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As I do not build gliders or jerk baits, all that I can do is throw a lot of theory out there, to help you understand how the lure works. Understanding the theory helps the builder to design a lure to take advantage of the forces accordingly. Of course, experienced glider builders will have already figured this stuff out even if they do not know the reasons why their lures work. Experience is a valuable tool, theory only gives you a ‘leg up’ at the start. As you have already figured out, this is a very complex issue with multiple factors to be taken in to consideration. The appar

Possibly inspired by divine intervention or alien telepathic communication, you come up with a great idea for a lure. You spend several hours shaping the body. It comes out perfectly symmetrical. The lip slot is perfectly straight. You seal the bait and get the perfect ballast placement in your test tub. You drill the ballast hole and have no wood splintering. After installing the ballast, you re-seal the lure for added protection. You are so excited about your creation you decide to take the lure to the unfrozen portion of a small river on a cloudy dreary 30 degree day to test the action. Yo

Mark, I wasn't sure if you check back on threads that you've commented in before, so I made this thread just to say, Thank you !! The advice you offered me in my injection mold problem thread was spot on! Trying to keep the story short ... I tried opening the gate up a bit and added a vent channel with a hole drilled at its end, at the nose of the bait. It didn't help at all. In fact it made it worse. The vent wouldn't let me build up any pressure in the mold, and I think it actually caused the gate to cool closed more quickly. So I got the Dremel out again and really went to town on open

If those are your first baits man you are well on your way! They look great. In my day job I am a network engineer so I can appreciate the fact that you used the two sides from an old computer case for your painting booth. That's awesome man:) You have for sure found yourself in the land of bait makers here. Everyone here is extremely helpful and listening to their advice will only make you better at this amazing hobby. There have been so many good tips provided here and I'd like to give you a couple as well. Just a couple of tips to make things easier for you I guess. I used to have HP

@Skeeter what I know that is different about it is that it was designed to have no toxic fumes because several well known lure makers had died of cancer and Joe, the guy that developed it, did so as a response to that. As far as anything about the product that makes it more suited to lure making I am not sure. It does work like a charm though. First time using it and I got the best, nearly flawless topcoat I’ve ever gotten:

Rubbish, the dolphin showed no interest in the lure what so ever! Just kidding, great work, looks amazing Dave

RPM - It must have been a huge buoyancy force to have that effect, as you stated. The other clue is the 'thumping' action. This is an indication that the lure is swimming at a very steep angle. The drag from the lip is very high but the down force is small. The optimum angle is around 45 degrees for maximum depth. This smaller angle presents less lip, so less thump but more down force. To achieve this, your tow eye needs to go further forward. Dave

In my post about getting the screw eye holes in the EXACT middle of the lure, I had mentioned a jig I made for use with a flush trim bit on a router table. It occurred to me that some folks might like to see it. So, here it is: Used 1/2" plywood for the base, and did the profile for the back of the lure on the band saw and then the belt sander. Drilled 5/16" holes, then used a forstner bit to recess the heads of the t-bolts so it would sit flat on the router table and the t-bolts wouldn't scratch things up. Used a 3/8" trim bit to rou

Easy.... You have to invest in machinery and tooling and take the human element out of it.

Just wanted to send a thanks out to all the peeps who answer the same questions over and over for those of us just starting out, the money you guys save us newbies is one of the only ways we can afford to get into this hobby! I’ve been reading the forum for a month or so, this is my first post. Haven’t really needed to ask anything, you guys have covered everything I can come up with. Thanks again, really appreciate it!

051 would be a good diameter..you could go up to 062 but that would be a bear to bend...Nate

I've tried the adhesive backs stuff.... like hvac tape and such - WAY thicker than the stuff I'm using. For something large or a flat side crank the HVAC stuff is not bad - but no where near as "flexible" for the really contoured stuff. I use a light spray of Super 77 - then press this thin foil down, working it with my fingers to get it as flat as I can over half the bait.... I then use popsicle sticks I've sanded/shaped to press and burnish it down into the details and rub flat the wrinkles as best I can. In some instances this stuff will rip if your a little too physical with it....

Most of the major brands have a wide array of colors. It is hard to just single out one brand. SK has a lot of colors I like. 6th Sense makes some nice ones too. When I make a lure, the color just comes down to personal preference or perhaps to fill a hole in the color spectrum that I can’t buy elsewhere. I repaint some brand name lures with black or black with blue flake because that color is hard to find in a hard bait. At night, dawn/dusk, and in muddy water, black is usually a great choice. A lot of people use a certain color based on confidence. I think that becomes a self-fulli

Good reply Anglinarcher. My prey are bawal, a deep bodied very aggressive fish, which explains why I only need a belly hook. Dave

Tough question for sure, and a lot of personal opinion is involved. Personally I think it depends on the size of lure, the type of fish you are after, even the type of lure you are making. I should take more time to explain myself on this, but this is the short version. (This could take a chapter of a book to explain) On species that are less aggressive, like many freshwater trout species, I find that the tail hook is important. On larger lures, lures that often work much better than people think, the trout will tail tug or test the lure first and tail hooks really up-the-catch rate.

