RiverMan

I'm curious soupysayso, Why go to all the trouble of hollowing out a wooden bait? Is this so that you can then mold equal halves and glue them together? I understand the convenience of using a through wire in a mold but this could much easier be done with expandable foams and featherlite couldn't it? Also, how do you seperate a wooden prototype bait into two equal pieces? Just curious, thank you. jed

Radu, I have been cutting them both before and after. Today I cut one after it was shaped and had no problem whatsoever. I trace the area to be cut out on one side of the bait. I then wrap the bait in a piece of soft cloth and put it into the vice on its side, pattern showing. Then with a jigsaw I simply make a straight cut along one side, then widen it by making a second cut. I finish the slot by using a file which allows me to visually align anything that wasn't cut perfectly straight, works fine. Jed

Hi Sebbass, Checked out the web-site, the largemouth and perch baits are as accurate as any I have ever seen. Great job! Jed

Great Job!

Hi Bass, I will preface this reply by saying that I am a complete novice to crank-bait building and all that I have learned has come from skeeter, chip, others here, the search tool, and hours working in my garage under a single 60 watt light bulb in 15 degree temperatures. Beyond that, being the spaz for details that I am, I have come up with a couple of things that MAY prove helpful to you. I am also interested in developing baits that are as consistent from one to the next as possible. I will warn you that once you begin the process of trying to produce consistently sized/shaped baits you will spend a enormous amount of "extra" time shaving wood here and there to get even sizes. I sincerely doubt this will add up to "more fish" but I enjoy this type of thing. I also like to make round baits and I have noted that many others build mostly flat-sided baits. The flat sides will of course eliminate much of the potential for variance from one bait to the next and in all reality look as good or better than any others anyway. That being said..... First I do use calipers that measure in millimeters which I believe are an invaluable tool. I check each of the baits for total length, width, and thickness with this device. I bought mine at an auto-parts shop for five bucks. Next I built from a piece of cardboard (Lexan could be used as an alternative if you wanna get serious) a pattern that allows me to check the shape of the belly on the bait and the back. I have pictures of this but don't know how to post them in the thread, sorry. I would be happy to send a pic to your email address. Start with a small piece of cardboard, maybe 4 inches by 6 inches. Take your prototype bait and lay it on its side along one margin of the cardboard and trace very carefully the belly of the bait. You then cut this section of cardboard out with a sharp knife. On the opposite size of the cardboard, do the same thing for the margin of the back on the bait. Within the cut-outs, mark where the body starts and the body ends. Now you have a pattern on one piece of cardboard for both the belly and back of the bait. When you cut your bait out of wood, lay the belly on the pattern and see where it is off, do the same for the back. As you shape the bait, rounding the corners and such (I like to use a flat wood file) check that you are not changing too dramatically the belly and back slopes with the pattern. If it changes too much, shave off where necessary to get it back in-line and keeep going. You will find with the pattern "check" that it is very easy to vary from one bait to the next while shaping the back and belly margins. Combining the pattern with the caliper tool checking length, width, and thickness and looking down the bait at all angles as skeeter wrote above, you can get very close to repeating the size and shape of each bait. I hope some of this was useful to you. Have fun!! Jed

I will take a look Nathan, thx. I back-troll with a driftboat plugs here for salmon and steelhead and many of the tail-out sections that hold fish run slow, plugs like flatfish work well but wanting to make something different. Thanks again. Jed

I want a crank bait that will dive to about 5 feet and wobble well at a very slow retrieve. Any suggestions on what body type would be the best for this type of action? Jed

Welcome Bill, Your experience would be a welcome addition to this site. Jed

Robert, Check your private messages, great looking bait! Jed

I just got Jann's Netcraft 2004 Magazine and there is a good selection of baits there that only require hooks and rings. Go to: www.jannsnetcraft.com

Thank you!

I would like to see that Vmaxx, is the book hard to find?

"Perhaps Jed is asking for a decent starting point, not necessarily to have all the work done for him. I agree that an experienced lure maker can produce a good prototype in just a few trials, if the prototype's requirements are within his experience. But let's say this fellow wants to venture into new territory, for whatever reason, and doesn't want (or have another 20 years) to gain the expertise required for the new lure". Exactly! Oh and sign me up for a copy of that software too would ya?

I guess we all know that computers are making the decisions on many of the plug designs these days. What I was trying to get at with this post is how guys determine the basic questions of lip size, lip angle, line-tie placement, etc., in a way that is a bit more direct than "trial and error". My dad always said "you think to hard about things", perhaps he was right, lol. Jed

I'm wondering if there are some mathematical laws by which all crank-baits follow. If so, software could be developed, and perhaps this has already been done, that would allow a guy to enter into the software a particular plug length, width, diameter, ciricumference, etc., and the desired running depth. From this the software would then provide information on the exact angle and length of the bill, and line tie location for things to work perfectly. I am guessing that for wood there may be too many variables as a result of changes in density, moisture, tree species, etc., for this type of approach to provide significant accuracy, plastics may be another story. Assuming this information is not available, how are all plugs made today...entirely by trial and error? Lets say for example you are going to build an entirely new line of crankbaits, you therefore have no no original design to go from. You would like the plugs to run 5, 10, and 15 feet respectively. How do you know: 1. The length and width of the bill? 2. The line tie placement? 3. Angle of the bill? 4. Body size/shape? I know there are guys on this site that know the answers to these questions, so to them I ask, is there an approach that can be used time and time again or is the development of all new plugs still by trial and error and intuition? Thanks! Jed

Thanks Northbassman but I only pasted the link up there for another manufacturer.......this site is not mine! I have made a grand total of three wooden cranks in my life, lol. Carolina is a pro and so is BlackJack but I am but a student....with a learning disability, lol. Happy New Year. Jed

Am I the only one that isn't seeing the pictures? It's strange, sometimes they come up, other times not. Ok...now I reopened it and can see them, gorgeous, love the one in the middle. Jed

I think you hit it right on the head Chip...will guys pay the extra money or not? Most of my fishing is for salmon and steelhead and the lures I'm pulling most are hotlips, wiggle-warts, kwikfish (flatfish), hotshots, and tadpollies. I think any of these "mass-made" lures can be bought for about 5 or 6 dollars or less and to be honest with the exception of a couple wiggle warts I can't remember having trouble tuning any of them. Tadpollies and hotshots in particular generally run perfect every time. I would be happy to pay more for a "custom plug" if it caught more fish but seriously doubt many of my "cheap" friends with leaky boats would, lol. I do, however, have "bass fanatic" co-workers that think nothing of dropping 15 or 20 dollars for a plug if it's the "one they want". These guys also have 35k dollar boats behind 40k trucks! When I look at a "custom" lure from someone who knows what they are doing though (not one of mine, lol) you can "see" and "feel" the quality and like many others have said before me, "you know you're fishing one of a kind". If I am going to pay 15 or 20 dollars for a bait, it must have something the "mass produced" group cannot offer, better finish, unusual paint, etc. There is a reason why most of the big companies have gone the "mass-produced" route, it's the only way to make money at it. Hughesy may have the best combination of all, he has managed to mix "mass production" with incredible "custom" painting and quality, a combination that is proving hard to beat. Jed

I was afraid you would say that Skeeter. I have made some and would post the pic here in the string but for some reason "microsoft errors" keep coming up. Maybe I will just post them in the gallery instead. The tads I made from featherlite looked the best but wouldn't run, I suspect now that I had them balanced incorrectly. I tried my best to balance them but after taking a closer look last night they were still off considerably from the original version. I have also carved a few from cedar following Chips tutorial but have to tell you getting the bill exact has proven a major challenge. I can get it close but when you look right down it from the front there is some slight variations that seem nearly impossible to eliminate...at least with my very amateur approach. I'm guessing that some of the guys here could do a good job on the baits and eventually I will figure it out too. Cold outside, 4 degrees, great bait-making weather!! Jed

I just posted the link Skeeter as I thought others would enjoy seeing the "mass production" process as I did. I enjoyed the link you posted as well, thx. Jed

A bit blurry but from what I can see it looks very well done! Don't feel bad, I haven't been able to get pics to post in the string either....keep getting an "error" message. Jed

Thank you for the reply. I successfully carved the lure body today from cedar and it looks great. I ended up leaving the bill as one piece with the body. Although I have made many plastics in the past this was my first wooden crank, great fun watching the thing take shape and I am excited about making others. Wishing that I had a band saw as cutting the blank out with a jig-saw was tricky. I wanted to attach a photo of it here but keep getting a "microsoft error". Thank you again and Happy New Year. Jed

I want to make a lure much like the old Heddon Tadpollies in which the bill is part of the body...not a seperate piece of lexan. The process that Chip outlined in the tutorial is not so easy when the bill is part of the body, the bill has some detail that makes things difficult. I'm wondering if the bodies could be cut out with the "duplicator"? The Heddon Tads float when not being cranked so any suggestions on wood type? Thanks in advance! I might add that I have made the lures in the past with limited success by molding them in featherlite...they look good but don't seem to run right when cranked hard. Jed

Hey a great looking bait! Congratulations! Jed

Check out this link: http://www.awesomebaits.com/howmade.htm