Is D2T right for me?

[Dustinmul]

So I made a glide bait and it has proven to be rather effective out the gate. In 5 casts I had a 5 lbs large mouth (4th cast while testing) and a 3 lbs 9 oz bass (first cast of the first fishing trip). I ended up catching another 2.5 lbs and a small pike on its first run out so all in all it’s a win. I couldn’t believe bass were eating this 9 inch glide bait but that little pike took a good chunk of epoxy with him. That was 3 coats of D2T with sanding in between. Maybe this is expectation management, but I figured that a little 2 foot pike wouldn’t cause this much damage to Devcon. Is ETEX better for them toothy critters or an I just doing something wrong?

I’m pretty new, the bait above is the 7th one I made and the 4th that worked as intended. That 5 lbs bass was the first time I got a fish on something I made. It was awesome! Not to mention a pb for large mouth . But I would like these to kinda stand up to larger pike and musky. Any suggestions or knowledge would help. Thanks in advance

 

if you wanna see the fish they are posted on Instagram dsm_baits. I plan to make a couple more of these for obvious reason lol. 

[mark poulson]

Congrats. on a great lure!

When I made epoxy coated wooden baits I used Etex.  It is a decoupage epoxy, designed to move with the large wooden surfaces it is used to cover, like bar tops.  It stays somewhat soft and flexible by design

D2T is glue epoxy, designed to be very rigid and hard.   It is designed to act as a glue between two surfaces, not to coat them.

That makes it brittle over large surfaces, and prone to chipping off in big pieces on big lures.

If that were my lure, I'd touch up the damaged section with bondo, and then paint to match.  I'd scuff up the D2T with fine sandpaper, wipe it down with denatured alcohol, and then I'd put two coats of Etex over the D2T.  It won't be perfect, but it should hold up for a while.

[Dustinmul]

9 hours ago, mark poulson said:

changed my instragram name to predacatcher_lures just if anyone wants to look it up

[JD_mudbug]

Nice lure.

I think it comes down to personal preference.

I have used Etex and D2T. As Mark said, Etex is more flexible than D2T.  My lures cleared with Etex get punctured by teeth more frequently than D2T. I have had small pickerel under 20” puncture Etex.  Some of my Etex lures look like they have been hit by miniature machine gun fire.  On the positive, I have not had a chunk of Etex break off yet. Any pieces that have broken off have been very small, usually because of multiple punctures in close proximity.

D2T seems more resistant to toothy fish damage and hook rash. But when it does break, the damage is  worse than what happens to Etex. Wood swelling is more likely to crack D2T than Etex.  I once had a 1” x 1” piece of D2T break off from a pike bite.  I have had another chunk of D2T the size of a nickel break off.  The damage to D2T can be catastrophic when a rock or bridge piling darts in front of your lure mid-cast.

Small pike can be just as deadly to lures as the large ones. The small ones don’t have the power of the big ones. But, the small ones make up for it with their finer teeth. 

I have only lost clear coat and paint. I have not had any of the lure body (the wood) break off. I use either superglue or wood hardener for sealer to prevent damage to the lure body itself.  Nothing is bullet proof.  

Also, it looks like you are getting some hook point nicks around the rear treble which may have cause the damage when the lure landed. You can increase your lure’s chance of survival by going to a T-type treble like Owner ST-35 trebles.  Decoy used to make T trebles. I don't know if the Decoy trebles are still made. You can also make your own T trebles by bending a treble with a softer wire. Be careful doing this as it can be dangerous, use gloves, pliers, and safety glasses. Owner ST-36 trebles are too stiff to try to bend into a T. I will save you from leaning that mistake the hard way.

