BobP

You can use just about any method to paint cranks. Airbrush is best and easiest. You can use acrylic paint pens. You can use acrylic paint and paint brushes. You can use rattle cans. You can mix and match any of these techniques. I’ve seen all of these produce good looking baits. Just choose one or two you can afford and get started, then develop your technique and tools as you learn.

Yeah, crankbait making is more of a calling than it is a rational business. If makers charged for their time like a Walmart employee, nobody could afford to buy the dang things.

Pvc trim board is a white expanded foam board used for house trim pieces that carry no structural load. crankbait builders have substituted it for wood. Different brands have different densities but a lot of it runs around 20 lbs/cubic foot, similar to cedar or bass wood. It is closed cell foam board so is naturally waterproof. Some guys like it, some would rather work with wood. i’m In the latter group because I don’t like the fine pvc sanding dust that sticks to everything and the need to fill all the small surface cell voids before painting, plus I prefer using the various densities of different wood species. But it does have its advantages.

Createx makes a thinning solution 4011 or you can make your own with water, alcohol, and a few drops of glycerin.

On my bass boat, I imbed a treble in the open nap boat carpeting just in front of the console. Baits are secure but pull right out of the carpet with no damage when the’re dry. Maybe glue a piece of similar carpeting somewhere out of the way on the kayak?

As much as I like “rolling my own” tackle, I find the Zman Ned Rig jig heads with the wire barbs are hard to beat for holding Elaztech plastic baits. I recently fished a very grassy lake in Canada. Those jig heads, without a weed guard, worked perfect. It was one jig head, one bait, and 30-50 smallmouths up to 5 lbs per day. And the hooks were rigged exposed. I was hoping the fish would bite a variety of baits and presentations but the Ned was catching 10 to 1 so it was Ned Ned Ned all week long. I’m not complaining.

I make wire hardware from .041” SOFT temper Malin brand stainless steel wire from McMaster-Carr online. Easy to bend accurately with hand tools, plenty strong. Even in balsa, I don’t use thru wiring any more, I just make the line tie and hangers longer and epoxy them into drilled holes. Have’t had one fail yet. always cut the lip slot and drill the holes while the blank is still in the “square” condition just after cutting out the blank. And remember that symmetry isn’t just important, it’s everything. It takes some skill to carve and sand out a crankbait. Measure and mark everything you can before you start removing wood and that helps. And yeah, flat sided baits are much easier to shape than round or oval baits.

I think one thing driving higher gear ratios is that reel manufacturers have changed designs to larger diameter main gears with smaller teeth. It allows more cranking power to be applied to faster ratios without binding the handle. So since they could go there, they did.

I’ve built wood baits for 20 yrs. Wood density is important and determines how your bait will behave. The lighter the wood, the more lively a bait will be, other factors held equal. Moisture content and wood grain are also important. Kiln dried straight grain wood makes baits that are easier to shape and last longer. Wood cost is a very minor expense (literally pennies per bait) compared to the amount of work you have to do to build a bait, so it’s a prime example of “penny wise pound foolish” to use inferior woods with unknown moisture content and wonky grain. We learn as we go regarding how to shape, sand, and finish a particular species of wood. Change wood and you have to relearn how to build baits with it. Making the blank, ballasting, adding hardware all have to be adjusted. Best practice is to start with one or two good wood species. Balsa, cedar, basswood are classic bait wood species for good reason.

The lake I fish has threadfin shad schools that sit usually 50-60 ft deep on the bottom in late fall. If you want to catch bass, the important thing is to locate a Shad school that is being actively attacked by bass, which is a matter of sonar interpretation. My favorite spoon is a lurepartsonline.com 3/4 oz Jigging Minnow that closely resembles a threadfin shad. I brush on 3-4 heavy coats of latex acrylic glow in the dark greenish white paint and topcoat it with moisture cured urethane, adding a #4 feathered treble hook. This has been a killer combo for me. Largemouths, stripers, and white bass love it.

I don’t understand why guys ruin their fishing day and run to an emergency clinic to get a hook removed by someone who knows less about how to do it painlessly and with the least amount of tissue damage than a dedicated fisherman SHOULD. It’s easy to do. It’s quick to do. Do it, forget about it, and continue fishing.

Like NHbull said, you need to dial down the scope of your research and pick a smaller topic or you will be overwhelmed. I could see a 100 page master’s thesis written just about the physics of casting distance. Fishing info is chock full of anecdotal information based on personal experience, which is not a reliable basis for drawing scientific conclusions. It may be interesting. It might even be correct. But it ain’t science.