I have two new lure building spreadsheet tools available: 1 - TU resin lure calc – Designed to help with the amount of filler (MBs) and ballast required to achieve the required buoyancy without having to resort to many trial and error builds. 2 - TU wood lure calc – As above but designed for carved lures (wood, PVC or other). Many members have the Ballast Calculator, an older tool. I feel that No2 above is a better tool for this job as it takes into account internal and external hardware as well as ballast. So if anyone requests the Ballast Calculator in future, I will del

I've been wanting a better way to balance my hard baits instead of guessing where the center of mass is. I built a simple balance to attempt to do this. A quick build with scrap materials.

Check out this video from Jekyll Baits on YouTube, seems like she achieves a similiar effect.

I use one of two ways, depending whether the bait is one part or jointed. For one part I use papertrick, shown below. First, I trace the bait to a peace of paper and cut it out. Then I fold it in half, find the balancing point and press my pen through. Then I mark the point to my bait. Easy way to find center of gravity for one part bait. For jointed baits, I always find the CoG for each segments. I could use this paper trick to find the center but then there's an weight distribution problems... So I use this method below instead. I'll

Weather is acting up so no testing yet for my lightened spoon. It means, I'll go forward with this design. Kinda mimicked an Roach fish here. Pretty basic color scheme, just a tad of fluoriscent red, blue and green on the sides which shows depending the lighting. Next step would be obviously epoxy coating but also making the stinger setup. Not sure how much it inhibits the swimming action but we'll see. Have to test with fluorocarbon, leader wire and Kevlar thread would also be one option. I know all of these are being used in these kind of baits so just have to test which

SB paints dry fairly quick, usually you can handle them in 5 to 10 minutes. Dry time is affected by how much paint you lay down and ambient conditions as well. Some residual tail solvent will take longer to completely leave and it is recommended to let them dry over night before packing if doing so. As far as the other Post there is something else going on as it shouldnt be tacky, need more info on that one. See above. Same applies to for all SB paints as Clear 3000. The addition of SB Coat Retarder if needed will slow dry time, the amount added will determine the final dry time. The p

I would love to jump in on this post, but everything I want to say has already been said. Dave

With a pure clean ingot dross should be minimal. If your buying from a reputable refiner such as Rotometals here on the USA it should be really clean. But for scrap lead from a scrap yard or anywhere else it will vary every time.

I've had good luck with baltic birch plywood. Not the normal plywood from home depot. Normal plywood uses low quality plies in the middle. Baltic birch uses high-quality plies all the way through. I got mine at Rockler woodworking store. They sell smaller pieces (1ftx2ft) so you don't have to buy a whole sheet. No problems with grain, it finishes fairly smooth and then wipe on layers of lacquer and final dip in floor wax to get gloss finish. The plies show up as alternating light/dark lines that help you keep symmetry. You can get pretty fine detail. If I wanted super fine detail I'd

I think it may be a center of gravity thing. If the blade is getting fouled on the case, the bait is probably tumbling on the cast, instead of traveling ass first. Try adding more beads behind the clevis as spacers, so the body begins at the back of the blade. That way, it should cast truer, like a spook with more weight toward the rear.

Every now and then I see that there's a new topic in the cookbook sticky so I open it up to see what's new. It seems like a lot of folks are going in there asking how to make a color and that ends up with a lot of messages back and forth. I would suggest that if you need help with a color that isn't in the cookbook that you ask in the regular part of the soft plastic forum and once you get the color dialed in you post the recipe in the sticky cookbook thread. Just my opinion though

Through wire is way too much overkill......use stainless steel wire and twist your own screw eyes and set with epoxy. No fish is going to pull the hook hangers or line tie out.

I have looked for my phone, with the flashlight on my phone. I’m only 36...

This is a tale of multiple ‘happy accidents’ making a memorable lure. I have a bond with this lure that is tempting me to not retire it, even though it belongs on the wall now. My favorite lure is one I call Dicky Moe after the whale in a Tom & Jerry cartoon. The cartoon whale was the first thing I thought of when the lure was finished. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bttiQVVweJE It is all white, 9.75” long, and weighs 3.1 oz. without the hooks. The bait came out longer than expected because I forgot to take into account the joint gaps would add close to an inch of length

A quick video highlighting a few modifications to my 10" WEN 3962 bandsaw http://rvbprecision.com/machine-tools-welding/wen-3962-bandsaw-modifications-walk-around.html

I've made several large deep diving lures that hit 25+ feet (obviously speed/how much line makes a different). These are trolling baits, 14" (plus 3" of lip) 12-16oz. I think the tow point makes a huge difference, how far up or down the lip or the body it is. It is the pivot of how much your lip can rotate "down" and pull the bait with it. Now I'm only speaking from making large lures, so I think there is more room for error or variances in weight and slight imperfections. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but how much does the actual weight of a deep diver make a difference. From my

