jbass

I love the craw baits. Nice, a natural action for a craw to swim backward when threatened by a predator.

Nice patterns. I wish I was as adept at painting as you are.

I did a search for you and found 61 results. Although you may have to sift through a few pages but I'm sure you can locate something there. Here is the link, I think if you click [sortKey]=date&search_app_filters[forums][sortKey]=date&search_term=building+crankbaits&search_app=forums&st=25"]HERE, this should help.

Thanks Marty.

The lip is Lexan, the edges just aren't polished. No, not a through wire. Hook eyes and line ties are hand twisted SS wire 1 1/4" long epoxied into the bait. The bait is 4" long from line tie to rear hook eye.

Here is another large speed trap painted in firetiger.

Another killer batch Marty, nice.

Dynamite baits!

I always "heat set" the paint before the next coat, however laying down another color on wet paint could have some desirable effects on the out come of the bait. I mentioned heat set, that means to use a hair dryer to dry the paint before the next coat or color. As far as color mixing, yes, one drop of X + 2 drops of B, etc. Write it down and you'll know exactly how to mix it again for later use. Just my .02.

To explain how to do what you're asking could take awhile. I would suggest you run a search on what you're looking for first and then maybe someone could help fill in the blanks.

Sweet looking bait!!

I'm not sure what you mean about "speed fins". I was throwing the bait with 7' cranking rod with 15lb test. As far as the deep diving aspect, I have yet to conquer the deep diving part of crankbaits. Sufficed to say, I'll stay with the shallow cranks until I figure that part out. Deep diving crankbaits have not been my friend. Until then, I'll use my DD22's.

You've got it down to a science. Nicely done!

What BobP said, X2

Thanks for the kind words. I'm in the process of making another to go along with this one. It fishes great and you can burn it back to the boat no problem. Although I'm not sure how deep it dives but when testing it; I cranked it down to where I thought it was at the deepest point of the retrieve, stopped and counted by 1000's, it showed at the count of 8. So I can only guess it dives to 8 feet.

Here is a link to a recent WON tourney: http://www.wonbass.com/pro/schedule/index.html

Barlow's carries them, Jann's Netcraft, and others have plastic blanks.

Here is the painted bait with finish.

Ben makes his baits, and does a very nice job too. Great job, I love those blue gills. Awesome!

So I wanted a big one. The hardest part was the multi angle of the bottom and the curves. Will post a painted pic. Here are a few pics:

What Marty said, the dark-side is nice........once you make the first crank bait that runs true and catches fish, look out. I'm more of a round type bait guy. In my opinion it's a little harder because of making sure everything is symmetric but that comes with time. Good luck.

Not to shabby for rattle cans. Gotta start somewhere. Nicely done !!

Nicely done. Marty, those craw pats would get hammered by our smallies out here! Have a Happy New Year. Jerry

It's much the same as Fishwhittler's pictures. I just used the circuit board material. Drilling a hole half way between the end of the lip and the nose of the bait. I twisted ss wire (don't remember what size just yet) to make the line tie. Bend the line tie 90°. Slip the bill into the slot and mark the center of the bill on the bait and drill a hole to accept the line tie. Insert the line tie in to the bill and wiggle it around to snug it up. I like to make the line tie go into the bait about 1/2 inch to make sure there is plenty of hold once it's epoxied in place. I hope I was clear on how it works.

Here is one I built that has a line tie through the bill.