diemai

@ Travis I work in the metal industriy grinding cutting tools of steel and carbide into tolerances of only a few microns(1/1000 of a millimetre) , ...off course some of my CNC controls have the option to chose from metric and imperial measurement , ........but I did ask myself several times , how one could have the brains to program neccessary subtle adjustments of a few microns converted into imperial measurements , especially when having to operate several machines , .......guess , the only things , that would get reliably programmed , are devastating and costly errors ? Otherwise I do agree , ...it's a real big effort for a nation to go through such major change of measurements system ,...the industry would certainly get on the rampage . Greetz , Dieter

I've never tried to achieve neutral buoyancy , since I do not really like such lures , so it's not a problem to me ,.......but now I have a possible explanation , why the sink rate of some of my glidebaits turned out to be a little different in the outdoors fishing cold autumn water , ...but water temperature is just one factor out of a few others ,.....not a problem , that one can't easily solve by switching splitrings , hooks or wire leaders . Hopefully your thread might really convince some folks to go metric , as it is just easier and logical to use ,......for a single person it's just the habit and maybe traditon standing against it , but for a nation it means a really big and costly venture , but which would surely pay off after some time . Dave , as a seasoned Englishman you grew up with the old imperial measurements , I suppose , .....so you're surely able to make a first hand comparison . Greetz , Dieter

Dave , ...I'd just like to be a smartass today , .........water reaches it's highest density or concentration at a temperature of 3,98° Celsius(approx 39° Fahrenheit) , above or below it becomes a tad lighter again per given volume . Sorry , I couldn't help it , ....greetz , Dieter

@ Jordanlures Can't think of any other shape now than a typical salmon plug with a tapered tail end and a cupped , approx. 45° slant at the head acting as the diving plane , .....I remember to have made two or three as well . Anyway , ....hopefully the rain in your place would stop soon so you could head out for a test run of your plugs , ...eager to hera about them ! Good luck , Dieter

@ Jordanlures Can't think of the ones you mean , either , David , .......are these the jointed "Zig-Wags" , original by "Heddon" or the "RushTango" style with the nose portion extended to some kind of "funnel" shape and then cut down at an angle to make up for the diving plane ? I've just tried out so many different styles , can't seem to remember all of them at a glance ! Anyway , ....good luck with your versions ,...I just love these plug models of yesteryear , surely they still deserve their place in a lureanglers armory even today ,......and there isn't that much to it making them ! Greetz , Dieter

@ Jordanlures Nothing to do about Mother Nature , though , .....but honestly , ....lets hope , that there won't be too many wallhangers for your better half ! Good luck , Dieter

@ Jordanlures Please report back about how your versions would swim , pictures would be of advantage , too , ......I'm always eager about possible new input ! BTW , ......here is another jointed "Oreno" version , put out by an obviously Latin American fellow lure maker , .....I really like this one , ..it's also on my "to-do" list for this winter , though in a bigger size than shown and sporting two hooks , off course . Guess , the downward curved tail of the rear section does it's share to generate that highly frequent wiggle ,....... an ordinary , symetrically spindle shaped "Oreno" body just cut into halves would not wiggle as much , but rather swim in a more typical wave pattern of such plugs(but naturally both of these swimming patterns would have an appeal to fish on their day !) : @ mark poulson Actually that "Chugger" video I had put together from dozens of pictures I had shot for a pictured "how-to" printed in a German bi-monthly angling magazine , ......must have been about 8 or 9 years ago ? Greetings , Dieter

I've been into such vintage style lures for a long time , ..and I've found that any added ballast most likely doesn't do any good to such lure models sporting integrated diving planes such as "Bass Oreno" , "Lucky 13" and also "Rush Tango Minnow " . In opposition to added plastic or metal diving lips mounted and prodruding somewhere below the lure's chin ,these integrated diving vanes of such oldtime plugs do not protrude or at least only a little bit . ........thus the oncoming water pressure on retrieve cannot generate a lot of leverage around the line tie to let the the lure swing around to the sides to lead into the typical wiggle , ..... it's just enough power to move the lurebody ! It's enough leverage to let such plugs swim with softer action patterns and comparable slower frequencies vice versa modern lipped crankbaits , but if also belly weights would have to be moved by this lower leverage forces , it would significantly dampen the anyway softer action of those plugs even more . One may place ballast right into the center of gravity , where it would then act neutral , but I have never tried this, since there simply was no neccessity , .......only thing to take care of is to pick your timber material accordingly , ..not too heavy and not too light ! In theory a lighter material would come up with the best and most pronounced wiggling action , .....BUT it's diving plane might not "shoulder" into the water sufficiently to get the plug to perform , as the lure would rise up too far above the surface at rest ! On such plug one might try to place just a little weight below the chin to aid the diving vane to shoulder into the water, ........so far I had only done this once on one particular plug model(on suggestion of experienced guys) , which was a so-called "Bottlehead Plug" meant for striper bass fishing(works for European pike ,too). A heavier material would swim more sluggish , as a bigger mass needs to be moved by the leverage around the tow eye , .....also denser plugs are more likely to overturn and blow out , because their lack of buoyancy lets them swing around(capsize) further sideward , as they would not become pushed back to upright level that fast . Pick you timber material in a way , so that your "Bass Oreno" would come to sit level or just very slightly nose down at rest , about 2/5 to 1/3 of it's body diameter sticking out of the surface , than it should perform just right . Do the lure shape accurately , do not attempt to taper the tail end more pronounced in order to increase the wiggle , ......this way the rear end would get to lack buoancy and your lure would swim tail heavy , thus the diving vane might not shoulder into the water well enough ! Some years ago I had also made one overlengthy three hook "Oreno"(but keeping the diametre of the usual one) , .......this lure acts a lot more sluggish in the water , simply because the elongated body provides more guidance in the water , counterproductive to the "Oreno's" typical tail-shake(but yet still useful to fish for pike as a diving jerkbait). Please check this video of mine , the very last picture shows the level , how such plugs should swim at rest(in this case a "Lucky13" knock-off , though, but does not make any difference) : In another video I'm talking about how to work such such plugs , ....."Bass Oreno" has the special feature , that once jerked below the surface to dive down for a few inches , on slack line it would p-o-p back to almost the same spot , where it was located before , ......so particulary suitable to tease located fish to strike or to thoroughly work likely holding spots , ......on a straight retrieve it goes down to 1 1/2 to 2 feet sporting a very pronounced and somewhat irregular , tail-shaking wiggle . Needless to say, that such plugs require a certain grade of buoyancy , .......as far as I'm concerned , there are no sinking plug models , ..maybe by exception of certain sinking models sporting props fore and aft . Good luck , Dieter

