diemai

Thank you , Mark and David(no need to apologize:nuhuh:) , but I hung that lure aside right now(not for a long time:)) , next I must get started with a new topwater prototype , that has been on my mind for weeks now , still want to try it in the warm season this year , and you know , that I am not of the fasted kind . I guess , tomorrow morning I'll get my lathe running:) , so I could do the sealing and painting together with that swimbait . Also planning on some jerkbaits long time overdue for a friend and....and....! So many lures , so little time:( ! Greetz , Dieter

@ Lincoya !

This is cool , I'm eager to see and hear about your progress:yes: ! Greetz , diemai

Man , if I read all this , I think , I'd better stay with my aluminium lips(though they don't look as good) . Always thought , that Lexan was the ultimate material:huh: ! Greetz , diemai

Hi , everbody Just this morning I have completed the woodwork on my new , small swimbait . Everything went along fine so far , the bait also has the 90

I guess , that it must be that 5% of your uncertainity , though I am not sure about wether Lexan may go through a process of "aging" under certain circumstances(long exposure to sunlight or contact with solvents or chemicals or similar) , that may render it breakable:? . Many years ago I have made some three larger lures with Plexiglass lips from scrap(didn't know it better back then) , one accidentally slipped from my hand and fell tail first on the floor , the impact shock was enough to crack off the lip like laser-cut around the belly curve ! Thought , that the lip was damaged before , so I dropped a second lure intentionally the same way , and it happened again ! After I cut out all the three lips on my routing machine and replaced them with aluminium ones . Good Luck , diemai

Congratulations on that lure and nice fish ! Whatched your vid a couple of times , a pleasure to view , indeed ! great ! Dieter

@ DSV There are no flaws to be seen on your new bait , just drops of water ! It just looks nice , well done job:yay: ! No bass there inside that garden fountain , aye:lol: ?? keep on carvin' , Dieter

Sorry about that little mess happened , but the fish won't care;) ! Talking about two section baits I've thought , that this one might be of interest : It is a small bait , that must have come out well over fifteen years ago over here in Europe . The lure is named "Jack Rapid" and made in Denmark . So far I only knew it by a pic and the describtion in the English book "Encyclopaedia Of Lures" , copyrighted in 1993(check pic of text) . Last year I was lucky enough to finally find one at a fleamarket and , no question , I have bought it ! Its action is never as pronounced like a three section lure , its frequency of "S"-moves is lower as well . It seems to have no added weights , it only balances itself by the density of its material and the weight of the belly hook . Greetz , diemai

@ finlander I never came across other rattling spoons so far , and I'm a great fan of spoons ! I even was surprised when I first saw these ones at "Stamina's" , though I haven't bothered about ordering for them . Only have one or two spoon-like lures of plastic , 3-dimensional though and filled with steelballs , mailordered them years ago from the US , if my memory serves me right , but these are way too heavy for trolling . Why not trying to somehow stick a glass rattle or plastic jig rattle onto your trolling spoon and test them in a bath tube(this way you can clearly hear any sound , that the lure generates !) . I would try to position the rattle crosswise the length of the spoon , though this might be tricky , due to the cupping of the blade . Don't use glue at first , but some kind of plastic tape to fix the rattle temporary for testing , this way you might easily alter its position for possibly best results . Maybe even sturdy and very sticky repair tape would be sufficient for a permanent bond of the rattle , instead of epoxy ? The only noise-generating spoon , that I know , is the Finnish "Finnbait Turbo" , you can view my homemade versions in the gallery , check for uploads under "D" , pictures name is "array of spoons" . These spoons are currently shown on page 18 of the "D" uploads , they generate a gentle , metallic "click-click-click...." sound , since the lure swims back in a wave pattern , constantly rocking left/right and the front splitring slides up and down the line tie slot , permanentely hitting its edges . Greetz , diemai

Talkin ' bout these ones ? Rattle Spoons Greetz , diemai

Hahahaha , didn't even notice , that there also were no hook eyes on that pictured lure ! I always test my lures with temporary rigged sceweyes and hardware in my bathtube , to prevent water sepage at this stage , I'd apply a topcoat of acrylic clear paint on the wood before(later sand it a little rough prior to priming) . By this bath tube testing I can determine about the performance of the lure , wether to shave its lip and where and how many weights to add , etc. ! I know , that this means a lot of extra work effort , but most likely it saves me from disappointment on the finished product . I'd only leave out this test , if I make several lures of the same model , also of the same wood , since I can expect them to run in about the same manner . If it should happen to have to change the position of an eyescrew , I'd close the old hole with a toothpick . I'd just apply some epoxy or waterproof wood glue onto it and gently hammer it down the hole and break the potruding part off . Sand smooth after curing ! I guess , you could still twist out an epoxied screw eye with bigger pliers and quite a bit of force , I haven't done it before , only on eyes set it with superglue , no problems about that ! But screw eyes of brass might break , they don't stand too much twisting force:yes: ! I would leave the lure , like it is , your described "twitching" action sounds promising ! Good Luck:yay: , Dieter

OK , this is an "ancient" thread , just came across it in "quick links" , but anyone interested in telescopic rods should check for European mail orders , these kinda rods are extremely popular in Europe and available for almost every purpose , pricing ranges between 15

@ DSV Hard to recognize on your picture(the flash reflection's disturbin') , but it seems , that the tow eye is located just a little fraction underneath the very point of the head of lure . The front section of your lure is also of a symetrical shape ! After my personal theory the head of a swimbait and the location of the tow eye have to be furnished in a way , that the oncoming current on retrieve would be stronger either on the top ,-OR bottom portion relating to line tie position . This uneven pressure on one of the two portions creates a kinda lever around the tow eye and causes the lure to swim back in the typical "snake-like" pattern:? . If you still want to alter the action now , you should move the tow eye a bit down the chin or up the nose of the lure , so then it probably would feature this typical swimbait action . Or you might as well set in a smaller lip at almost 90

I also paint over with acrylic clear coat before topcoating ! Greetz , diemai

I cut those slots on my first swimbait with a router bit on my small hobby routing machine . I always drill pilot holes for my screw eyes , even in softer woods like abache . It's not , that you can't twist the eyes into such wood without pre-drilling , but , in the sense of that term , that hole "pilots" the screw into the right direction . In such soft woods the holes don't have to be as deep as the length of the screweye's shank , half to 2/3 is enough , the diameter of the pilot hole shoud be like the core of the thread on the shank , or a fraction smaller . But things are different when working with hardwoods like beechwood , oak or maple(these I am familiar to) . Here the pilot hole has to be of almost same depth like the threaded shank's length , also the diameter may be a fraction larger . But I don't utilize a larger drill bit as I would use for soft wood , I'd just circle the rotating bit around and move it up and down inside of the hole to make it wider a bit;) . This is very important , when mounting longer screw eyes , that do not have a thread all the way up their shank , the pilot hole has to be larger , where this unthreaded portion engages into the wood , otherwise that shank portion binds too much whilst twisting in the screweye . You will clearly feel this , when the hole is too tight , it is very hard to twist in the eye , even using pliers , the eyelet might rather be bend. In this case , unscrew the eye again and make the hole larger . it takes some "feel" . And NEVER use brass screw eyes into hardwood , these won't give no warning by bending away , they'll just twist off ! Try to go for SST only ! greetz , diemai