JD_mudbug

I have not seen epoxy melt glitter. I have made baits out of wood, pvc, lead, brass and have used a few different epoxies. I have also used glitter nail polish with a top coat of epoxy and that worked. I don't have much experience with vinyl paint. I have only used it on small crappie jigs with no glitter. I have seen some vinyl jigs get gummy but I don't clear coat those tiny jigs. Once, I did foil an old 4" diamond jig. The jig had to be either Bead or Marathon. I remember doing each side individually and trimming with a razor knife. I think I used D2T as a top coat on that. It lasted a few years and then water started getting under the foil from dings on the edges of the jig. The foil is still on the jig but has been discolored in spots on the edges by the water. You could also try one of the foil Jig Skins. I have a few lures with a foil herring on them. One is a 6" bar/slab type jig. It still looks good after 2 years and maybe a dozen fish. It is coated with D2T.

Definitely looks like a boat hull. I have always had this image in my mind that Luhr Jensen had an aerodynamic wind tunnel and used it to come up with the body design. I have wondered if the small notch line on the back actually did something or if it is was just to catch fisherman by making the lure look less plain. After Rapala bought Luhr Jensen in 2006, Rapala moved the production to China and then to Indonesia. My Speed Traps are from before 2006. They have Made in the USA in the package and the old Oregon address. I am going to pick up some of the new ones to compare.

The wLure blank UPM515 is the closest I have seen to the size 5 Smash Shad. It might be an option for you as most of the blanks seem to be the size 7. The blank is between the size 5 and the size 6 Smash Shad. The Smash Shad size 6 is 2 and ½”. The blank is a 2 and 1/3” long. wLure has a video of the action. https://www.wlure.com/collections/blank-minnow/products/fishing-lures-blank-minnow-upm515?variant=16898554438 It’s on Amazon as well https://www.amazon.com/wLure-Unpainted-Jerkbait-Floating-UPM515P10/dp/B00QZPAH34/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=wlure+upm515&qid=1631586915&sr=8-1

You’re welcome, Jig Man. Nice looking standup jig head. Years ago when I used to pour, I needed to modify spinnerbait mold on short notice and couldn’t remember what I had used to block the lead. It was a mold I borrowed so I couldn’t permanently alter it. I used either a skirt collar or a disc punched from a silicone cooking mat. I may have used both ways at some point. I’m glad the skirt collar worked. I made some spinnerbaits without a molded skirt collar to mate a paddle tail swimbait or craw directly to the spinnerbait head with a bent wire type bait keeper. The bait had no skirt. I made a ½ and 3/4 ounce model with a single Colorado blade. It is like an upsized Beetle Spin for bass. Just cut the tip off the head of a soft plastic bait flat and put it on the spinnerbait with a drop of gel superglue. It works great for re-using damaged soft plastic baits. If I had enough time to make a big batch, I would use RTV on the mold. I wanted to make my own mold for that bait and incorporate a corkscrew into it. But, I never got around to it.

Just throwing out some ideas. How about using a silicone skirt collar, a disc punched from a silicone cooking mat, or high temp RTV to block around the hook? Maybe you could use some mold-making material to make a bunch of discs/cylinders with notches in them to fit around the hook.

Backwater Outfitting has an X8 and X10 blank that are like the X-rap. I have not tried any blanks from this place. Going by the listed size, their X blanks appear to be a bit shorter from the X-rap. https://backwateroutfitting.com/product/x-factor-unpainted-jerkbait/

I have been told the Speed Trap is made out Butyrate a.k.a. Cellulose Acetate Butyrate. I don't know if that has been changed. Butyrate is weaker than ABS of the same thickness. Butyrate is easier to mold into very thin-walled items like the Speed Trap. A lot of Speed Traps end up with small dents/dimples from the molding process. Take a look at the belly of your Speed Traps. I know some lure companies will use Butyrate for some models to get a different rattle sound than other lures. It produces more of a deep thud type sound. I am a fan of the Speed Trap too. It is a great lure. The Metallic Perch color is one on my favorites. Of course, they discontinued that color. I have one that I painted black that works great too. Mark, I know you have made your own version of the Speed Trap which looks great. I thought you might like to read the 'Tech Sheet'. Jim SpeedTrap tech sheet.pdf

