Fishwhittler

Very nice! I like the top and bottom baits. 8-)

That bait looks very good. 8-) The Folk Art paints work fine. Createx is another good paint for lures, and it doesn't need as much thinning as Folk Art paint. You'll get a lot of mixed opinions on topcoats. I use U-40 Duragloss LS Supreme, but that's just my preference. A few of the more popular topcoats are Envirotex, Flex Coat Ultra V, and Devcon 2 Ton. You can find a boatload of info on these by using the search feature. Hope this helps. Ben

Very nice! I like the first two baits. 8-)

Thanks guys! I appreciate it. 8-)

The rest.

Here's my latest batch. The red craw in the first pic has gold scales on the shoulders, but they don't show up well in the pic. Let me know what you think! Ben

Those are awesome! I like number four. 8-)

Those look very good. I like the dark blue ones in the last pic. 8-)

Very nice! I like the bold colors on your baits. 8-)

Those are flat amazing.

Very nice! I like both of them. 8-)

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. 8-) Sam, I'm not going to put feathered trebles on any of these.

Here's the rest of the big batch of cranks I was working on. The pics aren't the greatest, but the camera's acting up and these are the best I could get. Pic #1: Five walking baits, and a popper. I hope the popper walks as well, but if it doesn't it will still throw out a big splash. Pic #2: The middle bait is a Poe's crank (not sure what size number, but the body is 2 5/8" long) with a lexan bill. The old bill was cracked, so I removed it and used it as a template for the new bill. For reference, the "Red Razor Craw" bait on the lower left is 2 1/4" long not counting the bill. Pic #3: A new lipless bait I built. 3" long, weight 1 ounce. Let me know what you think! Ben

I really didn't think about how the handle would balance when I was making it. The rod felt fine when I was testing it, so I'm not going to worry about it. The rod balances right in the middle of the fore-grip when paired with an Abu Garcia C3. It's rather front-heavy, but that won't matter due to the way I hold it. I palm/thumb the reel with my right hand and grip the but of the rod between my arm and my side. Thanks for all the kind words guys. 8-)

Those are awesome! The first and fourth cranks are my favorites. 8-)

Here's some more of the big batch I've been working on. I tried making some fat crankbaits out of 15/16" thick PVC, and I really like how they turned out. From top to bottom: Another shallow crank like the ones I posted yesterday. 2 3/16" long, weight 1/2 ounce Purple/Green Mad Craw. Lure body length 2 7/8", weight 3/4 ounce Fat PVC Bluegill. 4" total length (including the bill), roughly 7/8 ounce Fat cedar "Cyclone Craw". 5" total length, weight just under 1 ounce The last two baits are both out of 15/16" PVC and painted in a Copper Chartreuse Shad pattern. The top bait is 2 1/2" long and 3/4 ounce, and the bottom bait is 2 3/4" long and weighs 5/8 ounce. Length for both baits is without the bill. Still more to come. Thanks for looking!

Here's some of what I've been working on lately. I tried some new patterns on these: Goldfish, Green Sunfish, and Blue Tilapia. Let me know what you think! Ben

Very nice work! I like the third and last ones. 8-)

Bass Dude, here's a thread that should answer your question: Color/Detail/Whatever.

Very nice baits! I like the green/yellow craws. 8-)

Very nice! I like the last two. 8-)

Here's the finished handle. I really like how it turned out; it's smooth and comfortable, and it looks pretty good too. ;D BTW on the final two coats of epoxy I epoxied over the reel seat as well as the handle. Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think! Ben

This is something I came up with after seeing some pics of epoxy ramps on custom rods. It's more sensitive than foam (I don't know about cork as I don't have a cork handle to compare), and it's not very expensive either; you just need a lot of epoxy and some fiberglass tape. I started by removing the old foam handle. This was made easier for me by the fact that when I built this rod the first time I didn't use enough glue, so the handle was only adhered to the rod at the back of the handle. Then I scuff-sanded the blank a bit to get what you see in the first pic below. I then wrapped cord around the exposed blank. I didn't have any fiberglass tape or I would have used it for this. The next pic shows the handle after epoxy and with more cord wrapped. Then more epoxy. At this stage, I found some fiberglass tape and started using it. I wish I'd had it when I started the project, but oh well. After that the only thing left was to keep adding more coats of epoxy until I got a smooth surface. I painted the handle black before the final coat or two of epoxy, but you could do any color you like. Pics Below.

That's amazing. The claws look good to me as they are. 8-)

My personal favorite is U-40 Duragloss LS Supreme. It's the toughest epoxy I've tried, although you have to use U-40 Color Lock under it to keep it from fish-eyeing. I've also used Flex Coat Ultra V high build (on recommendation from Big M ), and it works very well. Another option is Envirotex Lite epoxy. I've found it to be more brittle than Flex Coat or Duragloss, but it's still very tough and I know a lot of other lure builders use it.