diemai

You can't waste money on German beer , since it's good stuff ! It is still brewed after a restriction from the 16th century , that it should not contain nothing but hops , malt and water , absolutely no artificial or chemical adds of any kind ! If you drink two sixpacks , you'll feel the difference the next morning , wether it was pure , genuine German beer or some other stuff with rice , corn , various E ??? food additives and God knows what in it . Don't know about American beer , since I haven't tried it yet , but above mentioned happened to me several times with different European beers:sauced: . And as far as I'm concerned , some big American breweries were also founded by German brewers . Cheers , diemai

@ mark poulson Thanks about that hint , if I understood right , the hinges neccessarely must not be placed equally centered(from a sideview) , but may slide upward a bit to gain more space at the belly portion for weights:wink: . I can imagine , that it won't alter the action significantly , so I'll have that in mind for future baits ! After glueing in your hookeyes with those 1/8 ounce sinkers attached , do your baits still sink at a horizontal level ? Or you add further balance weights ? I don't really like glueing in weights in advance , I need to test everything in my waterbucket ! Also already had some weight holes touch up internally to screweye shafts , just like you I don't bother too much , since my glue fills it all up again ! Greetz , Dieter

@ The Natural Just checked your link , man , this sounds very interesting to me:yes: ! Next time in the tool-mart I have to check for such a stuff , but I doubt about finding it over here ! Only dip my lure blanks into wood preserver , abachewood I'd soak in linseed oil , but it surely does not have an effect on the woods surface as much as described in the link . Thanks , diemai

@ ghost So if this is about a sort of "black humour" amongst servicemen , that are locked together in threatening and hazardous situations over there , I can fully understand , they would take(or even need) this kind of stuff to play over their own concerns and fears . But it should remain behind the camp's gates in my opinion , amongst the men concerned , it is nothing for the wide public . If I should have upset you with my post , I apologize:yes: , as a mid-aged German , that is quite interested in history , I just tend to think different about anything concerning the military . greetz , Dieter

Finally I managed now to place the determined weights into the swimbait body . It was a bit finacky , since I could not just drill the holes as deep , as I maybe wanted to , since the hinge screweyes locations hinder deep drilling . So I had to go as shallow as possible with the weight holes , therefore make them quite large in diameter , thus swage the leadshot and sinker weights rather into a "disc" shape:wink: . To use the space as good as possible , I employed some wood router bits to precisely cut these holes , with their bottoms plane . Well , things worked out well , maybe not the easiest method , but works out fine for me , and I don't mind tinkering a bit ! Anyway , the weights are fixed now , and after curing I'd cut the glue plugs on the holes flush with my "Dremel" and files . More details about my method of glueing in the weights in my thread "New Banana Lures" Greetz , Dieter

OK , yesterday I found the time to glue in the weights into the lures , that I had previously determined . When neccessary , I'd render those simple leadshots to a rather cylindrical shape , at first with pliers and to get it still a little more round , I'd swage it gently with a small hammer over the edge of my vise from both ends , always turning it . Quite finacky on smaller pieces , but works for me:wink: ! At first I fill in some glue into the holes , than put in the weights and finally close the holes with glue . It is of advantage , not to break the edges of those weight holes , when drilling them . The little ridge , that sets up there at the entry of the hole , helps a bit to prevent the wet glue from flowing off the hole too much:wink: . When weighting bigger lures with larger weight holes , or when holes are located at rather round portions of the lure(wet glue flows away easily) , I'd pour some sawdust or woodchips from my lathe into the freshly mixed glue , and stir . This way I get a nice putty to smear into the weightholes , after the lead has been set in . I save expensive glue this way , but biggest advantage is , that it can not flow away , when still wet . Also cures better and faster . You can easily comprime this "woodchips glue plug" with your fingertips , just pour some sawdust on it , when still sticky , this way it won't stick to you , just like a baker does on the dough:yes: ! After at least 24 hrs curing time , I'd work those glue plugs flush again like previously described . Greetz , Dieter

Though I do not quite agree with the present US policy overseas , I really don't find it funny to be joking on the destiny of so many young men ! I rather see those as humans , not as soldiers . Think about it , diemai

