LaPala

Captbob: Just had the time to come back to these musings You're dead on about this COB thing. And with the size of crank- baits its balancing is even more delicate. Then there's concept of moving balast which alters the COB subtlely which then produce some interesting "hunting" action to a crank. (I'm a scuba diver so I have the pleasure of observing cranks in action from all angles.) Do you have the equation or software that do all these calculations for ship balast distribution? I can imagine the formula to be really complex if we want it for a crank. We have to contend with surface drag, COB, fulcrum point (tow-eye and "balast" distribution), vortex/turbulance resistance, lure shape hydrodynamics, lure material density... the list goes on. But just getting some of these factor into a calculable would be a great asset. Maybe we can adopt your formulas to a crank & make weighting crank bait more a science than trial&errors. Even just pinponting the COB would be a great asset .

I didn't realize this problem with big size pic. My apologiies. I've relink the pic to a smaller one. Edited Oops, I went back to page one & the scrolling problem is still there and I have 2048X1036 resolution (20" screen ) I think I found the problem too, it's the link you posted Woodsac, It's a continuous 299 characters long!!!! (got my MS Word to count it). FYI, the original I posted was 800X401 pixel I was assuming that size should fit most computers with 800X600 resolution.

I'm hosting the pics in another site, www.pbase.com to be exact. It is currently down for server maintainance & upgrade. Once it's done then you should be able to see it again. One more thing is if you're using Mozilla Firefox browser or some popup blocking software, it could too block the pictures from being displayed as it's detected as an embeded off-site link, hence regarded as "alien" and blocked.

Welcome aboard Stefan. Share some photos of your creation here too, post it in the galleries. Most guys here use Envirotex Lite or Devcon (in alphebatical order, not preferance, if you're here long enough or search the forum you'll unserstand this footnote better ). Do a search for Etex and Devcon, you'll find tons of info on these stuff. Other options include uretherane base lacquer, auto clear coat. Mentions of UV cured adhesive/epoxy, marine grade gel coats etc. though these are the less common choices. Hope this helps. The fomies Q I'll leave to the experts in this field, I've never done any yet.

Andrew: the downward tail hook point is to target the softer lower jaw? Sieb: be adventurous, try single (Oh, you're still single lol)

Just to confuse things more.... there's the crawfish darting/sinking to bottom action that's not really explore thoroughly yet. Maybe someone wants to have a go at this. I have one on the drawing board but wonder when I'm gonna get to it

Cool info guys. Seem to confirm what I've been observing. Havinng the single's point pointing upward and not hanging down seem to be the key to single use. Thats what I tried in the overkill & jointed minnow lure I did. Maybe I can try a little something on the back hook to keep it extended - a small float or some sort of a hydrovane so it'll extend up & out even at low retive speeds. I like singles on my lures, like you guys said if you get a hookup on a single it's rock solid & for the same weight to a treble I can have a wider gap & more beefy single on, this seem to help too. I notice too the hookup on a belly single hook is not too good, perhaps this is not only due to the wide body but the orientation on the single point pointing downwards too. If we fix it upwards the point is definately hidden by the body. I tried the 2 single hook approcah here with the singles hook. One on each side and added magnet to hold it in place. I have to do more fishing with this style to check if it's really effective. Or I can try for best of both worlds, a treble (or double) for the belly, and single pointing up for the tail Thanks for the feedback guys.

Our newspaper over here (Malaysia) devoted quite big columns with huge color photos about the cold, snow & blizzard in Northern America!!! Are U guys OK??!! Though I suspect there might be quite some frozen airbrushes & nicks from carving lures that did not bleed?

Most of the crankbait we see uses treble hook, I hardly see any single hooks being used for crankbaits except in some big bonito style salwater trolling lures. I have made some cranks and had the hook hanger 90? offset from the normal way it's done to accomodate single hook and didn't notice any more missed hookups compared to those using trebles on the same lure design. (though my statistics can be flawed). What's the rationale behind the use of treble hooks on crankbaits? Is it an absolute must or we're just a bit too afraid of losing fish - psychological advantage of a treble?

Jeds right about being a perfectionist, I would want to get rid of that slot too if I can I don't know how you're doing your joints but offhand here's my suggestion: reverse the orientation of your joint configuration so it's moving in the front piece which shold hide it and see if it's feasible to drill top down for access to work on the joints, just plug the hole later if you're going for the perfectionist look.

Right on Skeet!!! The one crank that'll do what we want it to do. That's part of the attraction in making your own lure. Go fishing, find out you need that crank in a certain shape/action/depth and do that little bit more that store boughts cannot do. You get to your drawing board & come up with that crank that u need. This is how some of my lures come about. And next time you're in that same situation, wham the fishes are slamming your new baby. Nothing beats that. We are always chasing that one crank to rule them all But we can never do them all Like an old saying, "It's the journey, not the destination..."

