harshman

I second the range hood idea from wido maker. I have an exhaust fan that sits dirrectly above my work table that I use while pouring and baking my jigs to remove fumes and it works great. Widow what kind of trash are you getting in your lead that would cause a flame up??? I have never had this problem. Maybe time for you to get some new "clean" lead? Harshman

What kind of epoxy are you using??? Most of us are using Devcon 2 ton epoxy that you can get from your local Wal-Mart. It has a great work time and is self leveling as long as you don't just hang it up and leave it. You need to put the bait on a drying wheel after you have applied the epoxy or it will look horrible when it dries. Harshman

Will this be a transom mount hand controlled trolling motor or a bow mounted foot controlled trolling motor? Like fish bear said most transom mounted trolling motors are ready to go right out of the box simply connect the alligator clips to the battery and your off but if you are mounting the trolling motor on the bow with a foot control and are placing the battery near the rear for weight distribution you need to install a fuse between the battery and the motor. Same for the transom mount if you are locating the battery somewhere away from the motor. this will lesson the chances of a short and damaging the motor and battery. Harshman

I think you posted this in the wrong section to get answers on this topic. Try the other species section for answers on muskies. Harshman

GMAN, you have sparked my excitement for fishing these heads even more. I 'm hoping to get on some water this weekend if the weather holds out, plus I need to try out my new bass hound. I'm also working on a 3/16 and 1/4 oz ball head shakey head with a 3/0 hook. If you can paint the spring and still keep it's coil shape and not get a big blob of paint there really isn't any benifit of chipping off the paint, but it doesn't always work that way. On the ones I have done it wasn't that hard to chip the paint, all I had to do was pinch the coil a few times with a small pair of needle nose pliers and the paint fell right off.

I don't know if any manufactures sell them stock but any dealership would install one on a new boat if you are buying one and any reputable repair shop can install one on an older boat. I had one installed on my 89' Charger after driving a friends boat that had one. It takes some getting used to but every boat I own from now on will have one. Harshman

Burley, Did you smoke the mold like Munkin asked? One of my molds was doing similar to what you discribed and smoking it cured it. Also ho long are letting your lead pot heat up before you start to pour? Sometimes if I use wheel weights as material I let it heat up for a good 30 minutes before I ever start to pour and then let it reheat for five minutes or so after adding more lead to the pot. It very well may be the lead that is giving you troubles though. P.S. As a side note make sure your lead is rinsed off and dry before you use it. I got some from an old pig farmer that stored his lead in an old hog shed and I just went ahead and used it , needless to say once that old pig dust started to burn off my whole garage smelled like a pig farm. Learned a lesson the hard way. Harshman

Was the ad for the instant fisherman with the bonus belt tackle box?????? I saw this ad a few weeks ago and wondered how many of these things they would actually sell. Harshman

I use a "bike seat" after years of using a standard seat on the front and I'll never go back. I absolutely love being able to see better over the front of the boat while driving and I like to stand while fishing so the bike seat is the only way to go. Mine is set up to raise high enough to lean against or low enough to sit on. Once you get used to it you'll love it. Harshman

on jigs I usually leave 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch depending on the size of the jig and trailer I am using. If it is a smaller jig less skirt , bigger longer and if I am using a trailer I try to cut the skirt accordingly not to cover up the trailer. Harshman

skirt length is mostly preference, I like mine the shorter the better :).... I mean on spinner baits of course . I have found in trial and error that you get fewer short strikes on a shorter skirt, I it makes the fish get closer to the hook to actually eat the bait rather than eat just the skirt. I have even left a few of the strands near the center of the skirt as it flairs a little longer to resemble a trailer on certain baits. This is only my preference though, good ole trail and error never hurts to find out what might work best in your waters. Harshman

I'll get a pic of the spinner bait Munkin sent me up tonight. It is by far one of the best baits I have ever seen. I can't wait to get it wet. Harshman

My air compressor has a regulator on it that I use to control air flow. I'm sure you could find an inline valve of some sort at a reputable plumbing or hardware store to use with a fish tank pump. Have you tried the pump without it? it might be the right amount of air flow without a valve to begin with. Harshman

Go for it and remember to keep your stick on the ice, after all we're all in this together. Harshman

A little TLC and some paint on the trailer and I'm water bound :) Harshman

Hey guys I wanted to pass along my excitement. The wife and I drove over two hours away (one way) to look at a used Bass Hound 10.2 2 man boat to fish small lakes with and turned out to be a deal we couldn't refuse. The boat is practically brand new and it came with a 5'x7'6" utility trailer and a Heavy Duty Minn Kota 27#trolling motor for $350. This is an awesome little boat it has a live well, battery box and is prewired to control everything with a switch panel. I can't wait for the weather to break to try our new toy. I'll try to get a few pictures up in a couple days. Look out guys in the Missouri Menbers Tourney I'm sickin my hound on you Harshman :) :)

GMAN, Are you using any vibration while running? I have had this problem and found out that stirring the powder wwith a small diameter wire helps spread out the paint and get the air flowing a little better. Sometimes I have to stir it after dipping a few baits. Might try a different filter as well I bought the cheapest thinest ones I could find and they seem to work a little better than a "good" filter. Hope this helps. Even if I'm not using mine right it is still producing way better results on my jigs. Harshman

There happens to be a small article about this in this months Bass Master Mag. You can use a red sharpie to color a white skirt to give it a "bleeding" look, just like many of us have done to our hools in the past. Harshman

You need a better mask. An industrial type painters mask with the replacable respirators would be good enough. Good ventilation helps reducing the chances of inhaling any dust but a mask wouldn' t hurt either. Rember Safety First.... and proper clean up after you're done to remove any dust that may have settled. Harshman

Let me know how it turns out GMAN Harshman

I started using my toaster oven to pre heat the jigs @ 350 for how ever long it takes for my to cycle through getting them out of the oven and dipping them. I used to use a torch but the oven gives a more uniform heat with no hot spots on the bait. Use extreme caution if you are going to start making your own jigs IT IS VERY ADDICTING :exclamation :exclamation :exclamation :exclamation I am up to about ten molds now and have more hooks sitting in my taclke room than I could ever pour in a years time Harshman

lPA1Nl The air compressor I have now creates alot of vibration when running maybe I need to set it closer to the bed. I might have to open the dump valve on my water seperator to make the pump run non stop while I am pouring. Good Idea Thanks Harshman

I made min a little smaller using a 2" coulper and some sort of 1 1/2" fitting that fit perfectly inside the couplerwhen I added the cofee filter. ( like I said I spent some time in the pluming department to make this stuff work) Most of the other bed I have seen were 3" or larger but I don't make jigs that are any larger than 1 oz. so it works out fine. Harshman

That is correct. I use a base pin inserted into my jigs when I pour them then remove the pin after the bait is cured and install the weed guard with a little epoxy. The bottles of paint say you can insert the guard then paint but I have tried to heat the jigs for dipping and the guard always melts. Harshman