BobP

Probably the thickest non-epoxy will be a two-part automotive clearcoat sprayed in multiple coats. They're toxic, so start thinking about spray booths, air filter systems, and full face masks.

String, I think you're dead on about how lips and line ties have to be designed arround the density of the body material you use. But how the mass is distributed in the bait also has big effects. An exact Sintra clone of a balsa bait of identical weight will perform differently because the mass in the balsa bait is concentrated at its ballast while mass in the Sintra bait is distributed throughout the body. An old truism in bait building is that the lower in the body you place the ballast, the more stable the bait will be while swimming. All "Truisms" aren't true all the time. But if you're building a shallow bait and want it to have a fast rise for jumping heavy wood cover, a very low density material like balsa still seems best to me. Maybe the opposite applies for deep cranks where you want a slow float. In the end, "Beauty is as beauty does". If you can build a bait that works great and catches fish like crazy, you nailed it no matter what material you used.

Get one of those little $25 electronic digital scales sold on Ebay and elsewhere. It's one of the best tools for building good crankbaits. Weigh the body, lip, hook hangers, and treble hooks you'll use on the bait. If you through-wire the bait, weigh everything after you do that. Add .03-.05 oz for finish. Subtract the total you get from the target weight of your crankbait to get the ballast required. Write everything down so you can do it again 3-4 months from now after you decide your crankbait is the greatest thing since sliced bread and want to build another just like it!

Does anyone know what SPECIFICALLY they changed on the SX from last year? - besides the little red doohickey on the handle?

There have been good and bad designs of both so I don't think one is better than the other. A good implementation of either will perform very well. I use both types of reel - Shimano Curado and Abu Revo SX - and like them. I'm skeptical whether a reel combining both offers an advantage and hope it isn't just a manufacturer "throwing" features in for marketing reasons, like some do with ball bearing counts. If you're talking about a reel from one of the major companies like Shimano, Abu or Daiwa, you're probably OK. But the proof is in the pudding.

If you have a 6 post centrifugal brake system and put every other one ON, that's three and it's symmetrical. The cast control knob controls backlashing at the beginning of the cast. The brakes control backlashing at the end of the cast. So if your spool is fluffing up, put on a little more cast control. It's fine to tighten it up so the lure doesn't drop when you hit the release, but will release line if you bob the rod tip. You can't fish well if you are staring at your reel on every cast, waiting for it to explode. Rick is right about snapping your wrist being a no-no. Just keep it nice and smooth, load up the rod and let the rig do the work. It takes awhile to develop a smooth stroke but once you do, it literally becomes a no-brainer.

Reel performance depends mostly on the design and the quality of factory machining and assembly. Except for bearings/bushings, drag discs, and handles, few reel parts are upgradable. So you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. I upgrade parts with "better than stock" when they are worn. I replace handles if I want a longer one. I keep it clean and properly lubed. Other than that, you get into supertuning, which is mostly about polishing to reduce friction and obtain longer casts. If you aren't careful and don't know how, you can screw it up worse than when you started. I understand the attraction but it's a lot of work to get 10 extra feet of casting distance, and it isn't permanent. I envision guys with supertuned reels sporting $75 carbon fiber handles arriving at the lake in 10 yr old Honda Civics with $20,000 of aftermarket speed and bling parts ;D Nothing wrong with that but it isn't really about fishing, is it?

Aluminum frames are generally considered to have less flex and can be machined to higher tolerances than graphite, so the hold the reel parts in alignment better. Graphite weighs less. Some good "workhorse" saltwater reels have graphite frames to reduce weight and avoid saltwater corrosion. But if you look at freshwater reels, you usually find the graphite frame models are the "more affordable" models in the company lineup.

Sometimes I wonder "Why did the moderator do that?" or "What the heck got that guy's nose so out of joint that he posted THAT?" No answer for either and if there was, you probably wouldn't like it. You can't know what drives another guy's actions or attitudes on the internet. Maybe he's got a good point. Maybe somebody just ran over his dog. Maybe his mental health needs a little tweaking. It doesn't matter. Use the good stuff, make a contribution if you can, enjoy the fun stuff, and ignore the rest.

I got an Omega when they first came out a few years ago. It's a sturdy reel but JMHO, it's just way too heavy to fish comfortably. If I think that, what would a 7 yr old think? Yeah, it will last forever. But I'd rather give a kid something that he would be comfortable fishing until he moves up to spinning and baitcasting.

There are lots of things you CAN do. Dremeling them out is just the easiest and fastest, IMO. I dip lures to topcoat them - tape would just bugger them up worse. Besides, I want epoxy or polyurethane on the hangers and line tie. The Dremel dresses them up nicely. Different strokes...

On reels with synchronous levelwinds, the outgoing line has to drive the levelwind worm gear and the line guide back and forth, which uses energy. That isn't a big deal if the spool is heavy and you are throwing a heavy bait since the heavy spool will store energy and will tend to keep spinning like a diesel. But for light baits, you want a light spool that requires less energy to start spinning and a non-synchronous levelwind that will not steal energy from the spinning spool (there isn't so much energy to steal!). Most bass reels now use non-synchronous levelwinds and light spools. They cast well and are easy to control reliably with centrifugal or mag brakes. But the synchronous reels still have their place, especially for throwing heavy baits on large line. For example, I like an Abu C4 4600 for 3/4 oz C-rigs because it will throw one a country mile. That heavy spool just keeps dieseling along, spitting out 20 lb braid. Pitching 3/16 oz jigs? Give me something with a feather light spool for that.

