RiverMan

Have you tried this tool? Seems like it would have to be awfully soft for the tool to make the round you want on the edges of a bait. Interesting concept. RM

poplar

I have tried pine and found it very light at soft. It's not my first choice of woods but it would work fine I'm sure. I think suicks are made of pine but I'm not sure about that. I would suggest you try some poplar. Wood is cheap....at most it will cost you maybe 50 cents for a blank........the cost comes in when you figure your time, not materials. Jed V.

I'm using like the video example that Lunge put up...it's dangerous though, be careful! Rowhunter.......I'm amazed the bait doesn't fly off the table routering like that! Hazmail........very clever!! I like it!

Hey that is great! jed v.

For the deep runners it seems like you would almost have the lure on its end George to be able to get the angle correct on a table saw. jed v.

I try to cut it with a bandsaw lunge......I make sure the table is square to the blade and when you insert the lexan bill some of them are NOT square...they lean down one way or the other. It seems like the band saw blade always wants to cut just a bit off square. I know other guys do this no problem but I haven't had good luck at it. jed

Good luck at getting the slot cut square.....I have never figured out a way to do this consistently. Jed V.

Be very careful of the needle... RM

Set your lure up on the table in front if you and lay the hooks out where they make the most sense. If the tail section doesn't make sense for a hook then don't put one there. If the tail wants to turn while on top of the water then add a few drops of lead into the belly of it, this will keep it oriented properly. If you use hinges on the tail section, however, it probably won't be necessary because the hinges won't let it turn sideways. One thing about a wake bait is the weighting has to be perfect. You might get it perfect and then find that the clear coat changes everything. I built one cool swimbait without a bill that wakes perfectly but it was by accident....it's shaped somewhat like the Triple trout but the tail is narrower. Water in the bait while testing can change things in a big way. Use a sealer on the wood first like polycrylic before dropping it into the water for testing. Don't let all I am telling you discourage you, it's not difficult it's just takes some time. RM

If you only weight the head the weight of the hooks on the mid and tail sections will probably be enough to make the lure sit properly in the water. If not, add a small bit of weight at the belly of each section, it's not a big deal. Drill a hole in the center of the wood with a forstner bit and melt lead into the hole. You can buy pencil lead and then hold it over the hole and melt it with a propane torch. Be very careful with lead and water, it pops and snaps when the two connect! Wear safety goggles. Be careful!!! Do you want the lure to sink or to float?

The lures in the video were made from poplar. One was made from 3/4" thick wood and the other from 1" thick. If your lure is sitting on it's side or wanting to come through the water side ways you need to add weight to the belly. Unless of course you have a bill on the lure, then it could be other problems. Not sure what you mean about sitting "vertical"......to me that means head at the surface and the tail underwater. I design my swimbaits to sit horitontally in the water, that is the tail and head are level with one another. If I wanted the lure to work at or near the surface I would build it with a steep angle short bill and weight the lure so that about 1/3 of the lure is above the water when at rest. I have, however, built a swimbait that sits at the surface without a bill too and it worked great. If I were building a swimbait that sinks I would build it so that it sinks just fast enough to where it doesn't want to come to the surface while being retrieved......maybe a foot per second or slower. Again look at the triple trout, great swimmer and a simple design. My advice would be to not try and reinvent the wheel, work on proven concepts and build your personality into them. RM

I have some that work with weight in one section, two sections and all three sections. The thing I had problem with was they would swim perfectly smooth and then you would get a weird dart in the action for some reason. I never did figure out if this was a result of how they were weighted or a hitch in the hinge mechanism. I also found that some shapes just wouldn't swim very well for some reason while others built in the same way but with a slight variation in shape swam great. I think the shape of the head on the lure has alot to do with how well the lure ultimately swims. You might try making the nose of the lure slightly pointed like a Triple Trout and put weight in just the head first. If you must add weight again add it to the middle so that the tails remains light and thus more easily moved one side to the other. More than anything it will just take some experimentation. It can be done, I have built several that swam perfectly. Here is a video clip of one with a bill: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-_jqTTU7s Here is a video clip of one without a bill: http://youtube.com/watch?v=K1BsiM3tABA Jed V.

Blackjack's idea is a good one for those making bass lures with balsa. Without being able to round the nose and tail though would leave me with a ton of work!! Jed

Router table...........but be careful!!! I haven't been hurt by a router but it scares me everytime I use it. RM

I try to provide a bit of air movement when painting with createx but I'm sure it would be better to wear a mask. The thing that bothers me is the clearcoat.....it will make me quite dizzy if I don't wear a mask and have adequate ventilation. I think the clear coats and lead are where the danger is at for us builders. jed v.

Building lures is not a perfect science, toss this one and build another. Take notes on what you did this time and make changes on the next. I have built swim baits with weight in the tail that worked perfect so I'm not sure that's your problem. Certainly if you take the weight out of the tail it's going to be more active. Generally the tail is going to follow the head so if you don't have much head movement the tail probably isn't going to move much either. If you do anything, pull the lip out with some pliers and try the lure without the bill. If you still have no action, try a different shape, change the head of the lure, this seems to really change the action. Also, make sure the joints are silky smooth. RM

There is one thing that makes a swimbait different Nathan and that's the amount of work that goes into building one! You can build three cranks in the time it takes to build a swimbait. Build the lure from poplar, it's a good all around wood and can be found virtually anywhere. RM

In my humble opinion: What really saves a lure from water damage is the final clear coat. A sealer of course helps but the best sealer around probably won't save the lure if water gets under the clear coat. The main reason I even bother with a sealer is because it makes the primer coat over it much smoother. If you don't use a sealer the wood pores will remain open and leave a rough finish to the primer. Dip your lures in a coat of sanding sealer or polycrylic. Let it dry over night and then put on a primer, paint, and clear coat. RM

Nice looking lure...........I understand they are good swimmers too. jed v.

Very cool.

Photo finish:

There is another way............. RM