Fishwhittler

Thanks guys. Jigfishn10, I posted directions for how to do this scale pattern in my thread "5" swimbait". I timed myself doing this bait, and it took about 10 minutes for each side. That's not quite as long as I thought, but it's still pretty long. Plus this bait is smaller, so it doesn't take as long to scale as a larger bait. It took me closer to 15 minutes per side for the lipped crankbait in this thread, and it probably took even longer on the swimbait with these scales. I carved the gill plates with a utility knife. The key is to go slowly. Get just a little careless and you can ruin your workpiece, or cut yourself. The lip isn't carved: I rounded off the point of a 16 penny nail with a dremel, and used the nail to "draw" the lines around the lip on the lure body. This is also a good way to get other details that you don't want to carve with a knife. I've got the first crankbait painted and top-coated, and it's drying right now. I still need to test the lipless bait before I paint it, but I'll post pics when I'm done. Ben

You're giving me a serious inferiority complex. Beautiful work! Those splatter cranks in the first pic are gorgeous.

Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure how much difference in action there would be. Oh well; it still adds a rattle, and I don't have to use as much epoxy or fill in a hole on the outside of the bait. Plus it's a whole lot of fun. Here's a lipless bait I made this afternoon. It has two free-moving weights: a 1/4 ounce sinker in the nose and a 1/8 ounce sinker behind the belly hook hanger. I've not made very many lipless baits, so this is pretty much a whole new thing for me.

It works! It has a nice, medium-tight action, and it doesn't pull very hard. I don't know how it compares to a fixed-weight lure, so I'll need to make some more baits with and without the moveable weights. I'm working on some more lures with this type of weighting right now, and I hope to have some more finished in the next few days.

This bait has a non-fixed weight in it, unlike I've ever done before. I cut the lure in half lengthwise, ground out a large space for the weight to sit in, and epoxied it back together. I originally intended to epoxy the sinker in place, but when I had the space for the sinker ground out and saw the weight sitting in there and rattling around, I decided to leave it as it was and see how the bait worked. Now this bait has a "one-knock" rattle from the ballast weight. Disregard the small rattles you see in the pic below; the epoxy stuck them together so I pulled the bait apart and removed them before the epoxy set up. Once the lure was epoxied together, I carved it to the shape you see below. In the bottom pic it's stuck together and ready for initial testing. If it works, I'll epoxy it together and paint it. Next I want to make a half-size version, as well as a large Punker-style bait. I also want to try the non-fixed weighting system in comparison with some of my baits with fixed ballast. What do you think of it? Ben

Very nice work on that Punker.

Very nice! I'm partial to the Royal Red Craw, but they all look good. 8-)

Here's my stock recommendation for someone looking to get into airbrushing: Master G22 airbrush & compressor combo I've had mine since June of this year and it works very well. It's the only brush I have, and I don't see any need to get a more expensive one.

islandbass, I just got my order from Vintage Woodworks. I used to get PVC from Menards, but I think I'm going to switch over to ordering from Vintage Woodworks. Their PVC doesn't have a plastic casing on it, which makes it much easier to work with. Make sure you get the trim board, not the deck board. The deck board has a woodgrain on one side which would decrease the useable thickness of the board. Hope this helps. Ben

That's a very good-looking bait. I really like how you did the fins. 8-)

Very nice work! I can't pick a favorite from this batch. 8-)

Thanks guys. Big M, I posted how I did the scales in my first thread about this bait (see reply #8). It took about 20-30 minutes for each side. I also tried using this scaling technique on a cedar bait, and it's a bit more difficult because you have to use a hot wood-burner. It took longer and it didn't turn out as good as I hoped, but it's definitely doable. I prefer working with PVC though; it's what I feel most comfortable using. For those of you looking for a PVC supplier, try vintagewoodworks.com/. I just got my first order from them the other day, and I'm very satisfied. For one thing, I can get wider boards than they had at Menards, and also they have several different thicknesses of PVC. Make sure you get the trim board, not the decking board. Their decking board has a woodgrain on one side, and that will substantially decrease the useable thickness of the board. Another nice thing about the PVC they sell is it doesn't have a plastic coating on the outside. This is especially good when you're making baits in two halves instead of from a single thick blank. You also don't lose any thickness from sanding off the film, and it's just much easier to work with. I'll definitely be ordering from them again.

I used 1/16" lexan sheet for the tail. It might swim better with a rubber or soft plastic tail, but this bait swims well as it is.

Very, very nice. I like the baits in the last two pics. 8-)

Here's the swimbait I posted a few days ago. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It's far and away the best swimbait I've ever made; the action is good, although it could be a little more snaky, but I'm not complaining! It sinks moderately slowly, and it swims with an S-type action. I can't wait to fish this one! Let me know what you think. Ben

Okay, who made this? It's from a couple years ago, but it should be fairly obvious.