You're welcome. There are also resins and (compressed) foams. You can achieve almost any type of buoyancy with those. Some of the large bass swimbaits are made of those. They seem to be used in smaller production runs. Plastic is easier to use in mass production. You can also go with one type of plastic for the diving lip like polycarbonate and ABS for the body. The lip is stamped or cut and the body is molded separately. The lip is glued into the body like a Grandma type musky bait.

Mass production lure companies use a variety of plastics. The common types are acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate, and polypropylene. The different types can also be blended. Each company has their own formulas. The precise formulas are trade secrets. A Berkley square bill may use a different formula from a Bomber square bill even if they are same general type of plastic. A company may use a different formula or different type of plastic for each product line. A Bomber square bill may use a different type of plastic from a Saltwater Magnum Long A. Companies choose a plastic for a certain density, weight, durability and cost based on what they want the lure to do. The density of each type of plastic changes some based on the particular formula. ABS is somewhere around 1.06 g/cm^3. Polycarbonate is around 1.20 g/cm^3. Polypropylene is around 0.92 g/cm^3. If I had to guess, the most common type of plastic used in a typical bass size lure is some type of ABS. ABS is in the mid-range in terms of density of the 3. It can provide a wide variety of buoyancy based on the thickness, the size of the hollow chamber and internal weighting. ABS is typically cheaper than polycarbonate. It is strong and durable enough for a typical bass size lure. Some of the larger saltwater lures are made of polycarbonate because it is more durable and impact resistant. Big saltwater lipped lures are usually made of some type of polycarbonate or they wouldn’t survive. Polypropylene is used in some saltwater lures like big top waters and big lipless trolling lures. These rely on a wire harness with heavy hardware for strength and need more buoyancy.

I have painted some nickel blades as basskat suggested- rough up with steel wool or scotch brite, wipe clean, paint, and clear with Rustoleum 2x Clear. Both the paint and clear were rattlecan. When using the Rustoleum 2x, I do a couple of light coats to keep it thin and avoid drips at the blade tips. That paint and clear have lasted fairly long so far. You can also use finger nail polish and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails as a clear. Some of the glitter nail polishes look good on a nickel blade. When I paint blades, I usually do batches of 5-10. It really isn't much effort. The only pain is drying time for the paint and clear which really isn't that bad. In most lure making endeavors, there is going to be wait time. I usually only paint blades for custom patterns or a color I can't purchase. If you are looking to make a custom paint job on a blade an easy method is to use the cheap painted LPO blades. These blades are the 'H' series and are cheaper than both the premium and regal series. These blades are painted a matte base coat without a clear. Basically, the prep work including base coat have been done for you. You can use tape or stencils to come up with most anything. Just wipe any dust off and you're ready to paint. I have used the white blades a lot as they make a good base coat for just about anything like rainbow trout blades, red white stripe blades, and slate blue blades. I use the chartreuse blades to make firetiger blades, chartreuse red diamond blades, and mustard colored blades. I have added yellow dots to the orange blades and black blades for pike. https://www.lurepartsonline.com/Painted-Willow-Blades?quantity=1&custcol_blade_spoon_size=52 https://www.lurepartsonline.com/Painted-Colorado-Blades https://www.lurepartsonline.com/Colorado-Deep-Cup-Blades https://www.lurepartsonline.com/Painted-Indiana-Blades

