Fishwhittler

Thanks! I built this one quite a while ago and the weighting isn't quite what I would like, but it doesn't roll out like some of the others I've done. I'm going to put more weight in the belly of my next one.

I got my PB today. It's the same fish as the one I caught about a week ago. I was able to weigh it this time, and it tipped the scales at 4 3/8 lbs. Incidentally this was the only fish I caught all day, and the same thing happened last time I caught this fish. Also, both times I caught it on a weedless jig with a soft plastic craw.

Here's a swimbait that I started quite a while ago but never got around to finishing. I wish I had finished it sooner, because it has the best action of any swimbait I've built yet. It also does a 180[ch730] turn pretty well. It's a little less than 8" long, floats, and weighs 2 1/4 oz.

Beautiful baits Big M! I really like the third and fourth ones. 8-)

Awesome baits! I like the swamp monkey gill. 8-)

I just made a mistake: I decided to use clear lacquer for topcoat. I've had problems with lacquer as topcoat before but I didn't want to go to all the trouble of mixing epoxy. Now I wish I had used epoxy because the lacquer wrinkled the paint and some of the paint actually came off. So now I'm going to have to strip it down and repaint it.

I added few more details.

Thanks guys. After I finish this one someone suggested that I try doing an Eddie Van Halen guitar crankbait, but I don't know. . .

Cool bait! 8-) It doesn't look particularly large to me, only about 3-4" max.

Awesome baits Big M! I like the foil bait and the last one. 8-)

Well not exactly. I think I've been breathing too many paint fumes. ;D

Thanks guys. The crackle is fun to play around with, although it can be finicky.

There are several options for making a popper beside the cup-nose. The simplest way is to leave the front of the lure flat. Another way that will "spit" water farther is to cut a V-notch in the nose of the bait instead of carving a cup. Still another option is a variation on the V-notch method where you use a lexan popping lip. This is probably the most labor-intensive method, but it creates a huge ruckus and throws the most water for it's size. Below are pics of V-notch and lexan lip poppers. Hope this helps. Ben

Very nice! I really like the way this bait looks. 8-)

Very nice! That bluegill is awesome. 8-)

Very clean looking baits there! I like the striped one. 8-)

BobP, glad to help. You could probably use just about any primer. I mentioned Rust-Oleum because that's what I use. Any relatively soft paint should work fine.

Printer paper or the back of a piece of sandpaper works well.

If you build lures out of PVC, you may have experienced problems getting a smooth surface for painting. Here's a tip that will give you a very smooth bait. After the bait is assembled, spray it with Rust-Oleum Stops Rust automotive primer. Once it's dry, sand it with a piece of paper until the primer is shiny. You will end up with a very smooth bait, and the primer will also fill in minor scratches left on the bait from sanding.

Those look great! I really like the blue one and the one with the longer bill. 8-) I wish I was half as good as you. I resized the pics for you (see below).

Very nice! I really like the colors. 8-)

These are the first cranks I've completed using the new weighting method I posted a while ago. They have a wider action than the standard version of this bait, but they look exactly the same. The gold bait with the crackle back is a wood bait that I started a long time ago but never finished until now. I weighted it the same way I did the others in this batch, but it's about 1/16" thinner than the PVC baits so it has a different action and is less buoyant. The wood bait will probably also dive deeper than the PVC baits. Let me know what you think. Ben

Very nice baits there. I like the Mann's and the first Bandit. 8-)

Flex Coat is available online at mudhole.com. I don't think you could find it locally. If you want to buy locally, you could try Envirotex Lite. You can probably find it at a hardware store or Wal-Mart. I haven't used it but guys that have used both Flex Coat and E-tex say they're pretty similar. I've used Rust Oleum enamel paint as sealer a couple times and it worked fine. The advantage epoxy has over paint like Rust Oleum is that epoxy is much tougher and it only takes one coat to give you a smooth surface to paint over. Ben Note: In your first post you mentioned using gorilla glue with the screw eyes. I torture tested 5 min epoxy versus gorilla glue, and the epoxy came out winner by a large margin. I would recommend using a 5 minute epoxy instead.

The screw eyes from the hardware store may work, but it depends on how strong they are. A good way to test hook hangers is to fasten them to a piece of scrap wood using the same method you would use on a lure. Then clamp the hook hanger in a vise and pull on the wood until something breaks. If it doesn't take much force to bend or pull out the screw eye, you had better find a new method. And if it's fastened in well, you shouldn't be able to pull it free without the wood breaking. If the screw eyes you have don't work, here's a tutorial for making your own hook hangers that are very strong: Dave's Twisted Wire Hinge Tutorial. Sealant: Waterproof epoxy is a good sealant. Examples are Flex Coat rod finish and Flex Coat 2 hour epoxy; there are others but those are the ones I've used. Of those two I prefer the 2 hour epoxy, as it's more forgiving than the rod finish. Paint: You can use just about any paint on your lures; I've used the craft paints from Wal-Mart and they work fine. You can also use spray cans to paint your baits and get good results. The main thing is to make sure you get a good, waterproof topcoat on your lure to protect the paint. A good topcoat to use is Flex Coat Ultra V rod finish. Hope this helps. Ben