diemai

@ bellybuster Welcome in here ,......... good to have another pike guy on board ,.......eager to see your bucktails(though I do not fish spinners that very often anymore , and if I do , these would be most likely weight-forwards). greetz , diemai

@ MathewTan Great success with your first , ....congrats ! If you're uncertain about the lure action or trying to achieve a certain swim pattern , .......do not glue in weights right from the start , but assemble your lure unweighted ! Apply a temporary topcoat(simple clear laquer will do) and test your lure in a bath tub or swimming pool , taping the the ballast weights onto the belly , this way you can determine about amount of weight and best location of it , ......you'll probably be surprised , how much influence ballast location has on the swimming action of a lure . After you should drill holes or cut pouches at determined locations to glue in the weights , ......the action would now certainly be a bit different again , as the weights do not sit on the outside anymore , ....keep them as close as possible to the outside . In general one can say , that weight in front improves the diving action but minors casting distance , also often stabilizes the wiggle , ...weight in the rear improves casting performance , minors diving depth and often renders the wiggle somewhat "softer" , ......but these are just rules of thumb , so many different crankbait dynamics to consider about . good luck , diemai

@ cwillis999 IMO there are three options to get your lures to roll less , each single one might achieve the goal or a also a combination of them ! -Place the line tie a bit further up the nose , ...the closer a line tie is located to the lip , the more roll tendency a lure would have . -Narrow the lip a bit towards its base(the part inside the lip slot) , virtually it would then taper more towards the base edge . This reduces the lip's plane , thus generating less leverage around the line tie to counterwork a rolling tendency . -Put more weight in the belly , possibly beat the lead chunks flat and glue them into flat grooves instead of deeper holes , .....this way they'd sit as close as possible to the belly outline to generate the biggest possible keel effect , ......for an improved keel effect you might as well shape the belly a bit deeper(curved downward)and put in weights at deepest part of belly . good luck , diemai

You make me blush ,...nothing special really ! Thanks , ...greetz , Dieter

@ Ted Baggett You can find an instructive essay about propionate in the "How-To Guides" section of My link . good luck , diemai

@ atrophius The language is Finnish , lurecarving has a great tradition over there ,...... just think of "Rapala" , "Nils Master" , "Turus Ukko" , "Grossari" , "Jesse" , etc ...... lures ! The glue , that he uses to bond wire and wooden inlay into the belly slot seems to be ordinary white wood glue , the waterproof kind , I suppose ? I use this kind of glue , when I ocassionally make through-wired lures consisting of two halves to bond these together . In the second video starting at 7:45 you can see the lip assembly on the bigger lure painted in the Scottish national colors ,........ he cuts the lip slot freehand with a sawblade on either side of the lure to a kinda "V"-shape , also cutting this "V" notch into the lips base to fit in . I have a couple of handmade Finnish baits(swapped with Finnish friends) , I guess even one made by this particular guy(saw same model and color hanging in his drying rack in the video) , they're all made that way , that the lipslot was cut AFTER foiling and painting . The lip slots on these baits are rather more bigger notches to glue in the typical Finnish "saddle style" lips , but some are the "usual" slots as well . greetz , diemai

Just looked after these vids , yozu may access them straight in here in the thread "Greetings from Singapore"(they also do fit in there , I guess ) greetz , diemai

@ Mathew Tan Welcome here at TU ! Seems , that Vodkaman has already said a lot about the basic tools and materials to get started . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjmefnZ13YQ Check this out to get a first idea on making balsa lures , though these typical Finnish lures are not the deepest divers ! Also check out the second part of this video ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPIwwO2qrpM greetz from Hamburg/Germany , diemai

@ CatchemCaro There is a two-part Finnish video on "youtube" that I can think of , utilize search function in there typing in term "making wobblers by hand" , the poster is a guy named "edinburghan" or "edinburgan"! good luck , diemai

@ cwillis999 A picture(at least sideview)of your baits , both of the PVC and basswood lure , would be nice to try to track down your roll problems , ......could be ballast issues or also a matter of the line tie/lip configuration . But in general I'd say , that if the PVC baits sport more of a roll compared to alikes(???)of basswood , they'd require more weight in their bellies . greetz , diemai

