you don't, the GST can crackle the paint. I have had this happen a couple times when I was in a hurry. It also helps if you spay a couple layers of gloss top coat and heat set them. Yes, there is an odor but if you use a fan and limit the amount of time you're exposed, it's just fine. I have found that if you wait 2-3 hours between dips, the GST cures rock hard in about 2-3 weeks. Use a straight piece of wire attached to the hook hanger to decrease GST gobbing up there. I use hemostats to dip the lures and make sure when dipping, the lure doesn't touch the sides of the jar. Speaking of jars, I use a salsa jar and a pasta sauce jar. Try to avoid a jar that has a lid with a rubber seal. The GST seems to disolve the seal. When dipping poppers, dip with the popper mouth upwards. I have had issues with GST drying with a drip on the rim of the popper mouth if I dip it the other way. If you are concerned with GST pooling in the mouth. Just tip the lure quickly before hanging. When I use GST to seal wood lures, I dip twice to get a nice smooth surface.The first dip really soaks into the wood, the second dip gives you a great surface. GST doesn't seem to like permanent markers. They will bleed. This can be a cool effect for bleeding gills.

My two cents on air brushes. Don't waste your money on one of those cheap siphon air brushes like I did. Spend a bit more and get an Iwata gravity fed brush. You don't have to go top of the line but Hobby Lobby has some for around 70-80 bucks. Just go to the Hobby Lobby web site and use the 40% off coupon. You don't have to print it, just bring it up on your phone at the check out. Also buy a cleaning pot, once you have one, you'll wonder what you ever did without it. One more tip on cleaning. When your tip gets clogged (it will) dip a sponge in air brush cleaner and squeeze out the excess. Carefully use the sponge to clean off the tip of your air brush. You do have to be careful with this so you don't bend the tip. I used a 1 inch by 1 inch piece of a grout sponge I had laying around.

Reelentless, I loved the swim test video, looks familiar. Up here in ND the tub is the best we can do as well. Nice lure!

New frog idea update. I've changed the design a bit and started the build last night briefly. So far the design looks promising. My wife has got me spending my free time tiling a back splash but I should be able to finish the initial prototype and test this weekend. I switched to using all PVC so I can test without sealing.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll just put some GST in a jar with a larger opening and dip the lures horizontal and upside down. Seems to make the most sense. I've been dipping 3 times with min 2 hours between dips. I just put a fan on the area where the lures hang and leave them alone. I've noticed that when I put on the hooks and hang em back up (after 2-3 days of curing) the hooks sometimes stick to the lure but not enough to mar the finish. One thing I learned is not too mess to much with the hook hanger, just put a small wire on there to help with drips and clean up any excess after the lure has cured.I did have 2 lures crinkle but on both occasions, I was in a hurry when painting and I'm sure I didn't heat set my base coat well enough. They're still usable for sure. Just not pretty.

My apologies if this has already been discussed. I just made my first few cranks and I'm ready to topcoat with concrete sealer. The question I have is how to dip them with the lip intact? Should I just dip the whole thing? I have dipped many top waters but my addiction is spreading to cranks now. The wife is now quite concerned. She's getting a bit irritated with the amount of time I spend in the bathroom testing the cranks in the tub. Thank you in advance for any help!

Nice, I'm just getting into crank baits and I really don't know yet what the different angles will do to the lure. My step daughter bought me this stamp deal that turns any old gift card/motel card etc. into a guitar pick. It looks like a stapler kind of. Anyway, I got the idea of trying to use a couple of those "picks" glued together (stacked) as a lip and it worked in the bathtub on a crank body I carved. I know I can use Lexan and all. Anyway, I think I may try the straight down lip like that on one of my glider type lures.

Hawgfan, Nice looking mouse! That's on my short list of lures to attempt. What kind of action does it have with the bill straight down like that?

Well I put the legs together and realized I need to taper the ends to get the needed "swing." So I'll be doing it again. This one may take awhile to figure out.I did finish off some Muskie lures and my first attempt at a glider. Posted pics on the gallery.

I'm thinking the rear of the main body. Since I'll be using twisted eyes to connect all leg parts, I could add a treble to where the rear legs meet as well. If i do that I'll move the treble on the main body forward. I started putting the legs together today and did a rough body. I'm using a wood dowel for the body and legs for the prototype.

I'm Mike married 2 grown kids wife dog and I'm an account exec for a marketing company. I decided to make a topwater popper a couple months ago. I found this site and now I spend all my spare time building or thinking about building topwater lures. I live in Grand Forks, ND and it's really stinking cold in the winter so I needed a hobby. I fish around the Park Rapids, MN area in the summer for Bass. I am on a quest to figure out a better frog lure and with the help of all the great folks on TU I may get there. I just build for fun. I have no problem giving my opinion and sharing my failures! I think us new folks are just lurking until we feel we have something to add. I mean someone was talking about the molecular structure of high gloss topcoats on a post the other day..... I have a hard enough time spelling molecular! A special thanks to Mark Paulson. He's really helped me out so far and has been encouraging!

Exactly what I had in mind Mark, or shrink tubing. Kayjay not sure about the weight w the pins. I think the bottom will have to be a deeper keel with weight low in the water to make sure it wants to turn upright. The legs will be wood dowels to start with. The knees have to "want" to stay straight and the center rubber band will to pull the legs back in. One issue will be the play in the line when you set the hook I think.

OK, so my latest attempt at a weedless popper frog was another bust. I'm going to go with the free swinging hook on the back from this point forward. If you recall, my last idea had the hook eye sitting below the lure and it just didn't allow enough room for a good hook set. I see the free swinging hook as the best option. It allows for easier weighting and when you do get a bass on, the bass won't have enough leverage to come unbuttoned (in theory). Oh, please check out a new idea below. The orange is a rubber band the blue is the fishing line and the black circles would be pins.So when you pull on the line, the frog legs would extend. The feet would be attached to each other. The orange at the "knees" would be some sort of rubber tubing?? Not sure at this point. Any input would be appreciated!