LPO and Jann's have the double clevis. They are quite large and thick in gauge. I have some and they are the size of two size 6 clevises attached end to end. They are made for larger in-lines typically size 5 blades and up. I have gotten two size 4 French blades to spin on them. I have not tried anything smaller on them because the gauge is thick. They are just a hair under 3/4" long (between 11/16 and 3/4) which will add a lot of length to a small spinner. I have not seen a double clevis in a smaller size for sale. https://www.lurepartsonline.com/Double-Clevises?quantity=1&keywords=clevis&page=1 https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/lure-clevises/320915.aspx Stacked or nested clevises work better with larger blades. You can get the easier-to-spin French blades to work on a stacked set up in smaller sizes. I have size 3 French blades from LPO stacked and they work. I have a stacked size 4 swing blade spinner and a stacked size 5 Colorado and that spin fine. The Colorado spinner is two of of the flat Colorado blades. I mostly use 2 blades on larger spinners for bass/pike/musky. I have not tried smaller stacked blades.

I would try bending the loops yourself. I mostly use round nose pliers, needle nose pliers, and vice grips for wire work. My round nose pliers have a stepped jaw. I also use a bench vise to hold nails and bits of metal rod to make bends around those on heavier wire. You get good at it real quick. Unless you plan on making a lot, I don't know if a wire former is worth it. I buy my shaft wires with a loop on one end. I build my spinners from the bottom up. At the line tie end, I bend the loop with the tools above. I sometimes use a Shyster type line tie loop. I sometimes put a swivel on the line tie loop of larger spinners. I am not sure if a wire forming tool can do those easily. I attach the hook by split ring on the loop that came on the shaft. I have made around 100 spinners over the past few years as I got into species other than bass. At most, I made maybe 25 a year which is not a lot. If I had to break it down, I probably have 40 for trout (sizes 1 to 3), 30 for bass and pike (sizes 4 - 6), another 20 or so in the size 4-6 range with hooks for soft plastic trailers, and around a dozen .051 wire musky bucktail type spinners. Now that I have a supply built up, I make only a couple a year to try something new or re-shaft a mangled spinner. At one point, I had a wire former from Twist-tech (which was good). It only did small wires so I didn't use it much. You had to buy an extra kit to do .040 wire which I like on size 5 spinners because I fish in pike waters. You also needed another larger wire former to do .045 and .051 wire. Because I have to use from .025 all the way to .051 wires, I would rather spend the money on blades and other components. A screw-up only costs you a wire shaft. You can buy a lot of shafts with that money. Once you start making them, wire bending becomes easy and you rarely screw-up. Side note: For wire twist eyes on hardbaits, I bought these pliers. I paid $10. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082SX8D4G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The 9" pliers work fine. You just need to use a glove because the knurling on the knob is harsh when new. Took a couple of tries to get good at it by twisting the wire around a nail in a vise. Well worth the $10. Don't waste your time on the 6", too flimsy.

I get my blades from LPO, Janns, or Barlows. It depends on who has the best price on what I need at that moment. Just type in 'prop', 'propeller blade', 'delta blade', or 'buzz blade' into their sites' search box. Some different types are called 'chopper', 'woodchopper', or 'dumbell' props. I have made some blades out of sheet metal but I find it is just easier to buy them. https://www.lurepartsonline.com/search?keywords=prop&page=1 https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Search/propeller blades.aspx https://barlowstackle.com/search.php?search_query_adv=prop&section=product The ones in the pics are called Delta blades or (counter rotating) buzz blades. The props/blades come in different sizes and also list if they are clockwise (CW) or counter clockwise (CCW). Smaller size blades tend to only come in one spin direction. You should be able to eliminate roll with ballast. If the bait is really flat like the side profile of a baitfish (like the bass lure above), on a rare occasion the bait lands upside down (with the hooks up) and doesn't flip to its proper running side even with ballast. A rod jerk at the start of the cast will get to flip to the right side. The top side of that bass bait is painted flo orange so I can see it on a long cast. I have seen some big Japanese topwaters that had put bright spots on the top so the angler could see what the bait was doing on the retrieve. The fish never see that part of the bait. If I don't see the flo orange top on that bait, I know it landed upside down and didn't flip. I have some other flat baits where I just paint a bright spot or stripe on top for visibility. It doesn't happen often, but its annoying if you retrieve a lure and it's messed up and didn't know it. The more rounded bodies usually land correctly as they rotate to the proper side on landing.