@ mouldybits Welcome here , nice to have another European guy around:wink:! Do you know Lure Fishing UK , there are a lot , and I mean a lot of links there to suppliers American , European and Australian alike , also to other fishing-related sites . But I must admit , I never checked the British shops there:huh: ! But maybe you'd rather go for continental ones , since I guess , they'd be a little cheaper . But buzz blades are indeed hard to find over here , but you can make them yourself , its not that hard , once you get a hold on it and have the right tools at hand . Saw a pictured post about it on a German site , and I also did similar as well before . Greetz , Diemai

@ Vodkaman I've seen those either about 2 years ago in the catalog of a great German mailorder tackle shop , looks quite useful there:huh: . But to me it's too much headache , because you must match your line pull test to the splitrings , the line , leader and interconnected swivels must always be slightly higher rated as these splitrings . This means , that one should only fish certain lures on certain rods , that have the right line on , since they have these rings in different sizes and ratings to fit different demands . And to rig even only my most frequently used lures with these splitrings , would probably cost a small fortune:( ! Even once heard or read somewhere , that someone had heated his hook bends to glow with a welding burner or soldering torch to render the steel softer . So when snagged up , he'd just straighten out or snap the hooks with an appropriate braid to free his lure . Might not suggest this method , unless you're 100% sure , that there are only smaller fish around:huh: !

I am only a member of TU for a few months now and obviously I am one of those , that don't mind sharing about the results of their work as I am also very happy about other fellow tinkerers to give me input and assistance concerning their own work . In this rather short period of time I have turned to a true TU addict , but now I am a little scared about the future of this site . I never intended and still not do to make lures on a commercial scale , in Europe such would a lot harder , as it might be in the USA , anyway . I am just doing it for my own pleasure and as a senseful leisure time occupation . I believe , if such an entry fee has to be payed , a lot of people would quit , and there is more than one reason for this : -why paying for making your knowledge accessible to other people ? -if being a rather young guy , that never has own income , such a fee might hit hard on your bugdet ! -why paying for something , that one does not know , what about would come out of it ? If I understood right with my limited knowledge of the English language , the administration work upon TU has by now become way too elaborate and time consuming to get along with it as a volunteerely leisure time affair , but yet has to be achieved in a full time job now , that off course has to provide a living ! Well , if it is so , in my point of view it's a real nasty affair , absolutely not easy to deal with . As said before , an entry fee would surely minor the number of members by about one quarter(if I hazard a guess) , maybe even up to half ! And the biggest problem is not only the sheer number of members decreasing , rather more its their(sorry to say it like this) quality and usefulness for the entire site . What I want to say is , when loosing a few "Tow Horses" of the TU waggon , this would render the entire site a lot less attractive for other , less active people , and these would do a damn thing about paying money for such . I heard about exactly such happened on a German site , though no money was involved , but such "Tow Horses" were somehow driven away by certain behaviour of other members , and later they felt quite sorry , since the site was afterwards just "drifting along" rather than being an interesting , well-frequented source for its community . Also fresh people coming along would be put off immediately by having to pay admission , in this case only some well thought-off sample pages might possibly help . So , in my opinion , if it is absolutely essential to rise a financial source , I'd also go for these various ideas about swaps and donations and stuff , but no entry fee . But he bad thing about this is , that these are far less planable in monetary terms , a fee is a lot easier to foresee in that way , just "number of members X sum of fee = financial budget" . It really is a great dilemma , indeed ! So , I really don't know , which option to vote for , since I don't believe in an entry fee to do any good . On the other hand I'd be ready to pay it(for a short period of time at first) , just to see , what would happen , because I like TU and don't wanna miss it . But if my concerns about less attractivity for me would come true later , I'd quit , wether I like it or not , don't have money to waste these days ! In my opinion there should also be an option for abstention in that poll , also it is not of advantage to show the current results , since these would(and surely will)take influence on the votes . Anyway , still have some days left to think all over , since it is about the future of a quite important thing to me . Finally I'd like to say , that one old German proverb , that my long time passed grandma tought me , came to my mind , when I first figured out , what this is all about : "Bei Geld hört die Freundschaft auf !" , means as much as "concerning money all friendship ends !" Hoping for the best , Dieter

