Toxicbaits

I never like the way redwood acted when i shaped it. to gain some strength for holding the screw eyes into the bait (redwood is usually soft) make sure the grain runs horizontal so the screw eye has the dense year rings to grab and aid in holding. From what I noticed, the year rings (grain) of redwood are very dense compared to the rest of the wood. Sorry I dont know the technical terms for these. Besides that treat the wood with hardner or super glue to water proof it ,paint and catch some fish! good luck

I gave a couple of the first triple trout style baits i made for the delta to my partner and he named it the "swim nasty".. ive always been fond of that one. It lived up to its name putting a nine and an eight in the boat on its first back to back trips.

Capt. Mike... when I clear coat my baits with hinges I used candle wax to keep the epoxy out of the eyes in between the segments.. but I have now moved onto hot glue. Just put either on right before you clear coat it . I use epoxy but I am sure it will work with what ever u use. Wax is easy but you have to be careful nit doesnt flake off. Hot glue ios the deal fro me. When the clear is dry you can take a hook or pic and peel it off and your good to go.! My two cents.. these techniques haveworked for me. Im gonna post a pic of a recent swimbait order in a couple days.

White Belly, sunshine yellow sides... medium brown top= death to smoochie! never went wrong with this color on top.

minwax wood hardner.. you can brush it on or dip it and let it soak. I do this after I have put in screw eyes then remove and drill ballast holes in bottom. After sealer is dry I then epoxy in my weights and screw eyes. Seems to work great.

I think alot of patterns are misinterpreted. With varying daylight conditions and light penetration, colors can kind of change underwater. Chartruse is a big one. When the clouds are out or the morning or choppy conditions, it appears more of a white than a yellow. Black and blue jigs i think follow the same principles. These colors can appear in different shades under different lights. I know a bass's eyes can recieve a ton more light than humans.. but I have witnessed these changes first hand just by diving in. Purple jigs work great especially on deeper points out here in Cali.. but as the light penetration becomes less and less the deeper you go the hue of your bait starts to change. I mean Purple and Brown jig and pig? Thats not natural.. but man does it work in clear water. Has a stark contrast in hand but 40ft down this difference starts to fade. I do agree with the contrasting baits working well amongst grass and cover.. firetiger is great out here on the delta and it under utilized in favor of a "natural" pattern of delta craw, but it still WHACKS em. Also I grew up in SoCal and i used to throw firetiger cranks on rip rap in Lake Perris and it was just stupid! but people would see my bait and say "hey kid, gotta throw something more natural".. little did they know. I dont know if it was contrast to other baits they had seen or it stood out among the rocks but it worked. Just like an all PINK spinnerbait works.. couldnt tell you why but it does. If i was hungryand hadnt eaten all day I wouldnt care if that doughnut was plain, chocolate, or purple with green spots... im eating that thing before it gets away, no doubt My .02 Ceaser

smaller stainless eyes can be obtained at Janns netcraft.com or stamina tackle or barlow's.. i think barlows carries them. These are all good websites. If your bait sinks slowly with no weight I can understand why you wouldnt want to add mroe weight but boyancy is what will keep your bait straight upright. I have never poured resin baits.. i work with wood.. but i suspect that if you add more micro balloons to your mix then that will fix the problem. moving the line tie and tweeking the head a little couldnt hurt... all you can do is learn more about bait building but i suggest pouring a new bait with more boyancy and this should solve your problem. Also this will give you more control over sink rate and angle of descent. as much or as little lead or tungsten can be added to achieve the desired results Ceaser

I can give you a customer point of view. I paint all the baits I make.. but I dont have any talent like you guys on this site. But getting to the point... For a paint jobber on a crankbait... ((i sleep with my cranks under my pillow!)) ... I would pay 20 bucks easy for a new paint job of the caliber I see on this site. If your customers dont wanna pay for your talent, bass pro shops delivers. Dont sell yourself short..

The stuff i use is parks super glaze. I am pretty sure it is very similar to etex and it has worked on all the types of paints I have used including createx.

If you cant find etex look for "PARKS super glaze" by zinnser. They stock it at home depot here in cali. Maybe they will have it out by you at a building supply store. It works great.. if you adjust the cure temp you can get thicker or thinner coats.. i like 68F. I still use 3coats so the stripers dont tear the baits to shreds. The cure time is long for a full hard set but you can add additional coats before the previous is done.. 4 hrs I believe. $30 will do a ton of baits. My .02 cents

man all those are great ideas... I have been using loofas... 99 cents and you get lots of mesh, just cut the middle string. Some loofas also have different size and shape patterns.... gotta go get some dish sponges now though!

You know reactions non innovators have stolen most of there product designs. The "sweet Beav" was the yum wooly hawg. I had been flippin that bait for years before the "development" of the new beav. I find what RI is doing rediculous and had to email the company just to let them know how I felt. The name for their bait colors are even offensive refering to sexual fetishes and drug slang. that company is a joke and i am proud to say if I want a bait similar I have some rtv, a shoe box lid, and a bucket of plastic.. wonder what I would do with those?

I use either a spay finish/sealer from zinnser it comes in a yellow spray paint can or minnwax wood hardener.. the wood hardener soaks into the wood pretty well and i just put a light sanding on it after it dries. havent had a problem yet.

In my swimbait experience I havent had to much of a problem getting a good S motion with my baits as long as they are s-l-o-w sinkers. with the faster sinks I put more weight in the head section to keep the bait down on the retrieve. this seems to add action due to the boyency(<----not the correct spelling i dont think) of the rear two sections. I use double screw eyes joints with no notch... I did read on here a while back about putting the V "notch" on the rear section of the bait intead of the head... this allows it to catch more water and if I remeber right the poster said this allowed a VERY slow retrieve with good action. Hope this help a little. Ceaser

middle of the day usually... I usually look for normal big fish spots... weed flats next to currrent or a drop. the window is small... i like the low switch.. hour before on the outside edge or in the high just rigth over the top of the weed beds.. reeling real slow and steady. i think the bites i get are fish that move up and eat then go back to wherever they hide the rest of the day. but a sunny sky with a breeze... money!

I fish alot of swimbaits that size (triple trout style and slammer style) and I am always looking for a deal. On tacklewarehouse.com they have a good price on the Daiwa heartland series rods.. like $65.. those are good rods... but the best rod I have bought fro these style baits believe it or not is the BPS graphite series heavy 7'6" flippin stick.. its a $35 rod. Alot of people laugh and say they will break but I have two i use for swimbaits up to 2 oz and the IM6 graphite has a nice med parabolic action and they havent broke yet. I have over 20 10+ stripers and a ton of nice 5+ largemouth on one of the rods and havent had a problem at all. I use 20-25lb mono/flouro and this rod has worked to perfection. I have even converted some of my buddies from there expensive "top of the line" rods.. i mean at $35 its hard to beat.. and if you do snap it they will replace it.. but im goin on two seasons and it hasent happend to me yet. hope this helps Ceaser