....So now both Stembridges were sneaking around at night through the toolies of the numerous forbidden ponds and lakes around Los Alamitos, stalking big fat green bass until the early morning hours when they both had to get ready for work. Eventually, Bill would pay Mike back the favor and buy him a float tube to check out Los Alamitos Bay with. And, much like his Dad, it only took one strike of a rather large Spottie - which worked him over good - to convince him of the freshwater-saltwater crossover.
....Bill and Mike took up the idea of pouring their own baits if for no other reason than to save a little coin, but also to build a better mouse trap. By their standards the plastic baits available just didn't really do much.
FORM MEETS FUNCTION
....With a garage set up to build and shape surfboards, Bill started shaping the first bait. No one is really sure exactly how long it took Bill to finish shaping that first one, but his loving wife will tell you about the sleepless nights she lied awake while Bill sat at the edge of the bed and sanded away on it. Bill took everything he had ever learned from the hydrodynamics of surfboard design: entry points, the point at which water comes in contact with the element; exit points, how the water leaves contact with the element; and break points, areas of the element that move or shift based on water flow - and began putting them all to work on shaping his new bait design.
Hands of Steel: Bills hands are as splintered as the hardwoood he uses to hand shape his baits. Every bait in the Pearl arsenal has been tediously shaped by these two hands!
SCIENCE
....Armed with a degree in physical science and a job as a high school science teacher, Mike put his knowledge to work on the material make-up and material density, while Bill continued to work on the shape. Through endless iterations of trial and error, not mention gallons of plastic material and sheets of 1000 grit sandpaper, their dual efforts were starting to come together. Mike was working with the liquid plastic base material and trying variance combinations of softener and hardener, along with different brands of base material, which we were surprised to find out there are several types and makes of, all of which vary in quality, and due to it being a petroleum based product, scent becomes a real issue. Once shape and material were roughed in, both Bill and Mike went to work on action. There were three main action effects that they were looking to create with the bait: a “wobble” form side to side; a “swimming” action throughout the entire body of the bait and the “thump” of the beating tail. With those actions in mind, father and son went back to their prospective laboratories - bedrooms at night... remember, both of these cowboys worked day jobs.
COLOR MATTERS
....With the “signature” 3-way action of the bait quickly approaching reality, it was time to take a good hard look at color. Mike, being the natural teacher he is, provided us with a light absorption in sea-water 101 course that shed a lot of light on the subject.
....“Visible light penetrates into the ocean, but once past the sea surface, light is rapidly weakened by scattering and absorption. The more particles that are in the water, the more the light is scattered. This means that light travels farther in clear water. Absorption can be caused by phytoplankton, which use the light for photosynthesis, particulate matter in the water, dissolved material in the water, or the water molecule itself. The light energy of some colors is absorbed nearer to the sea surface than the light energy of other colors. The dimming light becomes bluer with depth because the red, yellow, and orange wavelengths have already been absorbed. We typically see the ocean as having a blue-green color because these are the wavelengths that penetrate the deepest and are scattered back to our eye.”
....In addition to light absorption, one must consider light refraction – or the bending of light caused by water. While conducting several projects with his students, it became obvious that not only does color refract, but the refraction can actually cause subtle changes in the visible color of light. Combine that with the varying types of light a bait is subjected to out on the water - overcast or bluebird skies; dirty water or clean water etc... and you got a whole lotta' variables going into color selection.
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