I wonder why I said it was cold this morning when it was 76?F, probably because I only had a pair of boxers on Hang in there Husky, global warming is on its way.

One hook but move it back a bit if it doesn't affect the balance too much. Just my 2 cents.

Welcome aboard and yup like what Husky said different look. Welcome the whisp of fresh air (no offence to the regulars here , not saying your stuff are stale )

I'm no biologist but there's a wealth of info in the web for fish locomotion and basically different fish swims differently. Here's an excerpt:(full text here:http://www.fisheriesmanagement.co.uk/Fish%20Studies/locomotion_study.htm) "The rainbow trout can be classified into the group of subcarangiform fishes. This defines the type of body movement the species experiences when swimming. Most fish species swim with lateral body undulations running from head to tail. These waves run more slowly than the waves of muscle activation causing them, reflecting the effect of the interaction between the fish's body and reactive forces from the water (Wardle et al.1995). The undulations of the side to side movement in the body are slight in the anterior but there is a significant increase in the rear half to third of the body. The snout of the fish does not travel in a straight line but tends to oscillate at small amplitudes along the mean path of the fish (Hoar & Randell 1978). Figure 4 illustrates this type of movement and clearly shows that no part of the body travels in a straight line, but tends to follow a curving path through the water" The point is; it would be unnatural for a fish to swim without any oscillation in the head as well. My suggestion for a natural swimming hardbait would be to keep the lip in the head for generating the movement but play with jointed tail end (specifically with multistrand SS wires) which will in turn mimic the natural body movement of a fish swiming naturally. Makes sense to you?

I'm a bit biased toward Rapala Lures but check the new DT series out, it's designed to dive fast. You can study the design & come up with your own version. this is a DT#04, dives to 4 feet I'm in no way associated with this company either

Real Nice job for a first. I know I could not say that for my first. And welcome aboard. You said you wanted some comments too - so to be honest I would not put the back hook where you have it if those fins are "hard" fins since it would interfere.

This definately calls for a shot at Champagne. Happy Birthday MyLures hot linked images: credit to ? Fotograf Tom Andersson at web.telia.com[/b]

These baits rock Matt. Care to share how you get those realistic colors. Could use the tip for my hardbait fins

You can do the buzzbait version Dwain. Mark: Those are fabricated from SS rods, available only thru LaPala or DIY. Lure action not really affected, just make a floater into a countdown with added "attraction" and it runs very upright

Here's a composite photo of what I've done with it: the bottom left combo actually caught fish on the worm on the top arm as well. PS: worms are store bought, I haven't done any SPs yet Maybe coming soon

I kinda agree with Jed on the discussion bit. As far as discussions goes people can sometimes get a bit emotional cause they feel strongly about something; it's not BAD. When sparks start flying a bit as long as the fire department is around I don't see it get out of hand. I'm still quite new here so I've not witness the "Epoxy Wars" but there is an under-current of that when issues of this nature are brought up. Kinda tongue in cheek but I believe all receive it with a chuckle. I've learned new things about epoxies in these discussions so it can't be all bad. We pick up stuff & bouncing ideas of each other does sometimes bring new outlook to a "stale" subject. Like Jed said, "I do think there is probably a "better" topcoat out there......" So I'll be waiting & mean while keep experimenting I'll definately post if I find something. Well Flats suggested perma-gloss, and there is the smooth-on that ArtBrush used for casting lips which needs to be pressure cured but it's definately in my list of "to tries" when I get to it. Cheers. And I plea for the "discussions" to continue.

I was kinda expecting maybe some new sealing coat formulas or methodlogy might come out of these Devcon::Etex discussions. As the advance in tecnology shows we're not short of "epoxies". Bartop stuff, marine resins, compound polymers, pressure cure epoxies....,epoxy + UV inhibitor coat.... it's endless maybe someone has tried something not tried and tested. I'd like to hope someting comes up that fufills the stringent requirements of an "undestructable" top-coat . I'm reposting this link here:http://www.epoxyproducts.com/ maybe somthing can come out of these info found here. If I find something after reading all the stuff there, I'll post.

Dang :!: :!: :!: My claim to fame has been denied & I notice Hildebrandt did it in 2004 too. Well another time.

No end to this as we are all still looking for "THE ULTIMATE" topcoat . The verdict - Devcon, Etex... or ???? I found this site: http://www.epoxyproducts.com/ but haven't had time to pour thru it yet, lots of info on epoxy & stuff. Anyone gone thru the info there? Any good? Make this a top-coat wish-list: 1. super clear, UV resistant & will never yellow; 2. cures to Rockwell hardness 84 and above but still not brittle; 3. one part formula & can be spray on or dipped; 4. density of cured formula is the same as freshwater, meaning it neither float nor sink. BOY, I can dream.