ominousone

I think that it's hard to actually save money, but I also think that it's more of a thing where you can have more colors, drop rates, and feel better catching fish on something that you have made. Hobby's always cost money, sometimes you can get it back... but think about it this way too, people pay money to make all sorts of crafts and this is no different.

I was under the impression that one would typically use these baits on a drop shot rig. No I'm not joking. There's another name for it but basically it's drop shotting swim baits.

Hey, Did you just make a thin slot for the small part of the hitchhiker and then open it up wider to fit the coil part of the hitchhiker? I thought of doing that w/my roundhead jig mold, I figured that it would still be able to pour regularly w/only a small bit of flashing that'd be easy to take off. I also figured if you did it the way I said that you never would have to put a pin in like you do w/poison's or other weedguarded molds. sorry if my post was just plain confusing, but I bet those who are doing this understand.

there are guys who make the fat ika. I make them, but by no means could I make large quantities. If you wanted to make them yourself you could make them, del-mart makes a mold. It requires pouring the body and then attaching the skirt. If you'd like to buy some from me, go ahead and pm me I could talk prices and quantity.

Thanks for the kind words. I can say that between your slammin chatter-style baits and Nick's beautifully painted top water's I felt very overwhelmed and out of my league. I have loved doing this bait swap and I hope everyone's experiences were equally as fun. Thank you Fedex and Nick from this round, and Dink from round 1. Also thank you Nick for posting those pics. I haven't had a digi camera since my divorce, so now I can a couple photo's to reference. Thanks.

Hey, I like that color set up. Very nice. You are pumping out the chatters better than I have seen anywhere else.

I'd say spending the money on a quality hook would far outweigh the benefit of one soft plastic to another. With whatever brand you prefer.

I don't pour jigs w/weedguards but I do read a lot. What I know is that there are two ways, either pour w/weedguard in and powderpaint at low temp for curing w/something to cover it up. Or pour w/weedguard out paint and cure, then epoxy it in. If it's too tight I may guess that you are using the wrong size weedguard. Again, this is just what I have gathered of info for when I start doing this.

I made about 10 of them so far and they have come out great. I bought gamakatsu trebles for them and have already replaced the front ones. I am going to be tying feathers and crystal flash onto the rear trebles and will have a really nice bait w/top notch components for about $3.50 total per bait. That's cheaper than x-raps, and they will have gammy trebles instead of vmc's and I will have a hand in catching my fish. Very cool whittler, thanks again. I wish I had a digi camera I'd post pics.

I got GBF's buzz bait's in the mail and I have got to say that they are really nice as well. Really neat skirts, paint job, and some eye's I haven't seen on buzz bait's or spinner bait's as of yet. Very Nice, thanks.

GridIron, I thought that making some quality spinnerbaits wouldn't be too expensive. Well... I ordered a mold to pour into wire forms, owner hooks, quality swivels, premium finish blades, clevis's, 3-d eye's, and a few other items I can't remember now. My total came to $250 or so w/ enough equipment to make 100 spinnerbait's. Now in the future I won't need to buy the mold again (40 bucks) so 210, I ordered enough blades so that I could do tandem willows, tandem colorado's, brass color, nickel color... basically a lot more blades than I'm gonna use on the hundred wire forms and hooks I bought. So maybe you could knock the price down to $200 or so. So basically I'm pouring the heads and getting top of the line for about 2 bucks w/o the skirt (I have a bunch of living rubber, so I didn't buy any, and I can't remember what I pd for that). Basically I have to say this about luremaking in general, if you want to save money look for sales and buy your lures when they are cheap. If you want to make money selling lures, you better practice making your own for a long time because the guys that sell them are really good and you'll need some practice to compete. If you want the satisfaction of throwing a beautiful lure specifically designed by you to catch the fish that are in water near you, then you can't beat making your own. If you are doing this for the long haul and can see making your own as a ten year investment because you fish so much this may also be a way of saving money as well. Sorry for the long post I guess I got to ramblin.

they'll work with the non-stick. Besides, one of the issues you may find is the lead sticking to the pans, so that may actually help. ;D

http://www.luremaking.com/catalogue/download/spinnerbait.pdf came across this...

For the lee pot get yourself some mini-muffin pans. They will produce small ingots that fit in there nice like. I'd say that these will work as well as anything out there for making ingots.

fedxpress, I sent you a pm if you want a partner... I can handle two.

can't wait to try this out. I think I understand now. So it's two holes cause the bb's can't go back and forth. The bb's in the front can klink together to make sound and the back ones are to help level the bait... Wally world here I come.

I can't tell from the pics, are there two chambers in that bait? Is that why you put two holes in it? One for the front bb's and one for the back? I guess I'm trying to figure out, do the bb's move across the entire bait or just the front.Also I wouldn't make such a nice bait w/o replacing trebles w/ some gammies. Maybe even tricking it out w/some feathered trebles like a x-rap has.

sifter? This is the first time I have heard of this... could you explain? What type of sifter? maybe a pic of the process? Thanks.

doesn't spike-it makes some soft plastic dyes?

I'd like to be in. Also I think that it'd be great if there were no repeats (aka-we all get new partners), not that I wasn't completely happy last time, but I'm doing this for inspiration and to admire the different artists that post here. Just a suggestion. Thanks and I will make sure that whoever trades with me is satisfied with what they get. It'll probably be a mix of soft plastics and poured lead products.

should I start a new thread for round 2? I know that a few have said that they are interested and I know that I am for sure. Powers that be.... please drop the hammer here. ;D

with what you said about "no more breaking paint off of the springs".... I was thinking about this and said to myself, the spring is going to be buried in the soft plastic, so what would it matter? I would think that it might look like a spine inside a translucent bait, or it would be invisible inside a solid colored bait. Anyway this is about the 5th time I have heard people talking about covering the spring, or chipping paint off of it, or whatever, so I thought I'd chime in with my 2cents.

what are you guys using to control air flow? I bought the cheap aquarium pump from walmart, do I have to lessen the flow from that? Just wondering because that should be my last piece if I need it. Any detailed info/pics would be greatly appreciated.

Looks like a trout lure to me. anyway, I think that this lure would be much better as a soft plastic. YOu could make a mold and pour with the wire through, add treble, and spinner. I know nothing about making balsa baits, so that would be the way that I would attempt if I needed that bait in every size shape and color.

I wish that was all the snow that was at my house. our banks are taller than the cars and at the ends of people's driveway's it's getting real real hard to throw the snow high enough. I have only had one winter in my memory that comes close to what I'm dealing with in upstate ny this year. Good luck to you, and your crank's look great.