@ hazmail Seen this one before in a Wisconsin musky gear catalog , think it was "Rollie&Helens" . But for me it doesn't seem to be very practical and handy , because I most likely snag up lures deeper than 9 metres(27 feet) , when fishing from my small boat . In this case I'd use a homemade lure retriever , that roughly consists of a lead-cast-out copper tube with a wire corkscrew on its side to thread in the mainline . It has four 1 foot pieces of iron chain on its bottom to catch up with the lure's hooks and about 75 feet of cord attached . Only problem is to set and anchor the boat possibly straight above the snagged lure for best function , especially in windy conditions not an easy affair ! But otherwise it works nicely , I have already saved dozens and dozens of lures with it , even pulled up a nice 8 lbs anchor , an illegal fishing net and a bicycle(from25 feet ! ! !) . This pole retriever would be only interesting to me for fishing from bank , most snags occur at close range , as the water gets shallower towards the bank , also for lures hung into trees it would be very useful . But , why , the heck , I must carry along six pole sections of 5 feet length crawling through bushes , trees and reed to get access to the best places , where pike tend to lurk , already got enough problems with rod , landing net and tacklebag sometimes ! I don't doubt it's function at all , but I guess , this retriever is only good for fishermen , that have lots of storage space in their boat and fish shallower than 27 feet waters . Greetz , diemai

Alright , and here finally the "Round Tail" versions , the two smaller lures have already produced some smaller pike and also perch:yes: . Greetz , Dieter

OK , here some pics of some lures made after previously posted sketches , The version with the rounded tail has a little more moderate wobble , the one with the straight "cut" tail woobles a fraction more intense !

@ hazmail Thanks about having posted that picture , could be another challenge for me:yay: ! In fact , obviously you also had to learn the hard way about such "Banana" lures ! I have produced so many rejects , before I obviously got behind their secrets . Well , here are two sketches of well-proven models(sorry , don't have a scanner/printer) , maybe , you could take advantage of them somehow ? If I want to enlarge or minor the size of lure , I'd just enlarge or minor the sketch on a photocopy machine , the sizes(length and especially width) I calculate into new dimensions alike . I'd cut out the copies and glue them onto the wood , but one might as well go with cardboard stencils made after them:wink: . These lures all dive rather shallow(2 to 4 feet) , depending also on sort of wood used . If you want a deep diver , it seems , that this "SuperBug" version ist rather foolproof , but I can't tell for sure , since it is my first one:huh: !

@ Sonny.Barile In fact the largest of my "Banana" models(132 mm , 5 1/3") can be used as a wake bait , provided that it would be made of maximum possible buoayant sort of wood ! Check previously posted pics(three lures swimming on surface) , these almost achieve this feature on a very slow retrieve with the rod tip pointing upward , especially when they come in closer back to you . I am sure , if you make them little larger , as you said , and thus more buoyant , you might still enhance this swimming action . I have just searched my various storage boxes in my basement and picked some lures , that might also be of interest to you . All of these are prototypes , made of buoyant abachewood . I haven't fished them a lot(just because they don't fit easily into most of my tackle stowaways , that I take along fishing:() , but they all do work nicely . I just like to fool around with different and sometimes little weird designs ! In particular the one on top with a "frog" finish does not dive deep at all , when retrieved quite fast , it just swims along at about 4" under the surface . Pulled back slower , it's tail shakes and swings right on the surface , causing a nice wake . Don't quite remember about the other two , but they would act similar on a slow retrieve . They all have in common to provide this distinctive side-to-side swing , just "corkscrewing" through the water , but never overturning ! The two lipped lures also have a jig rattle set in at their fattest portion of body . When making the lip arrangement , first finish the outer shape of lure , after make the lip of aluminium sheet(1,5 to 2,0 mm) , on larger lures thinner SST sheet should do either. Mark , center-punch and drill the screw holes into the lip and then press the lip in proper position against lure to mark the pilot holes at the blank through the lip holes with an awl ! It is very important to put a piece of paper inbetween:wink: ! This is to resemble the final paint ,-and topcoats , if you don't do this , the screwhole(s)and the hole on top of blank won't be aligned anymore and you'd have to extend the lip hole to an oval shape with a small router bit . Certainly they might still require a little balance weight somewhere in front of the belly hook , if the line tie stands in the way somehow for this , I also sometimes drill the weight holes left/right of it , embedding two equal lead shots into them . Greetz , Dieter

