diemai

@ JBlaze OK , John , .......here are two pictures of my carving knives , .........never had them at home , made them at my work from two scrap machine files . Quite finacky grinding out the cutting blade , as the grinding wheel did not have any permanent coolant flow , .......always had to dip the workpieces in water not to overheat , ...especially tricky when doing the points , ....water dipping after each pass and then finding the right angle again for the next pass , ....all freehanded ! The handles of plastic tubing and some filler foam material are crappy , did not find any other material at my work , ........but still I've already carved a few dozens of lures with these , timber and PVC alike . The straight edge had a hollow ground at first , but due to re-sharpening with above mentioned sandpaper many times , the blade slowly became plane , ..........but still these knives might do any surgeon justice , I guess . The files are rather small , only about 1/3" wide . Now , that I have them at home , I'm surely gonna make some more decent timber handles for them for many more lures to come ! Greetz , Dieter

Hi there , John , I've been using carpet knives with interchangeable blades all of those years , but for about two years I stick to homemades , too , ........ground these out of old files , ......one with a straight edge and one with a curved edge . I sharpen them just by stroking them over fine grade (600-800)metal sandpaper held firmly on a table , ........the blades can shave the hair off my arms easily and stay sharp for a long time when working with balsa , abache , PVC and also cutting slingshot pouches of thick leather . Keeping them on the job ,......... if I remember , I'd bring them home tonite after lateshift to shoot some pictures . greetz , Dieter

@ Bassthumbs With balsa you should better go thru-wired , ......won't trust screweyes with that softer wood ,........if you wanna use screweyes for hookhangers on denser wood as well , you should use stainless ones only , no brass , .........I've learned it the hard way twisting brass eyes off in a blank I've made from European beech wood . good luck , diemai

Thanks , Vic , ........still have some more ideas to try about different lip configurations on these "Wheightshifter" plugs , ....wanna make some different plug styles to test , amongst these a "Pikie" and a "PN-Kid" , ..........only got two hours time down the workshop each day , so it's gonna take a while for first blank bath tub testing , .....and as far for finally painting them , ........God knows ! greetz , Dieter

I can only second to Bob's words , .......most of the timbers , that you've mentioned in your initial post can only by used for sinking glidebaits for Pike/Muskie , also it's kinda hard to work on them by hand and even with power tools . good luck , diemai

Check out www.mooreslures.com , ........these sizes are listed in the PDF catalog , 2 bucks per ten , ...rebates on higher amounts possible . Mr . Moore is a very kind and helpful guy , ...but note about his annual winter shut-down ! good luck , diemai

@ woodenfeather Nope , .........never cast them , Dan , .......but I'm most confident , that this weight shifting system would provide a couple of yards more , especially with these streamlined plugs . Gonna paint them thru coming winter , ....hopefully ,...... as from January 1st there is closing time , ....... next predators season over here starts as from May 1st , ....guess I should have the painting done by that time ! @ bassthumbs Welcome on TU , mate , ..........I hope , that the local pike would ,.......surely won't mind catches getting a bit better next year ! Here is another video that I've done just tonite , ........thought that I would show what I think to be the best way to turn down this kinda plugs . For the unexperienced I'd strongly advise to make a simple sketch before , especially to determine about the final length of the closure plugs reaching into the cental bore on either end , as one needs enough space to run the eyescrews through without hitting the weight chamber , ......might also become important for the lip slot , depending on the style of lip and/or lure one intends to make . Thanks a lot for your interest in my work , ........greetz , Dieter

Thanks again , friends , ........now I'm honing on an easier working process , .........just in brief , .......turning down the closure plugs first and putting the center bore thru an untouched piece of broomstick , .........putting in the lead balls and after glue in the closure plugs on eiter end , ........after curing I'd chuck the whole thing into the lathe again to durn down the lure's shape . This way all turns out accurately aligned , ....made a test blank yesterday , ....I was first concerned , that the leadballs might get damaged inside of the bore whilst the lathe is turning for a couple of minutes , ....but they still rolled back and forth properly afterwards . Gonna turn out some more pieces for display and put out a video on it during the coming days . greetz , Dieter

You really make me blush , folks , ...I'm just a little tinkerer displaying his humble work , ........but still do appreciate your kind words very much , off course ! Mark , ......all fine so far , was just for tartar removal , .........coming Monday it's gonna get worse , I guess , ......gonna have an implant sunk in my jawbone ! Just made the tub test this afternoon , .........at first a bit disappointed , but in the end very happy with my design ! ..............here it is : Thanks a lot for your interest and support , fellas ........greetz , Dieter

Thanks again , fellas , ..........just put on a first primer coat on these two lures this morning , second one tonite after work , so tomorrow they're gonna hit the tub , ........wish me luck ! Off to the dentist's now , ........wish me luck , too ! cheers , Dieter

What exactly do you mean by "twisted" , ......line tie eye in a horizontal position ?.............if so , you're unable to tune the toweye for the bait to track true , ......horizontal tow eyes are mainly used for a few glidebait models to enhance their glide path , ....but should not be assembled to any crankbaits ! greetz , diemai

Thanks so much for your interest in my work and your kind words , fellas , ......I appreciate it verry much ! On Friday at work I've had another idea on how to furnish sucha plug with shifting internal weights and instantly put it to practise Saturday afternoon , ........here is the outcome : To me it seems that this one here is a tad easier to furnish , as drilling centered holes and turning down closure plugs is easier than furnishing a reasonably accurate deep groove and a matching closure piece . Really looking forward to the first bathtub swim test of these pike plugs , ...........if successful , I'd surely do some other variations , ...only lack enough time for painting all of my blanks ! greetz , diemai

