PAVABill

I did forget to mention about salt. Thanks for the reminder. Depending on the water and the fall I will use either 1/2 cups salt per cup of plastic of as little as 1/4 cup salt. Mainly I use 1/2 cup salt per cup plastic. Thanks for picking that up.

I just read through this post and it brough out different emotions. Reading the "It's my design and he copied it from me" reminded me of a little kid wanting attention. And the misleading impression of the "look what I have been making" reminded me of some snake taking credit for someone else's idea. Either way, whatever!! If you have some prized invention or creation, patent it! If you want to keep it a secret don't sell it!! If you are going to copy it give the due credit!!! Community boards like this are geared towards the copy cat, for the most part. Yes, I know there are plenty of "Original" ideas here but are they truly original??? Most likely not with the excpetion of an extremely rare few. In the bass fishing world there have only been 2 or 3 significant Originals that have changed the market place. The senko is one and the snap back titanium wire on Terminator Spinner Bait would be another. But Is the Terminator Spinnerbait an original design? NO! It is merely an improvement on an existing product. Is the Senko and original design? Nope!! Another improvement on a previous design, remember the french fry??? So the likelihood that someone building baits out of their garage or basement will become the next Strike King Lure Co. is extremely slim. And if by the grace of god someone does invent and patent the lastest and greatest fish catching lure and gets a million dollar contract to sell at Wal-Mart (i.e. Rad Lures), they will order so many pieces that you can not fulfill your contract and then BAM they own your patent. Should you avoid the breach of contract, guess what? It only takes a 10% change in the lure design to avoid patent infringment. A 10% Change!! That can be a hook hanger change, a minut change in body length/thickness, a carve or just about anything. And while you are buying 10's of thousands of dollars of equipment or out sourcing your prices go up and the next guy is making your lure (with the 10% change) and selling it at half the price. So in short... Keep it a secret or get a patent. Give credit where credit is due if (or shoudl I say when) you copy. And get over it!! We are all here for the same basic reason. To make our own baits and take pride in making them. We are here to share ideas and ask questions. We are here to help our comminuty members with problems they are having. We are not here to cry to mommy that our little brother is copying off of us. For a true example of community sharing check out the willingness of the soft plastic guys sharing color recipes. That is what sites like this are all about. People willing to share their ideas and let other benefit from it. If you are not willing to share or have some useful input then lock yourself in your work shop and stay off the boards. And the same goes for those taking credit for someone else's work. Fess up to it, say I got this idea from so and so but I have done this to suit my taste. G:censored::censored:er!! I could go on and on but I will stop now. Sorry to have offended anyone. Just my 10cents...

Howard, Slowing down may not be the only issue here. When fish short strike it maybe a sign that your colors may be off a bit. Fish that short strike tend to be chasing away the intruder (your bait) as apposed to trying to eat it. So some solutions may be: 1) have a second rod riggged with a simlilar bait in a constrating color. When you get a short strike repeat your cast and retrieve with the contrasting color. 2) Add a trailer hook!! As for your question on the Slow Willows, they do work and they work well. But you need to keep in mind the following factors: 1) possible weight differences 2) Lift factors. These will both play a part in your retrieve. Your normal retrieve speed might not be fast enough to keep the lure in the strike zone that you may normally fish. As well as an increase in retrieve speed will add lift to the bait faster bringing it up and out of the strike zone too soon. I would recommend trying the contrasting colors and a trailer hook for short strikes first. And in the interm practice with the Slow Willows and get used to their charateristics. One other thing to try would be to have the same bait in smaller size. If you get a short strike, toss the smaller bait the next time through. And if all else fails, after a short strike toss soft plastic (trick worm, stick bait). Good Luck - Keep it Simple! Bill

Here are a few of my goto baits here in Va. Watermelon - Red Fleck Worm 1/2 Cup Plastic (Calhoun) 1/2 Cap of Softner (Calhoun) 35 drops Light Watermelon (Del) Red Glitter to liking (I use three 1/8tsp scoops) Neon Blue Worm Same Plastic Softner as above 30 Drops Marine Blue (Del) Silver/Blue Glitter (Del) Smoke Worm Same PLastic/Softerner as above 5 Drops Black Black/Purple Glitter (Del) Black/Blue Worm Same Plastic/Softner as above 30 Drops Black (Del) Blue Glitter (Del) Kiwi Seed Stick 1 Cup Plastic 1 Shot (literally - shot glass) Softner 60 Drops Chart. (del) 4 scoops 1/8tsp Black Glitter (Del) No Name Color Yet-Stick 1/2 Cup Plastic (Calhoun) 1/2 Shot Softner 60 Drops GreenPumpkin (Del) 2 Drops Black (del) Orange Glitter - Alot! (ultra small) Black/Blue Stick 1 Cup Palstic/1 Shot Softner 50 Drops Black (Del) 5 - 1/8tsp scoops Blue Glitter (Del) Watermelon/Red Stick Same plastic/Softner as Black Blue 40 Drops Lightwaternelon (Del) 3 Drops Black (Del) 5 - 1/8 tsp scoops Red Glitter Nothing fancy, but highly effective!!

