Mr. Wessels

PBalsa and Chartreuse, I think you've raised an excellent concern. I've thought about this problem and I think that the design could still work if I am careful to observe a particular constraint... In order for the bait to keep from "keeling-over" completely, a particular condition must be satisfied: the buoyancy force acting at the center of mass must overcome the torque acting in this same spot. I apologize for getting technical, but I don't know any other way of explaining it. You can follow along using my attached sketch. If the condition defined below is satisfied, the buoyancy force will prevent the lure from rolling any further towards the horizontal water line, suspending the center of mass and the "tilt axis" at some angle > zero. Necessary Constraint: Fb >= r X mg Where Fb = buoyancy force r = distance from pivot to center of mass (pivot = intersection of tilt axis with water line) m = mass of lure g = acceleration due to gravity For modeling purposes, let's assume the volume of water displaced by the lure is fixed (and therefore, Fb is a constant). In this case, I can help satisfy the above constraint in two basic ways (to reduce the right side of the equation): *reduce overall weight of lure *move the center of mass in towards pivot (decrease "r") Of course, I could incorporate some combination of both solutions. Hmmm...lots and lots of tinkering. That's my prediction! -Christopher

Excellent responses! Thanks! I've been thinking harder about the weighting of this thing and I've sketched some more ideas to share. Hazmail, I love your idea of using a "reverse" lip; this design is perhaps more true to the concept of a crankbait running upside down. I think I would move the lip down on the bait - along with the water line - because the lure would need to sit higher in the water in order for it to have that tip-over instability at rest. Naturally, this idea begs further discussion. For the time being, however, I want to follow-up on the lipless configuration. As you mentioned, hazmail, this design might tend to "continually drive [...] up and out of the water and probably plane"; but I think I've developed a conceptual weighting scheme that will at least keep the tail section down during a moderate cadence (unless I want the lure to jump out of the water, which a hard jerk could accomplish). My plan is to use balsa, because it is extremely buoyant; I need the lure to sit high in the water. Attached you will find my simplistic shape and weighting scheme. You can see that I've come up with something that is almost like a lipless crankbait that's been tangled on the front hook. If the scheme works, then the lure should behave as follows: Behavior: At "rest," the lure sits tipped to one side. As I pull on the line tie with moderate force, the lure comes up out of the water until the "tie" is just above the water line. The symmetrical "planar" face of the head causes the lure to "right" itself as it is coming up out of the water such that momentarily, at the "crux" of its climb, the lure sits directly vertical (i.e., no tipping - see FRONT VIEWs on sketch). You can see that at this point the lure will simply flop over from instability at low speeds (and angular momentum from its upward sweep will ensure that it flops to the other side as opposed to the same one). Against greater forces (harder rod jerk), the line tie will actually come out of the water, which will exaggerate the "flop-over" motion, causing the lure to dart harder left or right (zig-zag/spook?). With enough force, you could jump this thing out of the water completely. How To: The sketch illustrates how I might weight the bait to accomplish this action. Roughly, I would add weight to three places: *Dorsal Weight *Belly Weight *Tail Weight The Tail Weight: As you can see from the "LURE AT CRUX" view in my sketch, I need to have enough weight in the tail section to keep the base submerged as the line tie approaches the water line. If I opt for the soft tail, I would need to add salt to it! But the tail weight is important for another reason; it serves as a kind of anchor or pivot point. Imagine you have a marble connected by two strings. One string is fixed to an anchor ("tail weight"), the other string is in your hand. Now, what happens to the marble when you yank on the string? Well, that's basically how the lure's head will behave (although more controlled). But the anchor can't be too heavy, because you want it to be able to move (pop out of the water) with a hard enough twitch (launch!). The Belly Weight: The purpose here is to distribute the weight so the lure sits more "horizontally" in the water at rest, and to add weight so the lure doesn't pop up flat on its side like a lily pad (as I discussed in my first post). I probably wouldn't lump this weight all in one place, but I would distribute it in such a way that its position is mostly "neutral" when the tie is level with the water line (see sketch). This way, it will not significantly affect the "marble-and-tether" behavior described above. The Dorsal Weight: Mostly needed to help shift the center of mass above the line of symmetry for that proverbial instability. To maximize instability, I want to place the weight such that it sits as high as possible when the line-tie makes it to the surface during a pull (maximize "h"; see sketch). You can see from my sketch at the "CRUX" that I "h" is greatest when the dorsal weight is placed in the front half of the lure (but not directly at the highest point of the lure's back). Of course, this design requires a lot of fine-tuning and actual tinkering; but at least now I have a rough idea of how to approach placing weights to achieve the desired action. Feel free to mark-up my sketches as did hazmail. -Christopher

