jr1945

glad tou saw that. i found the insulation from the low voltage wire works good. i cut a piece about 4" long, pull out the srands of wire and leave a couple of strands in the jacket. then you want some way to heat the insulation. i use a propane tank turned down real low ( too much heat will soften the insulation too quick. actually, i just thought a candle might work better ) i hold each end of the wire and hold it so the heat is centered on the wire and stretch it as it softens. this will give you a graduall taper from the center out. i hold it stretched out like that until it cools so it will not curl too bad. the few strands of wire inside will help stop this and allow you to shape the wire some. then cut it in the middle will give you two pieces. takes some practice > then just make some small holes where you want the whiskers and epoxy it in.

thats what we called them when i was a kid. someone had asked about them ( can't remember who ). so i decided to try one. i guess a bass would eat a catfish as soon as any thing else. this one came out a little big ( 9", slow sinking ) so i'm working on a smaller version.

tried something different with a trout other than the standard rainbow pattern and then found out there is such a thing as a "black rainbow trout", who knew! :-? 8 1/2", 3.5 oz.

for me that is! tried something different with this bait ( 5 1/2", slow sinking). had this irridesant powder lying around and thought i would give this a try. no paint, just sprayed it with polyuratane, dumped the powder on, let it dry, shook of the loose powder and coated it wit 4 coats of poly to lock the powder on. first pictur in the daylight shows how basic it is. second pic is after a 10 sec. exposure to sunlight. glowed well for approx. 1/2 hour and was still easily seen after an hour. a flash worked good but the glow faded sooner. should be fun at night! at least i will be able to see where i cast it ;D.

if it swims, i've probably made it.

didn't know they had these in California. had a guy there ask for it, must be one of those endangered species. ;D ;D

just got this from Todd Williamson of Lures in Action LLC of one of my trout swimbaits. he does a good job of filming the baits in a natural setting.

made these up for a fellow that is making me a custom rod. the perch and tilapia all 7" end/end. one each wake bait and 1 ea. slow sinking. the crappie is 5" end/end . 1 wake bait and 1 sinking. hopefully he'll catch some more big bass with them on his trip to Mexico.

working on some baits to trade for a custom made swimbait rod

very nice! how big is it?

just got my baits from Marty in a bait swap with him. excellent baits! absolutley quality craftsmanship! can't wait to give them a try. thanks Marty.

as i said, the video was done by Todd Williamson of Lures In Action LLC. i don't know what setup he has to do it.

got the videos of some of my baits from Todd Williamson of Lures In Action. thought i would share them. 4" bluegill and 6" crappie. the color is a little pale probably due to the water clarity.

probably ruin the action. i have tried this and not good results

made these for a guy in the Netherlands per his specifications. don't know if a bass would go for these but probably would. muskie is 12", 7.2 oz., slow sinking pike is 9", 4.5 oz., slow sinking

nice job Marty! looking forward to mine.

about 1 hour

How do you paint scales and do shading on your lures using a brush? Or do you use rattle cans for that? i use a rattlecan for applying the primer coat. the rest is done by hand. i use a deerfoot stippler brush for most of the work. it is a round brush with a beveled tipi carry very little paint on the brush ( dry brush technique ) and just keep dabbing it on to get the amount of shading i want. for scales i wrap the mesh material over one side and hold it on the opposite side ( tightly ) and just start at the bottom and dab the brush up to the top leaving the scale pattern. i do each side of each section one at a time. i do shading the same way, just use a little paint and work it up or down the sides to get a shaded effect. small detailing-toothpicks

yeh, brushes, toothpicks, sharpies, anything to get the paint on the lure . i use acrylic paint. i did get an airbrush but still practicing with it. :-/

had a guy in Chicago ask if i could make him a lure like the crappie where he fishes. this has a yellowish tint. most of the ones i've seen are silver. 5" end to end, 1.3 oz.

had a guy ask for a small swimbait in a bubblegum color scheme. this is a sweet little swimmer! 5" end-end, 1.4 oz. thats a 1/0 hook on it for reference to size.

posted some videos of the bait ( "little bluegill swimbait video-finally!" )

finally got a chance to do a video on the little bluegill swimbait. 4" also a 5 1/2" very slow sinking swim/jerk bait. looking forward to trying these out over some weedbeds .

i'll see if i can get a video tomorrow if the wind dies down. wind has been blowing for a week now and can't see the bait underwater too well.

made this small bait ( 4", 1.2 oz. ) so i could use a regular baitcaster setup . throwing the big baits with the swimbait rod wears the arm out after a while. swims real nice at any retrieve speed.