I never use 5 Minute Devcon for clearcoating or installing hardware because it will turn an ugly brown color pretty quickly from UV exposure, plus it is not as waterproof as Devcon Two Ton. The only time I use it is to glue the halves of a balsa wood bait together when laying in a through wire frame. Quick cure epoxies harden too fast to use as a clearcoat on a whole lure. Even if you are fast enough to brush it on the lure before it becomes too hard, it cures so fast that the epoxy will fail to level out like slow cure epoxies, ruining the look of the lure. JMHO

I think the 5000 is a tough workhorse reel but as a casting reel leaves a lot to be desired in terms of cast controls and repetitively throwing lighter baits. I think you’ll be happy with any of the low profile reels from a major company. I can’t speak to the combo you cite because I’ve never used or seen one. Lately I’ve been doting on Daiwa Tatula reels. They’re all well built. I just got a Tatula SV TW off eBay for $125 and consider it a great buy. Read a review of it on Tackletour.com

I’d try a Carolina rig with a 3/4 oz weight and the bait of your choice. You can back off the spot so as not to alert the bass and still cover water with it.

I really like Superlube grease. It's white, PTFE (aka Teflon) enhanced, and doesn't collect into a dirty crust like a lot of other greases do. Buy a tub of it at NAPA and you're set for many years. Drags? Any thick cosmoline based drag grease like Shimano Ace2 or Penn Muscle Grease works fine. Bearings, levelwind, and centrifugal brake drum? Depends. There's a trade-off to consider. A higher viscosity bearing oil will stay in a bearing longer than a thinner oil but will not be as fast. A thinner oil will be cast out of a bearing more quickly but will also run faster. I use moderate speed oil like Yellow Rocket Fuel or Reel Butter bearing oil. You can use faster oils, even 3 in One oil if you are meticulous about regular maintenance, which most of us are not. I do a complete tear down, clean and lube yearly and refresh bearing oil about quarterly. Works for me. If I fished a lot in cold weather, I'd choose a very thin bearing oil because temperature affects bearing oil viscosity a lot.

I use both types of reels but use mostly spinning reels for saltwater because in the coastal areas near me the wind is almost always blowing and that makes using baitcasters problematical. I prefer baitcasters whenever I can use them but casting into a 15-20 mph headwind isn't much fun even if you are experienced. And isn't fun the whole point?

Depending on where and how it's broken, a rod can be repaired by a competent rod builder. But it's not an easy or simple fix. I repaired a rod broken in half during shipping and it fished like new until I broke its tip section off in another accident. I don't know how (and am doubtful if it could be) to fix a broken tip section so it was kaput after that.

I generally remove the split ring and use a Norman Speed Clip. A good cross snap also works well but is impossible to use on some crankbaits if the have the line tie out on the lip on a dimple, like many jerkbaits.

I like the Glo Nation glow in the dark products. The amount of glow you get depends wholly on the amount and size of the glow particles it contains and Glo Nation has a lot of the nontoxic stuff. I've only used their water based paint on hard lures but they also sell powders. I've coated spoons with the paint and you can actually read a newspaper in a dark closet with them.

A lot of guys are moving to all braid with a fluoro leader when low observability might be an issue, no leader when fishing heavy cover like grass. The FG knot is the smallest braid to fluoro leader knot but it is rather complicated to tie well. The modified Albright is almost as small and easier to tie. You can use mono or fluoro as a leader, your choice.

XT is a harder formulation than XL and so is more abrasion resistant. It also has less stretch and more reel memory. Good to use in warm weather, maybe switch to XL in fall/winter to get less memory. Nothing wrong with XL year round if you prefer it.

If it squeaks after oiling the bearings, they either need cleaning or replacement if cleaning doesn't work. Or if the reel has centrifugal brakes the brake drum needs cleaning and light oiling. Those are the reel parts that move at high speed during the cast. Honestly, if you are inexperienced in reel maintenance and aren't comfortable with the process, send it to abteel tech like DVT for a full service. He can clean EVERYTHING, get it working like new, and replace any part that needs it for a reasonable price. Knowing it's fixed right is peace of mind.

Hunting is when a crankbait runs off of its straight line retrieve for a few beats in one direction, then corrects itself straight again, then runs off a few beats in the opposite direction. If the bait turns on its side and planes off to one side, that isn't hunting. Real hunting baits should hunt at any speed including moderately slow to as fast as you can reel them.

I've taken mine apart and usually get them back together. Usually. One recommendation- take photos and lay out all the parts very systematically because spinning reels often contain small shims and spacers that are critical to them working right. Jmho, they are less intuitive than baitcasters.