Prototype Lures "Clattertail"

Just arranged my tackleboxes today , since closing time is through tomorrow , so I came across these lures , that I had almost forgotten about .

Made them some years ago , the yellow one first , both of buoyant abachewood .

My intention was to design a topwater bait , but it should be like none before(as far , as I'm concerned) .

At that time there was an essay in a German angling magazine about homemade , jointed crankbaits , that had a small spinnerblade mounted to their tail for more pronounced wiggle , so I took this idea over for a topwater lure.

But I not only wanted the lure to wiggle , I also wanted it to generate a considerable sound on retrieve .

So , after a lot of sketching I finally came up with this design .

During my first bath-tube tests I've found out , that an ordinary spinnerblade was too light for the purpose , the tailsection of lure would only be pushed upward by the oncoming current , but not wiggle , so I made a blade of thicker brass sheet to provide more weight to the tail , to "shoulder" better into the water .

For a louder sound I have fixed a metal plate onto front section , the two screws on rear section constantly hit this plate on retrieve , the potruding bottom notch of that plate also holds the hook harness .

I rigged the hooks this way , because I was scared , that a hook placed straight at the tail , would minor the motion of the tail and render the lure less attractive .

I was quite satisfied with the action of that first lure(yellow/black spots) , only at very slow and very fast retrieve speeds it wouldn't work .

So after I came up with the second one(orange/black) , I only wanted to simplify the body shaping , and just turned it down on my lathe , thinking , that there won't be problems with it !

But I had to learn , that due to the round body the lure does not have sufficient "stability" in the water , thus the moving tail lets it roll or even "capsize" , so it has turned out a reject:( , the slight rectangular cross-section of the first "Clattertail" is essential for proper function;) .

Haven't fished that lure much , it didn't fit well into my old tackle boxes , but by now I have a large , homemade lurebag with 5" drainpipes in it , that even hold the most voluminous of my lures .

Closing time's over in 5 hrs. , 35 min. ...........:teef:!