RiverMan

I don't follow you either Husky................... By the way Bassn....I have cut hundreds of cranks slots and still find it a challenge. RM

I have made jointed lures that glide. Jed V.

I have read carefully the explanations also. I have always wondered exactly why gliders glide. I define a "glider" as a bait that sinks but has a walk the dog action under water. Good examples would be a phantom or manta. You can make gliders work by weighting them in a variety of ways. One way is to put the weight in the dead center of the lure. I have always thought that by doing so the front and back of the lure would be lighter than the center thereby encouraging the front and back to swing each way on a pivot point, in this case the weight. Most gliders are weighted in the front and back of the lure. When you jerk a glider the pressure of the water against the front of the lure naturally causes it to swing in the way with the least resistance. Once the lure has swung to one direction and you give it another jerk the resistance is such that it's easier for the lure to swing back rather than continue on it's original path. I am sure there is considerably more physics to this than I am considering but I also believe this explains a good part of it. The entire action is very similar to what makes a crankbait wobble. I do know after testing literally hundreds and hundreds of gliders that some rules hold true time after time. 1. Dense woods are more stable than light woods. By this I mean less belly roll, less likely to blow out when you work them fast. I believe this is because the weight is more evenly distibuted in a glider made from heavy wood. A light wood glider on the other hand will have most of the weight right where the lead is. 2. Round gliders "glide" easier and further than flat-sided gliders.....a manta being a good example, huge glide, very stable. 3. Longer lures generally glide considerably further than shorter lures. 4. If the nose of the glider is too narrow it won't glide. 5. If the wood used to make the glider is too narrow it won't glide 6. If the tail is too wide, it won't glide (the same can't be said for women). As for the hump, it seems to reduce the glide length. Think about a magic maker or similarly shaped gliders, they dart left and right very quickly but the glide length is very short. Long thin gliders on the other hand without the hump have much longer glide distances. How did we get started talking about gliders? I thought we were discussing swimbaits? lol. Jed V.

Hey you did a great job on that lure. I haven't figured out the dynamics behind swimbaits either so I'm glad to see the discussion here..... I have built a number of swimbaits but I am still learning what really makes them tick. Here is a couple of video clips vodkaman of some I have built....Version II has a bill, Version III is lipless. Jed V. http://youtube.com/profile?user=BikiniBaitCompany

I think the bill looks fine, it won't dive much but should give a good wobble which is probably what he wants if he's going for a swimbait. You can get the dive by making the lure sink if that's what he's after. RM

Looks like you have a good start. I assume you are going to put a joint or two in the lure? You will probably have to add a considerable amount of weight to the front and some in the rear too. Make sure you test it before finishing to be sure you don't waste your time with paint and clear. Jed V.

There is probably a better way. Since I am building musky lures I tend to over-build things and this is a good example. It definitely won't ever break. The one down side of it is that you have to use alot of screws which makes it a bit tricky to add in the screw eyes for the hook holders....they collide with the other screws so they must be installed a bit off-center. I forgot to mention, you should drill the area where each of the screws will go to allow for clearance on the screw eye heads as they swivel. I use about a 1/4-3/8" forstner bit to do this. Twist the screw eyes in as far as possible while still allowing free movement of the pin to reduce the gap between the two sections. I experimented some with the screw eyes on one side and then held in place with a vertical pin running down through the joint and into each eye on the other. Many commerical jointed lures are built in this manner. This works too but when I gave it a good pull and twist the wood cracked which ended my confidence in this approach. Solid plastic probably wouldn't crack like the wood which is probably why commercially built lures in this manner hold up. If someone can think of a way to improve this set-up please let me know...I would be very interested!!! Jed

I have toyed with this method a bit....it will work best for larger lures such as those I build for musky. I install two screw eyes on one side of the lure joint. On the opposite side, I install two more making sure they are located just inside the two screws on the first side. I then run a pin down through the pieces to hold them in place...see the attached image. I found a nail that works perfectly and only requires a slight bend on one end of it to hold it in place. If done correctly the joint cannot slide up or down and works very smoothly. One thing I like about this method is that you can take the lure apart if needed and reassemble it and it's incredibly strong. Jed V.

Did it run ok before you painted it? Experiment until you get one running good without paint. One you get this figured out then add the paint and clear......be careful to not use much clear on a bait this size because it will without doubt change the action. I would personally just use one coat of Devcon on a lure of this size. Getting the bill perfect is the hardest part....the slot must be cut square. Jed V.

Hey Vodkaman, still happy with this jointed method? Been using screw eyes and they sure are a hassle! Jed V.

There is no reason to thin Devcon.....if it's too thick run a propane torch over it quickly, it will turn to a water-like consistency. Jed V.

Has Devcon changed their formula? I haven't used it in a few years but the other day I wanted to finish some lures for myself that I wanted to use the next morning. I bought some 2-ton, mixed it up as usual, and it was hard as a rock in 10 minutes! And no it wasn't the 5 minute version. The temps were high, probably in the 80's when I was mixing it but I don't recall the 30 minute stuff setting up anywhere near that quickly. Jed V.

Devcon should work for you fine......if you have areas that aren't smooth try putting the epoxy on a bit thicker. If you are still having problems post them here and you will get things solved. Jed V.

Great job....funny thing about swimbaits is that some swim, some don't. I haven't figured out the dynamics yet of lipless swimbaits but hope to at some point. RM

Screw eyes.........

I would contact Iwata and ask them. Search on the name and you will find an email contact for them in Oregon. RM

Great idea!! This should save me a bunch of time on the next one, sick of using the clay! Thanks Husky. Jed V.

Great idea! Ok, since you are on a roll Husky, tell me on a two-part mold how to shorten the process of burying half the original model in clay? It takes me forever to get the model half buried in clay, add all the keys, and then build a box around it! I know you can use a slip mold but I have found the slip molds deform some of my larger lures I have experimented with. jed

I'm sure I have done this at some point but don't have any great success stories to share with you. So long as their isn't adhesion problems between the two it seems like you would be fine. I would personally put the etex down first because of problems I had with Devcon coming off in large chunks once it got a crack in it. I tried some Devcon tonight on a lure for the first time in probably two years. For some reason the stuff set up on me rock hard in like 5 minutes! I went back and checked the package......30 minute 2 ton so I'm not sure what happened other than maybe it's just too hot outside...in the 90's. jed