Illini Nate

Awesome!! that bait looks amazing! I cant imagine putting a bait together like that. And even better to have the satisfaction of sticking a nice fish on its maden swim! Excellent story! On a side note of my own experience I was lucky enough to be provided a 5-star rating on my panfish swimbaits recently.

Jed definitely use a soft plastic tail or a free moving lexan tail!!

Ha ha!! I used to do that all the time. I alway just set my baits by the window and leave it slightly open. Now the thing that makes people mad was me spraypainting primer onto my lure bodies in the hallway. Stunk up the whole place.

Savacs, Mine are 9" (perch) and 7" (bass) long. I made one that was about 4 inches in the past and it swam pretty well but it had a lot tighter tail kick rather than a lazy S swim. Sorry it too me so long to get back to your question. Nate p.s. I haven't painted any decoys in the past

Those are some pretty cool looking baits. I too have been trying a few swimbaits myself. We wight just have to compare notes sometime

ha ha i suppose that would help. I am trying to get a shad/panfish type profile that will swing like a magic maker. I have been trying to add weight to both ends of the bait, and also to the center, but a lot of the time my baits are rolling completely over. If anyone has any tips ill be very appreciative. Nate

Well after more failed attempts than I can count I was hoping someone might be able to help me out getting gliders to run correctly. I'm hoping to get something similar to a magic maker type action. I think my problem is the weight placement in the baits. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. Nate

Thanks everyone for all the info. From what was all said the action I am looking for is that "hunting" action. I know its a tough one to do but my best trolling baits seem to be those that hunt. THanks for all the info I will have to try to tinker around with some things to see if I can get it to occur on a more regular basis Nate

Does anyone know how to get a plug to travel?? By that I mean aside from the usual wobbling, I woudl like it to kick out left and right as much as possible without blowing out. So I guess what I am tryign to achieve is a S shaped swim path. I have been tryign to figure this out for a while and just havent been able to get it right. I know its possible to do this with a face cut, like the AC plug has but I was hoping to find a way to do it with a lure with a lexan lip. Nate

This may have been asked already but I couldnt find an answer for my search efforts. I was just wondering if the foam is dense/hard/rigid, however you want to phrase it, to hold in screw eyes, or is thru wire the only option?? I dont know if it would make a difference or not but this pertains to making some musky lures, so they will need to hold very well.

Those two fins look like a good idea. I wonder if you could possibly make the joint in the opposite direction that you usually do. Meaning that you cut it so the V points toward the head. If you did that you could cut one side shorter than the other kind of like the creme little fishy is made. Just a thaught. I havent had much time to do anythign lately but maybe today I can give some ideas a try and figure out something. Nate

Beautiful paint job. I wish I had a steady enough hand to create something like that. Keep up the great work Nate

La Pala thanks for the info, so maybe instead of just tail movement, I should be trying for slight side to side motion in the front portion with a lot of tail action. Thanks again, that was very informative

Has anyone ever heard of, or been successful with making a hardbait swim with motion coming from the tail rather than a whole body woble? (so i guess rather than the injured fish look, im looking for a nice healthy perfectly normal swimmin motion) Nate

Well I should say that I have tried to make a couple of jerkbaits before, but have only got about 6 or 7 of them done. And before now I sprayed everythign with spray cans which actually worked out pretty well as long as I painted all my lures black. But hopefully I'll have some time to make some more baits. Thanks to everyone for the kind words as well as suggestions. La Pala thanks for the suggestion about hook placement, would you suggest on I place the rear hook on the back of the first section or behind the fin?? or should I just use one hook up front?? I'm new to these types of baits and my goal was to make one to fish for muskies at a lake here that gets trout stockings every year. Thanks again. Nate

Hi everyone, my name is Nate and I am new to posting so bear with me. I have been checking this site out for a little bit and have really enjoyed all the great information being shared. Seeing as how most people post a picture of their bait I thaught I would post a pic of my first attempt at a trout swimbait (As well as first attempt using the plastic cup sealer, and airbrush, and making a jointed lure, and using envirotex) so basically a lot of firsts. Feel free to make suggestions as I am sure there is room for a lot of improvement. Nate [/img]

Hi all, I have been checking out this site for the last couple of weeks, and never got around to posting anything. So I figured I better say hi first before I post anything else. I really enjoy the site and learning some of the tricks of the trade that everyone shares. I just finished a trout swimbait but cant quite figure out how to post a pic of it. I look forward to getting/sharing some new ideas with everyone here. Nate