Hi , folks , Just made a little video tonite displaying my latest lure construction , still in a blank condition , though , ...... probably one or the other fellow carver in here could take advantage or gain some input from my work ! Constantly carving and turning new blanks these days , wonder when I'd ever get to feel like finally painting them ! greetz , diemai

Thanks for your interest , mate , ............so let me answer your questions : We have a few target species for lurefishing over here , but which differ regionally as stocks of certain species differ as well . No.1 target species everywhere is pike , and in some places real trophy fish of 50"+ can be caught f. e. the only slightly salty bays of the eastern portion of the German baltic coast area , ...but also in the the biggger natural lakes of northern Germany . In the bigger streams of the country pike are more abundant , as these rivers are not kept very natural anymore , rather changed into shipping highways and/or forced into manmade flood preventing riverbeds , .......so they lack natural and seasonally submerged meadows at their banks , that pike do require for spawning . So in these rivers like Elbe or Rhine the zander is the No.1 predatory fish , as it can adapt better to these conditions . Off course there are exceptions to the rule , zander are also stocked in many natural lakes , as they are much sought after for cooking , ...but in these clear and calmer waters they are quite hard to catch on lures , ...river fishing , especially in the lower tidal portions of some rivers , is pretty much more successful . Another frequent prey for the lure angler is the European perch , .......they are living virtually everywhere , can be a nasty , unwanted lot at times taking lures meant for pike and zander , but on the other side they are also a welcome prey for others , as they are good cooking either , if one knows how to handle their thick skin . Some waters hold heaps of small perch up to 10" , others also contain real big ones of 20" , some reservoirs down South are wellknown for big perch , ...but here in the Hamburg area I frequently catch some over 16" as well . Another predatory fish around here is a member of the carp family , English name is asp , .......the only pure predator of that family , .....bad for cooking(very bony) , but a very fierce fighter on the line (Can get up to 40" , I guess, but catches of 25" to 30" are most common) . They are living in many waters , but are hard to catch , especially in stillwaters , ..........in the bigger rivers the chances area lot better , one can see them chasing into schools of small minnows on the surface , sometimes far out on the river , .......it requires smaller lures , that can be cast far , to attract asp , ....but if the lure does not exactly match their actual prey scheme , they are not likely to take it ! Then we also have the big European silure(catfish) , ........was abundant here up north in the Elbe river , but nowadays the stocks are exploding , ......they rather have them more down south , they are the biggest local predator , down south they catch them in around 100" sizes and bigger at times , ......up here north they've never grown that big , but I've already heard about a 64" silure caught in the harbor of Hamburg few years ago . These silures are most likely fished on with deadbait , .....but I've read statistics , that about half of the catches are made on lures , ........often they are unexpectect bycatch when deadbaiting for eel or lurefishing for zander in local rivers , but only the smaller ones can be landed in this case , the bigger ones most often do snap the line . Furthermore we have seatrout and a few salmon up here in northern rivers and around the Baltic coast ,....... rainbows , brownies and grayling in southern rivers as well , ...but stocks of these kinda species are quite low , as we lack naturally kept rivers in our rather small and highly industrialized country , ........but yet still catches are made . greetz , diemai

Thanks , John , ......I borrowed this coil spring lock design from heavy rigid wire leaders for big glide baits , ...also utilized it to attach spinner arms to leadheads , as I did not trust a simple snap lock for that matter ! http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/2501-detachable-jigspinner/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/2502-detachable-jigspinner/ http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/2503-detachable-jigspinner/ These work pretty well and are really reliable to hold up , .......designed them to toss along the bottom for zander , but they obviously also work for pike in the upper water column ! greetz , Dieter

...................not that bad , ....just a matter of practice ! Thanks a lot , ....greetz , diemai

Thanks a lot , mate , ......indeed one of the most sought after fish for kitchen over here , not only for fishermen , but in general , too . greetz , diemai

Thank you all for your kind words , fellas , ......very happy to hear ,....... as I'm always glad , if I'd be able to provide some inspiration and input to other fellow lure carvers around ! And also thanks for pointing out that tutorial section , ....I had forgotten about it and also I would have never thought , that my little vid would be considered to be worthwile to appear in there ! So well , I've just linked it in there now for the second time on TU , .......thanks again , ...greetz , Dieter

Hi there , people ,.............posted this little video of mine in the hardbait section before , ......some folks there advised me to put it up in the tutorials in here , so I'm linking it for one more time : These hangers displayed are pretty small , supposed to be rigged onto topwater lures for trout , .......using thicker gauge wire , one can certainly make bigger spreaders for muskie ,-or pike lures in the same fashion , ......in this case one would also have to use differently sized drill bits , nails , etc . to bend eyes and coils . Anyway , any questions are welcome and will gladly be answered ! greetz , diemai

@ julle I just recall , ...guess , that I have a Finnish wobbler with such round lip somewhere , gotta take a close look ! greetz , diemai

@ julle Very interesting , thanks for posting ! To me it looks like these wobblers do not have any lipslot , but get their lips glued straight onto the belly , ....they have a great swimming action , though !

Hi there , folks , Just put up this little vid on YouTube last night , ...maybe it could provide some input and inspiration to some fellow carvers in here ? greetz , diemai