Vodkaman

Just about everything claimed in that patent is already out there, the paddle tail, the insert, the sliding line tie. Ken may well be an innovator, but I don't see the innovation here. Dave

Re- Huddleston's patent, what rubbish. It is basically a paddletail only the shape of the fish tail. There is nothing new here and in my opinion, the patent should never have been granted. This is plagiarism at its worst. Taking an accepted idea and patenting it with a slightly different shape. I bet you could fight the patent, using the argument that the original patent got the vortices diagram wrong. Just goes to show how much work Kenny put into this idea, he doesn't even understand how the darn thing works. Dave

I am interested also, as none of the other established top coats are available to me. The main problem with propionate is the blushing problem, but this is easily overcome. I really want to know whether prop is an acceptable finish for a bass lure. I believe some major companies use it, so it cannot be that bad. Dave

I agree dieter, a high or low tow eye location and the bulk of the body mass in the first section. These ideas fit the theory. I cannot talk practical as I have only made a few swimbaits just to prove my ideas. I am still blown away from your last set of vids, you have certainly cracked what is required for success in this difficult field. Can't wait for the vids of your latest creations. You are leading the way. Dave

My thoughts about the effectiveness of the hunting crank, is that it is all about the change of direction, this change of direction is what triggers the bite. We have all seen fish follow the bait as you retrieve, apparently interested, but not convinced. Fish are not smart, they work from instinct. My theory is that if the predator attacks, the prey can change direction and evade the attack. But if the predator waits for the change in direction before attacking, it has more chance of success, because the prey has committed itself to a new direction and cannot change again immediately. We all quickly learn when we start cranking, that a steady retrieve is not nearly as successful as a varied retrieve. This is the skill part of crank fishing, in addition to choosing the correct action, depth, size shape, color etc. I believe that a crank bait with a wide hunting action on a steady retrieve, will produce more than a non-hunting bait on a steady retrieve. But, we rarely perform steady retrieves anyway, so this idea is pointless. When you work a hunter with twitch, jerk and all the other movements in your armory, the action and changes of direction are far more erratic and pronounced. I don’t fish nearly enough to say whether the above is proven and when I do fish, I only use my stuff, so I cannot compare. All my baits hunt and remain stable, unless I apply a very violent burn. It is possible to make consistent hunters and I know of a couple of TU members who can do this. Am I going to tell you how? Sorry, the answer is no, same answer you will get from the others. Hunting baits are my edge on the rest. Dave

I use a small tenon saw (some call it a back saw) that I bought at a model shop. The deep saw blade plus the reinforced spine, prevents the saw from flexing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backsaw In the link, the middle saw in the picture. I cut part way through, before shaping. This operation is much more difficult once the lure body is shaped. By cutting only part way through, the body is still in one piece and easy to carve. When ready to cut the sections, you have a guide slot, making the job much easier and less chance of ruining the work that you have already done. Dave

Impressive work as usual, but I have to say "WOW!" to the action on those swimbaits. Amazing action. Congrats. Dave

apaseman Changing the density of the body material will not reduce the weight, it just means you will have to add more ballast. The volume of the body determines the weight of the lure. You will have to reduce the dimensions. Dave

The paypall surcharge is for the service, for the convenience of the seller, NOT the buyer. I think you owe a rebate to your customers. Dave

Happy birthday my friend. Still older than me. Dave

Sadly Yes, it is true. Bruce passed away 19th Feb 2010. I have lost a good friend. Heart felt condolences to Rebecca and the rest of the family. Dave

KC is right. What they throw away is criminal. From personal experience, they will be glad to help. Dave

JP, nothing wrong with DSV’s post. May be mildly bitchy, but he is basically trying to help you. Speaking generally now, quite a few guys here on TU have new ideas, me included. Most times it turns out that the idea was not original and has been done before, but NOT always. If that is the case, take pride in the fact that you thought of the successful idea and keep searching for the original idea that lurks within you. But for all those who keep saying that there is nothing original left to discover, you are so wrong. Just because you cannot think of an original idea yourself, you don’t have to make a point of trying to dampen others enthusiasm for searching for new ideas. The big question is what to do with the idea. To sell the idea, you need to spend some money on patent stuff, because the big companies either will not look at the idea without the patent paper work, because it might conflict with ideas that they are already working on and cause copyright issues, or they will look at the idea and steal it without paying. If the idea is too easy and cheap to copy or too difficult and ambiguous to patent, even though the idea is unique, you may be on a loser. The patent route, which is designed to not be too expensive for the first year, is for those with patentable ideas to test the market without getting in too deep financially. With the initial patent application in, you can now approach the big companies. Talk to a patent lawyer first, I am not an expert. So, if you cannot patent it, cannot sell it and do not ever intend to manufacture the idea yourself, then you might as well publish the ideas. You will not make any money, but occasionally, someone will give you credit for the idea, if that is important to you. Also, you can do what many others like to do every time someone makes a million of there idea and whine about it. When we get brilliant ideas, we want to tell the world about it. Their is something magical about being original, to be called and inventor, the original source of THE idea. It is only natural to want to tell people about it, this is what you are doing and probably me too in this post. It is what the whiners are also doing, they accepted the consequences of showing their product and are not really whining, they are just letting you know that it was their idea and want some recognition for it. This is not a bad thing, hell you deserve recognition for original ideas, it is the least that people can pay you and people love a bargain. So if you cannot or do not want to pay for patent rights, you cannot sell the idea and do not intend to progress the idea yourself, you have two choices: Either publish the idea and just take the accolades or sit on the idea for eternity. Should you choose the latter, no accolades are due, so don’t be expecting any, because simply stating that you have a great idea does not cut it. TU is as good a place as any to get your idea out there. I’m sure the big companies have spy members whose job it is to report the occasional gem, along with a couple of thousand small companies that might be interested in taking your idea further, for free of course. You can always refer back to the dated publishing post as proof of your idea for your accolades. It is no good in court but will allow you recognition. TU is the home of originality. I have heard that before. But for every thread with an original idea, there are a thousand threads about copying. You don’t believe me? Just read a weeks worth of threads and do a poll for yourself. Well I digress, copying is a whole new or should I say old subject and does not belong in a thread such as this. Dave

