morgantm16

Looks like that rod has a 7.5 tip size for the tube, in my experience I'm better off to order the listed size and a half size up (an 8 in this case) for the tube to make sure i have something that fits, but I think its going to be hard to find anything in that tube size with a ring smaller than an 7 from what i see. I don't know how small your are trying to go, 7 isn't huge but it's not necessarily small either. Its hard to go wrong with just a fuji acs reel seat sized to your blank. Fuji is kind of the gold standard and thats a pretty popular and comfortable grip for most people. It may not be fancy or flashing but does the job. Some of the fancier reel seats may sound nicer on paper, but if they require inserts or arbors to fit the blank you're adding weight and layers to dampen the sensitivity that the plain ol fuji doesn't need being fitted to the blank. Less glue, less layers and exposed blank contact. If you have the blank on hand, you can figure where your reel seat would sit and i measure with calipers at the top where the threaded barrel of the reel seat would sit. Gets me kind of in the ball park. Sometimes i still need a half size or so different. If its undersized you can ream the grip to fit. If you want something fancier. I tend to lean towards the ALPS MVT toray reel seats. Toray carbon fiber reel seats and they are still fitted to the blank in some sizes not requiring inserts or arbors to fit. I think some may take inserts depending on the specific size in the line up. Dual locking nuts or they have some other options as well if you want to go fancier. Those are the two I go back and forth between on builds for the most part if they make it in the size you need. What are you thinking for grips currently?

Well if you're doing it by hand.... attention to detail. lots of measurements and templates along the way to keep each one as close to the next as possible. Some of that just gets better through more repetitions. On the other hand... I would lean towards the side of saying a lot baits these days that are sold in any amount of volume are "handmade" but in all reality at least shaped and cut CNC or other methods. For instance, in the balsa crankbait world, most baits are cut from stock on lure duplicators. You sometimes hear about gun stock lathes, a lathe that can turn one piece by referencing contact on a master piece... Those type duplicators are highly expensive, so much so that for lure building purposes I don't see how people can ever come out ahead. But you could get into a table top CNC machine waaaay cheaper, cut each half and glue them together and be able to produce a pretty good level of consistency bait to bait. The quality of the machine and the resolution that it cuts may leave more or less clean up and sanding.

Epoxy will work good man, but it really needs to be a 30 minute epoxy. 5 minute epoxy is water resistant, but not water proof. Try some BSI 30 minute epoxy. It self levels really well. Still I like to let them set for atleast over night, preferably 24 hours before fishing. It states 6-8 hours for a full cure, but I swear at least to my eye, it remains more optically clear and glossy if I wait 24 hours or close to it, to handle it (not talking fishing, just handling it). But if you need something quick, you can deal with it around 6 hours, I just like to wait if I'm not in a crunch. KBS isn't what you're looking if you want something to cure fast, that stuff can take days and even then still may be a little soft. If you really want something faster curing than the epoxy, to build and then head out fishing, your probably going to be looking at the UV cure route.

