Skeeter

Robert, Click on the links below to go to posts on the site about weighting: http://tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=615&highlight=weighting http://tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=799&highlight=weight If they do not answer your question then let me know. Skeeter

radu, I have been interested in the Japanese tackle. I have been researching what is offered in Japan since May of this year. After reading your response on the other post on the Koi, I wanted to ask you some questions about the Conquest. I am thinking about purchasing a Conquest 100. I want to use it for large crankbaits. I want the 100 because it is lighter than the 200. Do you think this would be a good choice? I have just purchased a Scorpion 1000. It is a beautiful reel. I have not had the chance to use it yet, but I can't wait to try it. The reason that the U.S. market does not have the same high end Shimano and Diawa reels is because Shimano and Diawa choose not export them to the U.S. I really don't know why. The TD-X, TD-Z from Diawa, and the Calais, Chronarch MG, and some of the Calcutta reels from Shimano here in the U.S. are certainly not cheap. They sell for around 350 USD. There are some fishermen in this country that pay to get the reels from Japan imported to them, just like I did with my Scorpion. They can be gotten, but I think that one thing that scares U.S. fishermen is the availability of parts and finding someone to work on them if needed. I am lucky, I work on my own reels, but many people do not. Maintenance on Japanese reels must be done more frequently than with U.S. versions. But I do think that the quality of the Diawa TD reels could be much better. They just aren't very tough, and the paint and finish comes off with very little use. They are not very smooth either. I liked the Metanium XT reels from Shimano, but the finish comes off of them also. That was the main reason that I did not buy one. The parts for the U.S. version of the Chronarch are interchangable with the XT. That was one good point. The spools in U.S. reels are starting to get better. But they have a long way to go. The spools in the Japanese reels are much more advanced. Even though the rods made in Japan are beautiful, I still think that they are priced way too high. There are alot of real good quality rods here in the U.S. at a much lower price. You just don't need Titanium Ceramic guides on a boron rod to catch bass. When we catch a bass here, the fish goes from the water and into the boat NOW!!!! We don't play with them. That fish will never have time to build up heat on the line from playing with them. Here in the U.S. we have much larger and many more bodies of water to choose from with alot of tough types of cover to fish. Our equipment must be tough to put up with demanding and agressive way that most of us fish. Most bass fishermen here in the U.S. fish at least once a week. They fish 8 hours or more each time out. Since conditions change from one lake to the next then most fishermen have 4 to 10 rods on the deck of their boat while they are searching for fish. It would just be way to expensive to do this at 350 dollars a rod and 300 or more for a reel. Anyway, what would be your suggestion on the Conquest, 100 or 200? Skeeter

I have seen this stuff on their site, but I don't know of anyone here that has tried it. It sounds like it should work. Let us know how it goes if you decide to try it. Skeeter

If this new product for plastic is anything with Krylon on it, ditch it. There have just been too many problems that folks have experienced on this site with Krylon products. I don't really know why, but there have been a bunch of them. I have only played with one color of acrylic paint. It seems to dry pretty fast. I don't really see any problem with shooting the entire bait in a day, but I would let the entire bait after being painted cure for a day before I would clearcoat it. Is this gloss enamel a clear? Also get rid of the heat gun. I think it is doing you more harm than good. I shot a white undercoat on a bait once in my garage while the temperature was pretty cold outside. I was able to shoot it pretty thick onto the bait. I did a couple of others and let that one hang on my rack for awhile. About 20 min. later I took the bait inside my house to finish drying in a warmer environment. I went back a half hour later to check it and the paint had run. While the paint was cold it was thicker and would not run outside. Once it hit the heat the paint got pliable and ran. It could be that the heat gun is actually keeping the paint from drying properly. It could be making the paint pliable. Or it could be curing the top layer and it feels dry to the touch but the underlying coats of paint have still not cured. Skeeter