@ Bass'n'Cast When I started out luremaking long time ago , and I never had a lathe , I used to carve round lurebodies( "Spook" , "Heddon's Wiggler" , "Lucky 13" , some poppers and other spindle-shaped designs)out of round pinewood dowels , widely available over here in diameters of 18 , 23, 28 and 32 millimetres . I'd first pencil-mark the center at each end of the already sized dowel piece and draw a circle of about 8 to 10 millimetres dia. around it . This circle is the reference not to carve away . Then I draw lines around the circumference of the dowel ,parallel to the end planes , on either side to mark the transition of the dowels(lures) greatest diameter to its head ,-and tail taper . I'd start carving with a carpet knife on the ends first to hit the circle line , so that the ends would already be round . Then , step-by-step , I'd move my cuts further towards the circumference lines . It is extremely important , to always equally turn the workpiece a little further around with each stroke of the knife , and also one must take care about always cutting away about equal sized woodchips from the dowel at about same distance and angle to the end . This way it is possible to achieve a reasonably round , tapered blank , that is finally sanded smooth , also by constantly fondling it and take off material equally . Lip slots should be cut at first on the yet untouched dowel . The plane ends within the marker circles are also sanded round finally . When you use balsa for your round lures , and they are not too large(up to 5" , 1 1/2" dia.) , you might as well try to turn them down on a drill press ! I have made countless balsa floats this way . Take your square balsa dowel and roughly carve a centered round notch onto one end , that you can clamp tightly into the chuck of the drill . On the table of the drill press you must somehow fix a nail upright under the center of the chuck , either in a rigid vise or in a sort of homemade jig . The fixed dowel is now guided onto the nail with the feed of the press and fixed(off course in its center) , so that it can't slide upward anymore accidentally ! Use a knife to break the edges of the dowel first , after switch on the drill at highest speed and you can work the dowel into any desired round spindle-shape , first with coarse sanding paper , then getting down step-by-step to about 600 grit . Wear googles and dust protection mask ! The lipslot must be cut after the body is finished , I'd use a "Dremel" cutting wheel for it , previously I'd pencil four kinda "quarter lines" down the length of the lureblank , leading from the center of one end to the other . These are for reference for the lipslot and hookeyes location . I haven't yet made lures that way , but for balsa floats it works perfect . Harder woods are impossible to work round this way . Any questions ? Feel free to post:wink: ! Cheerio , diemai

Hi , folks Finally managed to weigh and test all of my recent "Banana" lures in my bath tube , also some other lures , that I've been working on during the past weeks . And I am very happy , that they all turned out to work fine this time , no rejects:) ! Some lures required a balance weight to stabilize their swimming pattern , some didn't:wink: . The smallest teakwood "Banana" has the "wildest" wobble , due to its pronounced body curve it moves almost like a snake , "corkscrewing" itself through the water , but yet not overturning , even at higher retrieve speed and without balance weight ! And I am absolutely amazed about this "SuperBug" version:lol: ! It has quite a narrow wobble and body roll , but at a very high cadence , almost vibrating ! Since I used less dense abachewood and fixed a 2mm Lexan lip , it turned out very buoyant , way too buoyant to reach sufficient depths:? ! So I taped-on two lead shots of a total weight of maybe 5 grams , just to get it deeper a bit . As you may see on the picture , it is still buoyant enough to pop right back out of submerged obstacles ! The lure runs stable even without weights , these are only for deeper diving , and they minor the wobble just a very little fraction ! Next time I'd better go with a thicker lip or more denser wood , or even both together ! Maybe you guys wouldn't understand.......but I am happy , the worst is done ! Greetings , Dieter

