Some Topwater Help Requested:

[mark poulson]

I first started using this method to line up my swimbait hinge pin holes.

If you're patient, you can put a wooden work top on your drill press and mount a centering pin where the bit lands.

When I do this, I mark where I want the hole to enter and exit the bait with an awl.  

Then I put one end onto the centering pin, using the awl mark as a locator, and then drill down from each end, flipping the lure top for bottom and putting the first hole over the centering pin, so the two holes line up.

If my bit isn't long enough, due to the amount of travel my drill press has, I keep the bit in the hole, loosen the chuck, and pull it back up so there is more drill bit exposed.  Then I tighten the chuck and continue drilling.

If you have a long enough bit, this works well.

Edited September 9, 2015 by mark poulson

[Vodkaman]

Mark - that is exactly how I do the through drilling.

With the correctly positioned plate clamped to my drill press bed, I glued and screwed a couple of batons, so now there is no tedious alignment.

I simply push the plate so that the two batons contact the press bed, then a single F or G-clamp to fix in place. Pin alignment is perfect every time, and in only seconds.

Dave

[Travis]

I like to use balsa for my walking baits.  They get tricky to weight as a lot gets packed into that tail section but I end up with a a killer creek bait for smallies.   Basswood gets used the second most in my shop and then will do some expanding foam at times also.

[ACarrell]

Poplar for me... Until i find PVC dowel rods

[ACarrell]

A good thing to do would to take a little hook and a piece of worm and count all the little fish you catch and take pictures so you know the forage in your lake to match you paint jobs to

Forage varies for me, but that's an excellent idea.

I fish in a variety of places ... Most recently Colorado, Minnesota, and the Gulf Coast of Texas ... Fresh and saltwater ... So I'm looking to make a variety of lures. I find it appealing thinking of a tackle box full of lures I've made

[ACarrell]

I first started using this method to line up my swimbait hinge pin holes.

If you're patient, you can put a wooden work top on your drill press and mount a centering pin where the bit lands.

When I do this, I mark where I want the hole to enter and exit the bait with an awl.

Then I put one end onto the centering pin, using the awl mark as a locator, and then drill down from each end, flipping the lure top for bottom and putting the first hole over the centering pin, so the two holes line up.

If my bit isn't long enough, due to the amount of travel my drill press has, I keep the bit in the hole, loosen the chuck, and pull it back up so there is more drill bit exposed. Then I tighten the chuck and continue drilling.

If you have a long enough bit, this works well.

Excellent .. Thanks for the tip !

[ACarrell]

I like to use balsa for my walking baits. They get tricky to weight as a lot gets packed into that tail section but I end up with a a killer creek bait for smallies. Basswood gets used the second most in my shop and then will do some expanding foam at times also.

Cool. In always skeptical of balsa, though obviously it's been used forever in baits like Rapalas, so I shouldn't be .

[JRammit]

Forage varies for me, but that's an excellent idea.

I fish in a variety of places ... Most recently Colorado, Minnesota, and the Gulf Coast of Texas ... Fresh and saltwater ... So I'm looking to make a variety of lures. I find it appealing thinking of a tackle box full of lures I've made

Thats quite the range!... Close to mine (north Texas and Colorado)... Always dreamed of fishing Montana! But Colorado is spectacular in its own right!

[ACarrell]

Thats quite the range!... Close to mine (north Texas and Colorado)... Always dreamed of fishing Montana! But Colorado is spectacular in its own right!

One of the benefits of my job (musician) is that I get to travel a lot, and occasionally get a chance to wet a line !

[SW Lures]

With this info my only concern is the wrap of the wire that is made outside of the baits body (the one). Is there a technique to make this better, that I don't know about? A twist of a wire just doesn't look good to me, but this maybe the only way.

Dale

[mark poulson]

When I played around with making poppers from artificial wine corks, I pushed a through wire in from the cup, and up from the tail, until I was able to get it to pass straight through.  Then I drilled up from the belly for my swivel hook hanger, and shoved it up so the through wire passed through the upper loop of the swivel, to anchor it. 

I put a loop in the through wire and shoved it through from the cupped head, and twisted a loop on the end that came out the tail.  I always had some wire between the lure body and the tail loop.  This worked out well, because it gave me a place to wind on some lead wire for ballast, because the cork was so buoyant without it that it still lay almost horizontal without it, and was too light to cast.

In the process of playing with these baits, I found I could taper the lead wire wrap so it didn't look bad, coat it with brush-on super glue to smooth it out a little, and then paint the whole bait with nail polish, which held up fine, and was easily repairable if needed.

I try and remember that it's not what looks good to me, it's what looks good to the fish, and they don't mind the lead wire.

[SW Lures]

Thanks Paul, I'll try that when I'm ready.

Dale