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I tie a lot of jigs and tying the same patterns over and over gets pretty boring. While working on orders I had a couple of ideas and decided to put the work aside and create something different from the rabbit strip jigs I routinely make. The jigs in the photo are basic bucktails with some feathers and flashabou. They are Pike jigs so I tied them fairly long, approx. six inches. Feel Free to comment and use the patterns if you'd like

My first attempt at making a shad look alike. Made from cedar with circuit board bill.

Running like a beast this morning. Thanks again!!

I could be wrong, but it look like a Do-it teardrop jig. Heavy hook I would guess for Pike. Wish they had that mold in a 60 instead of a 90 jig hook.

KBS diamond clear coat... 2-3 coats dipped or brushed on.

There is one advantage spraying has over brushing that I have found. With spraying you don't have to worry about bubbles in the top coat. For whatever reason I would occasionally end up with small bubbles when brushing a top coat. Most of the time these could be dealt with IF these tired old eyes saw them. So far I have not had to deal with bubbles in the top coat on any of the baits that were sprayed. Not sure why it happens, but sometimes one persons techniques don't work as well for someone else. Sometimes it could be something as simple as a difference in atmospheric conditions such as humidity levels. For example, when spraying DN I place my baits on a lure turner to cure. Bob has had adverse reactions in the form of paint wrinkling when placing DN covered baits on a lure turner. For some reason I don't have this problem. It could be that spraying ends up with a thinner coating than brushing so the DN doesn't stay in a liquid state as long on the sprayed baits. Staying in a liquid state for a longer period of time possibly gives the DN longer to react with the paint. Maybe it's a combination of heat and humidity. I'm not a chemist so this is only a guess on my part, but my procedure works for me just like Bob's works for him even though while using the same materials we apply them in a different manner. This is what some people fail to understand when asking for solutions to problems they're having. I don't know of anyone at TU who would intentionally mislead someone when it comes to answering lure building questions. It all boils down to the fact that there is no ONE way to build a lure. If there was only one way to do things it would get pretty boring around here and instead of a lure building forum TU would be boiled down to a list of rules. Every builder that has been around for a while knows EXACTLY how expensive it can get when trying different materials and techniques, but sometimes this is necessary to find out what works best for you. Ben

As RayburnGuy said, Bob summed it up very well. My small piece of advice is on your painting: keep track of your colors. If you're just getting started, no matter how you're painting your baits (airbrush, paint brush, splatter, finger-paint) you may find yourself mixing some crazy paint colors. Keep track of the colors you mix and in what proportions because you may never find them again. Terrible feeling when you look at one of your own baits and think, "That's Awesome. How did I do that?" At the beginning, I swear there was some magic in my paint mixing that I've never been able to replicate. Absolute magic... gone forever. ::sigh::

There are a lot of different coatings used to seal (undercoat) and topcoat wood baits. It's a matter of how complicated and expensive you want to make it. One of the simplest regimens I can think of is to finger coat the raw balsa with some liquid superglue to stiffen and strengthen the wood surface, apply a coat of D2T to waterproof the surface, lightly sand, paint, then apply a coat of D2T as a topcoat. That minimizes the number of coatings you need to acquire and yields a pretty durable bait. There are many liquid epoxies on the market. D2T is a popular choice but other slow cure (aka 30 minute epoxies), either designed for glues or decoupage crafts will work. Each has its peculiarities, good points, bad points, etc. They all usually require rotation for an hour or two after application to promote leveling and avoid drips and sags. It's also a matter of how patient you can be when making a bait. There are optional coatings you can use like uv cured polyurethane resins (Solarez, AlumiUV) that cure in a few minutes, moisture cured urethane that you can dip and hang up to dry/cure (KBS Diamond Coat, Dick Nite S81),etc. You need to read up on the options to choose what is best for you and the way you make lures.

Dale, The high gloss I use is the Rustoleum X2 Clear High Gloss as a top coat. I use their X2 White Primer as a base/build coat, because it has a lot of solids/pigment. It is a matte finish. Both of the X2 paints are solvent based, and have to cure 24 hours before fishing, or painting the next coat. I use that white primer when I am not in a hurry, and use a hair dryer to warm it and speed up the cure. I also use Wicked White as a base for some of my paint jobs, because it can be heat set with a hair dryer, and I can finish a paint job in one day. It is fast to apply several coats, heat setting each on, so I can build it up. Then I go over it with Createx Pearl White when I begin my actual paint scheme. Sorry if I wasn't clear before.