Muskie Bob

Dave, I'm interested in a larger size. One that I can use for muskie lures. Something in size similar to .092" magnum screw eyes, the figure 8 type. The wiggle wart is too small for the split rings and hooks. I know of muskies caught on wiggle warts and the hangers did just fine. It sounds like there isn't anyone making hollow plastic lures without using the wire thru hangers. I'm anxious to get my order of foam 16 so I can find out if the inside is as strong as the outside skin. If it is, I may consider using screw eyes just to test them. Two years ago before I discovered this site I tried to make a plastic lure using a clear two part resin. It took for ever to setup, but I doubt if the screw eyes will ever come out. So, any idea other than wire thru or screw eyes for hangers would be appreciated. Thanks, Muskie Bob

Nathan, Is this event open only to TU Staff? If it is open to everyone, I would like to attend the Saturday afternoon session on lure making. If there are others interested in muskie fishing, I could bring a tackle box I'm making that is somewhat similar to Dunwright's. It's a little rough, but I think it will be functional. At least, it might give someone else a better idea. Muskie Bob

Doug, Styrofoam is not the answer. If you search the forums, you will see the foam for making plastic lures has to turn into a hard plastic. Perhaps the "skin" part is what gave you an idea about coating styrofoam. Well, if you coated the styrofoam, you probably wouldn't need the styrofoam. I know it would scare the....out of me to think a muskie hit a coated styrofoam lure. Let me know if you find out differently. Muskie Bob

(good impression or not)......good has it. Great looking baits. Have you field tested them? How deep do they run? It may be just the pictures, but the lip looks a little large to me. And, the lip eyelet appears too close to the end. I believe I read somewhere that the eyelet should never be closer to the end than half of the length of the lip. That's why I was curious about how deep and how they run. And, I'm just learning.....as I am just now starting my first bait. That's the real reason for asking the questions. The shape and paint job looks really great! Muskie Bob

I've found figure 8 links at Jann's Netcraft and luremaking.com. However, I hate to pay shipping charges for just them. I check with Ace Hardware today, but they didn't have any small ones to use in a foam bait. Anyone have suggestions where I might find them locally?

I suggest you doing a search on "air" or "bubbles", etc. to find previous discussions on the subject. That's what I am doing. Devcon is used by some to coat their molds. One person said he doesn't bake his plaster mold. He just uses Devcon to coat them. Regardless, it sounds like you will need to coat the mold with a sealant or Devcon to help keep bubbles out of your finished bait. Hope the search helps you. That's what I'm doing before I make my first mold. Good luck. Muskie Bob