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I see that you either sanded or cut the bills, make sure that they are straight with the rest of the body, if not they will go all over the place, also I would put in some belly weight. You must do one move at a time or you will not learn anything.

MB has a patent application in for the bait. Bait was pulled by choice (for now). We will keep it at that

The mold you have accepts a 60 degree hook. Mustad 32786 will not fit along with the 32729 as well both of the eye shanks on these hooks is too long. Naturally the 32729 is a thin wire. I would have to look, but an Owner 5304 has a shorter shank and that might fit, if you are looking to use a 2/0 or a 3/0. they are very light hooks, however very strong and sharp. There are not a lot of options for this mold. You can try putting in a 90 degree hook, put the pin for the hook eye in the mold is quite large, so you might have to grind it down, so you can place the hook eye over the pin in the mold.

tow eye position would need to be 1/2 inch from beginning of lip .

Ask Jon Barlow, the number you want is the Mustad 32729, the 32760 is a 90 degree hook and even though the shank is long the hook eye leg is too short to fit in a 60 degree hook mold. So the only light wire alternative is the 32729 or Eagle Claw 2729 black platinum.

Like Bass100, I suspect the tow eye position. Dave

I am in the process of making my first swimbait, a 4" crappie, out of birch. My process was to cut center line slots in the top and bottom, leaving about 7/16" in the center. Then i rough carved. Next I ran ss wire hinges through top and bottom and epoxied them in. At this point, the final carving and sanding were done. I sealed the bait with superglue. This left a slot in the whole length of the bottom of the bait a little less than 1/8" thick (Marathon saw blades are thin). I squashed some solder with a pair of vise grips and friction fit it into the slots. This allowed me to move the weights around, tweak the amount and water test for proper action, sink rate, and attitude. Finaly, they were glued in and the gap was filled with epoxy and micro-balloons. I don't know how others do it. But this seemed like a great way to tweak a bait. I am very happy with the results.

Did you add ballast weight? Do you have any finished lures that you tested so that we can see the line tie and hook hangers? There could be several things going on but you didn't offer enough information.

6 1 smallmouth on one if my plastics Friday night. Itvwas on the delmart 4" shz.

Nice baits. As Mark said, though, in the future, please post pics in the Gallery and link to them in your forum posts. Thanks The Fun Police

i used degassed medium from leonard, he breaks it down into individual gallons and its always mixed properly. i tried the essential series and had crazy bubbles, degassed is worth it IMO his new gallons have a large opening but i just pour them into a smaller jug thats easier to pour into my pyrex cups.

It is a mold that I bought from Lure Craft.

If the lip becomes an issue by snapping off when bounced off rocks, the solution is to design in a radius between the body and the lip. This will act as a strain relief, spreading the loads out. Cracks and tears happen at sharp corners because all the strain concentrates at the corner. Remove the corner and the problem goes away. This is why aircraft have round shaped windows. DAve

I meant to post the link in the reply. Sorry about that. Had a Homer Simpson moment. Dooohhhh Ben http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Muskie-Bait-Parts/Plug-Belly-Weight-Inserts.html

I'm using spikeit medium pourasol& colorants & the basstackle 6oz. Injector & couldn't be happier with the results.

I am also a beginner. My first plastic was Super Soft. I added hardener but realized that I was better off with Medium to start. The soft produces a nice bait but I think I will stick with Medium for what I want. My son, on the other hand, wants hard baits for his Striper fishing. I decided to buy 5 gallons from Baitjunkies and will get a mix of Medium and hard. I would like to say that I have picked out one supplier for everything but that seems difficult right now - there are so many suppliers that each have their own positive attributes. I have found the molds from Enforcer to be real good with excellent customer service. I also ordered some Do it Essential molds which were good once I sealed them with high temp paint. I ordered a 702 craw from BTS on Sunday but am still awaiting a confirmation on the ship date. From what I have read in these forums I may be waiting a while for the confirmation. As far as colorant is concerned I would stay with Spike it. I buy it in the 4 OZ size. They have a nice color assortment. As far as Injectors are concerned I like Basstackle's injectors with the locking pin. The price was good and the quality is great.