jasone

Please don't buy any Lunker lures buzzbaits. wink wink. They won't work. wink wink. More for me! J

Used to listen to country exclusively. Now I hate it with a passion. Every song is the same, sounds the same. No emotion at all. The old stuff had some bite. Cash, Haggard, Jennings. Listen to a lot of hard rock/metal now and a very little bit of rap but to me, the rap is all starting to sound the same. There are exceptions to be had with both rap and country though. I will probably get skewered for calling some of these bands hard rock but I like StoneSour, Evanescence, (liked) Audioslave, 30 Seconds to Mars, A7X, Disturbed, Nickelback, Godsmack, Buckcherry and Hinder. Absolutely love the classic rock stuff. Just about anything is fair game there. J

I'd go with the old standbys and try to get a qty of nice lures rather than a few real expensive ones. So IMHO skip all the LCs. *3 buzzbaits (Lunker lure are still the best IMO). White, Chart and Black (3/8 or 1/2). *2 walking types lures. Either skitterwalks or spooks. Rapalas rattle like crazy. Spooks are more quiet. I am of the opinion here that color doesnt matter for topwater baits such as these. The thing to remember here is that the fish is looking up and will be pretty much blinded by the sun. It will only see the outline. *2 Poppers. I like chugbugs but Pop-Rs are just as good. Again, color and brand not so important here. *2 Prop baits. I would go with a devil's horse and a torpedo just to mix up the profiles. *1 Jitterbug (cause you never know when you might need it). That's less than $60 and should take care of most situations. Hope that helps. J

Guys I am wondering what the prevailing opinion is about fishing for both LM and SM after a warming trend and wet week. I suspect the water will be about 58-59 degrees. Cloudy day afterward. Surface temp of about 70-73. I am thinking that the water will have a little murk to it. I'm thinking rattletraps over stumps near shallow water using prespawn patterns? I suspect the jerkbait bite will be over by then. Any opinions? J

Very nice!! J

Whittler Is that wire extremely difficult to bend? I assume since it is annealed that it is softer. Where do you get it? Thanks J

Nice lures. Always good to see someone making some different stuff. Keith--The dip in the melted cups comes before paint. Basically it just seals the wood against the paint and keeps it from soaking in. I use Devcon. Messing around with thinner and melting cups seems like too much. Plus the devcon provides another hard shell. I buy my lips from lurehardware.com. They have a circuit board lip that is as close to clear as I have found. I buy lexan off of Ebay when I buy it. Shipping sucks but I can find exactly what I want. J

Well, if they don't see colors they see the contrasts between them. J

I second that notion, especially with sites like tackleunderground.com around. J

I love the sharpies. There are nothing better for painting gills or crawfish plates and legs. Nice work. J

I thought that was a pick. I have some red, white and blue Fender picks. It surely won't break and should have awesome flexibility. J

Keith is right. I'd stick with balsa on the first attempts. Cedar will have you cussin in no time and basswood likes to split on the grain. J

Those are some pretty unique designs. I take it that the top one is a crank and the bottom one is topwater. What did you use for the bill on the top one? Are you planning on using spray cans for paint? J

This is probably the wrong way but I use spray paint and then 2-ton epoxy clearcoat. I don't like the powdercoat. I think it chips way too easy. Then again, application of the jig is important. I drag mine across rocks and off ledges. For flipping, pitching and swimming, powdercoat is probably fine. Also, with the spray paint, you can make some cool designs with multiple colors. You can't do that with powdercoat. As for the guard, I think you can do it both ways but if you glue it in, I think there has to be a little cavity there. I don't have much experience because I don't believe in weedguards on jigs (in most cases). J

I like the shape of that frog lure. That is different for sure! J

That makes sense why one would crack and the other wouldnt. J

Yeah, I use to clamp the lure in a pair of needle nose pliers and swing it around for about 10 minutes. I don't think it helped dry the lure but at least I looked silly doing it. J

Hey Keith, I've never used the 5 min. stuff. I always use the 30 minute/2 ton. It gives you a little more time to get the coating down. I paint them all with a straight shot of this epoxy and then put them on the drying wheel for as long as it take. I usually get a glass hard, smooth, clear surface no problem. I have had instances where I didn't mix the epoxy well enough and got these soft spots like you are talking about. I hate to say it, but I couldn't get the soft spots to go away, even with subsequent coats. J

Not to hijack this thread as that is some great work, but... I wonder what the difference is between a DVD and CD. I can bend a CD almost in half and cut out about 10 bills a month or two back with a hacksaw. J

I am about 90% sure that if you browse around Jannsnetcraft.com and Staminainc.com that you will find that buzz blade. If you want the assembly, you are probably going to have to bend it yourself from straight wire. Good luck. J

Another great lure Whittler, as always! I appreciate the compliment as well. I am curious as to your technique with the finish. Mind sharing? J

Hmmm....you may want to experiment a bit. I guess I would put it on the main hook and then add the trailer hook. The only problem with that is that you are going to kill some of the trailer action and you may end up hooking your trailer with the trailer hook. Try that and if that doesn't work for you then just experiment a bit. J

Nice lure. The paint scheme is right on and I like your use of glitter. It is surprising what can be made from normal household objects. FYI--Next time you run out of bills try an old CD. I know you have some old AOL trial disks laying around. Just cut them out like normal. They are made from polycarbonate lexan which is what most lips are made of. The aluminum coating will flake off (mostly) or you can lightly buff it off. Hope that helps. J

Bait shops sell them in kits. Basically, the hooks have larger eyes and slip down over the primary hook. There is also a length of tubing in the package. Slide it down the primary hook after you put the trailer hook on. It will keep it from coming back off. J

That really depends on the quantities. If you buy in bulk, almost anything can be cost effective. I have a simple philosophy on luremaking. Don't reinvent the wheel. There are a ton of lure companies and a ton of lures. Most of them work great and if you find something that does work great you should stick with it. Now, if you want to design something different or create a new color combination that is a different story. If you have money to waste and want a neat hobby I say go for it. J