musky_man

Pop, Use laquer paint. The easiest way is to get a nail head about the same size as the eye you want. Dip the nail head in the paint and the GENTLY touch the area where you want the eye. DO NOT push the nail all the way to the jig surface -- just touch and pull away. That should leave a nice round eye. Pratice a little on a piece of scrap. I use 5-minute epoxy over the paint. Hope that helps.

davy crockett. It is probably the torque of the blade as they spin, drawing it to one side. Try bending the upper arm slightly to the side OPPOSITE the direction that the bait leans when it is in the water. That might help.

Jim, The reason is -- they want you to come back and buy another when the hook is wasted. Use a good quality, size 7, heavy duty, zinc coated s/r and you will be fne. You can get 1000 at Worth for about 45 bucks. http://www.worthco.com/fish/ If you are making really big baits, you can use the Wolverines -- but they are thick and for big baits only. Hope that helps.

Jim, When your bucktails look like that, take some dishwaher soap (the kind you use in your sink, not a mechanical d/w) and give them a good washing. Hang them to dry. Once dry. steam the the bucktail over a boiling kettle. for about 30 seconds You will be amazed at the results -- look like new. Hope that helps.

The easiest way is to use a clevis and a split ring. Attach the hook to the split ring and then insert the clevis through the split ring and then feed the clevis onto the wire shaft. The advantage of that is -- should the hook get smoked, you just take it of of the clevis and replace it. Hope that make sense.

Geeman, I use lacquer (head cement) ... let that dry thoroughly (leave a day) and then mix a tiny bit of 5-minutes epoxy and dabble it over the windings with your fingers. You will have to keep the bait slowly rotating in your fingers for about 2-3 minutes until the epoxy sets ....leaves a nice smooth finish. You do not need much -- I dab a blob of A and B about the size of a large tablet each (500 mg of vit C) on a piece of masking tape and mix them together with a toothpick. That works well for me .... been tying for 25+ years. Hope that is some help.

The best place I know is: http://www.luremaking.com/ Good luck

I have never seen oen that bends those thicknesses. I think there is a type that you can modify to bend 0.051, but not 0.062. I bend them both easily with vice grips and a vice. I do not get a perfect circle, but I do not care and neither do the fish. I do get a very neat bend though that looks quite professional and is reminiscent of the way that Skinner bent his, back in the good ole days. Once you have the knack, you can do it in about 5-8 seconds.

Larry, That is too purdy to fish with

The best and cheapest place I have found stainless steel wire, in pre-cut lengths and diameters, is: http://www.luremaking.com/

Try Lakeland. They have excellent quality blades and you can order smaller amounts. They charge 1 dollar per line extra if you do not order 1000, plus a surcharge of 15 bucks, but if you are orering a lot of various types of blades in the 50+ number, it is not a bad way to go. http://www.lakelandinc.com/

5-minute epoxy is what I use and it does a nice job. Mix it for about 1 minute before you apply it. I just use my finger. I sometimes will give it a little blast from my paint stripping gun -- seems to give it a nicer finish, but just a quick one.

S/B, I have been tying musky bucktails and spinnerbaits for 25 years. If you want a good source of supplies, use luremaking.com. Great service, good selection and you do not have to buy huge quantities. They are Canadian, but their prices are excellent. As to powder painting musky baits -- not a problem. Here are a few things I would suggest. 1) Get a paint heater stripper gun to heat the blades or lead bodies. I used candles and it is messy and a pain in the butt. 2) After heating the surface for about 10-15 seconds, apply the powder in one of 2 ways: a) Believe it or not, I use a woman's make-up brush -- the kind that are a little fluffly and have paint-brush-like hairs. Dip the TIP of the brush into fluffled up paint and then gently tap the brush over the jig or blade Do that a few times until you have it covered and the paint STICKS. Do not worry about making sure it looks perfect because once you have it covered, genly heat it up again and once you see the paint start to go glossy, back off on the heat. When you are applying the paint, I put hold the thing I am painting in a vice. The as you tap the paint off of the brush, hold the jar UNDER the object you are painting to capture any unused paint. Take a small container with a plastic or metal lid and poke in a few small holes. Then do the same as above, but shake the the pain over the object like a salt shaker. If you want to see some of my baits, go to the link below and click on the pics: http://www.protacklemuskyshop.com/cataloguetackle.php?td=brand&idd=90&display=Musky%20Man%20Baits Also at: http://www.reprobaitlures.com/ I hope that helps.

Not my business, but why do you want to use titanium? I have tied thousands of baits and I see no reason to go to that expense. S/S is fine material and plenty strong.

Widowmaker, I assume you are wrapping the hook with tying thread and lacquer before you are adding the flashabou .... also, wet the flashabou with saliva or water ( I use a sponge when tying martabou to dampen my hand when I need to) .... if not, that might be your solution.