I have the Sub-Par badge. I am really hoping to obtain the Mediocrity Badge with Oak Leaf cluster.

LHL, great point about the Z bend on a wire through bait. I ran into that problem on the wire through baits and did a Z bend as well. I forgot about that until your post. The body on bass colored bait has a rivet set into the ends of the body to stop the Z bend from sliding into the bait. It looks like on some lure bodies I used cup washers and on others I used a rivet set into the wire through shaft hole. The first pic shows a closeup of my Z from the side. I had the Z bend drop down. I also made one wire through that ended in a loop at the tail end of bait (gold colored bait). Off that loop, I attached a second short piece of shaft wire by creating a loop through the loop at the end of the body. This will also stop the shaft wire sliding as the loop is the stop. I never really like the way the blade hangs down at rest once I saw it in the water. It looks unnatural to me. I saw some baits like this and decided to try it. It works. It just looks weird to me. I prefer the lures with one shaft wire with the Z bend.

My first creeper did not work until I bent the rear end of the wing back less than they came. The wings were too open on the retrieve with a wobble so large that the whole bait would flip over. The good thing about a creeper is you can test the wings after you seal the bait with a small bent piece of shaft wire for a pin. From the prop lures I have made, my single rear prop lures are louder than my front and rear prop lures. Both can catch fish. And you can vary the retrieve on both. I think the front and rear prop bait works best when it sits flat in the water so both blades get enough water. I like a single rear prop lure to sit slightly tail down to prevent any nose diving and to make sure the prop gets a lot of water. If going with a rear prop only, the bait may sit tail down too much depending on the prop and rear hook weight. You may have to put a small ballast somewhere in front of the midpoint lengthwise to get it to sit only slightly tail down. The most commotion is a double rear prop with counter rotating blades. It looks like a blender in the water. The double rear props maybe too cause much commotion. I know peacock bass like them. I have only caught a single fish (pike) on that one. I would use a cup washer on the body ends. Cup washers give the body more durability from prop and hardware impact on casts and clear coat wear from the prop rotating constantly. On the front after the loop, I had a bead then the prop. After the prop blade, I had a bead and then a LPO disc washer free spinning on the shaft or screw. Then, a cup washer epoxied to the lure body. The disc washer is probably overkill but I want the bait to last. On the back, I had a cup washer epoxied to the body, a free spinning bead, the prop, a disc washer or bead, then a rivet. I used a rivet to give the prop a little more space from the rear hook attachment loop. Big baits have big hooks which can foul the rear prop especially on a slow retrieve. You can use surgical or shrink tubing to hold the hook straight out if the rivet doesn't prevent that. The beads and washers may seem like a bit much. I wanted to make sure cut floating grass and scum had the least chance of stopping the props. You don't even notice them due to the size of the bait you are making. Also, I had trouble getting props to spin on twisted wire screws. I made mine with the longer LPO .092 screws which have a smooth section near the screw eyes that props spin very easily on. I also have made a couple of wire-through prop baits and the props spin easily on shaft wire. Lastly, if making a prop bait shaped like a baitfish on its side, the fish will be viewing it from the bottom. I focused my painting efforts on the side the fish sees. Good luck. There is nothing quite like a topwater hit especially own your own bait.

I have heard crawler and creeper used interchangeably. You should check out Dieter's creeper. It is one of the best I have seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H3hQGIWwAg&t=626s The wing mounting position is critical. The wings should be mounted just below the horizontal mid-line to catch water and just forward of the front-to-back midpoint for the best pivoting position. The wings should be long enough to reach just past the nose of the bait. Too long they could hit the line, too short and the wings may not open up. Fortunately, Dieter included some mid-construction still shots at 7:55 showing the mounting placement. I made my first creeper with LPO wings. I made my second with wings made from a small aluminum sheet i got at a big box hardware store. I bent the back end of my wings back to limit the frequency of the wobble. Dieter's uses a limiting arm on the wing mounting bracket to limit the wobble. By prop bait do you mean a single rear prop, a front and a rear prop, a double rear prop, or a globe lure type prop bait?

