barrybait

I use 30 minute but 5 min would be fine. I find that 30 minute starts thickening in about 10 minutes and holds the mesh well. If I am doing foil, or even better, foil over mesh, then I lay down the mesh then put foil over the mesh for a nice built in scale pattern. Doing one side at a time, i generally lay the bait down on my shop floor carpet or pad, cover it with clear kitchen wrap, put a piece of foam over it and set my tool box on it. That dries with the aluminum foil taking on the mesh pattern and gives it a scale pattern. The clear kitchen wrap comes back off, I just put it over in case a small crack appears in the foil and lets some epoxy out. Also the clear wrap will allow you to work on the other side while the epoxy is mostly cured but still a little sticky.

I don't like to use 3M type industrial adhesive for applying mest or foil. I prefer to use Devcon 2Ton Epoxy instead and find it to be much more secure. I mix up a small amount of D2T and apply it to my lure with the tip of my finger. I use a finger cot (a very thin latex glove for end of your finger only). Just get a very small amount of D2t on your finger and rub it on the lure where you want to apply the mesh or foil. This way you can apply it in a very thin layer. You may want to allow the D2T to start curing until it is very stiff or tacky, then apply your mesh or foil. Depending on the application, you may have to do one side of the lure at a time.

I bought the Iwata Neo. That nozzle is very small and brass and is very easily mushroomed out and split with pressure on the needle. When I got the Iwata eclipse, I felt the stainless nozzle was pretty stout and much less prone to accidental damage by the user/cleaner. When the nozzle split on the neo, it took me a while to figure it out. I was getting bubbles back in the cup and spraying was inconsistent. I cleaned it and it still worked pretty well with water but paint did not work well at all. I finally felt an edge to the nozzle at the tip and put it under a magnifying glass. Of course a new nozzle is about 20 bucks. Barry

I have built some flat sides lately out of balsa. I used super glue initially, then painted and D2T'd. Even with a couple of coats of D2T I still had too much flex and the lures got damaged easily while fishing. I used solarez and it made a much tougher lure. I really want to try the propionate but haven't yet.

First of all, hats off to Strike King for making some great, durable, reasonably priced baits. Lucky Craft don't seem to care if eyes fall out of their "premium" priced baits with normal use. That being said, I have repainted a couple of 10XD's for friends using an exacto knife with one of the stronger blades. Maybe that is what you meant by scalpel. i cut/scribe around the perimeter of the eye and try to get the tip under it after cutting all the way around. It sounds as though you may have done all that too. Next I would attach the milling bit (cylinder shape) to a dremel and cut it out. Wear safety glasses and have a shop vac running pulling air right next to it as you work. Good luck, Barry

You better paint it tomorrow and get it ready for Saturdays tourny bud. It looks great and I like how you used the lamination to provide the channel for the weight transfer....no tube required. Saweeet. So following up on that idea, when you are using ball shaped weights, you don't have to make the weight transfer channel straight. Conversly, if you make the channel straight, you don't have to use round balls. On a straight channel we could use a lead or tungsten drop shot style weight or even a short length of brass rod and actually use the channel more efficiently. The trick of course is to make sure no glue from the lam squeezes into the channel and locks the weight in place. Great job, Barry

Hey Mark I'm back where's my lure! Haha. I'm looking forward to checking them out. Just got back from Alabama where we hosted the TBF Junior World Championships and also went to the Forrest Wood Cup blast off and final weigh in and to the Exhibit Hall. Larry Snow III represented CA well, he pre fished and had a good bite going had a solid tournament fishing plan and executed it well. Just got beat out by the Arizona state champion for our division (western) to fish on the final day. Too bad but it's not easy, these kids can fish! In the end, Fisher Davis won the title of TBF Junior World Champion 2016. If the name sounds familiar, it is because it is Mark Davis's son. Yes, the crankbait fishing guru, which is why this is still sort of on topic. This has been a very rewarding experience for me and I would encourage anyone who is capable to help your local youth team and be a boater for these kids on their tournaments. If your're close to me here or just want more info, pm me. Thanks. Back on topic, I bought a couple of balsa baits while I was there at the show, one circuit board lip and one prop bait to check out. Both Black Label Balsa, Cliff Pace baits. So Mark and I can compare those baits with ours too. Just have a few chores in the way right now of course but we will get to it! Barry

