FuzzyGrub

FWIW: Unless you are fishing for small fish only, step it up to ML. if your river produces 4-5lbers and need to fight them in current, a M is more appropriate. My river smallie "goto" rod has been a 68MXF action/power, be it Mojo, Avid, Walleye or Bass Tournament St Croix's.

Deja' Vu And after that, soft plastics, spinners and spinnerbaits, and maybe even some hard baits. I haven't convinced myself to climb that last plateau.........yet

and don't forget about the special FED tax for the tackle industry.

You might find this useful: http://www.joefishin.com/TubeMaking.html

On a PVC plastic mold, I used a spray vegtable oil, like PAM.

I haven't played around with tungsten. I would think powder paint would still be the right answer. Does it chip too easy or something?

The gasket maker in the video sounds promising. Be careful not to get too much on. Other things that will help: - Clean baits in detegent and dry thoroughly. - Put a flat surface over the baits and place a some weight to hold it down. - Do not add too much hardner. It will cause resin to heat up hotter, and "melt" bait or glue. - Flat sided baits are easier than round. - Flat pours may require appendages to be cut off and laid flat. Anything that dips below the top will be an issue with removing bait from mold or require extensive dremel work. An example would be a paca craw where the pinchers attach to the body. - Do not rush this stage, unless you like sanding and dremel work in resin.

Being creative with coloring is the main variable the DIYer gets to play with.

Yes you must dry the pop molds out. I used my toaster oven on low. They need to be completly dried before sealing. The molds in the foam block are water cure silicone (and all in that pic), not pop.

Don't you hate that? Nice work.

Yea, that would break my heart to catch a huge smallie on them! While most of our muskies have been inadvertant ones, fishing for smallies and eyes, don't have an issue with the reverse. We caught a smallie last year that was only 2" longer than the muskie spinner!

And here are what the bucktails attach to, my first pike/musky spinners:

Yea, without the eyes, they do look like the aspirin head. Putting on the 3d eyes rounds them out more. The ones I tied are menat to be more crawfish like, so don't bother with eyes. With a pair of side cutters, can make them to what I need. They take a slightly larger hook than their regular fine wire round heads. I'll take a look for the mold you mentioned. My lead mold collection can always take another! The trebles are for Muskie/Pike sized spinners, and the main reason I decided to get into tying bucktails. I will be doing singles and gangs, also trying some of those flashabou and skirt tab styles for pike/muskie. Doing my own for smallies and walleyes, is just a plus. By next year, I'll probably add rabbit and marabou.

Here is the procedure I was trying to follow: http://www.luremaking.com/howto/bucktails/bucktail1.htm The thread I have is non-waxed E, and tends to unravel if you take pressure off, so I did a couple of half hitches after each pinch of bucktail, and dab of head cement. On the final did five half hitches and a good layer of head cement.

Here are my 1st ties. Three are on 1/4oz socket-eye GP jig heads, and two 4/0 trebles. Got allot to learn, and will need more practice.