diemai

I am making casting spoons from most likely stainless steel sheet but also copper and brass sheet , that I get from the scrapyard of my work(metal industry) . I polish these spoons with a simple kit of polishing wheels to be fixed in a drill or drillpress(I use my lathe motor with a chuck assembled as it features more RPM's than any drill). At first I'd tread the parts with rotating wire bristled brushes(steel bristles for stainless steel and brass bristles for others , softer quality not to leave deep scratches)) , mainly to get the tarnish layers off the copper and brass , but also for an initially even look on stainless steel , .......after I'd use different grade polishing wheels(rope , cotton and felt)together with coarse and fine polishing paste to achieve a shiny and glancing surface on my spoons . The copper and brass spoons would tarnish again after a while , which IMO is sometimes just desireable , as such spoons won't spook the fish in sunny weather and clear water , .......if I want them to remain glancing(most likely top side only) , I'd cover them with flexible semi-transparent scale foil(requires topcoating with epoxy or other durable laquer) , ....never applied any laquer straight onto the polished metal , as I believe it not to adhere well on that glancing surface ? Another way to dull the shiny polished finish on stainless steel spoons is to anneal them to achieve a purple/blue/brown color(might not work with all alloys ,...... with the sheets from my work it does). greetz , diemai

@ Toni Halme ....I see , .....thanks for info , ......so it is rather a trolling weight with hooks , .........very smart idea to double your catching chances on the "one rod" fishing license fee ! greetz, diemai

@ Toni Halme Like RG I'm also curious on what your bait does , really an out-of-the box design , very beautifully executed with it's textured scale foil pattern(guess , that you've glued some mesh onto the body underneath the foil). But 250 gr. would be way too heavy to cast for my aching arms(thanks to work) ! Thanks for posting , I'm always a fan of a bit unusual lure designs , .......greetz , diemai

@ bassrecord I don't even have such long drillbits , as they are hard to find over here , .......for drilling long holes 1,5mm dia through a lure blank lengthwise centered(to accomodate wire shafts) , I'd first start out with an ordinary short bit , and drill as deep as possible , ......at possibly high rotation speed but low feed and pressure , often cleaning off the chips not to bind the drill , ....just like Mark has already stated . To substitute a long drill bit I'd utilize a length of 1,5mm dia. stainless steel wire that has it's cutting end beat a little flat and two cutting edges ground onto it(similar to the cutting edge of a real bit). It has to be inserted into the initial hole PRIOR to switching on the drill or at least run at lowest possible speed ,..... without the guiding function of the pilot hole it might otherwise bend to finally snap off under centrifugal force and hurt you . Now I drill slowly about halfway through the blank , again at low feed and high speed , ALWAYS switching the drill off before exiting the wire piece from the hole ! After I repeat process from the opposite end of the blank , so both bores would meet in center , .......this way I achieve the exits absolutely centered on either end of the blank and decrease the possible degree of wandering of the bit to about half(calculated on entire blank length) . Most likely it takes some playing around with the wire drill bit substitute from either end , having it chucked at a length of 3/4 of blank length or even little more(but MUST NOT exit on other end) to finally meet the bore coming from the opposite end , but on 9 out of 10 blanks it works out for me(thanks to my eyeballing abilities) , though it might become neccessary sometimes to grind a point to the wire shaft to easily pass through the transition between the two bores . If for once it should not work out for the bores to meet , I'd just extend the diameter a bit on one or both sides ,..... sooner or later they'd meet to be able to insert the wire shaft , ......at final assembly in this case I'd just have to fill in some more epoxy glue to fill up the bigger hole . I most likely do this on lather-turned "Globe" style baits , the blanks I turn down from lighter woods , that do not have a pronounced grain , f. e. abachewood , ......those blanks are up to 6" in length to be drilled through . Maybe , this helps a bit , .........good luck , .......greetz , diemai

@ cwillis999 Seems , that you've just gone through a bit of a learning process on crankbait dynamics , .......too bad , that you've lost that lure after it had just proven it's catching abilities . Hopefully you've got it's design still in mind or even kept records to make a few new ones , would surely be worth it ! good luck , diemai

