Vodkaman

I'm sure it is possible to get a good 'S' swim pattern. I have a working prototype of a lipped one piece that achieves the 'S'. I cannot reveal it yet, but I will be developing it further, later in the year. When I get back to Indonesia, I will put together a video of it, to wet your appetite. Dave

I'm sure how that is how I paid my TU membership. But I am a fiscal phoebic, so don't take my word for it. Dave

You are asking the wrong people. We all spend thousand of hours and thousands of dollars to build thousands of baits. Why??? Because we lost a few in the rocks and thought we could save some money!!!! Welcome to TU, you are going to fit in well here. Dave

No matter what density wood you use, the final weight of a particular body ballasted, will always be the same. The difference is that the lighter woods will have the mass concentrated in one place. This will become the pivot point for the action or wiggle. By spreading the weight out with a denser wood, inertia becomes a problem and reduces the action. An example that I have used before is, take a 3' length of broom handle, tie half a brick to each end and twist it with your wrist. Now move the half bricks to the centre, ether side of your hand and repeat the twist test. Now it is much more easy to twist. Its a lever thing, force x distance. The same happens with the balsa body, the mass is all around the wrist and so it turns easier. With a heavy wood, you are moving more weight out to the end of the pole. I am torn between using density or specific gravity. People understand the meaning of the word density, but it requires units. But Lbs/cu inch are a pretty meaningless unit. Specific gravity is a dimensionless number that literally compares the mass of the object to that of water, so the number can easily be related to, just the name sounds techy. Hell, you choose! Dave

I had my doubts too Pete. I imagined roll problems with all that low buoyancy. But it works. The bait looks great, congrats. Dave

Whether it is a sinker or a floater, this will not affect the depth that the lure swims, nor does the angle that the lure sits in the water when stationary. The depth is controlled by the water forces on the lip and body and also the resistance of the line as it passes through the water. So, if the lure started on the bottom, it would swim up to its depth. If you pause the bait, if it rises or sinks too fast, it will look unnatural. Also, most prefer to have the lure slightly floating, but this is not essential, just easier to manouvre over obstacles. If you hit a rock, you pause a few seconds and the lure rises. This change of pace, plus the disturbance can often be enough to trigger a strike. Well, that is the opinion of many here on TU. Dave

If you are going for a 'T' arrangement, then inserts will work very well. The nose insert will be say 6mm dia aly bar. Drilled 3mm dia to accept a short length of welding rod. This would give three points of contact in the mold. After curing, the 3mm is withdrawn first. This will release the 6mm rod. Just grease the rods before closing the mold and pouring. This will obviously give exit vents top and bottom. But I see no reason not to go side to side, if you prefer. Dave

Rosewood hasa specific gravity of 0.88 (water = 1.00). This leaves very little room for manouvre with the ballast, in fact, once you have added the paint and hardware, it will more than likely sink. You should all use a mask when using machines on wood, regardless of the wood type. Dave

I agree with some of Marks comments, the tall front. Not so sure about the thin though. But the lure has action, so that is not an issue here, we just have to solve the roll. By spreading the weight along the belly, you are kind of providing an axle for the lure to roll around. By concentrating the ballast in one place, behind the belly hanger, the body will want to rotate around this point. But it will be unable to, due to the increased distance. Well, this is the theory anyway. If you look at some of the video's published on TU, you will see that the more bulbous the nose section, the wilder the action. Search through The_rookie vids, he has some fine examples of the bulbous nose. My feeling is that a thin nose would part the water evenly and not innitiate the driving vortices. BUT, if you've made a thin nose bait that swims, then I hold my hands up, but a thin nose with a high forehead still swims. I am not ready to publish a theory on swimbaits yet, but all the above fits into my ideas. Dave

The ballast spread along the bottom does not seam unreasonable. But concentrating the ballast, just behind the front hanger, would be my choice. The narrow, roundish section only promotes roll. A deeper body would resist the roll motion more. Before getting too involved with the carving and painting of the next body, you should keep it simple and experiment with the ballast geometry. Be prepared to sacrifice a body or two for the art. There are no definites in this game, my suggestions above, are only that, suggestions. Drill some holes and try out different configurations and make notes. Dave

Yes. You can control the light penetration with multiple layers if necessary. That goes for cloth also. Dave

I would go for a tripod with a cable release (or computer trigger as mentioned previously). This would allow me to use a slow shutter speed. The slow speed will force a small aperture and give a larger depth of field. This is very important when doing close-ups, especially if photographing the lure from an angle. Using a fast shutter speed, you are likely to get the nose in focus, but the rear treble will be blurred. If the depth of field cannot be adjusted to get the entire lure in focus, you must make sure that the eyes are in focus, this goes for all photography. Dave