Dude, No problem. I have been there, its a fun but at times a frustrating process. Just be patient, ask questions and question everything. Use family and friends as sounding boards to bounce ideas off of them. Keeps tabs on local competition, Be prepared to hand out tons of free samples and keep an open mind when it is time to make changes. Lastly, make a reasonable business plan and stick to it. Set realistic goals and dates as to when you want to achieve them and stick to it. When you have reached those goals write another business plan. This should be an on going process throughout the life of the business. The key is to stay motivated. Without motivation and foresight and realistic planning every business fails!! Bill

Dude, There is alot of leg work that goes into starting up a business. That leg work begins with the following: 1. The willingness to work alot of long hours. 2. Do some basic market research and establish who/what would be your local competition. 3. Depending on the size and complexity of the business you want to start you will need varying amounts of start up capital. Most banks, especially with todays economy, will require you to have matching funds in your personal account for any loan amount you ask for. 4. You will need to decide what type of entity you want your business. Example. Corportation, Limited Liability Corp or Sole propriety. This decision is best based on the size of the business and the size of the financial risk to your personal assessts. FYI - It is easier to get a business loan as a Sole Proprietor than it is as a Copr or LLC. 5. You will need to find a Registered Agent (Basically an attourney who will handle the legal filings such as business name, fictitous name any D.B.A.s and so on. Basically an moderately expensive mail man). RA can run from $200.00 - $500.00 just to register your business. 6. You will need to contact your state and local governments for your Tax ID/exemptions and E.I.N and also file for any permits and additional licesnes (example Hazardous material and litter tax and so on) My recommendation for you would be to contact your local S.B.A. (Small Business Admin. Office) office. They are a wealth of knowledge for your local area. They can guide you through the process and the even offer S.B.A. garuntees on loans (they dont grant the loan they offer the lender a a promise). And lastly, I would strongly recommend that you get out and meet some potential clients/customers and introduce yourself and your business. Get feed back from them in order to establish your business plan. Hope this helps and good luck! Bill

Husky I don't know what happened to the King heads. I rtied to get info from Stamina about them but they were stingey with information saying that they had several more they could send me. I have since made duplicate molds from POP and Bondo with decent results. I am considering having them sent out to a cast company for larger production. I also need to get the heads made in larger sizes, i.e. 3/4oz and up. How many pieces are you looking to obtain? PM me and maybe I can help you get them or help you build your own mold for them.

Yes Spike, I am refering to R-bend spinnerbaits. I don't personally use in-line spinners very often. I could never find or build on that would spin correctly that didn't twist my line...grrrrrr line twist...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Along with either crimping or soldering the rivet, I like to take a square pointed nail to the blade holes. Give it a little punch on a block or wood to "square" the hole. It make the bait rattle abit along with the bait squeal. Just dont overly square the hole or it won't spin as easy.

Personally there is no "golden rule" as to what it takes to make a full skirt. Spike raises a great point with strand size. The thick strand sizes work great on slow rolled baits and a mize of thicker strand and thin strand on your jigs. "Tuning" a skirt is not essential to the bait's performance due to it being a reaction bait. The "tuning" needs to take place in the blade(s) size vs head weight to prevent tilting or roll-over. Too big of blade(s) on too light a head will cause the bait to spiral when retrieved. Getting back to the skirt...sorry got a bit side tracked...The number of strands or tabs you will use is based on your personal preference and the color combos you use. With the clear/opaque colors I personally use more to provide the visual appeal. Darker colors you can get away with less. If your skirts are too long they will collapse when retrieved and present with being thinner/smaller and this problem compounds when using the thinner strands. In short, buy a variety or different skirting material and experiment. The material is relatively cheap and if a skirt combo doesnt work you can take it apart and reuse them in a new skirt. Site to check out for different skirts: Rod Building, Lure Making Supplies, Fishing Hooks, Fly Tying Supplies Welcome to Stamina Quality Components On-Line Store www.livingrubbercompany.com FishingSkirts.com, Better Product Better Price and Z-Man Fishing

Some questions do need answered.... 1. What kind of boat are you trying to mount to? (Length? Weight-including you, a fishing partner and all your gear?) 2. What type of waterway do you fish most often? 3. What depths are you fishing in? The are many available modifications to be made to mount/house your trolling motor mount. This is only limited by, space on the bow section of the boat, durability of the boat material you are mounting to and your imganiation. As for waterways, if you mainly fish low current waterways there may be no significant need for you to jump to a larger TM (excluding fishing in windy conditions). Exception to consider is overall weight of occupants, boat and gear. And now the often overlooked aspect...Water depth. If you are fishing in shallow water with rocky or stumpy bottoms you really need to consider a TM with a gator mount or something similar (break-away style). Finding just a replacement mount is costly but in the case of TM with outer tubes, it gets more expensive when you need to replace a mount and outter tube. Also, in my experience, if you fish waters with heavy vegetation be wary of the digital types. There is a tendoncies to "cook" the boards. I personal prefer the reliable pull/pull cable foot control. As decent TM for the money, especially on a small boat, would be the Motor Guide Freshwater Series. That model should fall in your price range with an upgrade gator mount. Just my opinion based on my own personal experience.