Some of those body weights do seem low for the bait weight on the right. When using the chart, you have to add up all the components, the body weight, plus the head weight (the small body piece in front of the main body piece, sometimes there are 2 of these), solid beads, clevis, and blade will get you to the total bait weight. I think the bait weight also includes the weight of the undressed treble hook. The things I use most from the chart are the bait weight and blade size. The chart is just a suggestion and you can vary all of it to some degree. I don't often use the numbered bodies on the chart. I am too cheap to buy all the body types and different solid beads. I use various size hollow beads and just have a one bag of small solid beads. I usually use a sinker or generic body I have laying around. In the winter, I like to walk the ice and pluck lures from trees with a telescopic pole, usually the bodies can be re-used even if the rest of the bait is destroyed. You can buy weights cheaper and paint them with nail polish, clear with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails or thinned epoxy. I use a hollow bead (or 2) in front of the sinker/body. In front of the hollow bead, I like to use a small solid bead for the clevis to spin on. I have no real weight except the blade and body. I weigh my components on a small precision digital scale I got off Amazon. You can weigh all of the components including blade and shaft before assembly. You can compare your components' weight to the bait weight column to get a blade size similar to a Mepps. The bait weight column in the chart matches the Mepps Aglia weights. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/mepps-aglia-original-plain-spinner Aglia Mepps 0 1/12 oz Mepps 1 1/8 oz Mepps 2 1/6 oz Mepps 3 1/4 oz Mepps 4 1/3 oz Mepps 5 1/2 oz With a body weight of 3/8 oz, you will be looking at a bait around a 1/2 oz the way I make them, probably a bit over 1/2 oz. Then, I look at the 1/2 oz bait weight line on the chart and find the blade size of #5. I usually go with the chart's hooks size for trebles (size 2 treble for a #5 bait). That bait if built will run just a bit deeper than a Mepps 5 Aglia. File that body down a bit and you could get the bait weight even closer to a 1/2 oz and be really close to the Mepps running depth if you want as close to exact as possible. The key thing to look at when building a spinner is the blade size compared to the total bait weight. Each blade size will have a range of bait weights it will work with. You can downsize a French blade for a given bait weight to make it run deeper. You could use a size 4 blade with that 3/8 oz body for a deeper running spinner. Too much weight vs. blade and the bait could retrieve too vertically and not spin well. You can upsize the blade to make it run shallower. If you upsize the blade too much, the bait could surface or just retrieve without spinning like a sled. Trailers like grubs and paddletails will also give some lift and add even more variables. You do have to experiment. Fortunately, shafts are cheap. If I am fishing a shallow river for bass/pike with major snag hazards, I might try a 1/4 oz body on a spinner with a #5 blade to keep it high in the water column. Conversely, I have a couple of spinners made with a 1 oz body and size 5 blade for deep water in reservoirs. There is no set formula. The blade size to bait weight depends on the specific fishing style you are trying to achieve. This also works in combination with retrieve speed. Faster retrieve, more rotation = more lift/shallower. Slow retrieve, less rotation = less lift/deeper. A scale and keeping notes on the exact size and weights of the components help a lot when you find combos you like. This prior post has some more info. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/37973-inline-blade-thickness/ I hope this helps.