The way I would go about the eye screws really depends to me on how the eye screw is going to be used. If your using it for the joint with a pin, I just buy closed stainless eye screws from one of the lure part suppliers like lure parts online/barlows/Janns Netcraft. I use .072" and .092" around 1.5-2" depending on the bait. Mostly the .072". For the pin I just buy stainless finishing nails from the hardware store. Pre drill small pilot holes before screwing stuff in to not crack stuff out. If you are building a joint with two connected eye screws and no pin, I would buy stainless leader wire (get it from the the same lure part suppliers) and twist my own with a drill. Twist one, run your next wire through the loop and twist it and you have two connected eye screws that aren't going to open up once anchored. There are plenty youtube videos on that. Just need to make sure you anchor them straight and not crooked so you don't end up with a quirky hinge that swims weird. I don't do these style eye screws for a joint with a pin, because that style joint I pull the pin and tune and prefer the straight prefabbed eye screws for a joint I'm going to tune. These twisted eye screws normally have a slight bend to them when you build your own, but that gets anchored in the bait. Because of the slight bend they don't work as well for tuning a joint, but for this style joint you are just going to more or less set and forget, twisting your own works well. A lot of times you can get a tighter joint with smaller twisted loops and they are super strong, not going to open up and the "threads" you create have a lot better holding power and surface area. You don't have to go super heavy on your wire twisting your own. Really .035-.041" does the trick for me, the wire gets a lot harder to manage heavier than that. If you want to go bigger diameter, you'd want to source a wire material that is more malleable than the leader wire. I just trust that stuff to not rust and use it already in various other things. For use for hook hangers or one piece baits without a joint, I use a mixture of both that I mentioned above. Smaller baits I twist my own for a few reasons. One they are smaller loops and wire diameter, so they fit smaller split rings better without opening them up much. Better holding power in a shorter distance anchoring in the bait so I don't have to worry about needing a longer screw in a smaller bait. They are lighter. I don't have to worry about added weight in my eye screws in places I may not want the weight, I can do it all with my ballast. In big baits, I just roll with the prefabbed eye screws in like .072" and then I'm running a big enough split ring that opening it up that big to attach it isn't going to weaken it as bad as a smaller spilt ring. Also in smaller baits you could buy belly weighted hook hangers if you need to weight the bait where your hook also needs to go. I also build with swivel hook hangers too, but that's not a good place to start for a beginner. If you want something along those lines, just start out with eye screws and use soft split rings or swivel hooks and save the swivel hook hangers for a later day after you get a few more baits under your belt. I'm not sure what tools you have to cut with, but lets say you have a band saw. cut your bill slot while your wood is still square and circuit board bills fit the width of a bill slot cut by a band saw well. If you cut the bill slot on a table saw, lexan is going to fit better. You can cut your own either way or buy them in the shape and size you want already. I wouldn't cut my own unless i had a belt/disc sander to do my final shaping of the bill. If you're just getting started, I'd just buy them cut already. I would seal the wood with extra thin super glue (lots of fumes off that, so good ventilation and wear a mask). Then go over that again with a good self leveling 30 minute epoxy. That will seal the bait rock hard and give you a smooth surface if you decide to paint it. If you paint it, scuff the epoxy a little with like 220-320 sandpaper first. From there its a toss up on what everyone uses for primers, adhesion promoters, and paint. Dependent on what you use, each stuff has its own compatibility. The epoxy can also be used for your clear coat. I use BSI (bob smith industries) 30 minute epoxy. It self levels for me well without needing a turner, but you might need to depending on you heat and humidity, a lot of epoxies do. For me it works well for sealing and clearing. I'm sure some will mention KBS and maybe they can offer more insight with better luck, but I haven't been impressed with it. Also if your dealing over wood, the epoxy is a thicker added layer of protection to the wood itself. And the epoxy is probably a little safer to work with and easier to store. Aerosol clears just aren't going to provide the protection I'm looking for unless you go to like and automotive clear in an aerosol can like spray max 2k... but its pricey and really once you use it, you don't have long to use the can, you really need a lot of baits ready for clear to get your use out of it. There's other automotive clears out there to spray through a gun, but that and the spray max, it's pretty rough stuff. I'd avoid that at all costs. It's not stuff to casually mess around with. "Good ventilation" isn't adequate with it, you really have to be set up with the right spray booth to do that stuff safe. We aren't just talking wearing a mask... You need a vented set up pulling that stuff away, an air supplied mask bringing you fresh air from another area, and really a suit to cover your skin. Solvents in those automotive clears will absorb through skin, so its more that just ventilation. I'd high recommend not taking automotive clear as a recommendation, and sticking to something safer.

Some people use that AZEK pvc trim board. Is that maybe what you're thinking of?

Looking at the fins you're using, I'd definitely recommend keeping all of that stuff away and if different spaces that where you do you resin work and not doing your tails at the same time so that you're not even handling them around the same time and bringing contamination from them to your resin area. I'd just deal with pouring tails at a completely different time and space.

Unfortunately as clean as you try to be with your builds, it doesn't take much... Obviously like checking the straight forward stuff, clean hands with gloves, fully letting the baits off gas, coats dry, things of that nature. Oil is a big one, just being in the same work environment, so if anything in that area could be oily, all its going to take is a microscopic amount to come in contact with your bait to mess up your clear. Are you using a mold release?? If you are really clean those things good, but I clean with a good degreasing soap and also alcohol, and then let dry all over again before moving on. Tail making materials in the same space could be an issue as far as contamination. All that I think has been said, and if addressing all that still doesn't solve things, it may not be so easy of a fix. Next I would try switch clear coats and see if you get better compatibility between layers. If that's still not solving it, I'd say its still contamination but not as simple of a fix. I don't think its been mentioned, but at this point if you ducks are all in a row on all of that, your contamination could be coming from you compressor/air lines/spray gun... I don't know what you are using for compressor, or if its oil free, but if you get a little leak of oil in your compressor it can contaminate your bait as you are spraying. Not the cheapest fix or thing to check, so I'd do that last, but a possibility that I don't think has been mentioned. I would think you'd be seeing the problem on all your baits if that was the case though. I would definitely go to the extremes to get my baits to off gas, dry/cure, keep them clean, and in a contaminate free area and switch up clear coats first.

