First Swim Bait- Green/White Pearl.

Nice looking paint job.

I can't believe how much detail you can build into a four inch bait. The eyes are really finely detailed too. Looks like it has McGyver hinges too!

I'd second to that.....pretty much detail for 4 1/2" , ......and four sections plus tail , must have been a very tricky job !

Well done lure:yay:, diemai

Outstanding job!

What a wonderful job. Can tell you have been making baits for a while.

David

Nice One Pete!

Wow! Pete that is awesome....that is one cool bait.Great job!

Rod

That bait is PUUURDIE! Clean and beautiful.

As far as swimming action, here's what I've found works for me.

I don't know how much you can adjust that hinging system, but, as a rule of thumb for me, I've found that my lures need to be able to bend into a U shape, with a looser tail joint, in order for them to swim really well.

Just keep your ballast low, and toward the head section, and you'll be fine.

Some things related to the height to width ratio of the lure affect swimming, as far as roll and wobble, and with some shapes they can't be overcome, so keep that in mind. You need a lure that's taller than wide to keep rolling down.

In my experience, having a nose that's thinner and taller, relatively speaking, seems to initiate the swimming better at low speeds. As opposed to more round. I always think of the bow of a WW2 battleship. Now, I know the subs have rounded noses, and the big super tankers have that bulb on their bows under the water, but I think that's because they found the round shape cuts down on drag. And I want enough drag on my lures to start Vodkaman's vortexes immediately!

Having said all that, your lure looks great. I'd hit it!

I'm surprised this lure rolls some...........the dimensions of the sections is such that I would think it would swim very nicely. It could be because you used pine............nice job, beautiful lure. I would add to Mark's comments that if the last section of the lure is too long it will also cause the lure to roll. The other thing I have found is if the material is too light it will want to roll.........this is why I'm wondering if the pine is what is causing the rolling action.

jed

Pete,

Jed just made a great point.

Really buoyant wood wants to float, and a section that's taller than wide will want to float on it's side, unless it's weighted. I've actually had the opposite problem with the PVC I've been using. The hook and split ring are enough to keep the tail section vertical.

Since I used both pine and poplar before I switched to PVC, I was used to weighting the tail sections with the 1/8oz egg sinkers that are part of my weighted hook hanger system.

When I did the same weighting in PVC lures, the tails drooped.

You could probably tape some lead to the belly of the tail to see if that stops the rolling.

Thanks guys for all the compliments and constructive criticism, it is appreciated.

Sorry for not replying sooner, but I did yesterday, and was told I it was in a queue, must be a long one.

Jed / Mark, I finally managed to find some expanded poly sheet yesterday, and made a 'standard' blank last night, to my suprise the pine and ex-poly weigh the same (5.5 gm's), so density should not be the problem ??- most timbers here are on the harder side, including Kauri, but I find it works nice.

Half way through making the jointed bait and on testing, I found the weight in the head was excessive and after reading another thread on weighting (VM etc) realised I would have to shift some (it had 3gms in head 1.5 in second segment) - I drilled some out of the head which improved things, but was still very much head down - tried to add more weight to the second segment but found there was too much wire etc to get a hole for the lead, so decided to leave well enough alone, rather than butcher it all togeather.

I will make another soon, and plan to make the head slightly larger and change the H/W ratio a bit, this will also reduce the trailing segment's in size - also move the weight back along the 'chain', this appears to be a very fine science, not sure I have the patience or available space in the blank. Also finding as Mark is saying, the hinges are too rigid, and really need to be as smooth/free a possible, a tiny bit of glue or prop in the hinge makes all the difference. Thank you again for your input, I'm still learning.pete

Excellent.

I was following the "domed eyes" thread in the forum where you show this bait unfinished. Sure looks nice with the top coat. The eyes turned out great.

Those hinges are nice. How'd you put these together? Not only how are they built, but how are they connected together. Probably another custom tool you whipped together.

Your style of bait transfers well from bait to bait. I know immediately when I see one of yours without looking at the builder's name.

I do like the what you've been doing with your paint jobs lately.

Much like Vince's work there is a tasteful understated refinement that is quite appealing in your work.

Bob

I have done quite a bit of searching, and can't find anything like this. Essentially it's a 'double helix', which is a spiral within a spiral, made with hard S/S .9mm Mig wire, and took about four nights in the shed to 'perfect' it, and four days at work thinking about it, with many yards of twisted stainless wire wire, laying on the shed floor. Because they are made with a double helix, I have decided to call them the DNA Hinge :) .

Once the sequence was cracked they are very simple to make, and made with this wire (.9mm), have a joint, or barrel width of 2.7mm (.106299