Roger; If you are referring to the utube vid on prior post. The speed he uses, I feel is too slow. The blade just more or less spun and did not do what I feel a flaptail should do. I like an intermitant flip of the tail out of the water. If he retrieves that lure at a faster pace, I think he gets that blade to flip out of the water. Several well built flaptails today, and some have dual trailers are back heavy, + a larger blade causes back end weight, which leads to more of a spinning blade than a flippin blade. I also do not like the small diameter back end that lure had. That led to the spinning of the blade also. Of course, that does not mean it won't catch fish. Remember, if it moves, its Bait.

The past 15 years, I have sort of speak, raised the tail to acheive a slower retrieve speed and  presentation. Some up front weight allows the blade to flip out more, and in my opinion, makes the bait more productive, because the tail is up near the surface doing its thing, where I think it should be. Sometimes you can just lower the front wire, to raise the back end and get the right sound and action. The bracket placement is huge when building this bait. Steve is right when he says retrieve slow, BUT, the bait needs to be built that way, otherwise the blade just spins. Sometimes a faster speed is needed to make bait effective.

When I water test my flaptails, The lighter blade goes on first. If I feel a heavier blade is needed, then I'll swap it out for a thicker blade. Usually the lighter blade gets the nod!!! A heavier blade just means, a quicker lure speed is needed...and sometimes, faster gets fish to eat!!!

JD

Those are some vintage posts back in 09. I love beavers pearly neon colors!!!  I tried to find those posts for the fly dude. We may have to post on those to bring them back...oh ya, there back!!!

 My faulty surface baits will NOT start my next fire , always modifiable..Very possible, a jerk bait will start my next fire!  :)

 JD