Show Off Your Work!

[Munkin]

On 11/28/2020 at 3:57 AM, Baitmaker said:

 

Can you give me any advice on painting threadfin shad? I have someone wanting me to paint them up some swim jigs and I am not sure where to start?

 

Allen

[Baitmaker]

My method may not translate well on a smaller jig body, but I begin with a white base coat. Then lightly dust the back and shoulders with black. I then wrap them in mesh material and spray white pearl over the sides to get a subtle scale pattern. Once the mesh is removed, I spray a light thin stripe of gold pearl along the lateral line and then paint my black spot. My gill plates are done using a C shaped stencil that I cut out of paper. A very small amount of black sprayed lightly along the edge of the stencil makes the gill plate. 

It's the best way I can describe it so I hope it helps. It may be something you'd have to see done to get a better understanding. 

[DanielG]

Frankenstein hard lure with feathers on the body experiment...

 

Time to kill. I thought about making a hard bait that incorporated feathers into the body. It was a strange assembly but in the end I came out with something. The next one will be better. I don’t know if anyone else does this. The thing is made out of white pine, finished with feathers, an airbrush, and UV resin for the topcoats. As always I make everything except the hooks. (Ah… the birds made the feathers of course).

 

I have a video of the build showing how it was done. No ads or requests in the video. Purely for fun.

[Munkin]

Complete with the hole-in-one skirt, I really like the way this turned out.

 

Allen

[Jigfishn10]

@DanielG, that was a great vid you put together. Thank you for sharing. Also loved the idea. Fly tying meets plug making. Out of the box thinking at its best. 

[Michigander]

I made my first 3D printed jig prototype!

 

[detroit1]

DanielG: yo-zuri made a crank that had feathers on both sides. I have 2 (never used them) , and i don't remember what they called it. Kind of an  extended peanut shell with a small diving lip. I can't post a pic....

[Munkin]

The one that looked like a bird? I have one around here somewhere?

 

Allen

[detroit1]

I found it. Slavko Bug...mine is shallow runner which should mean that they alsohad a deep version. Just under 3" long, 1/4 oz. Mine are a transparent mackerel , and a white with black stipes across the back. To cool to fish with.

[DanielG]

My first foil lure. It came out okay. When the ice goes out I'll give it a cast or two. I've got a video of the making of it. I make everything but the hooks. 

 

[Jigfishn10]

Daniel, that was incredible! Loved the vid and thanks for providing such educational content.

I’ve been in construction professionally since the late 80’s and prior to that I worked at a door making shop during my jr and sr high school summers. Never have I ever seen anyone use super glue and baking soda to fill holes. Great idea! 

Beautiful perch pattern! Please post how it runs in the water. 

Thank you again. 

[DanielG]

Thank you. Super glue is actually used a lot. With baking soda, it's rock hard. Originally used to fill the string slots in guitar nuts, then refiling the slots. They wear as good as the bone.

[GANGGREEN]

Question for those of you making wooden crankbaits.  I just decided to give it a try and I'm curious about wood choice.  I have Basswood and Poplar on hand, which I presume will be acceptable choices, but what are you all using and what have you learned while experimenting?   I've seen some lovely Cedar baits posted here, but I'm curious if it's just an easy wood to work or if it has characteristics which are especially appealing.   I've seen videos online of a maker who uses curly maple and they were attractive baits while giving some detail and clear-coated, but obviously Sugar maple is quite a bit more dense and harder than the above species of wood.  I have curly maple, curly ash, cherry, walnut, etc. on hand as well, but presumed that they wouldn't be top choices.

[Log Catcher]

On 1/20/2021 at 12:44 AM, DanielG said:

My first foil lure. It came out okay. When the ice goes out I'll give it a cast or two. I've got a video of the making of it. I make everything but the hooks. 

 

That was amazing. I never dreamed of how much could go in to making a crankbait. Wish I could be that talented

[DanielG]

Ya know.... I just started last year. I looked at a bunch of youtube vids, it takes about $200 to get started, then you can make a lot of $20 lures for that two hundred. And it's a bunch of fun. It's really a paint job. A lot of lures have just shaping to them not much carving. Once you get the airbrush down, then you can just do it. I made a 6 part video that goes from materials to the final finish on a bait as I was learning in hopes of helping someone get started but with all the 'beginner' questions answered.  Anyway, thanks for the kind words.

