BIG M

Eric, that top bait will work just fine. I hope that mine will do that one some justice. The bottom bait is just cool looking, bet that puppy will get down deep.

very nice, getting the hang of fading the paint I see. Traps are not the easiest baits to paint and yours are looking good.

I use braid for all lures, but I fish crank baits 90% of the time. I like the fact that I can feel every little twitch or bump of the lure. You will get you deep diving cranks to reach past max depth with 20/6 power pro.

All my baits are as uniform as possible without using a caliper. I take a lot of pride in my carving and sanding (that's my fav part) and making sure all components are lined up perfectly center. That's called balance, you have to have a bait balanced in order for it to run correctly.

That a great looking color pattern, different version of a bream pattern.

Cooter, I heard from several other builders that .25mm needle and tip where the way to go for fine lines. I have not tried a brush with that small of a tip yet. I have the gravity feed version of your brush with the .35mm tip and I think its a very good overall and covers all of my needs.

the rest

I've been hard at it, here are some of the finished products.

String, the pic doesn't show well but that is brass scales sprayed over a transparent green. It's my version of WEC's classic color, but it does look good in the water.

You got about 10 pages worth of questions there. Let's start with brand of paint, I use wildlife colors taxidermy paint made for airbrushing, never needs thinning. But there are alot of other paints on the market that are more or less expensive. You need a compressor, moisture trap, regulator and some scrap cardboard to get started. Don't even pick up a lure until you have sprayed paint on cardboard for practice. You need to know how the equipment works and that will save you time and frustration. As for cleaning I like windex and I take my brush down about 2 times per month for a good cleaning. the rest of the time I just shoot windex thru it. good luck

Here are some new thin baits 3/8" thick, top two are my M-flat pattern and the bottom two are a new M-shad pattern.

Thanks for all of those kind words. It has been my pleasure to build each and every bait.

strip the baits down to bare wood and re-seal the wood. prime, paint, and a good clearcoat. baits will be better than when they were new.

the rest

Here's a new batch off the drying wheel

The first thing you need to do is test the crap of the baits you have made. There is a good chance they won't work like you want them too. Then you need to figure out why. If they do work perfectly then you need to make a couple more to see if you can repeat the exact process.

Balsa wood, you can find some at hobby stores but I order from National Balsa.

those are lucky craft knock offs, but not a bad bait and very good for practice. You did a fine job on those baits.

and the new sexy hologram shad

here is a new hologram shad pattern I'm trying to perfect

Good to hear from you Nick. dolf, all the baits I post are hand carved and sanded. I seal the baits with two different products 1 is thinned epoxy.

thanks fellas, I work on cranks every day after work and all day long on the weekends. It's very hard for a 1 man shop to keep up with everything.

I'm playing with some 3/8 thick stock now and here are some of the finished product.

Thanks for the kind words fellas, the only way to get better at painting is to practice. I'm trying to expand my color selection and find that magic color combo.

Hookem, use the white spackel from HD or Lowes, it dries quick and sands down real easy. What are you using to make your belly weights?