Hello TU, I recently finished making my first glide bait for bass. While testing it, I found that it zig-zagged with such a profound sweeping motion that half the time its hooks tangled up with my line. Certainly, this result frustrated me; and yet, watching that "fouled" lure flutter around at the surface as I hustled it in got me thinking... The behavior reminded me of a response I sometimes get from lipless crankbaits when they foul in my line because I am trying to burn/skip them. In such situations, the baits flop all over the place - sometimes popping straight up out of the water if they're tangled just right. I remember thinking that a bass might be attracted to such a desperate display, but you don't want a bass to strike a fouled bait because the line could snap clean on a barb. So, I posed this question: "How might I design a bait to imitate this behavior while running properly?" Now, I would like to present TU with this same question, along with a preliminary concept to help jumpstart the discussion. The Effect: A) Design a lure to flop around on its sides at the surface like a dying fish trying to "right" itself. This lure should also be able to jump clean out of the water like a fish in a skirmish. The Design: I believe shape and weight distribution are the keys to achieving the desired effect. I've scanned a few sketches to help demonstrate my approach. One part theory. One part implementation. First, the theory: *In order for the lure to tilt/lean to one side or the other at rest, the center of mass must lie above the water line (instability is key). By intuition, I think the center of mass should also be located forward, in the "head" half of the bait (to serve as a kind of reverse ballast against the shape of the head - see next bullet point). *In order for the lure to be able to "rocket" out of the water, the shape of the head should be like that of a diving crankbait set upside down. To take full advantage of the leverage from this tapered head, I should position the line tie far down towards the belly (this is where my design starts looking unique, see sketch). Next, implementation: In order to position the center of mass as needed for instability, I might start with a basic perch or bluegill shape; these fish are thin and wide (think "skipping stone"; see proportions on sketch). Then, I would shape the cross-section such that looks like the hull of a ship (imagine a speedboat that is so light that it tips over to one side at rest; the volume of material above water exceeds that below). Lastly, I might add some weight to the belly, and some to the dorsal half (but I won't need to add too much dorsally if I shape it right). The belly ballast is important because it serves as a counterweight to ensure that the lure rests in the water at an angle and not completely flat like a lily pad. I can adjust the angle phi (see sketch) using weights: reduce phi by adding more dorsal weight and increase phi by adding more belly weight. In general, some amount of weight is needed to make sure that at least 1/3 of the lure stays submerged for needed resistance against the tapered head during jerks. I would need to experiment with the angle of the head and the position of the line tie; but, from the looks of my sketches, I think this thing would pop right up if I gave it a quick tug. And, as long as the center of mass is not biased towards one side of the bait (looking top-down), then a milder tug on the line should cause the bait to flop from side to side...and maybe even zig-zag like a Spook. Final Considerations: This design may have size limitations. I think a smaller (i.e., bass) bait would work best because the light weight would help it "jump" or skip more easily. I also think adding a soft tail to the bait could be a good idea; this would help promote instability while adding to the appeal of its fluttering motion. I've presented a design that does not involve a clear lip; but I wouldn't rule out this possibility. Of course, I haven't refined many details at this point, and I haven't yet started a prototype. Nevertheless, I wanted to share my conceptual approach to this challenge and open it up to you all to see what you do with it. Vodkaman, I've read many of your posts and have no doubt you could add something valuable. -Christopher Wessels

Hey everyone, I recently became a member of this site and, naturally, I relish every bit of it. I guess at some point I'll get around to a more formal introduction, but for now I just wanted to post a link to a website that I happened upon, which I found interesting. The site demonstrates a rather unique method of producing a swirling effect with your paint job by dipping the object of interest into a mixture of water and enamel. The tutorial features a yo-yo, but the technique could just as easily be applied to lure blanks. Here's the link: http://www.yoyoing.com/wildjimbo/wjbmi/