That lure marketing business over there in the US appears to be quite a snakepit , if I look at the posts in here . Not sure about Europe , though , .......probably the same , as the lure of easy money is universal ! Years ago I had written a pictured "how-to" essay on this simple tube lure in a German angling magazine , http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/4710-perfect-asp-lure/ , just to share my knowledge with other tinkerers and/or to encourage others to try their hands on homemade lures as well . Anyway , a few weeks after that magazine was issued , I received a phone call from someone willing to buy a couple of these tube lures ,....... he said , that he got my number from the publisher of that magazine . Anyway , ......I asked him , why he wouldn't build them on his own , as my essay was not meant as a promotion but an instruction and that the lure is quite easy to build.........but he said , that he didn't have the time and possibilities and stuff like that , .......and that he was willing to pay a good price as well . OK , he transfered the sum onto my bank account and I mailed him some tube lures , still wondering about all the effort for such rather simple lures , .........and even he had said , that they do not have asp in his prefered local waters , the main target species for that lure !!!! About 8 months later , it was springtime and the new annual tackle catalogs of the local companies had come out , ......I saw this very lure model inside of one of these catalogs , ......also checked an older issue , that I still had , and it was not there yet ! I haven't done any research on this matter , did not contact that guy again as well , ........it might even not have to do anything with him but rather with the publication of that "how-to" essay , .........but I believe , that it is surely not by accident , that this lure model was inside of that manufacturers catalog just some time after it was described in the press ! I have no bad feelings about that ,...... if I wanted to avoid such to happen , I'd rather not publish any designs anywhere , period ! But also I am not willing to pay big money to apply for patent rights and after not find any manufacturer ,....... might as well bet my savings on horses , I suppose ........I have also heard , that over here in Germany contacting the companies straightaway does not take one far , as they most likely react quite reserved concerning inquiries about marketing home-designed tackle and lures , ........seems that they are obviously facing too much rubbish coming in , ........someone , who must know , told me this ! On the local market one can't get into big profits , any way , ....some sponsoring by the companies , a few extra $$$$ to add to the living , free tackle , ....that's it , I suppose ? To get back to that tube lure , .........if it should be really like that , that they have copied it after my essay or that guy worked for that particular company , they have made a big mistake , ........they've rigged the line tie swivel on the top tip of the lure , not on the lower part underneath the angled nose of the tube lure , saw it clearly on their catalog picture ! Never saw that lure in a tackle shop , also it was obviously discontinued in the following annual catalog , ........it would never have worked out that way with the line tie at wrong location ! greetz , diemai

@ athrophius ....now I'm confused as well ....... , ......I just meant to leave the belly thinner and the back(top) thicker , ...."V"-shaped viewing from the very front or rear in alignement of the long axis . Sorry , but I don't dare to give you any more advice about lip placement and angle , ..........I have once made a similar one with a similar lip configuration like the one you've described , .....and it did not swim at all , it just dug down straight ! These types of flat bodied deep divers are not my kinda ground , not at all ,..... I prefer round or rather oval cross sections , at least for lipped baits ! Sorry , .......greetz , Dieter

@ athrophius Personally I do not like such action too much , but the fish are gonna have the final opinion on that ! It is all a matter of the line tie/lip configuration , also the body cross section . The latter seems to be rather flat , thus the lure lacks sideward stability in the water and tends to swing out around its center axis like you've described , .........make the body with a kinda "V"-shaped cross section(thicker at back)and it will gain more buoyancy towards its back , which will counterwork the sideward swing tendency and probably also cause the lure to perform some more "X"ing(viewed from top) . And off course a bigger lure with a very pronounced action would clearly be felt in the rod rather more than a smaller one ! But I would not doctor on this lure , rather make a new "clone" sporting some little changes , ....this way you could clearly compare ! good luck , diemai