You build baits and don't have a Dremel!? Oh my gawd!

You want to use water based acrylic paint. They are non toxic and easy to clean up. Shoot a base coat of white paint, then the colors. Finish off with a durable clearcoat like epoxy. Createx is a popular brand sold in most hobby shops. It's formulated for airbrushes so it shoots well and won't clog like cheaper "hobby acrylics". An airbrush uses very little paint, so a 2 or 4 oz bottle will last quite awhile. For a more varied color palette, you can order airbrush paint like Smith Wildlife, Van Dykes, or Polytranspar online from places like taxidermy.com, coastairbrush.com, etc. Check out some airbrush sites for tips and techniques but you'll need 'time on the brush' to learn airbrush skills. It's like fishing - you will get better but there will always be room to improve and learn new things.

If mono hasn't been exposed to excessive UV or heat and hasn't been fished, it should be in the same state as a fresh line, except for the memory. You can take the memory out by pulling a long cast's worth of line off the reel and stretching it moderately. I keep fluorocarbon spooled until the level on the reel gets lower than I consider "OK" for casting efficiency. It's unaffected by UV light, doesn't absorb water and will maintain it's physical qualities almost indefinitely. I examine it carefully for damage and cut 6-8 ft off the end after fishing it to make sure it's all good. I'll change it out if I've had a "professional overrun" and the line was kinked anywhere along its length. But of course that never happens :

Dave's operation is here in Guilford Co, NC, and his family runs a tackle store nearby in Jamestown, NC, which carries a good selection of his jigs, spinnerbaits, and plastics - as well as a lot of high end baits like LC, Megabait, Netbait, etc. One of the better tackle shops around for "specialist bass stuff".

Nothing wrong with Hot Sauce oil, it has one of the better viscosity ratings for bearings. What I don't like is the red dye that migrates all over the inside of the reel. The new Reel Butter bearing oil looks good and is widely available. I've been using Yellow Rocket Fuel and Superlube grease for years and they work great. Superlube is a white PTFE (aka Teflon) grease sold for auto bearings. Find it at NAPA and a 8 oz can will last a lifetime. I also suggest getting some Shimano Ace-2 drag grease if your reel has fiber drag washers. It's a thick, sticky cosmoline that will make your drag system work at least twice as long as regular grease. There are lots of good low viscosity bearing oils, including the Shimano oil that comes with their reels. But the lower the viscosity, the more often you need to re-lube your bearings.

Jon, I really like it! It has a real jewel like quality to it. I can only imagine what the future will bring if this is a 'first effort'. Kudos!

I think they're cut from 1/16" thick silicone sheeting.

I haven't tried auto clearcoat but some custom builders use it with very good results. When checking it out, I found two problem areas: the most durable auto clears are "high solids" two part clears. That means they require mixing a catalyst into the clear before spraying and reducing it with solvents for spraying. When mixed, it has a limited pot life (a few hours). Second, the stuff is toxic. You need to wear a rated respirator or airbrush it in a booth with a proper exhaust and filter system. That's why auto painters work in purpose-built booths wearing Tyvek body suits and full face respirators.

Hey Jon, maybe it's "bathtub effect" but does it seem to turn on its side when swimming?. If so, the lip may be too large. Hard to tell how it will react in the "real world". About lip angles: the working angle of the lip in the water as the bait swims is important. A bait that swims head-down (relative to the horizontal surface of the water) has more working lip angle than the same bait swimming horizontally. You can adjust ballast amount and position to get any swim orientation you like. Many cover cranks swim head-down so the body of the bait protects the trebles from snagging cover. I know I'm preaching to the choir commenting on this to you, Jon, but it's something worth reiterating for newbie builders or guys who just want to modify commercial crankbaits.

I like the wider action because there are lots of crankbaits, especially ones with flat sides, with tight action. I fish tight action shallow baits more than wide but you want options in the boat.

I like the second video with the wider wobble on a big shallow crank. Secondary benefit of testing and filming in the tub: you gotta clean it a little before you shoot, so you make a couple of points with the significant other. It's a Twofer!

ToledoEF is right but some general guidelines exist. There's a current thread on tackleunderground/hardbaits about lip angle that discusses some of them. The best advice I have is take a look at some of the popular swimbaits being sold commercially - shape, weight, how the segments are proportioned, the lip. Use that as a starting point because the commercial baits have been extensively tested and tweaked before bulk manufacturing (hopefully!).

Airbrushes are usually used with either water based acrylic or lacquer based paints. The paint has to be thin and consistent - don't know about yours! You can get airbrush paint from craft shops or online from a variety of places - just Google "airbrush paint". You cut a slot for the lip and epoxy the lip in. I use a Dremel tool with a fiber reinforced cutoff disk to cut slots in pre-made bodies. It requires a steady hand and you need to mark where you're going to cut before you do it. The lip has to be mounted straight for the bait to run right. You might want to visit the Hardbait forum at tackleunderground.com for more info. Use the search feature to answer specific questions.