LaPala

You're almost there Pete. When you can "Give and ask not for returns" is when you ARE.

YES What you describe is a "door hinge" kind of joint, 3:16 Lure Co. (and a few others) uses that joint type.

DSV, if you are going to use "chain" hinge then <-< config would provide more freedom of movement. Make the front < flatter than the back <. You can experiment to see what angle provides the desired amount movement for you. (-( is usually best suited with eye and pin hinge kinda joint; with the back ( an arc of a circle and the pin located in the centre of the arc. This joint has the potential to be "seamless". I like these 2 methods as they hide the hinge hardware best. With |-|, it's the corner of the joint that will knock agaisnt each other and freedom of movement dependant on how far apart the hinge hardware seperate the joints. a mod to straight joint will be to taper the edges like below to get more movement: / |-| / Hope this helps.

I notice you are using a sanding sleeve to shape you bait. Try searching for "Kutzall" or "Saburr", you won't regret investing in a few pieces of those.

SS long shank hook

The Poll Thread and Poll results are still there Pete, just go to this section. You must be the ones of those who bookmarked "new post" to get into TU. The 1st thing I did when I got back from my trip was to check into TU and notice the post. However I differed offering an opinion as I have to find the time to read and understand what it is all about and weight the pros and cons. By the time I'm ready to vote, it's closed. Anyway, thanks to Coley for opening this new thread. Here's my 2 cents: There will always be people who are willing to pay for a site access and those who don't; then some who are undecided. The most important criteria will be if the site content or community is something unique enough to warrant a paid subscription. I support Jerry's plans for the expansion and enrichment of TU website. And I fullfheartedly feel there is a lot more that can be done for the site. However, at this present stage of TU; I do not feel a paid access to the whole site is a viable option and definitely not quitting a day job to go full time on the site just yet. A win win situation could be -- maintain a free forum with paid access to what Jerry have in mind like more exclusive information, syndicated component buying, etc etc to the paying members. Other options include TU site hosting, paid gallery sapce, TU Store etc; with each having their own price structure so members will pay for what they need and not an all out payment to come to TU for bonding with other like minded hobbyist or like some senior members whom I notice are volunteering their time to help other enthusiast. Although Jerry did mention a discount structure for "valued" members, I have doubts on the enthusiasm continuing to "paying to share my idea". There are members who are generous enough with their ideas and "mentoring" which ppl will be willing to pay for but are now giving it out for free on their own time. It doesn't make sense to make them pay for the privilege of doing that. It does sound calous, but ppl pay for something tangible. I see a lot of yes for paying a subscription but as you read the reasoning, a lot are agreeable on goodwill, how long will the goodwill extend to make it a good business model? This will all be very subjective. However if someone paid for a TU Store, Gallery Space or website then it is something tangible which will compel them to keep the subscription running as they have something to loose if it is discontinued. This will be a better business model. Extending the concept will be to say offer "mentoring workshop" subscription like how software are selling technical assistance where you have staff on hand to offer assistance in tackle making. Maybe a share profit structure with some existing members with the knowledge and experience to offer such mentoring. There is also Ad revenue to think of in the free forum. I don't think there will be any objections at all for those surfing the forum for free to see strategically placed ads. There ae bloggers who are making a few K from ad revenue that rely on the fans that read the blogs. With the traffic of TU and targeted Ads, sponsors and pay-per-view ads, it is a viable income source. So in short, what I am suggesting is to break the payment/subscription into components. Everyone pays for what they want and those who want the free content still get what they want (cost somehow offset with ad revenues). Win win for all and there is less concern of loosing members too if the site is locked into just a subscription model (not forgetting an extended subscription content that is available only to paying members - the free content acting as a dangling carrot to entice members to subscribe ) Lot's more options but I think I wrote enough for now as a general direction I feel that is more viable. Best Wishes to you Jerry on whatever decision you make for TU site.

Welcome Shortlite, that's word of wisdom sorely needed in this discussion Sometimes the best course of action is to just do it!! We are lure makers and not engineers so we do not need to over analyze things. After all, the end result from all means is to get the damn lure to suspend:yeah:.

