bass100

I use a mixture of water, alcohol, retarder, and flow improver. You can use just water but you may get a bit of tip dry. 2/3 distilled water 1/3 isopropyl alcohol 99% 1 ml retarder 10 ml flow improver Mixing thoroughly is important so throw some paint mixing balls in. You can get them off of Amazon for $8 for 200. Also before you ever shake a new bottle up, open the cap and clean any dry paint off with a q-tip. You never know how long they have been on the shelf.

I save a ton of money by buying the Folkart acrylic paints at Walmart and thinning them down. They only cost $0.58 a 2 ounce bottle. Once you learn how to thin the paints down correctly you can use almost any acrylic paint for airbrushing.

The best thing to do is talk to your better business bureau, it is free and they will answer or direct you to the right place. Every state has different laws regarding business licenses.

I am a bit late to the party but one piece gliders can absolutely swim like a 2 piece glider. My glides swim with a nice S-pattern and the fall perfectly horizontal with a shimmy. Because they sink perfectly horizontal with a slow fall, they will sink to the bottom and stand on their hooks without falling over. Making the belly thinner than the top and putting the weight as low as you can gives you a very strong shimmy on the fall. I won a fair amount of money with these baits in tournaments. Smallmouths in crystal clear water love them and will come up from 20 feet to get them. I also found this that might be used as a reference. Bulletproof Glide Desenho e modelos Bait | Homemade fishing lures, Custom fishing lure, Fishing bait (pinterest.com.mx)

The #1 tip is to not under price your baits. This was the biggest mistake I made in the beginning. Stay firm on your prices especially with friends because they will always want more. Make sure you do not invest money into molds of baits that are infringing on others patents because you will get a cease and desist letter and then you will not be able to sell anything from those molds. Make sure you get the right suppliers at the best prices. American made supplies may tickle your patriotism but it will also hit your wallet (this is a very touchy subject in the current global politics because it affects your shipping times and security of suppliers). You said you are new to the hobby so I would spend a couple of years perfecting the craft before making it a business. Good luck.

Hey Mark, glad to see you are still around. It has been about a decade. I had to shut down the company and stop fishing due to medical problems but I am slowly getting back into it. This coating is something I would not use because I use PVC. This community is crafty so who knows what someone might want to do with it.

In the crafting world they are using it for casting and coating.

I have never used this for lure making but figured I would post because someone may find use for it.

Pledge is basically clear acrylic paint with unneeded additives. There are clear acrylics on Amazon and other sites. You can also get clear acrylic in spray cans. Check out this video for spray cans.

I have pictures in the gallery (somewhere) of some small gliders that work great. They are my smallmouth killers. I have made them in wide gizzard shad shapes and narrow shiner shapes. They both glide great but the wide gizzard shad shape catches far more fish for me, especially at Erie. The prototypes I carved out of PVC and then once I got them where I liked them I made them out of resin.

Sorry Mark, that is all I got. All my weighting is before the center point of the bait. The important part was getting your weight in the best vertical spot. Depending on the height of the bait you would need to be more towards center or down at the bottom. It is a lot easer to get the weight right than a crank or a swimbait. Make sure you got a nice big flat surface on the head of the bait to act like a lip. The flatter the head the more wiggle the rounder the head the less wiggle.

The only way I know that you can get those big liplesses is know somebody or make them yourself. I just posted in the gallery some of my lipless masters that I created for molding. They all swam great and are between 1 and 1.5 ounces. I ended up leaving the business and sold the masters to another gentleman and he uses them quit a bit. You should try carving your own, they really are not that difficult to make, just copy a picture like I did. Forgot to add that they are all between 4.5 and 5 inches long and take #2 trebles that will not tangle. They really are one of the easier baits to create but not many are doing it.

Thanks fellas.

Well guys, I have been apart of TU for a while and I now have to walk away from lure making and fishing. A couple of years ago I went from a wonderful job to fully disabled overnight. I have finally hit the point that I can no longer aford to make lures or fish. I knew this day was coming but I hoped it would not. If any one is near Brookville, PA I have a bit of stuff to sell. I have over $2500 worth of airbrushing stuff I will sell for a $1000. I have loved being apart of this family and will miss alot of you but it is time to move on.

Yes, he clearly says he bought the baits. He did not make them.

I believe those are distortion temps with just heat, once you add the pressure from the expanding hot air I am sure the baits would distort at a much lower temp.

I have never had a crank swell on me but I live in PA. I did a little bit of research and found that it can happen to any plastic crank. I think the only solution is to keep them out of extreme heat. Hot air expands and it has to go somewhere.