lure painting

[solgrande]

cobra...got 3 of`em...just kidding.No more problems with the plastic,bought me a musky medium from lakewood in fishoflage and another plano hanger box.To think of all the lures i sold i would`nt have to buy more boxes ....wrong!!!Singled up i fill 4 boxes.The musky med is for my bigguns..8"-13".Those big gotchas are beefy!!!

[Nalod]

Bob - what was the problem you had with a clear case? Sun exposure ruin the paint jobs? I wonder if those Just Encase products has the same issue.

--Joe

[zach]

uv sun damage that yellows the finishes and can cause them to crack, the day they make it tinted or colored is the day i trade in my old cedar custom made musky box for one. until then i role old school w/ my awesome wood box! hold onto your $ for that just-in-case in my opinion. bulletproof box's but needs more thought put into it. anyways- i am doing this plug in frankybaits brown perch w/ a big gold glitter tail if things work out.

[solgrande]

i left them out in the sun while i was preoccupied with musky fishing and the boxes(i assume)acted like an oven and cooked 2 of my tuff shads and a jones bait at a later date.Couple others cracked as well(big game etc).If ya use them KEEP them out of the SUN Gotta run....i`m heading out to the NMA pigout!!!!

Bob S

[zach]

where else are you supposed to leave a monster box of lures while you are fishing? i think that w/ how much those cost that they would have considered this over just looks. anyways off to finish the brown perch then its 2 coats of clear and add hardware and tail! will be done well before 6/19!!!!!!!!!!! watch out boys!

[zach]

since i couldn't go fishing today i worked on this some. all done painting and waiting until the epoxy clear coat cures until i add the screw lock in the end of the tail, add the twistertail and hardware. so there it is, almost done and i showed somewhat what i have been doing this winter. will post finished pic when its done. gonna put that gold tail on this one and hope it does okay and doesn't ruin the action. i like it now and hope i don't ruin it by adding the rubber tail. lets hope it works and if it does it should be neat! i like the paint job, the finish is good and i may almost be happy w/ this one even though i could point out some mistakes. oh well, trials and tribulations of wood musky lures as i still have so much to learn. it turned out fat like a les chubbie that isn't being made anymore.

this one will not be on the raffle table.lol

[zach]

all put together and ready to go to black creek on the way to work to be tuned. there is a big screw lock that keeps the grub on so i can make on the water replacements w/ out superglue. i am happy i got this done for this weekend and imagine if i do get a fish on this or any other i have made, i will be a happy camper! just one, thats all i need. no time for any others its off to other things. click on the pics to get a better image.

take care and you will see me trolling all around you on saturday so say hello! good luck guys and let all your fish be 39.999999 inches!

oh by the way heres the screw lock i put in the rear end... it should hold up since its made of thick stainless .060 wire that was a pain in the @ss to bend in that shape and epoxied deep into the bait. heavy duty for sure! just an idea but i think it will hold up nicely. if my phantom tails hold up okay w/ just superglue and a metal pin, these will do alot better. gotta be 10x better than just gluing it to the body like a stalker or squirrley burt.

[Nalod]

Really awesome looking Zach! I am curious to see how that screw lock holds up after a hit. Hopefully after next weekend you can post some pictures of this lure with some gnarly looking teeth marks in it!

--Joe

[THE TRADESMEN]

Nice, Hope you catch a monster with it, then you can start building one for all of us.

[zach]

would you be interested in one if i made more? not sure how much wood working i am gonna do this summer. maybe come winter time?

[THE TRADESMEN]

Hell yeah, Thats a nice looking bait. Let me know how it runs for ya.

[zach]

i took it down to the creek and after one minor adjustment on the front screw eye it came in slow w/ the tail breaking the surface making and bubble, bubble sound. cool if you want to reel slow like coming back to a fish that followed and when i cranked it as fast as humanly possible it held dead n#tts on line! i am guessing i had it up around 4-5mph and the tail goes crazy at that speed. i could see the tail in dirty water 10 feet away when i made it run shallow by keeping the rod tip up. i am gonna run this plug and i think it has everything needed to put fish in my boat. i dont think it would be a trade off at all to take of a wiley or whatever and put this baby on instead. now i guess i have to name it, any ideas? i already have a plug i called "the colton crusher" named after my little guy and it is a tuff shad twistertail combo that i haven't posted as its my project design. shhhhh on that one. name it guys!

p.s. my father is moving back to retire in hemlock, so soon i will have my musky fishing partner back after 8 years of living in NYC. my ole man is as good of wood worker/carver as there is. i asked him if he would be interested in doing bodies for me and then i would finish them. he agreed and said this winter he would have no problem kicking out 50 or so... gets me thinking about trying to get something going.