A number 5 blade will work. The weight of a Mepps #5 aglia is a 1/2 oz. A body of 3/8 oz will put you near a 1/2 oz. weight for the bait. You could also use a size 4 blade which will run deeper. French (Aglia type) blades are easy to get to spin. I have made a few spinners with heavier bodies than recommended. The blade spins fine. The bait runs deeper. https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/content/make_fishing_lures.htm

I found an article written in 1995 in 'Wildlife in North Carolina' magazine published by the North Carolina Resource Commission, Volume 59, Issue 6, June 1995. The article is titled "Revisiting the Carolina Rig" written by Tim Mead. I would think Deaver's worm was made at until the early 90s as the article says Deaver's worm was still available. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll4/id/18621/rec/570 The article begins on page 18 of the index on the right side of the linked page. The magazine cover and an un-numbered page are pages 1 and 2 on the index. The actual page number in the magazine is 16. There is a 2 pack on Ebay. There are no dates on the packaging that I could see. https://www.ebay.com/itm/164524011166?hash=item264e652e9e:g:QYsAAOSwBylftp8s Below is a partial abstract of the article. Revisiting the Carolina Rig Bass fishermen have been fishing plastic worms on leaders behind weights for years. Now, newer lures and methods of rigging make this tactic more effective than ever. written and photographed by Tim Mead ° 1995 What are you using up there?" Bill Shumaker, my good fishing buddy and a faculty member at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, asked. My fifth Lake Norman largemouth bass of the morning was flopping on the bottom of the boat. "A Carolina rig," I answered. "It's a great way to catch bass, particularly on a day like today when they are scattered." Carolina-rigged plastic worms have been catching fish for years. Of course, many of us did not call them Carolina rigs. We simply called them plastic worms and we put a cou- ple of split shot on the line to make them heavy enough to cast — it's the separation of weight and worm that seems to define what we now call a Carolina rig. In the 1950s Lloyd Deaver of Gastonia developed a pre-rigged worm he called "The Fish Finder" and these are still available. They have two small wire hooks imbedded in a straight, 4-inch piece of plastic. And there are many imitators. These worms were usu- ally fished on a leader behind a swivel that had a weight threaded on the line ahead of the swivel, and fishermen began referring to it as "Carolina rigging" particularly when using Deaver's lure. Actually, this method of rigging is fairly old, and has come to typify all "Carolina rigging" regardless of the type of soft plastic lure that's used. After an early period when Deaver could not fill all the orders that streamed in, his 4-inch worm fell into obscurity. New lures, like safety pin style spinnerbaits, and dif- ferent riggings, like Texas-rigged worms, became more popular. In the last decade, however, Carolina- rigged plastic worms have regained their ear- lier popularity. There are a couple of reasons. One, certainly, is the success professional largemouth bass anglers have had with this rig. Another is that anglers have recognized the incredible versatility of Carolina rigging and extended it well beyond the kind of pre- rigged worms Deaver offered......

Going counter clockwise from top left, I would guess the following: Top left: 2 Renosky Shads, soft paddle tail baits on a ball head Left side, below the 2 Renosky baits: with 3 treble hooks, Original floating Rapala. It should have Finland stamped on the lip. Left side, half way down: with 2 treble hooks, Rebel minnow Left side, below the 2 treble hook minnows: Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring Spoon Bottom left corner: with the swivel snap, Johnson Silver Minnow Spoon. Near the bottom left corner are some small crappie lures and a banana type jig head. Bottom middle: 2 Acme Kastmater spoons (silver). Should be stamped with KASTMASTER and ACME TACKLE CO. Bottom middle: black (red?) and white spoon with devil face and treble hook, Eppinger Daredevle Bottom near right corner: spoon with devil face and 2 small silver blades attached, Eppinger Daredevle Clicker Bottom right: 5 spoons, 2 white with red stripe, 2 black with white stripe, 1 yellow with 5 red diamonds, all with single hooks, tough to tell which brand spoon. They could be Len Thompson (should be stamped on the back). They could be South Bend or some other knock off brand. Right side, half way down: 2 Bomber long As, one in baby striper color, one in rainbow trout. Top right corner: Looks like an older J Plug type lure. Tough to tell which brand it is. It could be a Luhr Jensen brand lure. If it is wood, it could be worth something. Center: is an older A.C. Plug Minnow. That could be worth something on Ebay with the paperwork. It appears to be from before Luhr Jensen, Arbogast, and Optimum baits bought and sold the rights to Allan's baits. Except for the A.C. Plug and the J Plug type lure, I would give away or use the rest of the lures. They are common and still made. I don't think the A.C. Plug Minnow will fetch serious money if it has already been fished and has hook rub marks or paint chips. I would fish it myself. The A.C. Plug Minnow and J Plug type lure are the only 2 lures I see worth the effort of selling. Without more pics and measurements it's tough to tell what the J Plug type lure in the top right corner is. I hope this helps. Jim