I haven't tried Hughesy's way, but it sounds good to me. That is one I will have to try. For now, I use a bastard file instead of sandpaper. It is much faster and leaves a smoothe edge. Skeeter

Mike, I need to know: 1. What kind of wood? 2. Do you use a sealer of any kind before priming? 3. What kind of primer? 4. What did you use to clearcoat this particular bait? 5. I assume that from what you said that regardless of the brand that all of the paint that you are using is acrylic. I know it is alot of questions, but I need to know before I can make a diagnoses. Skeeter

Absolutely!!!!!!! If it works for you and you are happy with it then that is fine. As you say, everyone has their own way. Skeeter

Celticav is right. If you have too much trouble finding a duplicate, I believe I still have one. I have only used it once and it has been laying in its original package ever since. Skeeter

If you are using a Paasche airbrush then count the number of rings at the top of the needle. This will tell you the size. Don't forget to use the tip for the #3 needle also. They are not marked. Normally Paasche kits come with 3 needles. 1 the smallest, 3 middle, and 5 the largest opening and needle. If you need to know how to install one let me know. Skeeter

The polyurathane that I use is Minwax fast drying polyurathane, clear gloss. It comes in a pint and goes a long way. It comes in a smoke silver can. I got it at Lowes but I am sure Wal Mart has it also. Skeeter

muskie1958, One of the things that I have started doing with my double action VL that works good for me is to press all of the way down on the trigger and get the air flowing, then pull back lightly on the trigger untill I get the desired paint flow going. I use the trigger back and forth to controll fading and stuff. I use to try and use air flow to control this. Sometimes it worked but it was not consistant. This new way works much better for me. Skeeter

I use a #3 tip in my Paasche VL for all of my shooting. The 18psi. is what is set on the pressure gauge before I pull the trigger. If you still have problems with clogging and chunks after increasing the pressure some and or moving the needle back, then thinning may be the only thing left that I can think of. Skeeter

One of the biggest questions that I am asked from folks buying my crankbaits is "Will it cartwheel"? Many think that the reason a crankbait cartwheels is because it is made badly. It is true that a properly weighted and ballanced crankbait will throw more true than one that is just thrown together, one of the things that you can do is to give the lure about 18 inches of line before you throw the bait. This will greatly reduce the cartwheeling for well made baits. I was given this tip by a guy at a boat ramp and it has worked tremendously for me. Also, getting rid of those buggy whip rods to throw them with will help also. Skeeter

funny farm, It should get to you dude!!! You did alot of folks a great service and helped them keep the blood in there body and not on the workbench from banging their heads on it like the rest of us have done. Excellent tutorial. Skeeter

Very Very nice!! It has been my experience that a wider lip will not help much once you start putting such an angle on a lip. However, my experience has not been on minnow type lures. It has been on regular shallow crankbaits. Increasing the angle of the lip is the only way I know to increase the wobble of the lure. Try a 3 to 5 deg. increase in the angle. But it will also lessen the depth that the lure will go. You may have to increase the length of the lip about 1/16 of an inch. Skeeter

Like the rest of them have already said: Beautiful job! You have no problems dude. Keep em comming. Skeeter

radu, It is my understanding that Ito just had a deal with Diawa to do a special edition of reels. Is he a designer for them also? You are correct that the price of the reels are expensive. The one in the picture goes for 410 USD. Since I posted this picture I have found that the M-Ito reels are annodized. They are not painted. However, the Diawa reels are painted with a type of paint that is $6000.00 a lb. Megabass rods are beautiful. Like you said they are too expensive for me. I have bought some reels from Japan. They were expensive also. My instruction booklets for the reels are written in Japanese. They are really fine reels, and I feel they are worth the price. But it seems to me that the Japanese look at their fishing products as a work of art also. I really admire this quality in the Japanese people. They are some of the best bait painters that I have seen. Skeeter