OK , I have now tested that swimbait with the still taped-on weights in my bath tube , and , I am very happy........IT WORKS PERFECT ! It has that distinctive snake-like swimming pattern even on a slow pull , it looks great ! I am sorry , that I can't provide a video , but this(unfortunately out of focus)picture still clearly shows the sideward swing of the tail section:yay:. Next step now would be to work in the weights into the lures belly . greetz , Dieter

@ rofish If taking care about that trapped air , it works pretty well for me , no way ! But I might not want to pierce holes into my lures with needles(only pike are allowed to do that with their teeth:lol:) , it probably won't work with thru-wired lures , since they have this slot in their centers , filled with glue and wire , guess , no needle could easily enter ! Your method about the cylindrical lead is better , since you can cut it to different lengths , this way it is far easier to alter the weight for fractions . Sorry , can't write more now , my wife just got home , we'd be off fishing now ! Greetz , Dieter

Hi , everybody , This morning I have determined about the weighting of my swimbait . I usually do this in a waterbucket in my workshop by taping in-line sinkers and/or leadshot onto the lureblanks at desired(or better required)location . But I only proceed jerkbaits(and now also swimbaits)this way , since they require a certain sink rate or swim level , if floating models . Crankbaits I'd test straight in my bath tube , so I can check their action under various weighting options . Off course I'd also test this swimbait for action with these weights still taped on , but usually I don't do this with jerkbaits , since I have enough experience with them(unless new prototypes) . If the sinking behaviour in the bucket is fine , they'll work , that one I know:wink: ! Anyway , the lead , that I taped onto this lure , just lets it float up about level with its back slightly sticking out . If I submerge it by hand , it would rise at about 1" in 1 1/2 to 2 seconds . So , after I drill the holes to embed the weights and after the paint ,-and final topcoats it would loose some more buoancy and maybe sink at 4" a second , maybe little more ? The piece of wire attached to the toweye resembles the wire leader , that I would use later when fishing with the lure for pike . Using this "substitute weight" helps quite a bit , that your finished lure later won't hang too much head-down on your line & leader:wink: . When lure has dried sufficiently , I'd just disassemble it and drill the weight holes at the determined locations , which I mark with a waterproof felt pen , before removing that plastic tape & weight ! I would swage the most likely round or oval weights a little flat , not to have to drill too deep into the lure , since often there are eyescrews mounted , that limit the depth of the weight holes . For same space reasons I sometimes even have to swage the lead into a rectangular(or cubic) shape and thus have to furnish elongated lead-pouches with a small router bit on my drillpress with cross-slide table ! Finally I'd close the holes with my time-proven two-component glue and work them flush after curing with "Dremel" and file . One final word : When utilizing this "tape-on weight" method to determine the sinkrate , submerge and shake the lure a bit underwater to get rid of possible airbubbles under the loose tape portions , these otherwise might false your results:yes: ! The tape comes loose after some time and you'd have to re-new it , when having to tinker for a longer while:huh: ! Greetz , Dieter

Had already written a comment last night , but it didn't submit anymore , since the site was temporary shut down:( ! I like the detailed carving work on your swimbait , as I first saw the pictures , I've thought , that it was made in a mold poured with some sort of resin . You have achieved a very nice job , my own first swimbait that I am currently working on , would never turn out as well as yours , just since I probably don't have a sense of beauty as you have , and also because I don't count a big deal about elaborate detail work (though I truly admire this and the people furnishing it:yes:) ! Keep on carving , diemai

@ Perch Can't say , that the Russian team didn't deserve it to go home:yes: ! But the German team is also able to play like the Russians did today , no doubt:huh: ! But they might as well do as good as the Spanish acted today , you never know ? Alright , today before the soccer match I applied a clearcoat onto my swimbait and the other lures of my actual batch . Tomorrow , they'll have their first bath tube testing ! Until then , diemai

@ Bass'n'Cast If you should have further questions , feel free to post here or drop a PM:yes: , I could give you some more hints about these , especially the working processes . But why don't you get yourself the screweyes , that BobP mentioned here ? This is the easiest and fastest way to rig your lures . I had to find this solution about those pictured wire eyelets , since we can hardly get such special lure eyescrews over here in Germany , only very few internet shops carry them recently , ordinary tackleshops not at all:( ! greetz , diemai