You can find some X-rap type blanks on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Aorace-Unpainted-Jerkbaits-Floating-Holographic/dp/B076M2YKTQ/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=unpainted+jerkbait&qid=1629227818&sr=8-5 https://www.amazon.com/Skipaelf-Unpainted-Crankbait-Jerkbait-Freshwater/dp/B097XSCDGV/ref=sr_1_30?dchild=1&keywords=unpainted+jerkbait&qid=1629227880&sr=8-30 Cedar Run has a blank like the Shadow Rap. https://cedarrunoutdoors.com/bionic-shad-r-minnow/ I have not tried any of these blanks.

Initially, I did try the gold bait with the jig head on sideways. I got one fish on it that way. Then, I got snagged twice. I was able to get the lure back both times. So, I turned the end loop a quarter turn to have the jig ride upright. I wanted to do a direct comparison between the gold and silver with the same soft plastic bait. So, I modified the gold so I could switch the same jig head and bait combo between the gold and silver lures. I can still fish either lure with a paddletail and a vertical eye hook or a jig head. I have seen aspects of your bait in some different lures but not all in the same lure. Your lure’s wire frame reminds me a bit of a Booyah Boo rig. The one I have has 2 blade arms above and 2 arms below the central shaft the lure is on. It just has one blade per arm. The Boo rig is a miniature Alabama rig with blades on the outer arms. Your lure is like the twin spin spinnerbait version of the Boo rig, like a small Myers twin rig. Neither the Booyah or Myers has a blade on the center wire like yours. I have seen a sleeve/tube on a shaft on before on a Beetle Spin type lure so you could swap out the jig head. I think I have also seen that setup on a spinnerbait blade arm. The ones I have seen use a spring coil sleeve and not a solid metal sleeve. I have seen blades, dodgers, and flashers linked together on salmon, kokanee, steelhead and trout trolling rigs. Most have a length of wire between the blades but I have seen them directly linked together in a chain usually 2 or 3 blades followed by a leader and the actual lure. Those blades usually alternate too. I have also seen linked blades on traditional spinnerbaits. Gan Craft makes one with 2 blades linked. I don’t remember if I have seen more than 2 linked on a traditional spinnerbait. I will have to try a blade setup like yours on the blade arm of a traditional spinnerbait maybe with size 3 willows followed by a Colorado, Indiana or royal. https://www.kkjapanlure.com/products/gan-craft-killers-bait-type-i-3-8-oz-spinnerbait-new.html Then there is also Daredevle Clicker spoons. So, I don’t know if there is enough uniqueness in the blade setup to qualify for a patent. As others have pointed out, the money required to defend a patent is the big issue. As for lead, I think only if the product is sold at retail, would you get in trouble in NH. An angler could possibly get in trouble for using your lure with the lead jig head in NH. Lead bans vary from state to state in the U.S. Some states do not have one. New Hampshire’s lead ban is N.H. R.S.A. 211:13-b and 339:77 . http://gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/xviii/211/211-13-b.htm http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXXI/339/339-77.htm Non-lead jig heads are pretty easy to find down here. You can get tin for the light ones and tungsten for the heavier ones. Eagle Claw makes a 1/32, 1/16, and 1/8 tin jig head like the jig you sent. The way the NH lead ban is written doesn’t address bladed jigs (chatter baits), flashy swimmers, and under spins in section IV of 211:13-b and section II of 339-77. It also doesn’t address a removable jig attached to a wire frame with blades. I don’t know if that qualifies as a spinnerbait. I have asked a person from Fish and Game I know from the fishing expos about these questions and he didn’t know. He said unless is it specifically listed as being allowed it would probably be illegal with the lead jig head. I asked him if F&G would reimburse my money if they scratch the paint off my tungsten jig to determine if it’s lead and they are wrong. He got a laugh out of that and said ‘no comment’. He said he doubts any officer would do that. I usually do a couple of trout trips after ice out for rainbows, browns, and landlocked salmon. I have had luck using a small inline spinners, either Mepps or homemade, with a fly attached by split ring. I cut the hook off the Mepps to use the fly on the back. A silver blade spinner with a black fly has been my best trout lure. Trout fishing is terrible here in the summer without down riggers. It’s best in Spring, decent in fall and through the ice. I was thinking of trolling the unbent lure as well. I might put a keel bead chain sinker in front of it with a black fly on the back. I will keep you posted on that when the water cools off in the fall. I have used magnets in a few hardbaits that I have made. I was inspired by this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXDm_u3gEzc I hope the lure with magnets works out. I really appreciate incorporating unusual components into lures. Thanks again for the lures.

