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Posts: 531
| I am by no means an expert, i just enjoy playing around. But i have this one crank bait i made that is giving me the hardest time in the world to get to run good enough to use. I use them for trolling.
I use TLAR method of making them (That Looks About Right) It is a screw on metal lip, that i have used in the past that runs great. I know everything is perfect inline, and symetrical. I did all the work after hours at work (im a tool maker) on the lathe and millport.
Any guidelines or rules of thumb to having lip placement, weighting... I enjoy makeing baits (even thought i never caught a fish on one i made) It is fun to play around but very frustrating have to butcher a bait to try somthing new to get it to run correct. Thanks | |
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | After making thousands of baits, I can simply say, sometimes due to wood grains or other factors making them perfectly in line and symetrical won't always produce a consistent action; its rare, but it happens. Sometimes if you don't get your prototype sealed really good before testing they will take on a little water and degrade the preformance or throw it off as well. (Starts out okay but then doesn't remain consistent.) If you are working with wood, they all need to be tested as inconsistencies occur. Sometimes its like muskie fishng, no matter what you did, they just get off. Good luck, stay with it, trial and error...its a gas catching them on your own lures. | |
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Posts: 76
| Crankbaits are the hardest I think. If symmetry is not an issue, a simple test of hanging weights of different sizes on the hook screweyes can give you a starting point for balancing the next attempt. Lip angle and placement are other touchy features. I don't know what it is or isn't doing but in the end the opportunities for errors are small in number, but getting them all worked out together is sometimes a multiple trial and error deal. Catching fish on something you make is great, but I like hearing from somebody else being excited and telling me about something they caught on something I made.
Don
www.HoosierHandmadeMuskyBaits.com
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Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | post some close up pictures of it and Ill take a shot at it. Mike | |
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Posts: 531
| What the bait was doing was spinning along its axis, So as you can see i drilled 4 holes to put in my brass weights, i also cut a steeper angle on the nose of the bait where the lip attaches, thinking that a higher tow point could help with the spinnin out issue in combination with the weights.
After some trial the best combo was to use two brass weights in the furthest back part of the bait. But it still ran out to make the bait unusable. When i say unusable it would have motion for three four pumps and them spin out and not recover.
So not to screw with it to much while we were fishing, i took some fluro leader i had and tied it to my front hook screw and put on that rubbercore sinker. This got the bait to run well enough, it would not spin out with the sinker on my normal 3.5-4.3 troll and can be trolled to 4.8 before it blew out (i got a little hook rash already on her, but no teeth marks)
The bait ran all over the place, i like that, but borderline to much. It is a fairly large bait at 9 inches long and weight (guess) 6oz at least, will not float. Tiger birch was the wood i used.
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 100_1507 bait.jpg (98KB - 102 downloads)
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Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | The biggest problem I see is the angle of the wood where the lip is attached. You have moved the lip up to a more central position which in my opinion would cause it to spin. The second is the lip itself. The tow eye is way behind the end of the lip which causes tuning problems even with that wire attached the lure still pulls from a point behind the end of the lip.
In my experience ,lets say you screw an eye into the nose of the bait and move the lip back. This will stabilize the lure. The further back you move the lip from the pulling point the less the lure will move. The further forward past the pulling point the more the lure will move until it is impossible to tune. Jakes for instance have the lip behind the tow eye which is done to make them all run (even if they dont catch fish) they will run. Us guys who make them one at a time like to push that edge of stability. A lure running on the ragged edge of blowing out flat out catches fish. I tried weighting trolling lures and have found that lighter is better in a trolling crank. Balsa, cedar, Mahogany, Bass wood and other light woods like those are best used for trolling lures. All of my trolling cranks float. Try the same body out of cedar and just put enough weight in the belly to make it sit upright in the water. Level out the bottom where the lip is installed and it should run better. Mike p.s. see the attached picture of one of my mag slashers. Note the way the lip is located to the end of the tow eye. This lure requires zero weight and will run to 6 mph. If you can find a happy spot somewhere in between you should be fine.
Edited by Kingfisher 8/15/2010 10:44 AM
(mag slasher olive frog.JPG)
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mag slasher olive frog.JPG (11KB - 97 downloads)
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Posts: 531
| Thanks for advise. I have since got a boat load of cedar, and been playing around with it. I may get to tune a few baits tonight if i get time.
I might just scrap this bait, put this in the lessons learned folder. I have learned alot from this fella. The wild thing about this is i made several smaller versions of this guy (useing the same lip) and every one out of the gate "walked" all over the place with out blowing out. I guess you cant win them all. Thanks for the help. | |
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