Jim Farmer

I'm fairly new at the moisture cure stuff, but I did get some Bloxygen to spray in the can before re-sealing. Hopefully that helps. I'm doing some crankbaits right now and I'm try multiple coats of the moisture cure. I like the overall look of the moisture cure urethane so I'm hoping multiple coats will hold up better than one single coat. The single coat breakdown seemed to be isolated to the head area of the jerkbait where the gill plate is raised. It also broke down where the trebles were constantly hitting the body.

I was able to test some jerkbaits with Solarez and a moisture cure urethane, the one Dakota recommends. I did a 1 coat dip in the moisture cure urethane and took them to the lake for 2 days of fishing. On the first day, after 5 bass, 5 pickerel and dragging the bait through the weeds all day the paint started coming up around the head of the bait and around the hook areas. I put a second one on for the second day and it faired a little better and lasted through 10+ bass and a few stripers with minimal paint loss. My thoughts were maybe trying multiple coats with the moisture cure. I also took some baits with the Solarez but didn't get to use them as much as the urethane coated baits. Like you said Bob, the Solarez is good stuff but the wax additive dulls the surface coat. I'll try your suggests with the Solarez. I've got some Devcon 2 part on the way, so I'll give that a try when it gets here. Thanks for all the info guys. I'm learning a lot about these different topcoats.

They look great. I'd throw them. That's a good combination of successful colors. Great work.

I tried another one yesterday. It's called Solarez and it's a uv catalyst resin. I dipped a few cranks and jerkbaits and hung them in the sunlight to dry. It works pretty well and I like the overall look. It took less than 5 minutes to dry in the bright sunlight and with a little worm oil on the surface they shinned up pretty well. Drawbacks are the fumes and getting an even coat. This stuff starts to thicken up with any exposure to uv light so it's best to dip the lures in a darker area, letting it drain well before exposing it to sunlight. The only problem I've experienced with the Alumilite Clear is micro bubbles. It's recommended that you use a degasser so I made one from a bucket with an air tight lid and my shop vac. It works pretty well, but I still see a few micro bubbles. If I could get that straightened out, I'd use it more often. Next, I'm going to try a moisture cure urethane recommended by the guy I buy my blanks from. We'll see how it does. Devcon is on the list next. Here's a pic of some lures after the Solarez.

Thanks! Bald Ridge is on the south end of Lanier, straight west from the dam.

This is the one I use: http://www.luremaking.com/catalogue/catalogue-index/catalogue-items/tools/powder_paint_air_brush.htm I also have a 4 sprayer manifold and I run 4 sprayers to do multi-colors on my jigs. You get a nice even thin coat and there's no buildup so you don't have to punch out hook eyes. I run my sprayers at 20 psi and they work great.

My wife and I got out this afternoon to cruise the creek with the dog and do a little crankbait trolling. We have a house in Bald Ridge creek on Lake Lanier and we just throw a couple deep divers out the back about 150 feet with light tackle and cruise from our house to the mouth of the creek and back. Today we caught 11, 8 of which were dinks and 3 that were halfway decent dinks. All spots today, caught in pockets off the main creek channel. I think all the boat traffic pushed them back into the pockets. Marked plenty of bait in the pockets with the bass, and most of our fish were scraped off a 20-25 bottom around brush. The cranks we were using today were running about 21-23 deep at 2-2.5 mph. Water temps were around 58-60. Here's a couple of pour quality pics.

My wife and I use small bucktails for bass in the spring and fall. I've been tying bucktails for years now and one thing I've found that works well, especially for bucktails and hardening thread. After I've finished tying bucktails, I dip them in polycrylic and let them dry. One of the major benefits of using polycrylic for bucktails is it soaks into the thread and makes it rock hard. I doesn't ever come untied like some of the foreign stuff. The polycrylic will eventually wear off the leadhead, especially in hot sunny weather but it really looks great as a finish product.

I'd like to know what kind of clearcoats ya'll are using for your hardbaits. I've did a lot of research on the topic and I've used a few different resins myself. I finally settled on one that I like the best from Alumilite. This stuff is phenomenal for my cranks and jerks. It's called Alumilite Clear and it's a 2 part epoxy. I started using it a few months back and the only problem I've had is micro bubbles that sometimes caused a problem. I built my own degasser for the bubbles and would like to know also if anyone else is using it yet and any problems they have had with it. Here's a couple I did yesterday with the clearcoat resin. These are single coat. When I troll and long line these, they take a beating on the rocks so a good resin coat is a must.

Very nice baits Will! I pour those baits in my shop but I haven't had much luck with them down here in Ga. for bass. I make them for a fella out in Arizona on a regular basis and he swears by them out there for walleye and bass. They also make a holographic sticker you can place on the side of those for a little more flash.

What mold is it that you have? I currently have around 30+ jig molds and I have to do a little improvising on a few of my molds. My bigger jig molds that take bigger hooks need something to hold the hook in place or it will fall out of the correct position while closing. I put another open mold right next to the mold I am pouring. If you open the second mold, you can lay the hook on the second mold and it will stay in place when you close the mold with the hook in it. There are all kinds of little tricks for pouring lead heads, and I've been doing it for quite a few years and learned a lot. I'm willing to help anytime you need it. Just drop me a line and I'll do what I can.

I used to dip my jigs in powder coat, but now I've went to powder coat airbrushing for a little smoother and a thinner coat. It's a little harder with the smaller jig heads but I can combine colors on my jigs fairly easily and my airbrush paint station can run 4 different colors at one time. I really like to use multiple colors on my jig heads and the airbrush powder coating helps me with that.

I found that out yesterday when I make the mistake of "Self Promotion" and took a pretty disrespecting beat down for an honest mistake and got suspended. A little harsh in my view for a mans first post but the CEO was rational enough to give me another shot and lift my suspension. Lesson learned. I appreciate it and I've got a copy of the rules emblazoned in my brain.

New member here. I just ran across the site yesterday and was very interested in posting on the forum and doing some writing for the site. I have been an avid fisherman for my whole life and during a 20+ year military career, I've had the opportunity to fish all over the world. I currently write a monthly column for a national fishing magazine that covers bass and striper fishing in the south. My home lake is Lake Lanier in northern Ga., and my wife and I love to bass fish. My primary hobby has always been making fishing tackle in my garage and using it wherever the Navy sent me. My business has been making bass and striper tackle since my retirement and I'd like to gain more knowledge about bass and their habits. Every year since buying our lake house we've been fortunate to be able to watch spotted bass and LM bass spawn around our dock and in our cove, and I've become very intrigued by there habits. One of my favorite pastimes has been helping folks learn more about fishing and I really like to share what I have learned to help others shorten their learning curve. Hopefully I'll be able to be a part of the forum, add my knowledge, and gain knowledge from others. We had a little snafu with my first couple of posts and I apologize for that. It won't happen again. Thanks for lifting my suspension and Thanks for having me! The younger fella in my avatar is my son who, in that picture had just returned from his 3rd combat tour in Iraq and we were doing an article for an outdoor news magazine that day. I'm very proud of him and I thought it would be worth mentioning. Thanks.