[littleriver]

I had ever used etex until recently, though I have been top coating my lures with an epoxy for years. A far superior product in my opinion is Kleer Koat by US composites. Its a tabletop epoxy . You get a half a gallon for 23 bucks. It is much easier to work with than eatex. Etex pooled on my lures. Problem i did not have with Kleer Kote. Over the years the harder did turn yellow. but the resin did not. I am still using that resin with eaten harder now. The etex resin is too thin. I like to to heat my lure and my resin before coating . with heat this product will dry in about 3 hours and your fishing. 

[Dustinmul]

On 5/5/2020 at 10:57 PM, JD_mudbug said:

Nice lure.

I think it comes down to personal preference.

I have used Etex and D2T. As Mark said, Etex is more flexible than D2T.  My lures cleared with Etex get punctured by teeth more frequently than D2T. I have had small pickerel under 20” puncture Etex.  Some of my Etex lures look like they have been hit by miniature machine gun fire.  On the positive, I have not had a chunk of Etex break off yet. Any pieces that have broken off have been very small, usually because of multiple punctures in close proximity.

D2T seems more resistant to toothy fish damage and hook rash. But when it does break, the damage is  worse than what happens to Etex. Wood swelling is more likely to crack D2T than Etex.  I once had a 1” x 1” piece of D2T break off from a pike bite.  I have had another chunk of D2T the size of a nickel break off.  The damage to D2T can be catastrophic when a rock or bridge piling darts in front of your lure mid-cast.

Small pike can be just as deadly to lures as the large ones. The small ones don’t have the power of the big ones. But, the small ones make up for it with their finer teeth. 

I have only lost clear coat and paint. I have not had any of the lure body (the wood) break off. I use either superglue or wood hardener for sealer to prevent damage to the lure body itself.  Nothing is bullet proof.  

Also, it looks like you are getting some hook point nicks around the rear treble which may have cause the damage when the lure landed. You can increase your lure’s chance of survival by going to a T-type treble like Owner ST-35 trebles.  Decoy used to make T trebles. I don't know if the Decoy trebles are still made. You can also make your own T trebles by bending a treble with a softer wire. Be careful doing this as it can be dangerous, use gloves, pliers, and safety glasses. Owner ST-36 trebles are too stiff to try to bend into a T. I will save you from leaning that mistake the hard way.

Thanks for the advice! the wood itself is actually good. that little guy actually only got through 2 of my 3 layers of epoxy and the wood  is sealed with 2 coats of poly. So I don’t think I had any swelling. I had to touch up some paint between the first and 2nd layers. Scale pattern didn’t play ball to well on the bottom half. 

I too T my hooks usually. At least more so on plugs and jerks. I didn’t think it would matter as much on a glide since it is a much slower moving lure. But I also didn’t think about when it lands in the water. I thought those punctures were tooth marks haha. There was also a small spot on the front. That pike hit and swam the same direction I was working it and I never felt him hit the lure. Just as I went to glide it and I had nothing but slack. That hasn’t happened to me to many time so it was interesting. But I will try and t those hooks as well. The permasteel ones are new to me and kinda cheaper, so they shouldn’t be as stiff as owners. 
 

aside from the breakage, I did catch the front hook with my leader more than I’d like to admit. Any suggestion on fixing that on the next run? Maybe back the front hook hanger up some?  But all 4 fish I got on that lure had both hooks pretty firmly attached. So I like the placement. Could just be me though haha. I switched to a more sturdy musky rod that morning cause the lures I chose were a bit heavy to toss all day with my medium rod. 
 

thanks for further breaking down the 2 epoxies in regards to wear and tear. I think I will make that change to etex. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I figure it’s easier to sand down a bit of epoxy and reapply a fresh coat if it gets that tore up. At least compared to  what I’m gonna do to repair that one. 
 