I believe that the problem is that you have the needle in your airbrush pushed up too far into the tip and or you do not have enough pressure while shooting it. If the needle is pushed all of the way up into the tip then the paint is comming through too thin and the air from the gun is drying parts of it before it hits the bait. I have had this happen before. Move the needle back out of the tip some and test shoot the paint on something. Also too little pressure can cause this too. Shoot it somewhere between 16 - 20 psi. I start shooting createx at 18 psi and adjust as needed. Skeeter

Dude, You got that scale thing down. Great job. If anyone could teach this stuff... FunnyFarm can. Skeeter

boatnik13, If you are clearcoating over each different color that you are using, then you are just killing yourself with work. If you have trouble with paint colors bleeding then you need to find a different type of paint my friend. robertjp, I am not a Createx fan. I have used it and the problem that I find with it is that it is too thin. After a pass or two the stuff will blow and run. I mainly have this problem on the stripe down the middle of the back of the lure. No matter how many times you shoot over the stripe after it dries, you cannot get rid of the line that the run makes. If you are going to use water based paints, then my suggestion is water based latex house paint that you get at Lowes. It is called One and Only. I started with this stuff and it works great. It is only about 3.00 a pint. You only need about 6 colors to give you a wide range of color patterns for baits. You thin it with water. about 3 parts paint and 1 part water. This is not exact but it will put you in the right direction. You will have to learn on your own the best mixture. Shoot it at about 18 psi through your gun. As far as temperature...... I have shot latex and lacquer as low as 54 deg. The reason warmer is better is because it dries quicker and will not run easily. For lacquer paint 75 deg. at 50% humidity is optimal. 70 to 75 deg. seems to be best for the latex. But you can shoot the stuff at lower temps. I shoot outside in the garage. If it is cold then I shoot it outside and bring it into the house to dry. It works fine. I use Devcon to clearcoat my baits. 75 deg. is optimal for curing. Below 70 deg. you will have to add about 10 min. of spinning time on a wheel for every 5 deg. below 70, or it will run or sag. Skeeter

Yes, you will have the same problem. The best advice I can give you is that if you use water based paints, use polyurathane to seal the lure. It is clear. Just wipe a coat or two on with a rag. Let it dry completely. Then light sand untill the lure is smooth. It only takes a few seconds. Then use similar paints to paint the lure. Then cleacoat the lure with whatever your favorite stuff is. Skeeter

This Ito guy is something else. Have you ever seen one of his reels? Skeeter

AMEN Coley!! May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I'll have my own silent prayer for all of you. Your friendships have made my life a much happier and fulfilling one. Thanks Red. Skeeter

chuknwind, I didn't see the picture the first time I pulled up the post. Now I see what the problem is. Even though the body looks yellowish I take it that this is a carp colored bait. (brown stripe and scales with a whitish or cream colored body) If you can match the paint color then mix in some of that color paint with some Devcon and smooth it into the crack and then clearcoat the lure. If not, seal the crack with wood putty and cover the vein crack with it also. Mask off the lip and the line tie and hook hangers. Then shoot a matching color paint on the body of the lure below the scales. Leave the original scales alone. You can shoot the paint over the original clearcoat. I have done this with water based latex enamel (house paint) before on a DBIII that I found floating in the water. You can get a pint at Lowes for less than $3.00. It will stick just fine. Createx might work, Lacquer definitely will work. Then clearcoat the lure. Or if you really just want to leave it alone and just protect the lure I would just clearcoat it with Devcon and leave it with its original paint and battle scar. The extra coats of paint or Devcon will not hurt the action or the ballance of the bait. Bagley weighted their baits pretty light. Too light in my opinion. They can take ALOT of extra weight before it messes with the action or it floating ability. Thanks for the compliment. Skeeter

robertjp, Your problem is the sanding sealer. It is probably lacquer based. It is eating the water based paint that you are using. Either try lacquer paint or use polyurathane to seal your wood. Skeeter