SW Lures

@ Dauds, lol you could have saved yourself a lot of grief if you have read some of my old post on hand made eyes. I put something like 55 lbs over a week on them. After that I dropped the weight to create 750 lbs +/- sudden impact stress on the eyes. Thats why I made the comment that I did. I was new and had to prove it to myself. Twisting out (screw eyes) made me take a look at that, no problems with this. I read a post by BobP (I think) about over drilling the hole, then place a screw eye in the hole with epoxy. It works just fine. Now Woodie ^^^^^^ he fishes and makes baits for big toothy critters. He can help with them. Dale

I'm not in business of making baits but it seems that I would have a pretty good local clientele base if this happens. I'm like Woodie, 80k for tooling change is a large overhead, which must equal to a large production output to make it worthwhile. The changing of weight and thickness of the lip will have a change on the action for good or bad. When I started making baits I started with 1/8" lexan, then I went to circuit board. The difference accually made the action better on some and not so much on others. Then I went to 1/16" lexan lately and the change happened again. For me and a look compared to catching fish.......I'll take the catching fish any day! I throw what I think will get me a strike compared to the conditions, example a rock bottom (metal bill). Anyways that's my two bits worth, Dale

Thank you for your ideas. I have change the bill width and length. I also changed the hook size up on the front. The bait ran fine in the testing. This gave me 4 more baits. I took the boat out and all the tools I needed to do the repairs. Did it on the water and in deep water.....lmao. Got it done tho! I'm leaving tomorrow and will see what they can do. I'll be back in a few weeks and hope to have some fish pic's with the baits. Thank you and take care, Dale

No I don't thin it. I haven't been using it long. I wipe the tail hanger and clean it up if needed. I've seen people using a string, but I didn't like that so I got a 1 1/4" and a 1/4" dowel with a piece of plywood and made the tree. Nathan turned me on to it. I was thinking about spaying, but I changed my mind. Dale

I hang mine with no trouble. The drip off is the only issue for me. I made a tree like hanger for multiple baits and I put a pane under it. The pan is no more then a large aluminum cooking pan that you buy for one time use. Dale

I use frisket like BobP for wooden or plastic. I also use the divider that is in drink cans boxes (cardboard). I like these for wooden baits because I can tear at it to make it jagget to get a more realistic pattern. Frisket is a little hard to do this to. Making a vacuum stencil for wooden, hand shaped baits doesn't always work. You can use all types of things to get a pattern. Someone here several years ago was using cooking tungs to get a perch pattern. Your imagination is the only thing that limits you. Dale

Thank you Graig, I have already reduced the width and length and will test them this weekend. I'm going to take some oversize hooks as you suggested. Dale

Nice work tho and welcome to TU.

Now you will hear and know about the foot steps. Nathan has a heavy step and a long stride. Dale

I use a brissel brush to clean the airbrush. These are made for airbrush's. Like Mark I don't do it often. When normal cleaning I do it similar to the way Mark does it. Mark you need to give yourself more credit for painting. Dale

I fish for stripers, matter of fact getting ready to go for three weeks. Read BobP suggested reading on it and screw eyes will be fine. I've tried cutting in thru wire and it is a pain. I've never drilled in a thru wire yet. I catch land lock stripers up to 50"+ in fast waters and the eyes work for me. Home made eyes work just as good if made and installed properly. JMO, Dale

I have been talking to BobP about these baits. Several swam properly and some didn't. They did well on retrieval test, but when I tried trolling they rolled. I'm hoping to salvage them if possible. The ones that swam correctly caught fish. These baits runs 25' deep with a fast wiggle, and wobble at a nice rate. I'm wondering if the shape, length or width of the lip is the cause. This one runs true, This one does not, I want to show the size of the baits on this one, These were the first baits I made. I think I see one issue from the pic. I was thinking about rechecking the center of the bait to the center of the lip and maybe rounding the lip. So what do y'all think, what can I do with these? Thanks, Dale

The way I described is how I made mine. I made it long ago and still does well today. I hook it up to a shop vac and off I go. The only thing I had to do is to find out how many holes I needed per sq. inch for the bit size I used. Dale

Some scrape wood/plywood, few screws and a drill, and you can make a vacuum box. As far as stencil I've heard of milk cartons being used and the person praised how well they worked. Just stiff enough to cut easily. This is a very low cost I would think and you will get very close to what you really want. I want to try the milk carton myself but just haven't got around to it yet. Good luck, Dale

The thing I do pay attention to is the size of the bait compared to the opening of the mesh. I want the mesh to be a realistic size compared to the bait size. This is why I really look at the mesh. I have about 4 different size openings. When getting low, I'll cut some off and take it with me. Dale

I'll give it a whirl when needed. Thanks

Ben.... I wish I could give more "likes" for your idea on the pantyhose. Question tho, I would think that you have already looked at this but I have got to ask. Do you think that the pantyhose impede any pigments from going thru? Dale

You are there! Dale

Gliders (I think) was working hard on this some time ago. He was working on something like what's in Fshng first link. I don't know what he came up with but maybe he'll chime in and give some help. Dale

I agree with what has been stated already. The tip, put the end of your needle between two fingers and turn it slowly. Feel for a bend in the needle. One of mine came bent......×$@%\&! The brush in general, break it down and clean it totally. The mixing chamber could be gunted up. Thinning paint, I'm like BobP and don't thin transparent paint much at all. Pearls, opaque's I will but only with Createx/Wicked reducer. I also have switched to Wicked paints which is much easier to shoot. Wicked is made by Createx also. Read up on the two paints and you'll see why. Createx itself is just fine, just my preference. Some paints will give you "dry tip" more so than others, reducing helps this. It does not take much reducer at all to do this. I'm playing around with enamel, laquer paints now. You are not limited to water base paints, but caution must be taking with some of these paints for your health sake. Most of us use water base and we're happy, your fine with what you have. It just takes time to figure it out. Good luck, Dale

Welcome RobW, nice work on shaping/carving the lure. Warning tho on posting anything like the first post you made in the forum. Take these to the gallery. Read up on TU rules Nathan has posted some rules and pinned it at the hard bait list of threads (top of the forum page). I came close to posting one the other day. The second pic is ok here. Just letting you know. As far as wood over a frying pan, I'll take carving wood baits any day other than a baseball bat. Welcome again, Dale

I have somethings to get from LPO and will look at what they have. Took a look at the rest of your work. Really nice looking baits/fly's Fshng.

Thanks, I've got to make a order soon. Dale

Yep I've found that all bath wash netting is not equal. Some are heavier line, some have smaller open areas. It's all in what you want...just gotta look for them. I've been caught making Some intense examination of some. Get some looks too. Dale