DeltaMan

try jannsnetcraft

you know you could just take some push pins used for sewing and paint them black. just a little tip.

you can get the detail that you want out of wood even more so then you think. Me, i became proficient with wooden baits first, and creating detail on the wooden lures will definetely give you the experience that you need when making swimbaits and also if this wooden swimbait is your first you should probably make sure that it swims correctly long before the thought of making baits out of plastics enters your mind. Also when you are talking about detail do mean like scales and what not or eye sockets, gill plates, fins? if you cant do detail on a wooden bait then you must not be a very patient person or willing to take the necessary amount of time. But don't get me wrong i am just letting you know my opinion and i am not discouraging you in any way i know may come out like that, but its just food for thought. more like constructive criticism. There are woods out there that are very easy to create detail in if that is your main focus for these baits but also swimbaits are basically trail and error. The wood that i use is white pine cedar.

i was looking on google images for a bluegill reference and found this http://www.fishcarver.com/bluegil_%20painting_instructions.htm it has helped out big time with my paint job and i am sure with crappie you wouldn't use any gold just silver for the scales.

I never thought about rods being underrated......cool. that makes me feel better. I use a Bass Pro Shops 7' 6" flippin stick i think its the tourney special, it is rated from three eights of an ounce to two onces so thats what i use. The best thing about it is that it only cost around $50 bucks that way you don't have to break the bank in this economy.

Really... Some of my swimbaits look very similar to a 22nd century.. I'll have to go out soon. Are the fish deep,shallow in the tules? Where are you finding 'em?

if i were you ( which i am not) i would make it a four piece but not in the fasion that you are doing it in. When you watch a real fish swim the front 2/3rds of the body moves mostly like one piece but the back 1/3 moves the most, do ya know what i am talking about it is kinda hard to explain but just go watch a real fish swim from above and you'll see what i am talking about

My wakebaits/shallow divers are 7 1/2 inches long with an a eighty degree angle on the lip( the lip is about an inch wide and inch long) they are belly weighted with lead and will dive to a foot on a medium retrieve. rayburn guy is right about the lip driving only the front section with the back sections following. you live on the CA Delta eh how's it been going out there?

pics would be great but one thing that i find, if i understand what it is you are saying is that, is that with wake baits of fish profile the lip angle does matter to some effect. Often times when making a wake bait the size of the lure matters, the weight and where the line tie is placed matters. could you give us some dimensions of the type of wake bait. i don't believe that exact angle is nececsarry, what are you making them out of? also what type of joint are you using it is important that the bait should have two vertical connections weather it be a pin and tennon or two vertical screw eyes. also with regard to the angle of the lip if the angle is perfectly 90 degrees perpendicular to the horizontal line that runs through the midle of your bait it may not swim under water. i don't know pics would help

Well i'll try it with what i've got so ill probably start practicing with the POP first and if i can make a really good replication then i may try RTV.

I know that Crawchuck makes his molds from plaster first then from RTV but I am pretty sure that one or the other could be used first hand instead of making two molds... although i can see why he did that. It was because he didn't want to waste silicone on a mold that may not have come out well. What I am planning on doing is different from the way that Crawchuck did his craws.

I was planning on using plaster and making a two piece mold, but maybe thats not the right stuff. What would YOU use if you were going to make a mold of a crawdad.

This is what i needed right here, awesome! So far i am just waiting for my crawdad to molt and regenerate a couple of legs and then into the mold he is gonna go awesome Thanks Man.

hey what do ya know POP works great for worms thanks guys so much. will post pics of how i did it in soft plastics pretty much did what Lance did with a few deviations worked very well although the plaster doesn't really need to be an inch thick oh well doesn't matter but thanks for the help i wouldn't have plastic worms without you guys it really helped

Hey guys i've been looking for an extremely realistic crawdad imitation in a soft plastic the only place that i have found exactamundo baits was in the Clear Lake Bait and Tackle shop the inscription on the botton says famous lures and i haven't been able to find them anywhere and i got a couple Craws livin in my fish tank yes they look yummy but i don't dare. So if any one has tried molding a real Crawdad or real fish for that matter please let me know and tell me how ya did it. so Thanks Deltaman.

Hey wow thanks guys that is great congrats on the Three Pounder. Last night i tried doing the silicone thing that vodkaman posted with the link to husky's post that is extensive knowledge on the subject but yeah my silicone still hasn't dried yet and i don't think it will turn out that well probably cause i used the wrong the silicone but i am gonna go get some POP and try doing the same worm as the silicone mold that i did last night and see how it works wish me luck!!

lurecraft Plastic paint maybe i've seen one other question like yours but this is what i've heard and yeah the powder thing too. let us know how it turns out

i use automotive finish it is a little more expensive than alot of the "other Stuff" that u guys praise and its better with two coats it is impossible to scratch with a key! at three say hello to every rock that every destroyed your lure now you can be its best friend this stuff is the hardest easiest finish i have used and when it is applied its thin. many many many thin coats equals pay day. all ya got to do is dip your entire bait in it and it doesn't affect action at all. so look into it!

One thing that you need to keep in mind whether or not the bait is too heavy is the length of the lexan. If the line tie is too close to the bottom of the lip it reduces the action that is produced. When you look at those big Heavy swimbaits with lips on them the weight doesn't matter. so maybe you could try moving the line tie closer to the body of the bait i am sue that this will produce more of a wobble for you as it has done for me many times.

Hey Thank You Guys soooo!!! much i will definitely be molding soft plastic in POP then seeing as how it is way cheaper. Would pouring lead also work?

A friend came up to me today and we were talking about fishing and molding came up and he told me that it is possible to mold an object with plaster of paris and seal it to make a mold. i was just wondering if anybody has tried this yet?