[Munkin]

On 1/3/2021 at 5:38 PM, Michigander said:

I made my first 3D printed jig prototype!

 

 

Working on making this one a reality. 

 

Allen 

And another 

 

[Michigander]

9 hours ago, Munkin said:

 

Working on making this one a reality. 

 

Allen 

And another 

 

So awesome to see those in metal!

[TonynswAR]

Couple years ago I moved to South Central PA from  SW AR.

since moving here and having never fished for smallies, found something they like. 1/4 oz with a 3/0 hook, the green ones like it too. 

[TnRiver46]

I had striper jumping all around me that wouldn’t bite, seasoned veterans told me I needed bucktails. I found some 1.5 oz heads at the bait shop and tied a couple rudimentary jigs/flies with kitchen scissors and sewing thread . I’ll have them in my pocket next time I go to a striper spot 

And a few sauger/crappie flies while I’m at it 

[Jigfishn10]

Those will get'em @TnRiver46!

[roadwarrior]

Alabama Rig is THE BOMB!

For stripers, only second to live bait.

[BrianMDTX]

I have to say, you guys may think you are making lures, but you're actually making works of art as well. Some of those crankbaits are absolutely gorgeous. Losing one must be painful! 

[DanielG]

This is a little bit of a late response....  A lot of people use balsa. I don't like it because it's too soft and it fuzzes up when you sand it and it's just too soft and light. Very easy to work with though. A few woods that are easy to work with and don't do that are White pine (not southern yellow pine as it's hard), cedar, basswood. All of these are interestingly the choice of wood carvers too. With carving you're looking for wood that's not too hard and has a straight grain. Some woods like walnut and cherry are kinda okay too. Poplar and basswood are in the same category. Maple and other hardwoods are fine but hard to work with. If you're going for an unfinished clearcoat grain showing appearance then they're nice. But that grain is what makes some woods harder to work with. I use White pine, cedar, and basswood. The first two are very easy to get where I am. If a wood is going to be painted then an easy carving one that finished nicely (smooth) is good.

 

You have to weight the belly of a lure. It's easy to weight pine as the top is buoyant and the belly sinks when weighted. So, you get a more stable upright track in the water. Maple is much less buoyant and rides low in the water. When you weight the belly you can't do it that much or it will sink. But if you don't  put enough weight in the belly it often will roll instead of just wobbling. My take on this is why bother to add this complexity, I just use pine to begin with.

 

That being said... if you're going to simply cut out a bait on a bandsaw then shape the roundness of it then anything will work fine. It's when you start carving gills and mouth slits that you appreciate the softer woods. It's not easy to make these tiny indentations and raised areas look smooth with hard woods.

More info that you wanted probably....

On 2/3/2021 at 6:11 AM, BrianMDTX said:

I have to say, you guys may think you are making lures, but you're actually making works of art as well. Some of those crankbaits are absolutely gorgeous. Losing one must be painful! 

Ya, but you know, it takes about 3-4 hours to make one and a couple more to make a more complicated carved one, so losing one isn't too big a deal. After accumulating about $250 worth of materials/tools to do it I figure I use under a dollar in materials to make each bait. So a lot of baits for that initial tooling up unvestment.

The only one I've lost was the first bait I made that I caught a fish on. I had made my first 5 of them over the winter and this is the first one I chose to use in the spring. But, it ended up high in a tree, later on, after I had caught the fish. It's still there. I made a replacement the following afternoon...

[GANGGREEN]

Thanks for all of the information DanielG and no, it wasn't more information than I wanted.     I do a lot of other woodworking type stuff (build flintlock rifles and turkey calls, have carved a few fish and duck decoys, small furniture building, picture frames, etc.) so I have lots of wood on hand, including white pine, basswood and poplar.   I've only shaped a dozen baits so far and have to say that the poplar was slightly harder to handle than the basswood, but gave a better finished product because it tends not to have that fuzziness like basswood (or especially balsa).   I'm going to try to get 15 or 20 baits ready for our open water season and I won't get a chance to swim them until then, although I can obviously float them in the sink or something.

[Bluebasser86]

My first attempt at an underspin swim jig. Turned out pretty well and functions like it's supposed to. Wouldn't want to make a bunch, but it was fun trying to do one.