Fishwhittler

Can non-Ultra-V flex coat be used under Ultra-V without yellowing? I still have a couple bottles of regular flex-coat and I don't really have anything else to use it for (except sealer, and I already have tons of that). Thanks in advance, Ben

I've never used triple-grips, but be prepared to sharpen Mustad hooks. I use the 35647 roundbends from mustad and I have to sharpen them because they come nothing like sharp (I use them because they're cheaper than Gamakatsus or Owners and it's not hard to sharpen them). To sharpen them, I use sanding discs in a dremel.

Well, I contacted Barlows and apparently they know nothing. (Neither the "boss" or the lady on the phone knew what was on the website, nor why it's listed as UV when it's not what they ship.) Too much ignorance for me. I had a problem with them before, and I'm not going to order from them again. I just ordered some from Mudhole and they very clearly specify that what I ordered is the Ultra V.

Several weeks ago I ordered what I thought was flex coat ultra v rod finish from barlows. It says "Flex Coat is proud to introduce the new Ultra V formulation. Ultra V's unsurpassed UV protection and improved chemical stability results in unequaled clarity and brightness, while maintaining the highest durability and flexibility properties of any finish on the market today" on their website, only now it's turning yellow on one of my lures. Here's what the packaging looks like on the bottles I got. I know it doesn't have the Ultra V logo on it, but I figured it was because of what it said on barlow's website. Does anyone know if this is the Ultra V or not?

My "Titan" swimbait. Next to it is one of my baits from my last post. In this pic, none of the hardware is epoxied in place, and it doesn't have clear coat on it yet (the tail isn't fastened on either). I don't have a drying wheel, so what would be the best way to finish it? Should I epoxy in the hardware and then topcoat it? Or should I coat each piece before connecting them? :-/

Well, I went fishing the other day and got six on my new swimbaits, three on the bluegill, two on the 7" blue shad and one on the goldfish. I also got several more strikes but missed them due to dull hooks. > I need to sharpen my hooks next time. Dave, I changed the hooks from 4's to 2's and they work much better now (translation: they don't swim on their sides anymore ;D). Ben

Thanks for the compliments! Here they are finished (except the small one). I wanted to try lipless so I didn't put bills on any more of them. Big Dan, the 2-jointers are 5" long and have a very wide action. Sorry, I don't have any videos of them.

Some new swimbaits I've been working on. Sorry about the bad lighting. The big triple-jointed swimbait at the top is 7" long. The bottom bait still needs another gill and a mouth before I put the joints in. Here's a close-up of the bottom right bait above. Let me know what you think. Ben

jannsnetcraft.com and barlowstackle.com both have painted and unpainted jigs as well as skirt materials and trailers.

Here's another question: how do you cure a swimbait like these that has no tail hook hanger? These are going to have free-swinging lexan tails.

What do you mean turn them by hand? Also, do the parts have to be exactly 50/50?

Do I need a drying wheel for curing epoxy topcoat?

What will happen if it's not the Ultra V? I don't know if it is because I ordered from barlows and they don't have any pics of the 8oz. size.

Will flex coat react with oil and lacquer based paint? I tried spar urethane and clear lacquer as topcoats but the urethane was brown tinted and kinda soft and the lacquer reacted with the paint even after I pre-coated it with water based clear. I'm using rust-oleum metallic paint and I don't want to waste any epoxy experimenting to find out if the two will react with each other. Ben

There are a lot of manufacturers making any given type of bait and there isn't a whole lot of difference as far as looks go, yet each manufacturer touts its model as the best because of some factor that supposedly makes it almost impossible to not catch a fish with their bait. What makes one brand of bait better than another of a different brand of the same type?

Here's my latest batch of cranks. The repaints are the top two in the top pic and the bottom two in the middle pic. Ben

I just found these. http://www.river2seausa.com/t/seabeeticrank.html http://www.river2seausa.com/t/beetitcrank.html And here I was thinking I'd come up with something unheard of. Ben

I don't think it's the river2sea. The claws are different and the river2sea craws all have white eyes. Also, the craw crank advertised at the top of the page is not on the website, extremelures.com. Ben

Caught 23" and 21" channel cats on a 4" soft shad and a crankbait, respectively.

My favorite lure is a crankbait. The one that I have caught the most bass on is a 10" ribbontail worm.

Thanks! I thought painting the bill might hide the creases but I wanted to avoid creasing like that in the future. I'll give the heat gun a try. Those bill tutorials look great, but I'm not exactly set up to build a press like that. Ben

That looks great! Your first try is miles better than mine was. This one (the bottom one) wasn't my first, but it was made the same way. I took a stick, whittled the bark away, bored a hole through the stick, inserted a wire, and colored it with Sharpie pens.

Okay, I bent a lexan bill over a lighter and this is what happened. Does anyone know how to bend lexan and avoid creasing like that without any special gear?

Does anyone have any suggestions how to catch grass carp? There are some in the pond that I fish and at least one is HUGE (around 3')! The other day I saw one just lying on top and I cast out to it several times (I figured it was a big catfish; I didn't know there were carp in the pond). The fish would submerge for a while and reappear in a different place. The last time the fish made a huge splash and disappeared. Does anybody know of any bait/lures that are effective on grass carp?

Here's my latest batch of baits. From top: B1 medium, B1 deep jointed, and B1 deep diver. All of these have 3D eyes. B8 crankbait with rattles... ...and my B1 crawfish. Side view of above lure. Head view of same. This bait still needs some sanding and polishing, but other than that it's finished.