Leaderboard

This is what I think of when I think crawfish.....

When I used to make jointed swimbaits, I found that the key to keeping them stable at higher retrieve speeds was to make the body taper from top to bottom, creating a V cross section. In my case, my swimbaits tapered from 7/8" at the top/back to 5/8" at the bottom/belly. This kept more buoyancy higher in the lure body, so I could put less ballast into the belly and still get the stable retrieve at higher speeds. I actually started the taper about a third of the way down from the shoulders of the bait, as you can see in this picture" It doesn't look like much, but it worked, so I could burn my swimbaits without them rolling.

I also mostly make baits over 6" up to 12". I typically use the LPO .092 stainless screw eyes for a pre-made screw eye. I will use .072 if I make less than 6" bait. Occasionally, I will make a bait over 12". On the largest baits, I have used up to 2.5" inch long screw eyes when there is room in the body. Most of my current baits are made with .051 or .062 stainless safety lock wire twist screw eyes or are wired-through. I sometimes use gate hardware screw eyes that I find in the assorted hardware racks of may local Ace hardware. These are the screws that are used to latch a gate or door in a wood frame. They are like size 208 to 212 screw eye but have a longer thread. These types of screw are great if you want a sloppy joint with a thick gauge screw eye that make a lot of noise like on the MS Slammer. I only use stainless screw eyes. I have a bad habit of not drilling a big enough pilot hole and snapping the non-stainless screw during installation. If fishing in musky or pike waters, I like to make a recessed cup in the lure body that the base of the eye on the screw can sit in. When I epoxy the bait, the part of the screw that can open gets covered in epoxy reducing the chances of it opening.

I have been making these a few ways Best is lead wire wrapped on the hook shank, up to 1/8" works. Also used pinch on sinker direct on the shank, some are better than others, i prefer thinner and sleek. They work better than rubber core and have a smoother taper I have heat shrunk lead strips, toothpick weights, ss screws, and lashed former to hook shank with old braided line, for the over the nose weights. I will be attempting a lead mold to make them neater and hopefully a little easier to rig on the plastics, will report back Kevinj

I would say so. Most glides that roll for me it’s either that or the ratio of buoyancy vs weight. What I mean by that is if your resin bait is too heavy and you have to put less weight to get it to be slow sink, there may not be enough weight to actually stabilize it. I hope that makes sense. The tail can also be a factor. Too long, too stiff or too short. I just made a mini mullet glide, it worked perfectly until paint and clear and now its action is different. Still trying to get it tuned.