CTBfishing

This winter I started to get into making my own wire baits and made several spinner baits with varying wire diameters and head sizes. I went out on my kayak on a local NH lake and found the water temp to be around 46 degrees. After paddling to the north end of the lake I found warm water that was around 48 degrees and flooded bushes because the water level was up three feet (a rare occasion in NH glacial lakes). Got on a good pattern of casting 1/4 single willow light wire spinnerbaits right into the bushes and giving the bait a second long pause after it comes out of the bushes. Ended up catching 6 nice bass ranging from 2-4 pounds. The next day I went out on a smaller remote pond and caught bass on spinnerbaits (indiana and colorado blades) in 44 degree water. Feels pretty awesome to catch bass on baits you made you self. Who new bass would eat a fast reaction bait right after ice out! Pictured below are the some of the bass I caught and the

I was looking into making my own finesse football jigs with parts from lure parts online and found the size of the brush guards to be unclear. Are they categorized by strand count or some other factor? Also what size of a fiber jig guard should be used for a finesse jig in light cover?

Thank you all for your great advice, I found steel bbs on amazon for pretty cheap so I believe that is the route I am going to go.

Recently tried making my own swimbait (modeled after ms slammer) and I would like to add some weight to the head. The problem is I do not have a lead pot or any tools to melt metals down to pour into the bait. How can I weight my baits?

I recently bought some Devcon 3o minute epoxy. I would like to use it as a top coat for a lure but upon reading the warnings, it said do not breathe in vapors. Since I live in New Hampshire, I can not leave it to cure in my garage because it is colder than the recommended curing temperature. I also can not ventilate my work area because if I open a window it will let the cold 20 degree temps in. Any recommendations on how I can cure this bait while avoiding vapors?

If I'm going fishing I'm going to have these five: -Zman scented paddlers either in gold or smelt color, always on an underspin -Roboworm 3 inch alive shad, has to be margarita mutilator or Aarons magic- a must have for finessing those smallmouths. -Vixen style walking bait in smelt color- won high school state champions with my partner with that bait -Zman finesse trd, a bait that will catch fish anywhere. -Lucky craft slender pointer in a grey ghost color. Notice a pattern... I love my bronzebacks!

I am new to the whole lure painting thing and I was wondering what size eyes you would recommend for using on a small size vixen style walking bait. Here is the link to it: https://cedarrunoutdoors.com/vixen-style-blank-small/ Thank you for your help, Chris.