JRammit

Dito on the PVC.. its basically just waterproof wood, which makes it extremely convenient for testing and tuning long before a bait is finished It does seem like lure builders are far outnumbered by lure painters on here... nothing against em, i just recently got an airbrush and can now fully appreciate the amount of skill the painters hail.... but i still can't see a parallel in the satisfaction of a pretty paint job vs a great fishing handmade lure

Looks like air bubbles, not shrinkage... maybe an injector issue, not temp... i assume youre evacuating your injector before shooting... if you're not, try that... if you are, then maybe a poor mold design

I make all my mold boxes out of foam rubber sheeting, usually can find it in the craft aisle in Walmart for about 30 cents a sheet.... its fairly tough, flexible and will make a water tight seal when superglued together I just flip the mold box inside out to remove the finished mold, then flip it back and refill with silicone to make another mold... this process can be repeated over and over, ive only had one tear so far (the craw jig trailer mold), but it can easily be repaired with superglue

I remember seeing a bunch of them in my grandfather's tackle box... they were a transparent amber color

Good lookin baits... and no one else on earth has em.. thats the beauty of custom made

First thought would be temperature... beavers are big baits, big baits are more prone to shrinkage... ez trouble shoot, try pouring at a lower temp, see if that changes anything

Definitely be making several designs... i also want to try a lexan oval shape in the design i posted above... tomorrow is my friday, then ill have a couple days in the shop for building, but testing unfortunately will have to wait a week

I also wonder if the tow point will need to be farther down the cut part, similar to a deep diving crankbait having tow point on the lip instead of the body.... good thing about PVC, its cheap, so expiriments will not be costly

I like that.. 21.5 mm is less than 1", might could be upsized to 1".... then for an experiment, i could run one with only the front end cut against one with both ends like yours Only thing missing is a trip device.. maybe i could just mimic the towing wire from the other design above and mount it to the pipe

Maybe the looping line at the tow point works as a trip mechanism.. unsure, wasn't alot in the way of the description

I was hoping to get your opinion Dave So this is the only illustration i could find in my searching... i had imagined something longer and of smaller diameter One down side to the tube may be lack of a "trip" device (explained above).. although it may be possible to incorporate in the tube design

This looks like a fairly easy design to emulate... i like how it has a built in trip capability, in that the tow point slides down the sloped wire when weight from a fish on the trailing end levels out the diving surface... then you're fighting the fish, not the diver I think this is where I'll start... with a sheet of lexan, a clothes hanger and a barrel wight, i should be able to get close

Just took our new boat out for the 2nd time today.. Still getting use to having the entire lake within my reach, and targeting new species... sand bass (aka white bass) and hybrids (white bass + striped bass), these fish are no strangers to deep water and are right at home in open water, where i am not Trolling is something I've done verry little of in the past, but will be doing alot more of going forward.... So im gonna take on an interesting project, one i havnt seen here before... trolling divers For anyone not farmiliar, a diver is basically a crank bait that doesnt swim, its only job is to get your bait, which trails behind it, down to a specified depth.... the most popular commercial diver is probably the 'Jet Diver', which ill attatch a picture of... but there are a few other types on the market.... and via internet search, ive found vague descriptions of a homebrew type of diver made from PVC pipe I suppose i could just try to copy the jet diver, or pittle around with pipe until i get it right.. but first i thought id tap into the vast knowlege and ambition this site is known for

I coat the cavities in all my plaster molds with epoxy, works great, no pealing, no distortion, mirror finish As for coating the entire mold, one thing you have to keep in mind is moisture.. unless you have a special drying method, a plaster mold can take weeks or months to fully dry out.. coating the mold in resin would trap that moisture i think

I just use the bottom of a beer can.. perfect size, plentiful supply, and its almost like recycling

Mine are line thru, not thru wire.. if you look closely, the hook is not attatched to the bait.... its a great set up for cranking thick timber

Id imagine this type of fly being an easy tie.. somthin like a cotton ball with a hook in it https://www.catfishedge.com/splat-fishing-fox-sports/

Thanks! Think i owe you a slip crank blank too if i remember correctly... ive scarcely been in the shop here and there for a while now... last thing i built was a swim bait that i caught one fish on, then launched off my line to the bottom of the lake on the next cast

Line thru cranks have been my thing for years now... pro: ive never lost one (snagged several, they always float back to me)... con: some design limitations (thru hole and ballast fight for space) Looking forward to getting back in the shop and carving out some smaller white bass sized, trolling cranks... not sure if ill try to stick to the line thru design or go traditional

More pics of the layout... basically a bass boat with the casting decks shrunk down to allow for more seating and make it family adaptable

It only took 38 years, but i finally made it into the boat owner club!!! Ive been MIA here for about 3 years now, mainly because i picked up a 2nd hobby (3rd if you count fishing and lure building separately)... i hit a turning point in my life and decided to start learning about the financial markets, mainly the stock market... in a way its a complementary hobby, the more time i spend learing my way around the markets today, the more time i can spend fishing and lure building tomorrow.... so that's where most of my time has gone, im into my 3rd year now and doing fairly well, well enough to sell some stocks and buy this! Its a 1995 Pro Craft fish & ski combo with a 175 Mercury outboard (only 186 hours on the motor)... just too good a deal to pass up! Now that i have access to big water, ill be fishing a local lake that has an extremely prolific white bass and hybrid striped bass population... which means my tackle box will need a makeover from all the LMB baits ive stocked it with over the years... so i guess im back, cause i got alotta new lures to make!

File me in the "havnt been around in a while" pile too.... Been a couple years, distracted by other stuff... Havnt abandoned my shop completely, projects have just been much fewer and quite farther between Design is the only aspect of lure building/crafting that has ever interested me.. Be it cranks, plastics or other.... I guess some favor their passion for actual fishing over the joy of creating their own tools, and opt for painting blanks or injecting off the shelf molds.... That is understandable considering all the weekends i spent in the shop rather than at the lake.... But i still wouldn't trade with them

Speaking of not being on here much lately Rough stuff Dave!... Glad to hear of a steadfast recovery... And not surprised at all to see you turning an unfortunate event into an engineering challenge...... Hopefully those physical therapists hold your advice as highly as many here do!