In the end I’m not mad about it. Just don’t want to lose big chunks if I can prevent it. The lures effective so I am happy to get some marks on it

[Dustinmul]

13 hours ago, littleriver said:

I had ever used etex until recently, though I have been top coating my lures with an epoxy for years. A far superior product in my opinion is Kleer Koat by US composites. Its a tabletop epoxy . You get a half a gallon for 23 bucks. It is much easier to work with than eatex. Etex pooled on my lures. Problem i did not have with Kleer Kote. Over the years the harder did turn yellow. but the resin did not. I am still using that resin with eaten harder now. The etex resin is too thin. I like to to heat my lure and my resin before coating . with heat this product will dry in about 3 hours and your fishing. 

How does or would kleer kote stand up to teeth? That glide bait has, for some reason, been a bass magnet, but its intended for for musky and pike. I’m am also planning to make some walleye and bass lures in the future, I have an addiction when it comes to fish with teeth :].  But I like catching anything that’ll put up a good fight. 

[Dustinmul]

On 5/3/2020 at 11:24 PM, mark poulson said:

Congrats. on a great lure!

When I made epoxy coated wooden baits I used Etex.  It is a decoupage epoxy, designed to move with the large wooden surfaces it is used to cover, like bar tops.  It stays somewhat soft and flexible by design

D2T is glue epoxy, designed to be very rigid and hard.   It is designed to act as a glue between two surfaces, not to coat them.

That makes it brittle over large surfaces, and prone to chipping off in big pieces on big lures.

If that were my lure, I'd touch up the damaged section with bondo, and then paint to match.  I'd scuff up the D2T with fine sandpaper, wipe it down with denatured alcohol, and then I'd put two coats of Etex over the D2T.  It won't be perfect, but it should hold up for a while.

I appreciate the info and thank you for the detailed explanation of the differences. I also didn’t think about bondo as a filler. You may be into something there. I have heard people for and against both the main 2 epoxies. Is there an inbetween option? Hard but flexible? Maybe goes on easier than d2t but thicker than etex? I tried to heat it up and even with a good 50/50 mix, it drastically reduced my work time. It essentially became viscous then in a few minutes was a thick spongy like unusable batch. So I redid it without heat and was okay. I just don’t know how people get multiple lures done. I am using really small synthetic brushes, but still, after one it’s starts getting harder to spread. I suppose I could thin it with a few drops of denatured alcohol or maybe acetone. 
 

 

[littleriver]

It worked well on walleye but I have never caught a muskey. DT2 does create a harder surface. But the you lose a lot of work time and it will cost you way more to use in the long run. Kleer Koat is table top; so it pretty tough cheaper and easier to work with in my opinion. 

[JD_mudbug]

For the hook tangling, you could move the front hanger back just a bit as long as you have the room  so the 2 hooks don't hook each other. For the front hook, you could also go with a short shank treble or an EWG treble that has the points tipped in a bit . You can add a Suspend strip or wire to the hook shank if the difference in hook weights affects the action. You could also use a stiffer leader like a heavier flouro to keep the lure from swinging towards the line.

That switch to a heavier rod may help with the tangling too. If the medium rod was under powered for the glide's weight, you might have been doing a saftey lob cast with more of a flick at the end to prevent the rod breaking. This can cause the lure to cartwheel and tangle more.

Etex should be easier to repair than D2T. Etex is thinner. On your glide after you repair the paint, I would put the epoxy on on the damaged area first to try to even out the surface. Then as Mark said, use fine sandpaper to scuff a slightly larger area. Then put on a thin coat of epoxy over the scuffed area. When I do a repair job, I look for a place to put on the epoxy where the patch will show less. I would start that final bit of epoxy at the black paint line and go to the belly. The paint line will hide the edge of the new epoxy. It's so much easier to do on a yellow perch paint job.

I mostly use D2T because I have had good luck with it and my local hardware store carries it at a good price. Denatured alcohol works good as thinner. I have never used acetone as a thinner. I have seen posts on here where people have used 100% pure acetone as a thinner.

 I was thinking on switching to a UV clear just for the ease of use and speed. No mixing would be nice. I have been too lazy lately to build a curing box. I may have to give the Kleer Kote a shot at that price.