My purpose in explaining 304 v 304L was merely to show the basic difference as it applies to lure building. I did not want to see a lure builder pay more or even the same for 304L, when its performance is a bit less than 304 in lure building. I was not trying to give a tutorial on welding let alone annealing a weld. Hence, 'the heating the crap out of it' non-technical term. I guess I should have put that in my post. My apologies. Dave, you are correct. Anyone doing welding should do their own research and not attempt to learn skills like that on a lure building forum. I didn't even hav

304 is the most common stainless wire fortunately for us. Yes it is soft and it bends easily, again, fortunately for us. 304 also cold work hardens. This means that when you work it into a series of tight bends when making a twisted eye, the material automatically hardens, as you will discover if you try to unwind a tight set of coils. This again is in our favour. So, don't be fooled in to thinking that this material is too soft for our purposes. Once bent into the shape that we want, it automatically toughens up. When I have tested SS twisted eyes with heavy loads, there was di

The jig was purposely done as a "hand tool". Clamping a lure to drill one hole is even more time consuming than any other method I've seen/tried, so I ruled that out fairly early. The jig shown above is being used with a drill press. I looked up "center drill" because I was unfamiliar, and that wouldn't address the issue, either. I'd end up just having two jigs then - one to center the center drill on the lure, and then one for the smaller drill bit - which would hide the pilot hole from the center jig anyway, so there wouldn't be much value - unless I got the mini mill table, and

Use wavelength of light and water penetration... other technical terms will find thousands of articles if really interested in the topic. https://www.fix.com/blog/view-from-below-lures-underwater/

I lost a pin out of a mold. I called Lurecraft and asked what size pin I would need to get. The nice lady looked me up on her computer and said she would mail me one.

Barlows has the best mold and hook info on the planet... Thanks for all the help you give us! Mike Lohn

Andrew, Based on our test, the 291 will work in Do-It Mold SRH-6-A. It's not a perfect fit -- see the attached image -- but, at worst, you might have leakage around the hook eyes. Size-wise, here's what we think will work in each cavity: Size 2 - 1/16, 1/8 Size 1 - 1/8 (better fit than size 2), 3/16, 1/4 Size 1/0 - 5/16, 3/8 (3/8 is a little tight) Hope this helps.

If you use the fingernail resin hardener lights, about $25 on amazon it works really good (get the bulb ones not the LED ones). I found it worked great and built a hardening tank using two of them. But one works just as good. Also, Alumi-uv is good but expensive and hard to get now. Look on Amazon for the Chinese knockoffs. They are identical. I've been using it for awhile now. It takes about 20 minutes to cure a bait. I just paint them on and keep the brush in a tin foil tube I made. If you keep it out of the light it won't get hard. On the bait the resin seems to self level and hardens smoo

You are using the wrong kind of beads behind the clevis, that is one problem. The beads behind the clevis aren't just a spacer, they act as a bearing for the clevis to spin on. The second part of the problem is your design, you have the weight way to far behind the blade placement.

Eastman - this experiment might help with your visualization. 1 - Take an empty plastic drinks bottle. 2 - Fill it water until it just starts to sink in a bucket of water. Drop by drop towards the end. 3 - Weigh and write down the weight. 4 - Repeat adding lead instead of water. Both should weigh the same. Dave

Hobby Lobby sells 4 different models of gate shears... Use the 40% coupon. I bought the widest blade model and it works great. These will cost you $6 https://www.hobbylobby.com/Beads-Jewelry/Tools-Adhesive/Jewelry-Making-Tools/Diagonal-Cutter/p/9692 These $6 https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Model-Kits/Paint-Brushes/Sprue-Cutter/p/1222 These $8 https://www.hobbylobby.com/Beads-Jewelry/Tools-Adhesive/Jewelry-Making-Tools/Flush-Cutters/p/80876526 These $11 https://www.hobbylobby.com/Beads-Jewelry/Tools-Adhesive/Jewelry-Making-Tools/Micro-Shear-Flush-Cutters/p/8087

I say no, depending on the other features you build onto the bait. I use long hand twisted ss hook hangers and a tough epoxy undercoat on balsa baits, and have never had a bass break one. Imho, thru-wiring only gets you one thing, and that’s maybe the fish that breaks your balsa bait.

Learning does not make you a hack at all. We all started somewhere and have all made ugly lures and failures with action. I still do at times lol. I can tell you myself and many on this forum are willing to help you learn as well. I can paint but not to the level of some here. I am more interested in the action. If you ever need help bringing one of your pencils to life ask I bet you will be met with help and no judgment Too many are heated over competition in their painting market and are forgetting that if you are in business finding out how to stand out from your competition is pa

The Twinjector has been around for many years. The thought put into it is not just the two together. Making one and not thinking about simple things like pins to keep the tips on while using it is priceless. Being far enough apart to use big Pyrex cups or two presto pots makes it a no brainer. But if it is hard to get past the price then save a little longer and you will be money ahead for many years to come. I still have the first one ever made.

Lol.....and the definitely aren't easy to do cleanly either. Skeeter