I bought this rod some time back, but the butt was too long for me to use in the kayak or standing on a rock. So I cut a foot off the butt, installed a new grip and put a gimbal fighting butt on it.
The grip was a really tight fit. After an hour of pushing twisting and shoving, I got the new grip within a couple of inches of where I wanted and I just couldn't push it any further. Went down to my local tire shop and got my mechanic to blow compressed air with his airchuck at the leading edge of the grip while I pushed. It slipped right on the rest of the way, in a couple of seconds. (Not an original thought BTW.) The rod is now 11 feet long.
The reel is an old Cabela's Salt Striker, which I loaded with 10# mono, with a 40# shock leader and a 30# fluorocarbon lure leader.
Took it over to the lot behind the Church and with a 2 oz plug was able to cast 208'. I know there are people that can cast much further but this is the best I have been able to do.




Been using Hellbenders for down planers with Pet spoons and Darting Shad lures. They work well enough, but I have to cut the hooks off of the Hellbenders or they snag too much. And now with the price up to 6 bucks I thought I might come up with a better idea. I like the idea of down planer floating, which prevents the trailing lure from settling to the bottom where it might snag. As I looked at the images of various down planers I found one I liked. It would sink because it was plastic which I didn't like. I built mine shaped like theirs but out of balsa. But then I had to add weight to get the nose down in the water or it would never dive.
The prototype float test was in the most convenient body of water I had at the time.



Then I ran it down to city park and tried it there.
That worked so I built several more. Some for me and some for a friend.



The basic configuration is 2 inches wide and 4 inches long. The fin is 1.25 tall and the attach point is 1.5 inches from the nose. I used a 1/2 oz lead sliding sinker pounded flat for ballast.
I found that a single layer of epoxy didn't give much adhesion to the lead. So I coated the weight with Plastic Dip. This should provide the protection from bumps needed



After I had built 8 of them I decided that it would be nice to able to get them to outrigger just a bit as well as down rig. Took 3 attempts to come up with the right idea. You can see I sanded the nose and tail on one side giving it an aerodynamic shape. At first glance you would assume this one would pull left. But that isn't the way it works. The center of lift is aft of the center of tension so it turns to the right.



I also built a pair downriggers that are designed to run at a shallower angle. I thought this might be beneficial for trolling from a power boat.



Been balloon fishing and found a balloon I like. It is a Punch balloon @ 3 for a buck a the dollar store. Much larger than your standard party balloon. The rubber band that comes with it was just little to strong. A fish could break the line against the balloon. I tried attaching this balloon rubber band to the leader swivel with an office rubber band as a weak link. The thing I didn't like about that was I lose that $.33 balloon every time I get a solid bite. So I have come up with this.



So if the fish bites it has the balloon to set the hook against but if it pulls harder the weak link rubber band will break. The balloon's heavier rubber band will then slide up the line. The balloon will dance in response to a fish on and it is time to tighten the line.

I have found several lures that were pretty beat up. I thought i might paint them so I could use the again. Results have been disappointing. No where near the color or reflectivity of lid of the can.



I realize there are solutions but the solution needs to be within budget or I would just go out and buy a new lure.
The large Rat L Trap knockoff lure there is 2 oz. I would like to buy one if anyone could tell me what they are?

If you want a heavier lure to troll you can always run a keel weight in front of the lure or run a small Dipsy Diver in front of the lure.

The silver paint, it gets shiner the smoother the base coat. I know you said the paint had to be cheeper than buying a new lure, prob cant be for a single lure or only a few lures. You may be able to make up for a slightly rough base coat with a real heavy coat of paint and then put on a grill roticree.

Weights are not the best for downrigging because the angle that weights hand is determined by the speed they are trolled.
Mostly I troll for White Bass and Hybrids. So it isn't a heavier lure that I want to troll with. The lures I am using are a Pet Spoon (1/16th oz) or a Renoski's Darting Shad (1/4 oz). No way either of these will run deep enough on their own. Been using a Hellbender for a down planer, which is typical. Lots of people use Hellbenders for down planers. One of the worst kept secrets in TX.
Dipsy diver has 2 problems. It sinks and it is expensive. More expensive even than a Hellbender.
The down planer that I like the best would be the Davis Instruments. But it has the same problems it sinks also and is even more expensive that the Dipsy Diver.
I want a down planer that floats, so that when I stop the planer and the lure doesn't end up on the bottom where they can snag and the lure remains active. I have hooked fish many times when I had stopped to fight a fish on the other side.
And a downplaner that is cheap. These that I built cost about 50 cents each and I can churn one out in about 15 minutes.
Adjustability is unnecessary. The run depth can be adjusted with the amount of line that is out.