Hi Bruce County, Sorry for the late response. I was out of town visiting family for 2 weeks. Your lures arrived while I was away. They are very nice. A lot of effort went into them. Thank you very much. As Hillbilly posted, I could immediately see panfish potential which is not my area of expertise. I took them out on the water today to try in a couple of spots I believed were holding crappie. Of course, I went out at noon in the blinding sun. The water was stained from the heavy rain we have been getting the past week. I was using a 6'6" medium spinning rod with 8lb test. I did use a small snap to make it easier to switch between the baits. I fished a spot in 10 feet of water where I had marked a school of fish holding next to an object on the bottom. I am not sure what the object was, possibly a pallet or section of a destroyed dock sticking up at a slight angle off the bottom. I also fished a second spot in 13 feet that had some nice weed clumps holding fish. I switched off between your gold and silver baits and also switched off between the small paddle tail on the ewg hook and the jig head. I got no bites on the paddle tails. That might have been due to their dark color. I then tried a jig head. I replaced the jig head you sent with a tin jig head that was the same size just to be complaint with the lead ban in NH. I caught 6 crappie on your gold bait with the jig head in an hour. I lost another crappie because I was not using a net. I used a Bass Pro 2" Jake in pearl color on the jig head. The crappie were all around the same size, between 10-13 inches. I posted a couple of pics in the Gallery in the Trophy room forum. My apologies for the terrible camera work. I had no one with me to take pics. The sun being overhead made it tough to see the screen. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/21369-crappie-on-underground-spin-8-2-2021jpg/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/21370-crappie-on-underground-spin-8-2-2021p2jpg/ I tried vertical jigging from just off the spots and caught one crappie on the initial drop in the 10 foot deep spot. When vertical jigging, I could feel some hits but could not get any hookups. The blades do spin nice on the drop especially the last blade on each chain. I think the bumps were blade strikes. The last blade is like a little strobe light. Maybe a small crappie twist tail grub would be better on the drop on your bait. The straight split tail bait I had on the jig head might not have had enough action on the drop to draw the crappie from the blade chains. After trying vertical jigging, I backed off the spots and cast beyond them. The lures cast well for their size, even on the rod I was using which was a heavy setup for crappie. I counted down 1 foot per second so I could slow roll the bait down where the fish were. Except for the one crappie on the initial drop, I caught all of the crappie on the slow roll retrieve. Occasionally during the retrieve, I would let the bait drop for a split second near the spot and give the rod tip a slight pop before continuing the retrieve. I got a few bumps on the silver bait but no hook ups so I mostly used the gold. Gold was definitely the ticket in the stained water. I did not try the unbent lure. I have not decided what I want to put on that. I was thinking of a small weight followed by a fly to try in streams. You baits definitely have panfish potential. I don't usually target crappie and don't know much about them. I was able to catch them on your lure. Thanks again for the lures. I will post future updates when I use them.