I should've also mentioned the Point Blanks, very fine sticks. Very similar to the NFC Xray, hm scrimless blank. Al Jackson had his hand in helping design both blanks, constructed very similarly. I wouldn't discount sensitivity and say its irrelevant if you're considering soft baits though.... some of those can be really light bites or trying to detect them through cover. Wakes or glides i would agree it to be less important when you're probably going to watch them eat it. Maybe not quite the need for the most top of the line blank, as mentioned High modulus blanks tend to be more brittle, but i wouldn't want something dead in the hand. MHX blanks have just been okay for me.... little heavy not the most sensitive and had a high modulus mhx blank break on about a 12" fish and wacky rig. I have a buddy that has some rods built on Tiapan blanks that he seems to like well enough, I haven't looked into those too hard myself though.

I'd give North Fork composites a look for blanks, thats where I've ordered mine from. They do take their time shipping, so don't expect it fast as they are not a retailer but a manufacturer. Sometimes the ship within a few days of ordering, but also seen it take months. They'll ship partial orders too, so sometimes you get it spread out and things trickle in, but their stuff is quality and been worth the wait. Doesn't always take long though, sometimes they are pretty fast. Their power rating is weird so just pay attention more to what the line and lure rating is. It's Gary Loomis blank manufacturing company, some of the finest built sticks out there and they run sales a lot, so if you play your cards right, you can get good deals on them. Never built on any of their blanks that beefy, more conventional stuff, but they are top notch. I don't think you could find a better blank. Kistler used them for awhile even up in to their Zbone line ($500+ rods). Also Leviathan uses them too. I've built on the Lmx Xray, HM, and delta and all have turned out sick. I have some IM blanks that aren't built, but I had to do a double take at my invoice when i picked them up because I felt like i was holding an HM or Xray. Fished the HM side buy side with and NRX in the same length and action all last week for smallmouth on mille lacs and that blank is right up there with the best of the best blanks. I didn't find the nrx to be any more sensitive. The kistler Zbones i have are built on the northfork blanks too and between the zbone, NRX, Legend Extreme, dobyns champion extreme (havent fished an xtasy), I'd give the zbone the nod as the most crisp and sensitive. And i believe those sticks were using the NFC Hm blank, not even the Xray which is the scrimless high modulus fiber, so its even lighter without the scrim layers. I have also used a rod built on a rainshadow blank thats pretty slick. Mudhole is a pretty well know place to get components, I've also used Getbitoutdoors quite a bit when mudhole is out of stock on what I need or I'm look for something in the Alps brand. Fuji K guides with alconite ring are really quality high preforming ones that are really hard to beat for the money. Not much more than the cheap stuff, preform about like the most expensive stuff.

Double san diego jam on straight flouro or copoly which is all I use on swimbaits. I don't run leaders there. Outside of that Regular san diego jam on mono. Double palomar on braid. Double sandiego on flouro. FG on braid to flouro leaders and used that on anything from drop shotting smallmouth all the way to big amberjack in the atlantic, never had it fail. If it does, itll slip when you pull it tight tying it, if it doesn't fail then, no issues.

I like to cut my tag ends and throw the pliers out of the boat and drop the bait back in the floorboard.....

I run the same set up. Its a 2.5 gallon pressure paint tank, couple extra parts to switch around. Pretty easy and there is a video on youtube for making it. I think the tank was $99 and then the other couple parts were just a few bucks.

You may do this already, but on the portion of the bill that is glued into the bait, try drilling a small hole or two in it. Get your epoxy, super glue, whatever you use down in the holes before you insert it in the slot. Especially on a tight fitting bill, you squeeze the majority of your glue out. A hole or two gives your glue somewhere to go to ensure you're not just pushing it out of the slot. I scuff the portion that will be inside the bait too. Just really gives you more grab power with the glue. Hopefully that'll prevent it popping out again. Gotta love the instant gratification of catching a fish so quick on a new lure.

Sorry may have to zoom in on that last one to compare the fished one to the unfished ones beside it