nerdy

do you do the drilling instead of using basepin? i was wondering about doing that.

another way to cheat for easy patterns is to use a sharpie. i paint heads white, then draw eyes, gills, and various fishy looking bars on the head, then clear coat powder paint over it. theres a large amount of sharpie colors so selection is pretty good.

does anyone know of any places which sell 1/2-1 ounce football head molds with heavy duty hooks that accept basepins?

ill vote for the okumas too. i have a heavy and they are nice.

thanks for the help guys. ill hopefully get one sometime soon. ill post some pics of my first baits.

four inches is a little too small for my plans. this one looks better. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36066 the only reason im using this site is because its a local chain around here and it would save me shipping costs. do the centers touch? also, found this one too, which looks to be a better fit than the previous one. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=92519

does anyone have this lathe or any experiences with it? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=3173 it looks nice, and a cheap way to get into turning my own topwaters and such. what is the biggest lure i can expect to make on this? also, will a bullet weight fit in there? thanks for your help guys.

just allow ample time for the first pour to cool. but dont wait too long that the two pieces wont adhere to one another.

it depends what kind of plastic it is. i have some real soft m-f and the swimbaits barely last one fish. they'll come down the shank if i cast them too hard. i use hardener in my baits with the current plastic i have. but, if the plastic you get is hard enough, you wont need to add hardener.

woah.

that stuff is called loc-tite. its the secret for resin molds.

its funny... i actually just tried out some homemade scents a couple of days ago. however, they were more for slime coat purposes. i mixed some crisco and italian dressing togetherto form a paste. i dabbed it on the lure and tested it on some bedding fish. they seemed to react more once it was applied. im eager to order some of the blood that bps has and mix it in.

matt, what kind of plastic do you use? the western plastics guys use m-f plastic, but im not sure if its the saltwater plastic or not. i like the consitency of their baits, so i might just buy a gallon of what they use from them. the stuff i have now is way too soft... it barely stays hooked.

it is important that the plastic is supple enough to still get a good action out of it. i need plenty of wobble from 3 - 6 inch typical saltwater style swimbait.

i didnt seal it. as far as the hardener goes, i have some, but was looking for a way to eliminate the hassle of using the hardener.