[mark poulson]

I had to finish a lure, and test it, before I made this post.
First off, I am not a commercial lure builder. I make them for fun for me and my friends.
I put a bill in a jointed lure that wouldn't swim well, and it worked (see the gallery)
I didn't have any lexan or other bill material in the garage, but I did had hundreds of Plano dividers.
I cut out a profile of what I thought the bill should be, left it a little long, so I could trim it with a pair of sheet metal cutters at the test pond, and epoxied it in.
It isn't clear, but it's translucent, and it's flexible, so it wouldn't work for crashing lures into rocks, probably.
But it's rigid enough for wake bait lips, swim bait lips, and shallow cranks, which only have to deal with branches.
The material is tough, so I don't worry about it failing any time soon.
And it's not really noticeable in the water.
The best part is it's cheap, available, and it works!

[captsully18]

Really nice looking bait, Mark. Glad to know about "Plano-Lip-Material". Thinkin' all the time you are.

David

[mark poulson]

Don't tell anyone Dave, or they'll raise the price of Plano boxes.

[captsully18]

Mine lips is sealed!

David

[diemai]

@ mark poulson

Hi , Mark ,
This certain flexibility of such stowaway dividers has always put me off from trying to utilize this material fo diving lips .

Surely it won't break and also won't fall out of its slot , but what has always concerned me was the possibility of water entering the wood at the lip slot because of the flex of that material .

But since I haven't ever tried it , I won't know for sure(lol) !

So relying on your experiences to come !

greetz , Dieter

[boomah21]

Any concerns with it warping? Or mis shaping in some fashion?

[mark poulson]

Dieter,
Dave had the answer.
Sealed lips.
More specifically, filling the lip slot with D2T before you insert it, and making sure it's sealed with the epoxy, and top coat.
I wouldn't worry about the lip being too flexible, since I'm using it on lures that are shallow runners, so the lip flexing a little won't be a problem.
I don't know how well it would hold up, flex-wise- on a medium or deep diver, and I don't know how it would hold a line tie, but it will glue in well enough.

boomah21,
I don't think it will warp. I've had plano boxes in the boat for years, and never had one warp.
I guess only time will tell.
For me, it was worth a try, and the worst thing that might happen is it would fail. But I wouldn't know if I didn't try.

I'm thinking it will make great tail material, too.

[boomah21]

Yeah I hear ya.....I love the thought process. Keep us updated if you see any change. I just think I might have to give one or two a try.

Thanks for the creative idea

[mark poulson]

Funny how ideas come to us. I was cleaning up my workbench, and saw some 2 1/4" deep Plano box dividers that I hadn't used lying there.
Bingo!
It's better to be lucky than good!

[Vodkaman]

Mark. Very nice lure, like the tail. I suspect that if you cut lexan to the dimensions of the original divider, it would have similar flexibility. Cut short, it should be well stiff enough.

I've started doing a lot of thinking about swimbaits and how they work. your honesty about this one has helped me learn some more. Many thanks for posting it.

Dave