uptown

The shape of the body has the most effect on how your glider is going to turn. Something with a high curved back is going to have a tighter "slashing action" compared to a drop belly or a round glider. The placemnet of the weight is secondary to the shape of the lure. Adding a "fin" to the back will help to stabilize the lure so that all of the effort is put into moving the bait in one direction. The MAJOR drawback to a Manta style bait is that you lose most of the triggering qualities of the bait . I am sure there are baits that bend that rule, but in general a glider with some wobble or roll to it at the end of the pause or start of the glide catches more fish. getting that wobble is the hard part and part of the reason a well made and balanced glider can command such a high price Just my 2-cents from being a hardcore glider fisherman. Joe Trueglide

I made a few baits a couple years ago that had both rubber and Kevlar fabric for "hinges" on swimbaits and for articulated segments of crankbaits. On big fish( 50"+), both innertube and Kevlar fabric rip vertically. The Kevlar gets degraded pretty fast. I have also tried a thicker MIL. vinyl sheeting and that too will rip length wise.I have caught some nice fish (up 52") on these lures,but after one nice fish- all of them were toast! I have lost a couple of really nice Muskies due to the above materials failing as well. I am not saying that someone could not find a way to make it work- it just did not fit the application I was looking for. Thought I would save some heartbreak;) Also- I believe the guy at the Milwaukee sports show was the "Rat Man" . Joe Trueglide

Fatfingers, Yep, that's what I use. Works great in the winter months. The only problem is the weight. My shop is on the third floor of a warehouse. I do get a little nervous that one day I'll come in and there will be a hole in the floor Joe Trugelide

Snax, Looks Great! Joe Trueglide

Jed, You can buy a 10' aluminum feed trough from most feed supply stores for about $150.00. They are around 3' wide and two feet deep. They are self contained, no need for a frame or anything, just fill it up and you are set. A friend of mine even has fish in his to see how they react to lures,he's also crazy, but it's still not a bad idea;) Joe Trueglide

Snax, I wouldn't take it personally. I was not on that list, nor was Jerry Podmarsky, Jed, Todd Clevland (), Novak, ect........... I am crying in my beer right now Joe P.S. Don't take this seriously- just having some fun

Jed, I bought some of those decals about 5 years ago. LuckyCraft used to sell them in Japan. They no longer make them- at least that is what they told me a couple of years ago. Wish they still did;) Joe

You could just make a router template for the shape. Cut out a slightly oversized version on the bandsaw. Then clamp in into router pattern and do one side at a time. that way they will all be uniform and it will be fast. You can make your template base large enough that you would never have to worry about your fingers and your bait would be clamped down, so no worries about it flying off.

Artbrush, Ochen Priotna

I am a glide bait junkie and I also happen to fish rivers a ton. It sounds to me like you are weighting your lure in only one spot (the pivot point). To make a lure that won't pop to the surface you have to equally distribute the weight across the whole bottom of the lure . A good example would be to look at the previous posts and find the x-ray of the Hughes River "Shaker" that someone posted. It takes more time, but it is the best way that I know of to make a glide bait do what you are looking for. I am not knocking other weighting techniques here. They all work well for different applications and the some people prefer a lure to rise and fall or break the surface.

You can buy watering troughs for horses up to 20 feet long and 4ft wide. Makes a great test tank in the winter months. If you want to similate current you can hook up a water jet to one end and use that. This works great if you have a shop or place to put it.. They are kind of pricey though. Good Luck.

Thanks for the replies guys. I am happy with my current system, but had read on this board in the past that some of you were using the Bullseye Primer/sealer. A friend of mine also uses that system and likes it. I did not think that it would be that great, but thought that I should find out. Just in case I was missing something. Thanks for clearing that up. Happy Thanksgiving

I am looking for a new way to seal and preferably base coat my lures. What are you guys using? I currently use Etex for a sealer and then use a primer. Works great, but I would like to streamline the process(do both in one). Someone suggested tinted Bullseye primer/sealer . Does anyone have any experience using this? Thanks

Hey Partycrasher. I see your from BayView !! I was born and raised there! What part are you from? I lived by shoth shore park.

I just made a TalllyWhacker type bait also . I had the same dilema. What I ended up doing is taking two screw hooks(one for each opening). Approx. the same size as the through wire hole. Screwed them in to each opening and used the hooks to attach the tail section to the drying machine. When it was dry,I just unscrewed the hooks, did a little trimming of the epoxy flash and inserted my rivets. Worked great.

I have been using two coats of Envirotex. I have also used CrystalSheen. They are virtually the same product. 6 hours, two coats, no problems(I fish Muskies also).