Like lipped cranks, there is a minimum speed at which the action occurs. It is a hydrodynamics thing that I will not bore you with. The minimum speed varies with size (I think), so a larger bait will start to swim at a slower speed. For your 5" bait, larger just means fatter. Dave

My opinion is that the zero angle of the lip acts like the feathers on an arrow, stabilizing the flight. When I experimented with hinged lips, which allowed the lip to find its own attitude in flight, I was able to increase casting distances by about 30% (from memory). A very big part of getting down deep, in addition to what everyone else has stated, is eye location on the lip. There is an optimum position for maximum depth. Foreward or rear of this optimum position and the depth reduces. I cannot think of any easy way to find this location, other than trial and error (I hate to say). With a zero angle lip, sometimes getting the lure to actually start can be a problem. This is solved by weighting so the lure sits slightly nose down. Dave

Jamie, great video, thanks for posting the link. I think that the vacuum forming method would work well and is a good idea. I think the trimming operation after the forming operation could get a little tricky. A tool/jig could be made by carving out a concave eye shape in the end of a dowel. A small piece of double sided tape to hold the eye in position. Insert the eye blank, rough trim with snips then finish on a belt sander. The tool would also serve as a depth gauge. Obviously the sander would take its toll on the wooden dowel tool, so a steel face plate would need to be added. Do you really think that filling the eye would be necessary? No mention of this was made in the video. I can understand your thinking, an air bubble is going to be subject to expansion and contraction due to temperature fluctuations. I was thinking of a small hole behind the eye location, into the body, breaching the seal coat. This would allow any expansion to be vented back into the body, rather than stressing the eye seal. Molding the eye shape is a good solution. Any small imperfections would not be visible after the vacuum operation, whereas molding eyes directly has to be perfect. You could probably vacuum form the eyes a hundred at a time. A tray of master castings for each size or mixed. Combining this idea with the thread on vacuum formed paint masks, this vacuum tool is going to get a lot of use. Painting the inside of the eyes in reverse order looks like fun and you could get really creative. Dave

A few members have messed around with this idea. I recently caught Pete (Hazmail) out with such a design, on another forum. I think Lapala also did some work on this idea. I bet Daimei has something going too. Searching will be difficult, so hopefully we will get some feedback. Dave

Nova, that is a pity. I have tried the molding route, but it wasn't as good as I hoped. Balls posted a successful method a while back: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/16447-aluminium-epoxy-eyes-other-options/page__fromsearch__1 worth a read. Dave

Finlander. Try forming the epoxy eye on glass or a smooth ceramic tile. Should come off easily with a razor or box cutter blade. Dave

Gadawgs, I draw a pattern on the computer. I'm sure one of the standard MS programs will allow this. I then spray glue the printed pattern onto the acrylic. Leave the backing paper on, it is easier to peel off later. Rough cut and remel to the line. If you are hand drawing the pattern, fold the paper in half, draw a half pattern, cut out and unfold. Dave

Check out the video's in this thread: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/15262-looks-that-simple-the-finnish-way/ Similar type of body, long and slender. See how he does the ballast. Dave

Riverman, nothing wrong with your thinking about the inertia problem, killing the action. Somewhere between the two ideas there will be a compromise. That sweet spot that you mentioned earlier is probably a lot to do with this compromise. Dave

Unlike everyone else, I missed the point of your problem, but glad that you found a solution. For future builds, consider what Riverman stated about weighting the individual segments and at the same time, do not stray too far from neutral buoyancy. The reasons for this is that each unweighted segment is trying to lie flat on the surface. This is causing the segments to want to twist and add friction to the joint. Also, your lure will have a nose down attitude at rest. If each segment is weighted close to neutral buoyancy, this gives close to zero friction/interference at the hinges, a horizontal attitude and therefore the smoothest action. These are only suggestions to consider for the future. But if your lure swims and behaves like you want, then why change it. Dave

Welcome to TU. You have done a great job getting a swimbait to swim first time. The twitch effect is correct. The bait swings 90 degrees one side or the other, depending on the start orientation. Even when you stop towing the lure, it will tend to swing out. Try it without the washers, they may not be necessary, but I know others use beads and such. Dave

Thanks for posting the link PhilB. Gene! I am so lost for words. Dave