GVF

I thought I would give an update on the success of the clear coat.The small plugs were given 2 coats of D2T and sent down to 100' and no cracking:). the large plugs were given 10 coats of CSI clear coat and sent down to 50' and all survived. I sent one down to 80' and it blew the paint up.I must have had a bad spot on it. Since then I have started to make a few more of the large plugs and will coat them with D2T Thanks again to the members of this site. Rich

Well I got my shipment of Devcon 2 ton today and I gave a light sand to the finish and applied a coat of D2T. I only did a few of them and I like the results. I rotated them end for end after a few minuets so the resin wouldn't run and the finish looks good.I will sand them again and give them another coat and let them cure and send them deep and then we'll see if I'll have to throw them out and start over. My first lures I painted about 3 years ago and have been asking and looking for answers to why my paint would not hold up.It took one question and you guys a couple days to resolve my dilemma this site rocks. All the people I talked with had lots of knowledge about pressure and depth explained to me the problems I would encounter and all were related to crush pressure and not on water infiltration. This is why I didnt think about it but now I am armed with information and that is priceless.I will make a new batch of "little torpedoes" and do them the right way and post the results.

Ro fish we fish lakes here that exceed 300' and to find the big ones you have to get it down so we use a downrigger which is a motorized cable with a large wt 8-12 lbs and we use a line release to clip the line attached to the lure and pole when a fish hits the line is released and you fight the fish.

Thanks Vodkaman I was afraid I would be sanding down all those lures. The large ones I have are not too hard to sand down they are large enough to hold on to but the little ones:drool: WATCH the fingers!! I have been re coating the ones I have ready for Pyramid and will be coating them with at least 10 coats to be sure they will not "leak" The fest is only a month away.They will be fished in 40' depths. I am taking extra care to coat the sharp edges and inverting them to dry, the sharp edge down. OK I need more info on this You're saying that I need to heat cure my lures? 2 hrs at 400 I would be afraid to burn them and what a suprise when my wife looks in the oven:lol: After pyramid I will re evaluate the lures and sand down ,seal and re-paint. Nathan thanks for filling in Rofish on the downrigger thing for me. dampeoples I couldnt find how to get the free samples from the DN site do you have a link?

WOW you guys are great I have been looking for info about helping me make my own lures right and in just a couple days all this info ...its just great.I cant thank you all enough.(I just wish I found this site before I painted all those lures.) I went out yesterday to test out the motor(a whole other bunch of issues there) and put some lures in the water I didnt fish below 20' and when I inspected the lure I noticed it had cracked. Not much pressure at 20' so I have to believe that my finish is failing and water is getting under the paint as said. I have been using spray paint for the primers and finishes some are model paints some are multi use. Early on I was dipping them in vinyl paint .As for sealing I haven't done anything(big mistake right?)The top coat is a seal coat by component systems a one part clear. The eye hook for the line is installed and left in place to hang the lure while painting I make the hole for the hook eye before painting and install after finish.I dip the threads in gorilla glue before installation. Most of the lures are basswood allthough some are redwood ,ceader, pine. The one in the pic is basswood. Please feel free to send a PM on ALL steps I should be taking to create a paint job that will handle the depths Im looking at. I will file them for reference in my computer. Do you think I will be able to coat the Devcon over the clear coat I have all ready put on? Or am I destined to sand down the lures and start over sealing them first.The ones in the singuture pic are 1.5 in but I have 30 5-6 in x1' plugs finished ready for Pryamid lake Nevada next month:(

The cracks run the length of the lure and are fractures.The lures were made to hunt Kokenee and I have been fishing them off a downrigger at 80' and have one or two I droped down deeper(90') I have some 6" lures I use for Macks and those have been down to 120' I have ordered some Devcon 2 ton resin and will be giving that a go any tips on how to apply it to the lures, brush, dip???

Thanks for the replies, Bobp I don’t think I left any place for water to enter the lure and waterlog the lure and if they are in the water for only 15 minutes the paint cracks. Hazmil ,I do understand the problem is atmospheric pressure that is compressing the finish and or paint on the lure I have made some from soft wood(cedar ,pine) and some on hard wood(basswood) and they both cracked. I have store bought wooden lures that I have fished that deep with no effects (lymans). I was hoping to find out what they use but some secrets are hard to get. I think it’s the clear coat that has to be tough enough to withstand the pressure or malleable enough to move. I will have to try both and try some on plastic stock I have also thought about using a stain on the lures since the color isn’t as important at that depth. The clear I used was not a 2 part finish and I thinking that the finish is most important to get that depth Thanks again Rich

My paint is cracking when I fish my lures down to 80'- 100' or more and I'm looking to find out if any one knows what I can do to paint or coat my lures so I can fish them this deep.I have built them out of different woods (soft and hard) I use enamel paints and a lure /jig finish(clear) Thanks

No I haven't but I will try it

Hello to all fellow tackle makers. My name is Rich and I have been making my own fishing lures for about 4 years now and I am trying to make lures for fishing deep and am having problems finding a finish or paint that wont crack under pressure.I am fishing these plugs at 100' plus and the paint is cracking. I am looking for info on what type of wood and paints I should be trying. Thanks GVF