I suggest that you leave your lady at home. She may find the in depth discussion on fabric materials etc. with tha young sales assistant, a little disturbing. Dave

If you are getting excessive roll, then something is wrong with the basic setup. It might help to post a pic of the body, indicating the ballast locations and tell us the material used for the body (As this is a point of technical discussion, the pic will be allowed). Also, when you change your material to featherlite, everything will change again, due to the difference on density from the original body material. But my innitial guess is, that the ballast is both too high and too far back in the front section. Dave

Fish nets would be good, but I cannot bring myself to cut them up. Dave

Rofish, thanks for posting the pics. Your design is not too far away from my own. I will try to make a CAD pic for you, but the design is still in its infancy, it gets a little dream time occasionally. Dream time is when I get most of my ideas. Dave

Lol, one of the first questions that I asked was, 'so, what is the formula?'. I must add that the question was not well received either, people thinking that I was looking for a short cut, undermining the years of valuable experience of others. Personally, I think it is a perfectly reasonable question. I did a lot of work on trying to explore the possibilities of a formula, but to no avail. The problem is that some of the variables are not linear, the main one being the lip forces. Other things can be calculated, like the ballast, buoyancy, volume final weight. But here again, so many variables like, seal coat, paint and top coat weight, even lead density. These variables only really come into play if you are going for neutral buoyancy, a floater of sinker obviously have a bit more latitude. BUT, repeatability is important, so reasonable control ove the lure elements should be maintained. I suggest a digital gram scale and a note book. Not essential gear, but very useful. Dave

Pete, in 65 million years, some creature is going to find that bug eye, extract some DNA from the gnat and recreate a HAZMAIL!!! Scary. Dave

A2xd, welcome to TU. Yes, you will have to add some weight. This weight (usually lead) is called the ballast weight. It will make the bait swim the right way up and make it easier to throw. Seal the body to water proof. Tape a strip of lead to the belly. Trim the lead so that the body floats, with about 20% out of the water. Fit the lead in a hole in the belly, about 40% back from the nose. These figures are only a starting point and can all be adjusted. Unfortunately, lure design involves a lot of trial and learning. Don't be afraid to experiment and make notes. Dave

You may still have a chance to peal it apart, just be very careful. I've been there more than once. Slow down. As for the PoP, it is possible, but are more than likely going to damage the PoP, trying to remove the master. Dave

Flash can be used, but it would require a multiple flash gun arrangement and gets a bit messy. A single flash just gives hard shadows, but a second flash from the side solves the problem. We've all seen studio setups, were the flash points back into a brolly. This can be done by pointing the flash back to a sheet of paper. This reduces the hardness of the light. Even a single flash, mounted from the side (using a cable), can give good effect, but straight on flash is a waste of time. Dave

Once your pour stream covers the pour hole, it is game over. The pour stream has to allow air to escape thro' the same hole, so the pour stream has to be down the centre of the hole. Try tilting the mold slightly. Try resting your pour arm on a stack of phone books (this has been suggested here on TU before), to keep your arm steady. Dave

Sounds like hard work, mixing up 5gal drums of plastic. I would probably design some kind of drum rotator, so that it was always ready for use. Maybe a timer to switch it on 20 mins per day. But you know me by noe, always over the top. Dave

Sorry, all the mold methods are good for two piece. I don't know why I singled out RTV. Dave

ColombianRico, welcome to TU. I am a hard baits guy, so cannot answer most of your questions. But I will add that there are no dumb questions. Those brave enough to ask questions, are generally asking on behalf of many members and yet to be members, whether they realise it or not. Molds fall into four categories: aluminium (professionally made, no home made opportunities). PoP (Plaster of Paris) and Durhams water putty (similar to PoP), very cheap and easy to do. Resin/bondo, slightly more expensive than PoP, but still low price and more hard wearing. RTV (room temperature vulcanised rubber), a bit more expensive, but again, easy to do, good for two piece molds for difficult shapes. Search on the individual methods. Yes, you can copy existing lures, but you will get more pleasure from designing your own lures and catching fish on them (the ultimate). I have written a lot on the hardbaits forum on the fluid dynamics, but have deliberately NOT imposed on the softbaits forum. Very good question, that has not been asked (it should). The theory is no different. I suggest you google vortex shedding, this will give you a basic knowledge of what is going on regarding the dynamics. You have lots of reading to do. Good luck with it. Dave