Fishwhittler

Thanks guys. ABLE2DISABLE1, I made that crank myself. I based it on pics of the Rapala DT series. Also, that crank is not small! The body is three inches long and the bill is the same, so the whole thing is 6". I'm thinking it will dive maybe 18-20 feet? The only problem is the pond that I test my lures in is only about 12-15 ft. deep at the deepest point so I won't know for sure. Ben

How many Poes crankbaits do you have? ;D j/k It looks great!

... But I thought I'd post it anyway. What do you think?

The swimbait in surgery swims very well when it's upright, so the angle of the joints wasn't the problem; it just needed more weight. I've thought about making swimbaits out of two pieces of wood glued together but I've never really done anything with the idea. I may try it again sometime though.

I use Flex-Coat Ultra V high build epoxy for my lures and I don't use a drying wheel; I just hang the lure by the line tie and let it cure. This results in a blob of epoxy on the tail but that can be removed with a dremel. Hope this helps. Ben

I brush it on. I wouldn't recommend dipping it because it will run if you put it on to thick. I haven't used it on plastic lures but I don't know why it wouldn't work.

The Daiwa swimbait you mean is the Dead or Alive. I did make another swimbait that was intended to swim on it's side, only it didn't work out to well. It ended up as a jerkbait. I'm working on another one though, and on this one I put a lexan plate in front of the second section to try to make it swim.

I don't use Createx, I use rattle cans but I do clear with Minwax Polyacrylic before epoxy. Then again I use Flex Coat epoxy, not Devcon so the chemicals won't react in exactly the same way. The Polyacrylic will probably stop the paint from reacting with the Devcon though. Hope this helps. Ben

That looks great! I have made a couple of "wonderbread" lures and I caught a fish on one of them but since then I haven't made any more. I don't know why I haven't because I really like that color. I guess I just forgot about it. You just gave me an idea for one of the wake baits I'm working on...

Some more new ones. The rapala repaint has actually purple eyes and kill spots but in the picture they look blue.

Very nice! 8-)

If you have a knife, sandpaper and wood you are set to start carving. A scroll saw or band saw will make cutting out blanks much easier however and is essential if you plan to make multiple lures of the same type. There are several tutorials in the articles section of this website that will help you get started. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/crankbait_making.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/crankbait_making_2.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/lure_making.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/lure_making_1.html Another tacklemaking website you can try is http://tackleunderground.com/community/. Hope this helps. Ben

Tried a new painting technique on an old crank.

Have you ever built a lure and go to test it only to discover that it runs on its side? This is one that I built that has that problem and this is my attempt to fix it. I started by removing the hook hangers with vise-grips and pliers. I had to do this in two steps as the wire broke when I twisted it but I was able to remove the wire by drilling holes next to it and then pulling the wire out with the pliers. I then drilled a much larger hole where the hook hangers had been to insert a wight into. I made the weights out of plumbing solder wrapped around a hook hanger. Next step is to epoxy the lure back together.

I thought I would post this here. I tried the tips in this tutorial in my last few batches of epoxy and the results are far and away better than they were before. This was written by Fatfingers over on TU and that guy really knows his stuff. The gallery's not back up yet so you can't look at his lures but they are simply amazing. I haven't seen one of his lures that has a flaw in it. Anyway, here's the tutorial. I have a few things to add: I would strongly recommend getting the Flex-Coat epoxy syringes. They make measuring the epoxy much easier. I find that it takes about 1cc of mixed epoxy to cover an average size (2-3") lure. Also, letting the epoxy sit for ten minutes or so works with Flex-Coat as well as with E-tex. Thanks for reading. Ben

I really like this pattern. Great job!

Just got these done

x2 Nice job X3

I like the bottom one but both of them are killer.

The realism of those is just plain amazing. 8-)

Well I lowered the line tie on the lures that were running wrong and now they work great. Thanks for the tip! Ben

I never thought about the line tie being to high. I will definitely try that and see what happens. Thanks!

The middle one is sweet. 8-)

Thanks guys. Yea, thats two air filters stacked on each other. Funny thing, I went out to test some cranks action at a pond down the road (I was just testing the action not fishing as the I didn't make the lures for myself), and as I was testing the blue one above I noticed that it kept veering to my right as it came in, so I pulled it out of the water and adjusted the line tie. I did this several times and finally got it running straight, but as I'm pulling it in I feel a jerk and sure enough I've got a bass. I don't think the guy that gets the lure will mind to much though. ;D As for the rest of these lures, I didn't take the two middle ones, The top one is a complete failure( ) and the bottom one needs some work, but I think can salvage it. Ben

There's also tacklemaking.com, although I prefer TU.