Errrr David, I need to butt in here , no offense intended about ur diving. What is happening is you might be diving over-weighted. When over-weighted, you have to put a lot more air into your buoyancy compensator to achieve neutral buoyancy. More air in BC = more change in air volume for every change of depth that needs you to correct the amount of air to achieve neutral buoyancy. And in this case you need to adjust a bigger volume of air too. By trimming the weight you wear to just enough (fine tune with shot weight belt instead of the chunks) you could negate the need to constantly fiddle with adjusting the air in your BC when you stay at a relatively constant depth; because the air needed to trim for neutral buoyancy will be less; less air in BC = less air volume change = less adjustment needed. The other cause would be yo-yo diving where you constantly change depth up or down. So if none of the 2 scenario is involved, you do not really need to adjust your neutral buoyancy at "any given time" it is only needed when depth change is significant enough to affect buoyancy. Buoyancy change is also relatively less and less significant as you go deeper (Boyle's Law) Sorry for the discourse here guys.Anyway applying the same to lures, we have so little volume of air in a lure (especially a wooden lure) the change in pressure that compresses the air and causes reduced buoyancy is close to negligible at depth. (even less if the lure attains deeper depth. Opposite happens if a lure is floating up, reduction of pressure allows air to expand, buoyancy increase.). As we would be designing a suspending lure to suspend at a fixed depth that the lure is designed to dive to, the air compression buoyancy factor can be safely ignored. Line diameter, line weight does affect how deep the lure will dive to. Temp effect on buoyancy do have to be considered. A suspending lure in winter does not suspend in summer . So ideally all suspending lure should come with a note that says, "This lure suspends at X depth, with Y water temp and designed depth of lure is achieved with Z diameter AA type line with an average cast of XX feet." I think that about covers most of the suspending issues .

Pete, there was a lure that does the exact opposite. It's floating and u inject water thru a rubber nipple to get it to slow float or suspend. Forgot what brand but it's pretty old. Maybe someone still remembers it.

I agree with Kc. A master should be a masterpiece. Best is rotary tool with a carbide bit and carve it out. Just make sure you practice first. I'm sure you have scraps of the PVC left. You want good results, spend the time to do it right. Any foul ups on the master, you could patch it up with epoxy, epoxy putty or bondo then re-carve. I've got no experience with PVC so you need to find a carvable patching material that adheres well to PVC.

Ha Ha, hey rofish you just provided me with an opening to quote you this quote: Whatever a fishing lure is categorized as or labeled is just a convenient way to refer to them. Know how to use or misused one the important part. As long as I'm catching fish plus know how and when to use what I'm happy. Who cares who calls it what LOL. :yeah:Have I mentioned I made a jerk-glide pencil?

The term Crankbait probably came into use in early 1960 by bass fishermen and refers to plug (what lures are call in the 1920,30s and now mainly the salt guys) or lures that has a built in action when retrieve. A cover all term. A jerk bait refers to the special category of crankbait that is fished with a twitch and pause or designed to be fished so. You can still crank a jerk and have built in action but it's more effective jerked.

Diemai, have you looked at Aussie lures like Halco (Poltergeist, Rellik Doc) and Predatek (Boomerangs, Woomera) offerings? I think the Aussies are wild over the bananaish lures but they usually render it with a plastic lip. Some slight modifications in the basic banana shape in those lures addresses the roll over issues you mentioned. But I agree the amount of curvature in the lure dictates a lot of the lure's action. For buoyancy issues, try playing with wedged shape body cross sections too, this will help a lot in addressing the needed stability. Hazmal's lures are to me in the banana category too (oops, better put a disclaimer in here, I'm referring to the lure shape not the man ) I think Pete will know a lot more Aussie lures that are banana.

That looks like the work of Friction Artificial Baits. That scale style is just lines scribe on aluminum foil. Finer lines are done with a sharp blade, thicker ones with blunt blade. U can use a card-board or thin plastic as the ruler to guide ur cuts on the curved surface. Although Friction does do some scales which are physically carved in the wood then foiled.

Do you have a website and using an image as a clickable link to somewhere??? Or maybe even just sent/forwarded some emails that does that??? Then you must read about this patent infringement!!! This is the company that is suing everyone!!!! We should all start sending emails with image links to spam them. They must be crazy

Cheers Jerry, Wish you more merry ones to come.

Here's my guess for you Daymon, going with square lip, short shank treble.

Let me answer you with a question too Prop after you dip and cure coats the lure with a layer of plastic (prop), what paint is good for plastic?

What P/Balsa said. If you want a good durable finish lacquer is the way to go. And don't mix systems. Lacquer with lacquer and acrylic with acrylic and so on.

Welcome aboard and I like how you started your lures with your own design. btw, my other nick is LaPicky so be warned if I were to offer comments LOL. Anyway the segmented lure doesn't show any weighting yet but I'd garner a guess that u'll have to weight the tail segment a bit right at the bottom so it can float upright as u intended(?). A flat piece like that with a single join will tend to want to twist and float flatside up. The design sure looks promising and pretty unique.

I'll 2nd cullin8s. No post clear would cover all bases.

LOL You misguided me with the tittle of you topic. For a moment I thought, someone caught a wahoo or showing a wahoo plug there. Anyway good show, it's always the most satisfying when you hook one on ur very own. You'll know you need to go to a support group -- when you fish, you are actually more interested in testing out the lures you have just finished making.