jbass

I would recommend Ross England's Clear Lake Guide Service. However I would make an appointment as soon as possible because his calendar does fill quickly! As far as bluegill fishing, the county park, the State park has areas that are fishable from the bank.... Have fun...

I normally install the lips after paint and when I brush on the finish I use a small brush to cut around the lip with the epoxy which helps hold the lip as well.

Drop shot, Carolina rig, and crankbaits will work too. Sonoma also has some great smallmouth as well.

Nice to see another Californian and so close too. Berryessa is a favorite of mine too as is Lake Sonoma. Good looking baits!!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Nicely done!! Jerry

Here are a few more but without finish or diving bills The other three with finish

I purchase the PVC from Lowe's trim section. It is a brick molding. I cut the material to size on my table saw and with a template I made, I draw the shapes on the material and then them in to chunks. I buy the Lexan at H Depot and have a template for the diving bills and shape them on my sander, the stainless steel wire I pick up at an ACE Hardware not far from my house. I cut the ss wire into pieces aprox 3" long and use a pair of vice grips and a 1/8" shaft in my vice and twist the ss wire around the shaft for the hook hangers and line ties. The ballast for my baits are just egg sinkers with a hole and the hook hanger goes through the egg sinker. That's pretty much it...... Jerry

I carve them from a block of PVC, sand them down smooth, ballast them, make the hook hangers and the line ties from ss wire, cut the diving lips from Lexan then shape them to a template. Epoxy the hangers, ties ballast and then paint. Once the paint is finished, install the eyes, and diving bill, then cover the painted bodies with epoxy, let cure. After the epoxy is cured, install split rings, and hooks. From shaping to finish about 6 hours counting cure time for the epoxy for the line tie and hook hangers, etc.

Yep, ya caught me. LOL

I haven't posted in a while, but I've been back in the shop. I made the stencil for the craw pattern and a blue gill. Three others now have a finish on them but no pictures with finish just yet.

This is a site where you can get D2T in "bulk", 9oz. containers. Just click here. EPOXY Jerry

Love those baits Marty!!

Nice gills Big Bass Man, great work!!

Shooter here is a site you can check out that has KO's. What quality are the baits? I can't answer that question. They have KVD's, 110 pointers but again I do not know anything about them. Jerry

The amount of time you save by purchasing pre-made lures is incredible. I used to get mine from Jann's netcraft and Barlow's tackle. Jann's doesn't carry the particular type I like anymore, so I've gone to Barlow's. The price has gone up but 5 blanks for $9.26 comes out to $1.80 something per, not a bad price. The only thing I do to the plastics are sand off the mold lines, scuff up the bodies for primer and paint. Jerry

I started out on a whim. My wife and I found a piece of firewood on the beach. It was perfect in every way, no knots, nothing cause a problem. I carved the first bait with my pocket knife. Did everything to make it swim properly and then painted it. It worked flawlessly. The only problem with wood it has to be sealed so water can't get into the bait via the lip slot, line tie or hook hanger. I moved to the PVC material. It can be purchased at Lowe's or Home Depot for around $12. The material is brick molding and measures about 3 1/4" X 1 1/4" X 10'. I cut the slick surface off with my table saw and I end up with a piece 3" X 1" X 10'. It carves very easily with a very sharp knife (I use an Exacto, all though I don't recommend it) and can be shaped with sand paper. It's impervious to water and holds paint very well. As far as tools: sharp knife sand paper in various grits primer air brush/compressor paints (any hobby shop that sells Createx paints which are water based) two part clear epoxy (I like Devcon 2 ton) eyes (or you can paint them on) lead weights for ballast lip material (some use Lexan, not plexiglass. Plexiglass will break in cooler water temps when bumped on rocks and etc.) circuit board material for lips (Mc Masters sells it by the sheet ? on the cost) and hooks This list will grow as you progress, good luck with your endeavor.

Thanks guys, 2 of those went to Missouri to be fished at Table Rock for an up coming tournament.

Thanks Falcon.

All PVC baits.

Clackerbuzz, I agree, a frog is a frog and a buzz bait is a buzz bait. No reason to combine the two, big mistake!!

They wouldn't be "gold plated". They would be anodized. Very different. Here is a link that may help. They build lures to spec but you may be able to buy blades from them. No harm in asking. Just click on buzzbait blade.

To really come up with a "bass" color. Go online and download a few pictures. Try to mix your colors as closely as the pictures, one other thing the colors change dramatically once the bait is in the water. This is just my 0.1685R (.02 USD).

Guess again.