I painted it. Maybe that wasn't quite fair on my part, but I wanted to see how well I could replicate another painters style (in this case Pizz). Thanks for playing along! The topcoat was brushed on, not dipped. I used U-40 Permagloss, brushed it on, and let it hang. Anyone else ever "forge" another painters work? I've used other painters techniques lots of times, but on this bait I went a little further to make it look like Pizz's style.

Nothing, except bragging rights for guessing correctly. ;D Seriously, I just wanted to see if people can identify a painter by his style.

This is a bait that was painted by a member of this forum, but I'm not telling you which one. I took the pic of the bait, so the background is no clue to the painters identity. So can you guess which custom painter painted this?

I don't generally wear a mask when I'm working PVC, but I don't spend very much time sanding. I do most of the shaping with a knife, and then rough-sand with a dremel. I'll wear a mask sometimes when I'm using the dremel, but for hand sanding I don't bother. Wet-sanding cuts down on the dust drastically, but I prefer to do this only with finer grits of sandpaper (anything finer than #100). Wet-sanding with rougher sandpaper seems to cut too fast and leave deeper scratches. I've nearly got this bait ready for paint: all I need to do is shape the epoxy on the belly, and then it's ready to paint. I've reconsidered, and I think I'll do the paint pattern with a light blue theme. Baits with some blue on the sides seem to work well where I fish.

Beautiful work! That first bait is very cool. 8-) I've got some of whittlers micro cranks, and they're awesome. You have to actually see one in person to appreciate how small they are. I don't fish the ones I have very often because I don't really have a rod light enough, but I've used them a couple times and they catch fish. I've also got some of whittlers larger baits, and one of them is the best shallow crankbait I've ever used. It catches fish when I can't get a bite on anything else. I can usually get two or three fish on it whenever I fish it, and that's pretty good for me where I'm fishing.

Thanks everyone for the responses! I like the idea of being able to upgrade the reel if I want to. For that reason alone, it might be a good idea to get a C3. At this point, I'm leaning toward getting the C3. If the Pro Qualifier is still on sale when I'm ready to make a purchase, I may go with it, but if not I'll probably get the C3. The PQ may very well be out of stock at Bass Pro Shops by the time I'm ready to order, but you never know. I'll see how it works out. Thanks again! Ben

Hmm... I haven't used balsa, so I don't know how PVC compares to it. I do know that PVC is somewhat heavier than cedar, but it's also very buoyant. I'm not sure which is more buoyant, PVC or cedar. I'd have to go with PVC, but there's not a whole lot of difference. To answer your question, I'd say PVC and cedar are pretty similar. A cedar bait will still have a slightly different action from a PVC bait that's exactly the same size and shape, but I think cedar is about as close as you're going to get.

Anybody ever tried this? Eagle Claw Endure baitcasting reel I'm thinking I'll either get this reel, the Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier, or the Ambassadeur C3. The Endure appears to be pretty similar to the Abu Garcia Ambassabeur C3: both of them have are constructed mainly of metal, both have the same gearing, line capacity looks to be about equal, both have brass gears, and they both weigh roughly the same. Which of these would you recommend? The Endure is a bit cheaper the the others, but it doesn't have any reviews. I know the C3 and the Pro Qualifier are good reels, whereas the Endure is new and untested. Price is less of a consideration for me than quality, and I don't want to get a reel that will go kaput in a year or two. So if I have to spend a little more, I'll do it if it means I'll get a good reel. The max I'm willing to spend on a baitcasting reel is $100, and both the C3 and the Pro Qualifier are available for less than that. I might even be able to find a slightly cheaper reel on ebay or in the flea market on this site. I've looked at a bunch of lower priced reels, and practically always a good portion of the reviews are from customers that say the reel is junk. The C3 and Pro Qualifier both have a very small proportion of low ratings (4.8 stars in 245 reviews for the Pro Qualifier, and the C3 gets 4.9 stars in 113 reviews). The Endure doesn't have any reviews at all, which is why I might be willing to chance it (no negative ratings!). I've also looked at getting a more expensive reel such as the Shimano Citica, but I just don't think they offer anything that I really need over the reels mentioned above. I don't see any reason to spend the extra $20 at this point. I won't be making a purchase for a month or possibly two, but I hope to be able to get a reel by January. So, which of these would you suggest? Pro Qualifier, C3, or Endure? Thanks! Ben

All these computer models look very, very good. When are you going to start building them? Have you considered molding the baits? That could be the best way to get the scales/fins/gills etc. on some of these, because if you make them out of wood, you could run into problems with sealing while still retaining the details. I don't know how well this would work because I haven't done anything like what you're doing, but it might be worth looking into.