Hillbilly voodoo

I have never fished or built a bladed jig but you just sparked my interest looking at that bait. I like the look of it Do you think you could put a larger blade on it?

I don’t drill any of my designs and lead is often not used at all in majority of my lures I am not talking about just a handful of designs or lures.

I am on nightshift and had about 10 hrs sleep over the last three days so I will slowly add to this thread as I wake up lol. Tonight is my last shift and will be more coherent on my days off no there is no magical mix. I actually develop different mixes and layer combinations for each lure Lead is not mandatory and I make many lead free lures. Sometimes I use pure resin as the ballast or non at all. Some of the resin in your mix settles to the bottom creating a keel and between this along with your hooks can be enough at times I have not found any quality difference in micro balloons and last year switched to some cheap generic ones I can buy in quantity. I have seen no change in the results of my recipes with the 4 different brands I have tried I have used both smooth on and Alumilite resin. Smooth on I found a little more brittle and more prone to air bubbles compared to Alumilite. I personally use Alumilite white because of this and a better price when buying large quantities Mold material I have used Smooth on mold max 30 and Alumilite high strength 2 silicone. I prefer the Mold max 30 because it is thinner and cheaper when buying quantity there is some basic info to start. This doesn’t even scratch the surface on stuff I have figured out testing different things with resin my best advice to anyone wanting to work with resin stop thinking of it as a wood substitute and build your lures according to the different attributes of resin

As long as you have the hook hangers and tie point in the master well making the mold it is easy. Just put the harness in and clamp your mold. Really no need for a full harness if you are pouring your hardware into the lure. I use 1 1/2 inch eye screws in my pike lures and no issues pulling out or turning. I have also used twisted wire with two eyes so the resin basically creates a peg through the end inside the body. I have suspended rattle chambers using 4lb mono fishing line even when you pour things into the bait they are encapsulated in resin and hold extremely well. Resin baits are also tougher then wood so odds of tear out is much lower

Never mind

Action is definitely impacted do to the different weight of the material. Just like working with different woods like balsa vs heavy hardwood This can be a long back and forth conversation that will be side tracking the thread. If the OP wants more information regarding more complexed resin pouring I will get into it. If anyone else wants to get into it it would be best in a new thread

I can tell you for a fact once you spend time messing around with the different attributes of resin is definitely it is not like working with wood If you just keep pouring baits with mix’s where you are attempting to duplicate wood buoyancy you are correct but that is limiting what can be done

All my resin baits are weighed with pure resin and at times lead bird shot. I will also use different % of micro balloons in different layers to achieve different things. I also will pour a layer let it mostly set and add lead shot if I want my weight suspended above the belly. My masters are carved taking this into consideration. My molds are also made so resin pours and settles where I want it my hardware is poured into the bait Most people look at resin baits as a way to replicate a wooden/or plastic lure and so did I when I first started using resin. I then started to realize you can accomplish a variety of things by layering, using different mixes of resin/micro balloons, or suspending lead Sure you can build harnesses that hold your weight and pour a mix similar to wood in buoyancy effectively but there is lots of options PS remember you will always have a portion of resin settle to the bottom creating a heavier section when pouring any mix of micro balloons and resin

Happy Easter and congrats on your first fish on lures you made

that is my style I was not going to post it because I don’t repaint plastic lures(rare if I even buy them) and I usually loose a lure to a snag before I consider repainting in general But I when I do I am too lazy to strip off the paint so a opaque white base coat is all I do Truth is my personal baits are often my blemished mistakes so I don’t care what they look like as long as the fish bite them

I would also be trying to at least retain some of the side to side action. The truth is even when it turns on it’s side is a natural action for a wounded fish. good chance it gets bit as is My personal preference would be to tweak it so it just wonders but doesn’t turn on its side. This is no more then me thinking about the action I like though

If it was the lip slot it would only wonder off to one side not both not both left and right

If it’s weighted near the front hook try handling some extra weight there to see how it runs. This would be a good start as it’s easy to test Other option is trim the lip shorter Theses are my first 2 thoughts because it sounds like the lip is over powering the lure personally if it was my lure I would try to find the point where it still wonders sided to side but still stays up right. A bait that wonders a little will trigger strikes from fish that would normally only follow a lure that runs completely straight

You are going to have a fair number of 3D printed lures to test by the time you get out there. I suck with computers so likely will never get into 3D printing but find it interesting When I lived in Calgary and Canmore I fished the bow a lot with both gear and fly. Caught lots of big browns out of that river. My PB was a 29inch brown caught below the bearspaw dam in bowness. I caught in on a 1 1/2 once in line spinner I made to swinging in deep fast water. From what I hear access is now restricted there I am curious on how you progress with these 3D lure and hope to hear your results

It could just be the pic but the lip doesn’t look centered to the tow point. This would cause it to swim to one side and may even swim on its side. Look at the pic it would favor the left It could be a few things but without more information it’s hard to say Looking at the overall design it is just a matter of tweaking things. Personally I would like the lip closer to the tie point as it would make the lure more forgiving could you explain in more detail on what you mean by not swimming stable? Video is always best and many here would know what to change right away just watching it

Have you given any of your 3D printed baits a swim test yet? maybe go pull a big brown out of the bow river

My first thought is a swimbait with a purple back/white glitter combined with a pearl white belly