On 11/15/2019 at 11:40 AM, Harold Scoggins said:

Who did you order from? I was thinking of building my own.

Building one should not be hard except for the filter material TJ's uses in their cups. Fluid bed is just a aquarium pump with an adjustable valve using pvc cups. 

 

Allen

@Harold Scoggins my TJ's fluid bed works great. I already ordered 3 extra cups to go with mine (only $5 each). I figure I'll keep one for white based paints, greens, browns, blacks, and then one for my glitters. 

 

Honestly, for the price I paid and what it would cost to build my own and the time to do it, you're better off just buying from TJ's. For $45 shipped, I got the pump, fluid bed, two cups, and 2oz of powder paint. You're going to have roughly $30 just in the pump, fittings, and hosing alone. Add in the PVC and finding a proper filter, plus your labor. What have you honestly saved?

Saw some tiny football jigs on TW and liked how they looked, so I decided I was going to make some of my own. 1/4oz with a 1/0 hook.

 

Some of my painted up swim jig heads.

 

Allen

my second attempt at making one. Can't wait to start another. It's made of pine.

On 11/23/2019 at 11:55 AM, Munkin said:

 

Some of my painted up swim jig heads.

 

Allen

What mold is that you're using?

2 hours ago, onthewater102 said:

What mold is that you're using?

Custom spincast mold.

 

Allen

A couple of my finesse football jigs finished. Next round I used neck down pins instead of full sized brush guard pins and turned out better.

 

 

I thought I'd done gone and caught a new PB my first time out with them Monday. Would have been if it'd been the right brand. Almost the same spot I'd caught my 7.5 nearly 2 years ago and very near where the lake record and another DD bass were caught 3 years ago. To say it had my hopes up for a minute would be an understatement.

Good looking stuff everyone! Here's a new batch of cedar squarebills. 

 

Nice!

10 minutes ago, Harold Scoggins said:

Nice!

Thank you!

Here's a pic I took of them before paint. 

 

Nice looking baits. I love the action of a good Cedar bait. 

Very nice work

On 11/30/2019 at 5:29 PM, Baitmaker said:

Thank you!

Here's a pic I took of them before paint. 

 

Question: I've been making my baits out of pine, just a few to this point as you know. It's available, easy to shape and no too heavy. Cedar looks to be similar. I know they use balsa wood and a few others, shying away from hardwoods. Would there be any advantage to make a cedar one over the pine I've got?

4 hours ago, DanielG said:

Question: I've been making my baits out of pine, just a few to this point as you know. It's available, easy to shape and no too heavy. Cedar looks to be similar. I know they use balsa wood and a few others, shying away from hardwoods. Would there be any advantage to make a cedar one over the pine I've got?

No wood expert here, but I've experimented with Red and White Cedar, White Pine, Balsa, Cherry, Basswood, Maple, and Poplar. Western Red Cedar is all I've used for several years now and am most familiar with. Each wood type has their own degree of buoyancy, so the weighting can be different from one to another. I like cedar because it's quite buoyant, but much harder than balsa and white pine while still being fairly easy to work with. It also has a low moisture content and a natural resistance to water and decay. The downside to working with cedar is that the dust is hard on the sinuses and can be pretty unhealthy to breathe. 

I hope any of this helps. Maybe others can chime in with more detailed specifics or comparisons between pine and cedar for bait making. 

These are not mine. I saw them on FB and thought it was neat how the maker used trailer keepers to secure the blade and ball swivel to the hook.

That is a unique idea that looks like it should work really good.

 

Pretty crappie paint jobs.  

5 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

Pretty crappie paint jobs.  

Them ones are wraps not paint, thanks though

1 hour ago, MDBowHunter said:

Them ones are wraps not paint, thanks though

Still pretty.  What size are they?  

6.25” and 2.3 ounces, with a super slow sink.

 

I got some cool living rubber colors and started tying. 

Did you paint the head yourself?

 

Allen

21 hours ago, Munkin said:

Did you paint the head yourself?

 

Allen

No sir. That is a 5/8oz Boss head.