benton B

How big is the bait? length and width. How much ballast and exact location? Post a pic of the exact bait please.

Put the line tie under the nose of the bait, almost on top of the lip. That will get your baits swimming.

Glad to see you back in action Skeeter, reminds me of the old TU. I learned all I know about building cranks from Skeeter and the pearls of wisdom just like that post. ninjalake, make some prototypes and try different things, it's not that hard to build a bait that will hunt a little. I figured it out after 3-4yrs of building baits.

At least this not a devcon vs etex thread, like the old days. The best topcoat is what works for your system of building/painting. I've had great results with flex coat so I stand by that product. It's the best clear coat for my system.

Flex Coat Ultra V high build rod finish is the best product I've used.

If you crank thru rocks alot the g-10 will chip away at the corners over time. I still use it but just something to keep in mind. I use a regular file to finish the edges and then 400 grit sandpaper.

I've got a box full of mistakes and overall crap lures. I learn by doing/trying different things and that takes lots of bodies to play with. Here is the best advice I can give you. Get a wheeled marking guage for marking a true center line and carving lines on your blanks. Start with a flat sided crank and perfect the pattern where you can build 10 baits exactly the same. Then move on to the round bodies, takes some time to learn how to carve/sand those bodies to proper shape. Keep having fun.

I feel the right bait will get down to 40+ by long lining. I make a deep diver that will 23-25ft on a long cast with 20lb braid. If I spooled out 200 yrds of line I'm sure the diving depth would almost double.

I use a drill press and a small bit to drill a very small maker hole thru the entire bait before carving. After carving/sanding I use the forstner and drill press to make the sockets. The marker hole makes sure both eyes are perfect.

The wildlife color is camo green and there is also a transparent camo green in the wildlife color line.

You could tape off the area you want to paint and then just sand that small area and prime. 400 grit would scuff up the finish enough for primer to stick (I think). Maybe ask this question on a site that covers motorcycle helment painting or something like that. That will be a very cool and personal touch to the batting helments.

Any particular reason that you are set on using a thru wire harness? Basic answer to your question, cut the blank and lip slot first. Next split the blank in half down the middle. Build your wire harness and ballast weight to fit the body style. You may have to dig out a little channel to fit the wire and ballast. Place the harness and epoxy both halves together making a sandwich with the wire harness as the meat. It's much easier to use twisted wire hangers.

Those are stick on scales.

Been trying to copy the action of the wiggle wart and have a bag full of duds. I will get figured out one day.

All of my baits are inspired by another bait. I will and have made exact copies of old baits when a customer request it. That has expanded my customer base and I've made some good friends. I've been able to pay for all my tools, paint, wood, and other misc supplies. Plus it's put a little play money in my pocket for rods, reels, and tackle. Make sure your customer service is tops and back your work, you will be surprised how many people will come knocking on your door for baits. I still only build part time because I have to pay real life bills but the little extra from the lures doesn't hurt a bit. I do not consider my baits as knock offs but one of kind handmade originals.

In 9yrs of building cranks I've never seen a matt finish for the home builder. I've tried several methods but the bait always look shinny when wet. Take the tape off the lip when you clear coat. Even commerical baits have a little clear coat on the lip.

I have a 40.00 harbor freight bench top that works pretty well for me. I only use to drill ballast ports in balsa baits so most anything would work for me. I mark my drill depths on the bits so I don't use the guide on the machine.

I think everyone has missed the point of the original post. He's not talking about gold leaf or foil. It's a rub on paste that consists of metal flake mixed in some type of wax or something. Suppose to be easier than using foil or gold leaf.

I use epoxy to glue in my hangers, line tie, and ballast weight, never had a problem or failure. I seal the baits using a 2 step process, 1 coat of super glue then a coat of thinned epoxy. The super glue makes balsa wood very hard on the surface and the epoxy gives a smooth surface to paint.

You can try making the bait swell by holding it in boiling water. This works with the older long A's and makes them super floaters. It does not take long for the bait to start the swelling process so go easy on holding in the water.

Mark, I've been playing with tungsten spheres lately and having some good results with some weighting issues. The suspend dots are a good idea also. I will try you idea of sanding a concave surface on the bill as well.

I can tell you the wiggle wart is the hardest bait ever to try base a design off of. I've tackled that bait 3 different times with numerous prototypes and have yet to duplicate the original action. I feel the scooped bill is the key to get the wiggle wart style of action. I'm not willing to get into the heating and bending of the lexan to test my theory. Sanding a bill is something I had not thought of but I will give that a try. The wiggle wart body is not easy to carve, takes more time than any bait I've built and it does not leave much room for ballast weight. One of these day I'm going to stumble on the right formula for this bait. I think a balsa wood version would be excellent for those river smallies in Mo.

I've made floating trap style baits from balsa (silent or single knocker), sinking from traps from pine and poplar. Just take an old rattle trap and copy the line tie placement exact. Put the ballast weight in the first 1/3 of the bait so it runs nose down.