@ jrhopkins I make most of my topwaters in black color or at least with a good portion of black on them , ........but often also with a bright colored head portion(orange , neon yellow) or other bright spots , stripes , etc. , ......so that it is easier for me to locate the lure after casting and or whilst working it back in . In my opinion black color just casts the best silhouette for the predators to see against the sky from down below . greetz , Dieter

@ StrykerLures It's still hand work , you won't get them all exactly the same shape , at least not in details , also different densities of the wood material(even within one single board or dowel) play their part . Make ten lures "the same" by hand , and there will always be "the one and only" amongst them , that runs that tad better and wobbles that bit more intense than the rest does and that you'd always tie on constantly , neglecting the rest . Anyway , I make photocopies of my lure sketches and glue these onto the wood board that(if neccessary) I previously take to required thickness by routing . At least this way the outline and fittings for hook hankers and lip become the same , for the topview(tail and front taper) I can also use paper templates to work after , but most likely I just draw the pencil outlines by eyeballing after a few given reference lines . good luck , diemai

@ pikester Yeah , ........it's a lot about the single elements containing in the alloy , .......I am sometimes annealing my stainless steel spoons to give them a blue/brown/purple color(great for clear water and sunny conditions) , some stainless materials work fine , some loose their rustproof features and some don't switch color after having heated them to a cherry red glow . BTW : Your 41incher PB pike must have been a real fierce fighter to do that , ..............after my experience the bigger ones do not fight as much as the ones around 30" to 36" , with these it's rather more the sheer weight one has toss in . good luck with aluminium sheet , .......greetz, diemai

By now I've made some test casts with the yet unpainted blank of that second prototype , I really casts pretty far that way , gonna make some more clones of it ! I runs at about 4 feet max. , as I could observe in the clear water ! @ mark poulson Mark , I have taken a plastic lining of a drinking straw or a felt/ball pen casing into consideration , but I simply did not have any at hand , when having made the first prototype . That first one does not have round airgun pellets inside but cylindrical curtain weights , these do provide a lot more friction problems than lead balls , but they still function reliably . One member of a German site had concerns about putting a lining into the weight bores as well , ..... not because of friction but because these cylindrical lead slugs might grind away material bit by bit constantly sliding up'n down their bore on every cast , .........so finally might break throught the lure's wall some day ! Hopefully the lures would last long enough in my box to find out about it (though I can't imagine this to happen)! Well , the surface of my PVC foam is rather homogene , there may be very few bigger bubbles containing , but generally it is a lot more smooth in surface than the one I had received from the USA , .......thus no bigger friction problems with BALL weights would occur , I guess , ...... at least not for just shifting weights . But if I would place rattle bores into the PVC , I would certainy put a liner or use rattle casings , as rattles need to be much more subtle and sensitive reacting to movements rather that shifting weights need to . But thanks a lot for your advice , anyway , Mark , ..........greetz , Dieter

@ pikester Sadly 0,5 mm stainless sheet is not suited for crankbait lips of that size(probably unless it would be cupped and glued into a lipslot , a kinked screw-on lip won't work out) , it bends and warps too easily , .........this material thickness is only suited for making spinner blades , .....due to the hammered cupping it stays reasonably stable . As far as for aluminium , .........for baits of your planned size you can use 1,5mm , better 2,0mm or even 2,5mm sheet , .........the 1,5 mm still cuts with ordinary hand shears , the thicker is better cut with a metal saw or quality bench shears . Filing and sanding with hobby sanders also comes a lot easier . When done , you might sandblast the lips or treat their surface with a softer bristled machinery wire brush for an even surface look . I have caught my PB pike scratching 47" on an approx. 6" teakwood bait(Cisco Kid Style) with a kinked screw-on aluminium lip 1,5mm , that had the line tie mounted on it . The lip nor the line tie bent a single bit under the strain of that fish , did not have to re-tune at all(guess , that I've uploaded this bait amongst my earlier gallery uploads) . good luck , diemai

@ hazmail Thanks for your explanations , Pete , .........so I'm gonna go for the cheaper stuff , ............gonna ask them , whether they could sell some left over small waste pieces for a bulk price , anyway , ........don't need no bigger sheets for cutting out lips from them . thanks, ......greetz , Dieter