[zach]

well i have been learning the trials and tribulations of lure making and finally came up with something good enough to share. these are handmade out of cedar like the old tuff shads were but are made even tougher imo. i used .061 wire for the lips instead of the small .045 wire which seemed to go out of tune pretty easily. i used the absolute best hooks i can buy (vmc conecuts) and wolverine triple split rings. double thick epoxy clear coat and lots of pearls that don't really show up in the pics. i did these colors they way they are a request from brian at the happy hooker. these babies wouldn't blow out no matter what i did ( went up to 7mph doing turns and they hold dead nuts) when testing them. i use a very low horizontal ballast to make them run like that at such speeds. it took a lot of experimenting with weighting and lots of cedar for firewood but i finally got it correct. deeper diving then a tuff shad that seem to not go any deeper than 15 feet, i can get these babies to 25 feet deep w/ around 130 feet of line out. lost my best lure so far at waneta snagged on the bottom in 25 fow and i broke 100lb power pro trying to get it out. i wrapped my line around a boat cleat and drifted off to see what was stronger, my plug or 100lb powerpro braid. well the line broke first. 5 coats of sealer make sure that these won't split or crack on you for years to come. if anyone ever has a problem w/ them i will do what ever i can to make it right. custom colors are always an option and i will do anything you want with in reason. so far in the last 4 times out i have caught 5 and lost 4 on my lures. i have around 150 more bodies of this style and around 25 of a larger slimmed out size similar to a perch bait. if anyone is interested in them please contact me here or at 585-414-0138. one reason for me doing these other than having what i consider a good plug is the shop i have wrenched cars at for 6 years is closing in less than a month and i wouldn't mind taking a break from getting banged up and greasy working on cars. thanks for your time and here are some pics of what i am bringing to chautauqua to go up in the shop. if anyone buys even just one thanks very much it will help my family out.

[ray j]

Zach,

Are you selling these out of your house too, or do I have to go to the Happy Hooker to get one?

Thanks,

Ray J

[solgrande]

Great job zach.......baits look awesome. I`ll pick up a few from ya.Be happy to give`m a workout!

Bob

[zach]

Take a look to see the action of them. It was rougher and windier than what i wanted but at least i have a short video showing what they do. Sorry about the wind and waves and i will try to get a better one up asap.

I started making my first wood lures 3 years ago (have tied bucktails since i was young) and have something good, in my opinion, after doing around 2 dozen prototypes and most not working how I wanted. Well I finally got it I believe, and these guys have a wandering action new to the deeper diving plugs. These will run 6-8" from side to side instead of a straight line which was my goal. You can see some of that in the video. I fished from sun up to 11am and went 1 for 2 w/ a 39" taking the orange tiger around 20 down. The happy hooker has about 20 of them and will get more before spring and Hogan's Hut placed an order for 40 by spring time also! These dive deeper and have more action than the original Tuffs that I am such a fan of. These are also made with better, thicker stainless hardware, lips, hooks and have a more protective clear coat. My goal is to make each one the exact same from everything from lips to hole placement to weighing out 6.5 grams of lead to weight them with. Still have yet to have one blow out while trolling no matter what speed I go. Guide Mike Sperry will be testing these out and i want to have Cpt Larry run them also. After leaving Chautauqua i stopped by Cassadaga lake as I have thought about trying it out for years, since I haven't been there in almost 10 years. As I was getting the boat ready I start talking to this guy and ask him if thats a Newman Jerkbait. He says yes and that he makes them. Well I just shook hands with Rich Newman (one of Ellwood PA's finest) and start talking about baits and this and that. He invites me out to show me Cassadaga and we go out throwing his Newman Jerks. He told me he averages 5-6 for each 1/2 day he puts in there. We went out for 3 hours and did 4 and saw many other follows and Cassadaga is the place to go for numbers. You can contact him @ 724-944-8123. He was a really cool person and he even took 2 plugs off me to try and get my name out there, since he liked the action of the lures. Thanks for following me on this bait-making adventure that I have started on. Good fishing, and I am happy with my product. I hope that if you try one you will be also. Thanks for your time! Zach Baker.

[zach]

just did 3 at waneta this morning from 7-11am. a 29,32 and a 50! orange tiger is what the smaller fish wanted 2x and the 50" was on that foiled black perch. fish hit 45' back over 15 fow. i thought i was snagged up for a while before i realized it was a fish. will post pics and short video in a little bit. took my last sick day at work and went fishing and it was worth it. the first fish i ever caught on a plug i made was cool. catching this 50" at 10:30am was even cooler. 50" tested and approved!

[zach]

the only problem when fishing alone w/o a tripod is getting a decent pic. she would have looked nice if i was holding her. anyways i was thrilled! she went 50" when i pinched the tail slightly on the new bumpboard my old man just made for me. neat way to break that in also!

short video of the fish in the net.

nice day out and only one other musky fisherman. fishing was good!

[mccoy13]

Another 50"! And this one on one of your own lures. Thats awesome.

[zach]

I would like to thank everyone here that has picked up a lure off me. My first batch of 45 lures is already gone and I just want to take a second to say thanks very much to you guys! I don't know how else to say it. Thanks for giving me and my lures a chance and i hope you get a 50" on them just like i did on monday! Next batch should be done next week except for and special order i have to do by this weekend for Bill. Good fishing to everyone and Blueye and haven't forgotten about you either, I promise. Any problems or comments please give me a call @ 585-414-0138.