whittler

The Indiana Fishing Expo is a great show, no flea market, no real estate salesmen, just fishing and tackle. This show is for all freshwater fishermen who fish for lmb, smb, musky, waleye, stripers, catfish, carp or panfish. Google indiana fishing expo for time amd directions.

I use PVC from the trim section at Lowes but a lot of other home centers have it. It will cut and carve with standard woodworking tools very well. A few things that make PVC a good choice for baits is it will not absorb water(no need to use a sealer), there is no grain to deal with so drilling straight holes is easier( no grain to follow), holds screw eyes or twisted stainless hardware very well and it floats. As far as weighting it is similar to poplar but unlike wood the density does not vary with each piece so once you have your weighting figured out it will remain the same from bait to bait. PM me if you have any more questions. Good stuff.

Sure do like those deep divers Marty, looks like they might get into the 22' - 24' range.

For a 4" lure I would have about 1" to 3/4" exposed lip and have about 3/8" to 1/2" glued into the bait. Making it a little long you can always cut it down a little as needed. If it is your first try I would not epoxy the lip in until it's tested just cut the lip slot tight and it is easier to make adjustments. Also on a first or trial bait I would make palces for 2 or 3 different line tie positions for testing, you will most likley find one of them is going to be a lot better than the others in action. Just think of your first bait as the test model and do not worry about finish just a coat of sealler on the wood so it will not absorb water and when you get it with the action you want then it will be easy to duplicate for the real thing.

There are a few other things you will need along with the airbrush. Air compressor w/pressure regulator and moisture trap/filter. Hoses and fittings to attach to the compressor. Since you are just starting I would reccomend waterbased paints, with waterbased paints you will not need a sealed exhaust system like you would for any of the solvent based paints. Auto Air, Createx, Wildlife colors and most craft waterbased paints can be used. The better quality paints will give you a superior finish but while you are in the learning process the inexpensive craft paints can be used and are great for practice. There is a learning curve to thining paints properly and adjusting air pressures to get the results, just takes practice. Also with water based paints cleanup is easy. With black, white, green, red, yellow and blue you can blend or mix about any color you can imagine, stay simple to start.

Unless the original paint is seriously damaged there is no need to remove it. A very light sanding with 400wet/dry sandpaper or 4/0 steel wool will give the bait enough tooth on the surface to hold the paint. After sanding I wipe the surface with denatured alcohol and its ready to prime. Most of the solvents that have enough strength to remove the paint can also damage the plastic especially if it gets on the lip, turns it cloudy. If the baits are wood then some of the strippers might work but there is a chance that you might not get it completely removed from the wood and I can assure you that it will come back to haunt you. On Poe's and a few other wooden baits a heat gun and a scraper (old paring knife) is the easy way to remove the old finish, then sand and prime.

The length of the screw, excluding the eye.

Boatnik13, you are correct Smith paint makes Wildlife Paints.

Createx, Wildlife and Auto-Air are all quality acrylic paints, don't think you could go wrong with any of those. Save your self some trouble and like a couple others have mentioned get the proper medium for paint reduction. While your in the learning process it will not make much difference but as skills improve you will want a quality paint job and the kitchen type solvents are going to come back to haunt you. You did not mention the size of the nozzle on your brush, the .2 mm is great for detail with proper paints and air pressure but a nozzle that small is darn near impossible to shoot pearl or metalics. The.3mm is a good all around size and in a good brush will shoot pearls and metalics and the .5mm is great for primers and base coats. There is more to consider than just paint brand. Practice with different pressures and thinning, you will find that there is a lot of varation just between some colors of the same brand of paint so again practice. One last thing " a short pencil is better than a long memory".

Not completely certain but I think Lurecraft makes a paint for soft plastics that is airbrushed or hand painted on.

Have a friend who makes jigs and spinnerbaits that has a very simple system for making skirts and you might already have one on your bench. He uses a pair of the curved needle nose pliers, the pliers with the 90deg bend and a small wooden block. Put the band over the pliers and expand to the size needed to put in the strands in easily, measure the distance between the handles and make a wooden block to hold them in the open position. Put the strands in the band needed for the skirt then remove the block, Done.

Looking good there Marty, your still setting the standard for the rest of us.

Nice work there, looks great. Going back and looking at some of your earlier baits you have come a long way in a very short time, it only gets better from here.

A couple come to mind, Bomber Speed Shad and Clark Water Scout. The Bomber SS, in the wind was like trying to cast a kite but a great bait in the water.

Before you spend your money look around and I'll bet you already have what you need. A propane burner on your grill or an electric hot plate for the heat source. A small cast iron pot for the lead and a cast iron ( cornbread ) pan for pouring ingots, check flea markets for those. Put the wheel weights in the pot and when they have melted skim of the steel clips and the scale or dross. Add a pea sixed piece of bees wax or commercial flux to the pot and stir slowly you will get more scale that will need to be skimmed of to clean the lead. Now you can pour the cleaned lead into the cornbread mold to cool and form the ingots. Now you can use the clean ingots to remelt and pour whatever you like. Be very careful with molten lead and avoid any moisture source, even a drop of sweat hitting the molten lead will cause big problems and its best to work outside if you don't have an exhaust system in your shop.

I agree Wayne, those were the best spinnerbaits I have ever used, caught more bass on those than all the other spinnerbaits combined. If you were blondfolded you could tell those baits by their unique vibration pattern.

An exceptional paint pattern, beautiful work.

Steve, I have both the brushes you mention and you cannot go wrong with either one. The hp-cs has a slightly larger nozzle which makes shooting pearls and metalics a little easier but both are capable of fine detail. For compressors if you purchase a good sized unit there are many more uses you will have for it besides just airbrushing. Small sand blasters can be used to remove paint from old baits but they require a larger volume of air (cfm) than most small compressors can provide. The oil-less compressors are indeed very noisy, if that is an issue.

I am truly sorry for the fishermen who purchased "exceptionally overpriced' poor quality line on his word. "Goes around comes around"

Those really look good, each post gets a little better. Save the picture and in a year go back and compare them with your most recent paint jobs, its always a shocker for me. Kyle, are those Mike Vann's (Vanndalizer) bodies?

You will need to find tempered hooks or be able to anneal them yourself. Forged hooks will snap when you try to bend them, tempered hooks will straighten out or bend but won't break.

WOW, that is a couple large chunks of cedar there Marty, those are beautiful. Marty is one of the few builders that understand just what it takes to get deep. If you want a floating 3/8oz. 2" bait to get 20' it just won't happen.

Great baits, great colors, especially like that second bait color combo.

Without doubt one of the best bass patterns I have seen. I think it is one of the most difficult patterns to paint well and you nailed it.

Listen to what the bass are telling you, not the pros. Bass do not sell baits.