@ bluefin1 There is a bit of confusion about the lure type "jerkbait" between American and European terminology , but if you're refering to sinking or floating gliders , you may check out My link It is a Dutch site , but an English version is available , .......a couple of building plans and other info on such lures accessible there . Hardware(like screweyes , splitrings and hooks)I used mailorder from My link for many years , a shop located in Wisconsin , ........but there are also other lure component shops around . A heap of links to fishing related sites and suppliers from all around the world you may find at My link Nowadays such parts are also available in Europe at My link , more expensive , though ,....but delivery is naturally quite a bit faster and no hazzles with local customs occur . good luck , diemai

@ Manny http://crankbaitcentral.com/index.html You may find some answers in here , ........click on "crankbait ABC'c" on top bar ! greetz , diemai

@ Vodkaman ......alright Dave , ....still didn't ask ! greetz , Dieter

@ flyguys Check out these vid's to get some kinda ideas and impressions , .......though it's in Finnish language and about Finnish crankbait styles it should come in quite handy for a newbie to crankbait carving ,..... a great tut from the land of "Rapala" and "Nils Master" . Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjmefnZ13YQ Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPIwwO2qrpM&feature=related Also some more luremaking videos to be found on "YouTube" , utilize the search function there typing in terms like "luremaking" , "homemade lures" ,"lurebuilding" , "homemade crankbaits" and similar .....! good luck , .......greetz , diemai

...no , no , no , ...won't ask a lady about her age , ......have yourself a nice one , Milia ! best wishes , .....greetz , diemai

@ dilly dally Welcome in here , ........maybe try making a video displaying your lure , it's action and , most important for possible sales , huge muskie caught on it . Put it up on "YouTube" . Don't forget to add as many related tags as possible , so a lot of people would get to your vid there when utilizing the search function . You should probably also create your own website for interested viewers to check out about your lure work more . Good luck , diemai

@ BobP Nice write-up , ........and so much thruth in it , stepping off the usual paths often leads to success ! Here in the bigger lakes of Northern Germany jigging spoons should be essentials in every boat anglers tackle box , in particular in fall and winter season , but also during the rest of the year they are the lures to tie on , if perch are hanging down deep or at bottom . Apart from plastics on leadheads they are the only lures to go down to 30 to 90 feet easily ,...... my wife does fish them almost exclusively all through the year in our favourite swim ,...... she's too lazy to cast lures , just letting them down at boatside is just fine for her ! And often she does catch more than I do with other lures(vertical fishing is kinda boring to me) , .......not only perch , but also zander(walleye) and also ocassionally pike go for them . tight lines , ........greetz , diemai

@ Greeno Welcome at TU ! If I roughly calculate your measurements into metric(I'm in Europe), I think , that .041 wire is too thin , either for targetting big muskie and also in terms of the intended weight of your bucktails . I've ben making a lot of spinners during the first years of my lure making carreer , and I've found , that wire shafts too thin for a spinners size and weight would constantly bend or kink under the tension of powerful casts and fighting fish . It's not that even such thinner wire would not hold up to the fish well , but the constant re-tuning of kinked wire shafts is a nuisance . So you'd better go for at least the .062 dia. which is roughly about 1,5 mm ,...... should be OK like that . good luck , diemai

Should rather call it "Nightmare Lake Lodge" . If I would not know , that this place is located in Alabama/USA , I'd say , that it was over here in Germany ,..... as we are used to a lot of dump and useless restrictions , regulations and limitations ! good luck , diemai

@ RayburnGuy Don't know much about the subject , but more than one year ago I've pulled out a crankbait from under a bridge in Hamburg , the paint design had become very messy and dirty , also the lure was full of water , as it seemingly had been stuck there for a couple of months or even a year . It was obvious , that the lure wasn't glued together well , and in fact , after having it cleaned up a bit and put it on a radiator I 've found , that water sweated out at alltogether three locations along the seam between the two halves . OK , it was not a brand lure , but made for one of the bigger tackle companies over here and sold under their name(saw that model in a tackleshop a while afterwards) , but for a shop price of 7€(about 8,50$ presently)I'd expect something better , as sucha lure soaking up water is pretty useless . Plated it with aluminium tape and several clearcoats by now , guess that this would overcome these flaws ! Surely I also agree with you , that older lures are more well made than present ones , it's more and more about a cheap and fast production nowadays(not only on lures) , so any flaws or failures are even programmed . greetz , Dieter