jamie

Diemai you hit the nail right on the head, this is a way to tune lures to give different swim options.Ive been doing it for years and it is an old school way showed to me by a man thats done it for 50 years.

There is alot of great stuff there but if you go with an airbrush practise on paper or a piece of card board to learn control first. Go to youtube there are some great tuts on starting up with an airbrush. there is nothing more frustrating than to spend the time making a lure then only to try to paint for the first time on the lure and get poor results. practice abit first on scrap material then baits it will be better for you in the long run.

Diemai I added these weight options to the grandma style cranks, not that bait itself but that profile. They made a nice pitch from side to side and I love the action that it gave. Sadly I dont make many cranks anymore I mostly make gliders and pullbaits now but I still make one every now and then when needed. This topic of weighting is an old way to make new baits run. so if someone doesnt get the action they want try this idea.

while anawering a post on crankbait weighting it made me think of a way that I used to add weight to some cranks. I added a little weight to the spine of the bait to add to the wobble of the bait, too much weight though would cause the bait to blow out. What happens is the baits center of gravity has changed and the bait will tip from being top heavy. Its a differnt weighting option that you really dont hear alot about.I know from taking some manufactored baits apart ther is no standard weighting ,weight is distributed in several places to reach the action they want.My question is who hear does this and what do you all think of this weighting option.

I dont have any coecctions but I have been to some kids tourneys and Zebco has been sponsors of these events. Try work the larger local bait shops they have names of and connections with dealers of differnt companys and see what you come up with.

Try taking a couple baits and make test baits out of them. These baits you can add or take weight out to find the results that you want. Im a fellow muskie man myself and I like my cranks to sit lower in the water but still floating, this makes the bait have a slower rise and on a pause you can a make your bait hang there on a pause. I use these cranks for twitching out of brush and logs here in the creeks and small rivers in wv.You can also play with other weighting options .some here add weight along the spine of the bait to make a wide wobble. Be careful when adding weight to the spine because to much weight will cause the bait to blow out. I used to add weight here and it does make a nice wobble or tipping of the bait from side to side on a retrieve. Once again take some spare blanks and see what happens when you add weight here or there.

I was thinking the same thing as you mark but I was trying to get around the drilling. I will go with this idea to see how it goes and thanks mark and pete for your input.

Mark the larger hole doesnt run from front to back, the hole should enter through the head area and never go any farther than the gill area then it should vent out to the sides of the bait around the gill area. drilling is an option I thought about but wanted to see if I could mold the bait this way first so that I would have an exact bait every time. drilling leaves room for error and and if you dont line the the intake hole and exit hole up right water will never flow through it.

what Im doing is trying to get a sound effect from the the water going in the intake and exit the side port holes in the gill area of the bait. As far as what is a size holes Im thinking of a larger intake hole and narrow down the exit holes and try to get a water nozzle effect. Hopfully this will a different sound added to the differnt rattle options I have instore for this bait.Rattle baits are a big thing here for that time of year and I wanted to take this bait alittle outside of the box and make it different from the rest.

Pete i have the idea of making molds its how do I intergrate the idea of the vents into the bait. Ive done the research on molds and have the knowledge for that its how do I get the vent hole molded into the bait. Do I run heavy guage wire out of the bait where I want the holes to be and mold the bait like you would when you cast lead egg sinkers with a removable pin to give you the hollow effect? Its hard to understand what i need done and I wish that I could explain it a little better.

Im thinking Gander Mt out corridor G had some chatterbaits if you need hands on feel. Im thinking Musky Inovations makes them

Well what im trying to do is make vent holes in a rattle bait. In southern musky fishing in late Febuary and early March in the back a coves rattle baits are the bait of choice. Im going to for the first time try alumilite and want to try something a little different. In the bait I want to make vent holes for water to flow through. In the head of this bait I want water to flow into a small hole and exit out the side of the bait, around the gill area. I could drill every bait out but im wanting to make it molded into the bait to save time and to make every bait the same. Im looking to make a different sound hopfully, along with the differnt types of rattle options that Im going to try for this bait.Im wanting to try some differnt things out in time so that I can give the guides on Cave Run some baits to test for me. So what I need is how do I mold this idea into a blank that I have carved out Thanks guys

There has been several post here on this topic and there is alot of confusion of the correct terms are. Alot of factors play a role in slang definition, like where your from or the species of fish your that your chasing but it boils down to is its slang terms most of us use and I believe your statement above to be the true meaning. This is just my opinion.

I agree with this one but we call the dive and rise jerk baits pullbaits here. I think its more the southern musky slang used here and not the correct term.

Joe im a big fan of your baits also.

Smokey thank you this was what I was looking for.....

I have that idea down what im looking for is the build of the chamber itself. I can suspend it on a wire frame like he did the ballast weight but I dont know how to build the chamber.

Well I dont wont to go to far into detail of the bait itself but what I do need is help figureing out how to place a rattle chamber in a one piece bait. I will be using alumilite for this build and need a ratlle chamber (like a rattle trap) with a good amount of shot. Any help will be apreciated. thanks

My therory is if you dont loose a bait once and a while your not fishing tight enough.I dont loose one all the time, very rare, but if it wasnt for my lure retrievier I would be in trouble. I carry three different types of lure retrievers and one will usually get the plug loose. But on another note my dad is 78 years old and still musky fishes with me and you want to talk about loosing plugs. my dad gets upset but Im just glad he still with me and he can loose every lure in my box ,I dont care. I just tell him dont worry I will make another one. Lord knows how many of his I lost when I was little.

these work good for myself also but be sure to mark which one you use for the hardener and the one for the resin and dont get the two mixed up.

I was really wanting to get into the molding and casting side of things. I was thinking of going more commercial and I was wanting a molded bait for speedier turnout, toothproof, and not have to worry about sealing.

Let me know how that works out because im going to lean torwards the same direction and i need all the input that I can get. Ive been whittling on wood for so long its all I know and this is all new ground for me.

Im sorry I did make a poor statement above . The only problem being that in a drop belly situation when useing cedar verses a more dense wood you have a space issue. Yes you can load the bait up with lead but you have to watch how deep your drilling and how much lead in one hole you can add. You add lead too far up into the bait and it will cause the bait to roll.To me I would rather add less lead and tuning a glider to suspend on a pause is a lot easier. I like to have my gliders to just sit there on a pause and there is a fine line on too much lead and not enough.

The only thing mark about cedar is you have to put a lot of weight in a musky plug when useing cedar and when fishing all day thats really hard on your rod reels and your back. I like to weight my gliders to where they hang there when setting still and the really come to life with little effort. I have a snax bait that I bought about two years ago it was the brown sucker and I dont even own a rod that can throw that baby, man its a awsome looking bait but a little to heavy for me. A buddy of mine trolls with it and has slammed some nice fish on that same snax,it does catch some nice fish. I can make an oak bait walk with wide glides and use little weight for ballast.I make mostly drop belly gliders style baits and oak an maple work very well for me. The only thing about oak is you have to seal the bait very well because sometimes oak will crack.

I make a lot of gliders for musky and use maple or oak for the wood. All wooden baits need to be sealed and you really cant get around that. Maple really isnt any harder to seal than another wood and thats type of wood I really like useing. Oak is very dense and you dont need as much ballast weight as you would with poplar or ceder but you do have to make sure you seal the bait.