danthefisherman

My thoughts exactly!

I've made plenty of smaller wooden plugs that have plenty of balance with just the hooks hanging off the belly. That said, it doesn't hurt to have some ballast in the belly for increased stability and casting distance. As mentioned above, 3D modelling gives you a ton of different options when it comes to balancing your bait correctly. You can do all the buoyancy/ballast/righting moment calculations all on your computer without even having to test the bait in the water. Print solid plastic along the belly or design pockets for lead to be added as necessary. Good luck and have fun!

Stainless screw eyes will hold...if you decide to carve a softer wood like balsa or even basswood however I'd feel more confortable with thru wire

This. If you can get a hold of a 5 gallon it will last you a good while. Save a few of your smaller mb containers to use a bit at a time because the 5 gal is a pain to open each time

What exactly are you looking for in the material? If you're looking to pour your own Gan Craft tails maybe look into urethane rubber. Smooth-On and Alumilite both make a decent product

Typically a lip allows you to fish a bait a lot slower and still get a ton of action. Also, a bait with a lip gives off a completely different feel in the water than a lipless one. To me, it's similar to fishing either a crankbait or a soft fluke: both are reaction baits but function very differently

True, I spray three coats of KBS. It would make sense that dipped coats would be stronger. Also I'm using it on big jointed swimbaits that get considerably more wear and tear than small trout plugs.

I use KBS on bass lures and it can get pretty rashed up with a few of the right fish...so when it comes to toothy critters I'd say the durability definitely isn't the best. I'd stick with epoxy if you want your paint jobs to last!

Check out Rowinsky Innovations...Jake does 3D lure scanning and offers a ton of baitmaking services from scanning and refining to molding and custom CNC lexan lips https://rowinnovationsllc.com/

Whether they match the color scheme or not, I like using eyes that stand out from the rest of the bait. Similarly to why you use red eyes, I think the eyes play a big part in helping fish hone in and target the head of the bait. Size of the eyes in proportion to the lure body can also play a factor.

Smooth-On has a ton of options, give them a look over. Great looking bait!

Thank you all for the amazing advice! It seems I have many options to choose from haha. I've been looking around since my original post and it's all been quite confusing with so many companies trying hard to sell their product. I think I'd rather just buy precut lips like @ravenlures kindly suggested and cut them to size. Does anyone know of good places to buy from that take PayPal as payment and have a good variety of sizes and shapes? LPO and Jann's Netcraft are pretty limited and Rollie and Helen's Muskie Shop doesn't accept PayPal. Barlows Tackle has decent pricing and options, but I'm looking for somewhere with more variety. These lips will be for 5"-9" hard bodied swimbaits. Thank you kindly! Dan

Hello TU! I don't really post much on here but have enjoyed learning from you all for a couple of years now. Anyways, I am in the market for a budget and user friendly scroll/band saw to cut polycarbonate lexan lips up to or past 1/8" thick. My brother and I make big custom swimbaits and it's hard to find pre-cut lips that are the right size and shape for our needs. Yes, I have already used the search function and read through many threads covering this topic, but a lot of them were pretty old and I'm sure there are new products on the market now. Our budget is up to $200, but we'd prefer to stay around $100-150 if we can. We're really just looking to cut lips with the saw, but precision with cutting wood and other materials is always a bonus. If you can provide a link with any of your suggestions that would be great! Thank you for your time and input! Dan