Any timber lure , also commercial ones , would get ruined by toothy musky and/or pike sooner or later , .......the question is only , whether after 3 , 5 , 20 or even 50 fish ! So this is , why we want the best possible wood sealing method and also a durable topcoat ,.........though I strongly believe , that ANY topcoat would get pierced and receive nicks and holes reaching down to the sheer timber , maybe already from the very first fish ! This is why I consider a topcoat only as a "first line of defence" , ....the second one ,...much more important to me , ..... is a properly and deeply sealed lureblank , so that possibly no water could enter the wood leading into reduced buoyancy(thus lure action failures) , paint peeling and in worst case into having the lure cracked up . If possible , I want my sealer to possibly penetrate all the way through to the core of the blank and not enterjust a few millimetres below the lure's surface and leave the very core untreated . Though I do not know , whether my sealing methods do provide such full penetration , I still have good feelings about them , since the lureblanks become singnificantly heavier after the soak , ...evidence to me , that they have soaked up the sealer fluid well , ........whilst the drying time after the soak they'd become lighter again, as the thinner inside of the sealer fluid evaporates leaving the sealer itsself remain inside of the timber . OK , sofar , so good , ........for many years I had used a 50/50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine(paint thinner) , ....soaked my timber blanks into it for 4-5 days , after hung them to dry for 2-3 weeks, ......when the typical linsseed oil smell had vanished , they were ready for priming , painting and finanlly topcoating . But as I had found , this method worked well only when using abachewood(widespread , but yet exotic , luremaking timber around here in Europe) , ..other timbers did lose too much buoancy even after drying , on other timbers(in particular pinewood) the sealer did react with the containing resin generating a tacky surface for painting or cracking up the grains . But the biggest drawback apperared to be, that the linseed oil sealer might kinda "sweat out" of the timber after months or even years , yellowing brighter colors on your lure , in worse cases causing ugly brown stains underneath the topcoat . To avoid this , you must apply at least two epoxy coats on the dried blank prior to priming , ....this keeps the oil separated from the primer and paint and such stains or yellowing should not occur . But I did not get deeper into improving that linseed oil sealing back then , since by that time I had discovered another sealing method for me , ...which is called propionate lure sealer . Basically propionate consists of special plastic pellets to be dissolved in a strong solvent like acetone to make up for a liquid sealer , which can be diluted to required consistencies . It is far easier to work with compared to linseed oil , drying time is a lot shorter and one would not have to bother about yellowing or oil stains , also it is suitable for far more different timbers and also hardens the wood , ...inside and especially generates a hard coat on the surface(not as hard as epoxy , though). I might not go without it anymore , though these pellets are very difficult to obtain . I'm using propionate for a few years now , and as it seems, it is the "real Mccoy" in terms of pike lure sealing for me , ...though the linseed oil method also protects the wood very well, ..but if not of all of it's issues . Please check out the two "Lost Lure" video clips linked in this thread of mine to figure out about the propionate sealers quality : http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/29163-a-lost-homemade-lure-came-home/ Here are two more video clips , ...2 out of 9 parts dealing on the making of a "Whirligig" lure , ......these are the parts , where I'm talking about the propionate sealer , ....first clip shows the soaking as from 55:00 on : Second clip diplays the dipping , after the acetone thinner would have evaporated leaving the disolved propionate plastic inside of the wood cells to harden and remain in there , ..starting right at 00:00 : Greetings , Dieter

.....child labor , ....hahaha , ........bet , she won't see it that way ! Wish that I would have scuba diving friends as well to tell me about the best fishing holes or to pick lost lures ,.....I fully understand , ...little presents keep the friendship , as we say over here ! Greetz , Dieter

Haha , ...now I see , why I could not enlarge the gallery picture , .....you had downsized it to use as your avatar ! Just had a look inside of your gallery , ....hope , you're going to make some baits for your own use as well , ....scale them down and they'll surely work for bass and walleye , too ! Now , that you've got your little one to paint them , you could fully concentrate on carving , ...lure output's gonna rise to large amounts . Greetz , Dieter