That bait turned out really good Mark. I have to see it's action in the water soon. The black pvc looks evil! It should fish meaner too. I have not had time to work on baits or fish for over a week. I have been putting that outboard motor together and will not finish until next week. Headed for Alabama in a couple hours to the Forrest Wood Cup(no I'm not fishing it) and the Junior World Championship where Larry Snow III is representing CA. You should have a good idea of how that bait fishes by the time I get back. Barry

You have the admiration of many members here. I enjoyed many of the unique baits you posted and commented on. I'm really sorry to hear of your troubles and I sure hope your situation improves. I hope you keep in touch if you are able. Best regards, Barry

Dale, We are just using snaps, not snap swivels. I am preferring wire snaps, they have low weight and do not impede the action of the lure. If I don't use a snap, I use a split ring and tie my line direct to that. That is probably the best but I use a snap for convenience for changing lures to find the right depth and color they want. Tying direct to the lure is not good. The line and knot impede the action of the lure and in many cases the lure will not even run true. Try this with a speed trap. I will check out the Mustad swivel you mention thou and see how it looks. Mark brought some LPO wire snaps for me to try. He felt my pain. Thanks Mark. Changing Baits. The deepest balsa bait I made goes about 5-6 ft. I start with this one almost always and if it comes thru Most of the time, I stick with it. If I can't get it thru the weeds Most of the time, I go to my next shallow bait, 4-5 ft, until I wind up with my shallow crank, 8-24 inches. Fishing mostly the same stuff but it varies with the weeds and tidal influence in the CA Delta. Barry

Hey Mark! I tested my coffin flat side yesterday out west. My first and last bite on it was a 4 pounder. I went down to lip her and when I grabbed the line I watched her swim off with my bait. Dang! My snap was open. I inspected the snap and it looked perfect. A good wire snap with no distortion and fit up and locking bend looked great. I threw it away. I had a warning...after our tournament, showing the club the bait on my deck, Greg S. pointed out then that the snap was open. Other consideration is that I observed that she had inhaled the bait and it was sideways inside the front part of her mouth holding it open it looked like so maybe the way it got wedged in there may have squeezed the snap to get it open. I don't know how she is going to get it out but I wish her luck. I fished and checked the area for 45 minutes in case she came to the top but no such luck for her or me. Anyway if you're fishing Big Break, keep an eye out for my bait. It is the middle of the 3 baits I posted and it's out there in 'finders keepers' mode. Glad you solved your rolling issue. I only have a weight on mine on the belly hook hangar up thru the belly weight in thru wired mode. I need to see your new bait swim too. If you have the good Xing going, I am confident it will work and if you can do it with more weight it will be much better for casting around in this delta with the wind blowing all the time. I will be out Saturday and will probably see you at Cooch's Pro-Teen event registration since I think we are both boating for a kid on Sunday. Crankbait bite still on fire!

I always figured if I took on a job like that for someone that I would ask them to pay me like and employee and give me a W-2 form. That way I don't need to be a business or deal with any of that. That and it seems entirely accurate.

Mark is welcome in my workshop anytime. I had a great time fishing too and Mark held his own I just knew where they were at. I got to use my phrase...."called it" quite a few times that day after hooking up on a fish just after I said there should be one right there! But yes the bass are crushing my balsa crankbait with circuit board lip and I would advise anyone to try making one. My first one works great, my second one works great, etc. I didn't seem to have any trouble getting them to run right. Best of luck, Barry

I posted some pictures of recent crank baits I have made using this circuit board lip material. Two of the posts are flat sided balsa wood crankbaits, one with my coffin bill style lip and one with the LPO pre formed longer rounded lip that gets me a little deeper. The other bait is modeled similar to the Lucky Craft BDS3 pattern carved out of Basswood. I thru wired the balsa baits but just insert twisted wire into basswood. I haven't fished the basswood bait yet, the flat sided coffin bill and longer rounded circuit board lipped balsa baits are fishing very well. The bass are beating them up though and one of the baits I have patched up 3 times already. I seem to have some give to the balsa even if I use crazy glue, then paint then D2T a couple times. Others I D2T first then paint, then D2T again either way show wear and need some repair so I can keep them going. Not sure if I am going to be able to improve on that. Barry