teach

Hi lites are transparent. pearls are opaque. Depending of course how much you add.

Where does everybody get their rod blanks from and what are the positives and negatives? I am mainly focused on inshore rods.

I bought and built one as practice and I was impressed with how light and crisp it felt. It is well worth the money. I never felt a rod this cheap that had the same feel, but I mostly use higher end st.coix rods.

I agree with being original. I am sure if you are going to make them for your personal use, then copying a premade lure would not get you sued. Copying a lure is good to get a feel for the process of mold making by working with as few variables as possible. Personnally I sculpt my own designs and use my own color combinations based on minnows and crayfish from the areas I fish. I think showing the fish something original is always a plus. I have recently landed by personal best bass on a design I came up with recently. In the end though, just doing it yourself and catching something on it is the best part.

Another tip on mixing is to always start out with the lighter color and add small amounts of the dark color untill you get the desired color or value.