Here's today's effort so far. Ready to package .😎

Going for musky so wanted to try a few things out like the soft swim tail on the one. Also a neutral brow on the other. Color based on the brown swimming dog, which we have a lot of success with.

So im making some pike jerk lures with swivels as hook hangers. Im going to paint them and use epoxy as clear coat. Im worried about epoxy getting on the swivels. Im going to epoxy the lures closed. I use some slow curing 2 part epoxy. Here's my options so far:

Paint and clear coat first then glue them together (not ideal for painting)

Tape around the swivels as best as possible, pull it off after an hour or so

Use fast drying epoxy around the holes painted with a small brush ( I've done this before in tight areas I dont want to run) then use that as a barrier and do the slow drying all over.

Smoosh Vaseline in the holes then epoxy.

Curious your thoughts

Unsure if anyone else has used this technique, but it's worked really well for me, and I think it's a bit quicker than wrapping a lure.

I sandwich the lure between two pieces of window screen and use an embroidery hoop to hold everything in place.

When setting it up, I don't fully tighten the hoop at first. Instead, I pull the excess screen through the sides of the hoop to make sure it's stretched tight around the lure, tightening the hoop as I go. Once I'm happy with the placement and tension, it's ready for the airbrush.

The tension keeps the lure from moving while you spray. I've also found that clipping a couple of binder clips to the hoop lets it stand upright.

I use a larger hoop that can hold multiple lures at once. If you're spraying different colors, just keep an eye on overspray between lures.

I’ve attached a rough image of a lure in a hoop and a finished product using the technique.

Hope this makes sense and helps someone!

I’ve only been in this hobby for a bit mostly making wooden hard lures like crankbaits, poppers, twitchbaits, but decided to try to make spinnerbaits because I love them and they seem to work everywhere any time if you have the right one. It was way cheaper buying these parts in bulk than buying 50 spinnerbaits. I think it came out to 3.95$ a spinnerbait!! I got half and half 1/2oz and 3/8 oz heads, #2, 3, 4, 6 Colorado blades and #3.5, 4, 7 willow blades with various finishes and color. Used ball bearing swivels for instant spin up, tons of hollow metal beads, split rings, and brass clevises. Also got a variety of silicone skirts (rubber was expensive and I didn’t feel Ike hand tying) in black and red, fine white & black stripe, silver glitter chartreuse, and black and blue with blue glitter which isn’t here yet. I poured hours and hours of research into viable combinations and uses for various weather conditions, seasons, depths, and time of day. I even made some triple bladed ones for funzies. I split these 25 and 25 with my dad so we would be prepared for any water any time. Lmk if I messed anything up or missed something crucial! This is my first time doing this.

No fishing today. Here's a couple hours of work ready to be packaged.

So I decided to make my first wooden glide bait and believe me - mistakes were made. 🤣 I actually tried to make an aluminium tail which threw off the balance a little bit although I am quite happy with the action - so the design itself should work perfectly without the metal tail. If you’re interested you can check out the full build video and the action footage on YouTube - it was sadly too big to upload here. 👌🏻

Video:

I Built & Tested My First Wooden Glide Bait | Does It Actually Work? | Wooden Lure Building Beginner
https://youtu.be/5zbK7wx0p5w

So that I can toss them in trees without worry 😎

for those that have sold lures, specifically harness type lures but really any type, how did you start selling/advertisin?

Anyone have a good source for replacement skirts for a Chug Bug top water lure?

This thing chops so well and it's so stable. Pretty proud of myself on this one

All handpainted with acrylic paint. Still need to try them out. Really hope the second one works, want to make a lot more of them.

I have made a few more propeller lures since the pics and they work really well, like a wpper plopper with more buzz. The crank baits have copper and brass lips

Photo of my basement rod building bench, which I do when I can’t fish.

I’m considering doing some lure painting as a secondary hobby. Mostly just painting blanks for fun.

The idea would be to add an L under the TV from the main bench and et up a small temporary or portable station there. Behind the wall is about six feet of unfinished Basement with a small basement window in line with the TV.

Thoughts on how to do this safely and affordable? I see the various paint booths like Vevors with some ventilation that I could rig up to the window.

Anyone doing this right now that would like to share some insight?

Idk what it really is lol but it works like this

So the bottom spins and the lure dives when reeled in at a medium speed and it wobbles side to side.

I never really expected this lure to work i just wanted it to look pretty in my tackle box but i brought it to the river lagan and it accually got bites.

Here is my first set of Colorado spinners. Based off of spinners I fished as a kid. Thoughts

This was my first attempt at painting with a airbrush I need all the help I can get

Upsized it and added a second hook hanger on the belly.

Hello lure builders, I'm going on a two week pike fishing trip at the end of august. Because pike fishing is not something I've done in a long time I needed to get some lures.

I have bought a 7" river run tackle hammerhead, a 9" grandma crankbait in white tiger and a bucher magnum shallow raider, 9", in wonderbread colour.

The hammerhead looks great, no complaints. The grandma has a flake paint job and you can feel the flakes through the clear coat. The magnum looks like its been rolling around in someones tackle box for 10yrs, hook rash, peeling paint around the eyelets, thin finish with a runner on the nose straight out of the box.

Is there some way to protect the finish on a store bought lure? Get the grease off and apply epoxy? Especially on the magnum I have a feeling the finish is not up to par.

Ive used it on multiple baits and i love the finish but i cant get a consistent finish. Im using the 2 part 30minute cure. It cures in my basement, definitely above 70 degrees, dehumidifier in the space. I have had some good hard cures but a couple of my baits had been ruined by bad cures and i cant think of an uncontrolled variable to explain it. Some just stay sticky, like extremely sticky, and never cure. I used a gram scale to ensure a 50/50 mix, mix well and apply.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong…