Lure--Prof

Ben's right about standardizing your processes, because repetition will develop speed and accuracy. I build thru-wire balsa crankbaits that are very tough and still retain balsa-buoyancy. I seal balsa with epoxy, paint with Createx on the prepped epoxy, and then clearcoat with Dicknites, multiple coats. This is not the only way to build a tough balsa bait, but it is the way I like to build them. BTW, I epoxy my ballast in too. I know none of you guys are guilty of this, but I've see a lot of anglers slap their lures on the water to remove bits of debris from their hooks before the next cast, and I've seen the ballast removed from some of their prized balsa lures in the same motion. Most of the abuse bass lures endure is done above the water against objects we didn't intend for them to encounter, or at phenomenal speeds lures will develop with todays high modulus lure-launchers. Balsa, used as a core material in a resin sandwich is combines strength and light weight, proved in many thousands of boat hull stringer systems over many years.

Great tutorial! Thanks Ed!

Ben, it got so cold here in Kentucky, my thermometer asked for hazardous duty pay!

I completely agree with Gene! If all one has to do to submit a competitive valid entry is to purchase a lure, and then paint it, The Coolest Lure Contest becomes a Lure Painting Contest. For most lure builders who design, test, refine, and build original lures from raw materials, painting is the "fun" but only the final stage, in creating a cool lure. As the rules currently stand, a professional airbrush artist with no real interest in fishing lures could conceivably stand a good chance of winning this contest. Needless to say, this is not fair to those of us who create our fishing lures from scratch. Dean

A good reason to make your own lures is to make them as well as possible. Using non-rusting wire is one of the things you can do to that end, and in this case, it doesn't take any longer to do.

What my buddy Ben said...and here's a source! http://lurepartsonline.com/Shop-By-Category/Tubing-Spacers/Spacer-Tubing.html

Welcome back Tater! We missed you! I'm glad you finally listened!

Skeeter, I agree. "Silent crankbaits" is a misnomer anyway, because if it has hooks and split rings, it rattles, as anyone knows who has dragged a lure through a bathtub. I design and sell crankbaits from the ground up, as does Skeeter, Benton B, Nathan, and some others who have been around here for awhile, and I'm sure they cringe like I do every time we hear that some "Pro" has "designed" a new bait. What an insult to lure builders everywhere! Dino

Tap the can with DN, simple. If you're dispensing into jars, use an inert gas like Bloxygen, which is made for the purpose of presenting a barrier to prevent exposure to the atmosphere. It works. Seal the top of the container well! For coating over foil, I use a slow cure epoxy, after which I scuff it and clean it thoroughly. I then paint with Createx, heat set, and brush on DN. For multiple DN coats, scuff between coats and clean with a microfiber cloth.

What Bob said, Brite-Bak, is the easiest to remove all the wrinkles from. www.venturetape.com Plain aluminum foil works also. Use 3M's Super 77 spray adhesive for good results. Buy the smallest can you can find, it goes a long way. Guys here use to look for the cheaper "store brand" foils as they are thinner.

Actually, we custom builders have a huge advantage over Bagley baits: They were always built to a price point, where they competed against an explosion of plastic lures hitting the shelves. We do not have to compromise our methods or materials for production purposes, if we choose not to do so! Jim was always looking to build a better bait, but with methods that, at the very least, would not impede production costs.

Glad you said that Dave. For years, if I had a lure that blew out at a medium retrieve, I used to always used to start working on it to bring it back in line to a commercially acceptable hunting action. Eventually I began fishing with some of those wilder actions which could only be retrieved with what most bass anglers would consider a slow speed, requiring some discipline with modern baitcasting reels. These lures have become my best fish catchers. These lures dive quickly, running up to ten feet deep with .015" diameter fluorocarbon, and seldom get hung in the fallen trees I like to fish with them in my favorite lake. It's an old trick to fish deep-divers slowly in shallower water, allowing the lure to deflect off of cover and dig right back into it. I think my wilder hunting actions enhance this technique. We talk about high speed retrieves and slow retrieves, and it bears remembering that these terms are relative to the equipment we use. Most crankbaits used in bass fishing are retrieved with baitcasting reels and there is quite a bit of variation in the speed of retrieve these reels are capable of these days. Modern small, light, baitcasters range from 25 inches per a single revolution of the handle up to 33 inches per single crank while reels marketed as "cranking" reels may be as slow as 21 inches. When crankbaits first achieved popularity, only reels marketed as "High-Speed" were that fast! This is worth remembering when someone talks about how they used to "burn" square bills back in the late 1960's or early '70's. They (we) were burning up the reel handles, but weren't moving the bait through the water any faster or as fast, than what a modern reel would at a comfortable medium retrieve, or even a slow winding action with a 7-1 ratio. Spinning reels, generally speaking, retrieve faster than baitcasters, while the push-button spin-casters are much, much slower.

Dave you are correct within the parameters of a particular lure design, and I will say that those parameters cover a lot of lures; and you don't need me to tell you this . BTH is also correct that a little goes a long way when it comes to trimming a lip. However, when you introduce multiple ballast locations, particularly in lures with shallower bellies, and lower anchor point of the lip, along with using compound lip angles and various tow points through the lip, the dynamics, along with a certain amount of cause and effect of hunting, change. I know I'm not being very specific here, nor do I intend to be. I've been building lures a long time and have always been fascinated with creating actions which are not store bought. I'm just saying that there are a lot of variables that can be created with lure body materials, diving lips, ballast, and varieties of hook, and tow point locations. The term hunting is generally used to convey an aberration in an otherwise predictable action. These aberrations may be an occasional kick-out that occurs at a certain retrieve speed, to lure that is literally performing two actions at once, such as a rhythmic wander while performing a tight X wiggle. However, you won't achieve an action like this by building a conventional design, and trimming a lip that is a little too long. That being said, Dave has done a nice job of elaborating on particulars with which a crankbait builder can use to build a hunter, and a basis for going "further".

Travis, realize that the lure is wiggling while the lure is kicking is out left-right, left-right, which is what we all recognize as "hunting". Hunting action does not have to be, or appear random in nature. The lure literally has 2 separate, but simultaneous actions. It is a bird dog, just a very well trained one!

Dave is correct when he said that there is more than one weigh (sic) to make a hunting lure, which figures, because the definition of a hunting lure is more generally descriptive than specific. Hunting may refer to a random kick-out at a certain speed, or it may be a very rhythmic, non-random constant zig-zag while the lure wiggles: and this design is as repeatable as the build is accurate. Its zig-zag path will normally widen with increasing retrieve speed. Body design, ballast location, lip shape and tow point and their interrelationships are typically the major parameters that are tweaked to produce any action, of course, and the magic "hunt". And one man's hunter is another person's non-hunter. LP