littleriver

Mark Your giving me all kinds of ideas. One might take wide wobbler and quickly turn it into a tight one with a bit of split shot or glass beads.

Hi Jeremy It is an interesting result and not what i expected either. But I have learned to keep an open mind. In the video, I am using a Eagle Claw size 5 barrel swivel. Big sucker! I bough these for Alabama rigs and just threw it on because it was available and thought it would make this process easier. Vic

Hi Mark I took the lure out for another run tonight. Much better conditions and I had time to really test the lure. Two thumps up!! The action did change and I'd say it changed a lot. It went from a wandering top to a Texas two stepping fool. Really was doing a two step too. The bait would make a couple stutter steps to the right then a couple the left over and then do it over and over again. Almost like i have two baits in one here now. And I have to really rethink how i test the baits while in construction. I never fish with a swivel clip . I usually install a split ring on the line tie and tie strait to split ring. I think I will be testing like i fish from now on . I was using the swivel clip to save time but now looks more like a waste of time. Thank you !!! Vic

Hi Mark I added a split ring and removed the swivel clip. I tried the lure briefly and I mean breafly with this configuration in bad conditions . I need to get the bait back to the water with better conditions and more time to do your suggestion justice. Maybe later tonight ill get a chance. Vic

Hi Jeremy I' m with you. If it ain't broke don't fix it. At least that is what the fish are telling me. I did go back and watch the original video and have to say I do like the wide swag of the original shorter bill version. I may have to make another with a shorter bill for cooler water. Thank you sharing your thoughts. Vic

Hi Dave Great points ! Really appreciate the input from an engineering persecutive. I find it very helpful. Thank you! I wish I had a diagram to go along with your first point. That one is hard for me to see mentally for some reason but I believe I follow you well enough. Thanks Vic

Hi Mark No, I haven't tried either of those things but willing to give it try. I'll take it out tomorrow for another swim with just a split ring and let you know. Thank you for the suggestions. HI Travis You may be right. I believe there are many things i could have done different to make the bait more user friendly but I was pretty happy with this action before I finished the bait. So, I decided to keep it as is. That was one of the things I hoped others might get from this exercise. The unfinished proto will display the same action as the finished lure if done properly. This unusual action stayed pretty much the same through the whole process and as far as I am concerned, this was a complete success. Vic

Action Video Update.. I was able to shoot in the creek this morning . The part of the stream I wanted to use was blocked off but not off limits. Before shooting I made a few casts and actually had a fish hit the lure. That is second time while testing this bait I have had strikes but no hookup. Not complaining but D it. The footage is not the greatest. Something is lost every time I transfer to youtube. Looks better on phone for sure. The baits action is like a spinning top under water with nose down tight action. There is some wandering just like a top on a table. The depth the lure will travel is not as deep as I thought originally. Two and a half to three feet is it for this lure. The bait is hard to retrieve but does not blow out at any rate. I was able to achieve this action by following Vodkaman's advice and lengthing the bib. I took the length to the point the point the bait cartwheeled over and then back to this action seen. The bib on the lure is a copy of the original but longer. Thanks to everyone for your help with this build. Enjoy! Vic

Hello BearFan I would start at youtube watching as many how to build a fishing lure videos as I could stand. There are lots of ways to do this but only with time and experience will you find what suits you. After the videos, you'll have a better idea of what you want to do and how you want to do it. Tackleunderground has lots of great resources. The "How to " forum section is a great place to begin here. Lots of questions can be answered there. The forums and the community too is another great option once you know what you want and have more specific questions but remember what your asking has probably been asked many times before, so a quick search of the hard bait forum first is your best option. I wish the you the best. It is a great addictive hobby. Vic

Hi jonister It was your baits that inspired this one. Thank you for the positive feedback. Glad you like this style. I like it too but it always nice to hear others do too. What material are you making your bill from? And where are they breaking? I have never broken a lexan bill. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough. Plexiglass is another story.

Finished bait is here ! I'll post video once I find a suitable place to shoot it. Big firework show this weekend; so, my usual spot is off limits.

Hi Mark It took me a couple viewings of the Lewin video I shared to get a sense of how the information he is sharing might be influencing the bait I just made. A great bait by the way. I say it is great because the action is effortless. Sorry the footage is so bad but some things will never be able to be experienced by anyone except the person holding the rod. I could feel every wobble and the the speed of the wobble changed instantly with line retrieval. The bait responded to my every command without effort. I believe this is due in large part because I have the ballast weight near the moment of inertia or axis of rotation. It is like the video you enjoyed where he holds the plank at the end and it requires a lot of enter to move the plank , Get the weight and axis in balance and the bait will move easier no matter the medium. Ben would call this getting all you can out of that particular design by having your ballast right. Two points I would like to make at this time. One, having your ballast not at the axis isn't always a bad thing . It may actually provide an action your looking for in that bait but what I think Lewin is telling us is it is going to take more energy to produce that action. That brings me to my second point, plastic cranks by nature are hollow and most their weight is on the outside and not near the moment of inertia. Some may make an effort to locate their ballast near this point but their is still going to be a more uneven distribution of mass than our wood baits because of the facts( hollow/most mass on outside) i stated earlier. Because of this, the plastic baits will require more energy to get wobble than well made wood clone that is properly weighted. I have made a few crank baits and have experienced both extremes of this principal in action . I made a shallow diving WEC 1 clone a few years ago with the same bill i have on this bait . But, I weighted the lure very differently . It was weighted in a more traditional manner at lowest point of belly . This WEC bait required a great deal of effort to get any action . It was like pulling Manns 30+ deep dive and yet I was just below the surface. This puzzled me until now. Hello Dave I really enjoyed the Lewin video. Thank you for sharing it. He is good at getting your attention and very creative at getting his point across. I learned things I never knew. Things like why the sky is blue or sunsets red but I still have a hard time visualizing a pendulum in my fishing lure. Though ,I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a seventy something swing from one. I was certain he was going to hurt something. I am guessing he was the inspiration for Miley Cirus's pendulum swing antics. Hi Bob you get me. The points made in your response is exactly what i hoped others would get from this thread. Thank you!!! Hi Jeremy yes indeed ........as long as there are questions to be answered we will be asking..... Vic

Dave Some mysteries may never be solved......and that is probably for the best. Here is another video that came up while viewing my own. Just out of curiosity, I watched. I believe it to be relative to the discussion and worth sharing. One has to watch it all to get his point but it is worth the wait. All i can say is ...take that hollow plastic baits..... I always knew my solid wood baits were the real winners. Vic

Update Carved a prototype today to test Loft's moment of inertia equation. I am happy to report it was a complete success. I have to thank Vodkaman, as well for todays success, for whom without the advantages of his Ballast calculator or vman scale this event would not have been possible. Every aspect the equation, program and tool contributed to the build really help eliminate guesswork. They narrowed the possibilities and increased my chances of success. Thank you both! I will be using in the future for all my builds . The lure was practically perfect! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U47XCL6AZhk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Dave the music was selected in your honor. Vic

Good idea Mark! That's what I do when needed. In the case of my proto currently testing, after moving the bill forward there just isn't enough bib left in the slot to hold it in place. I might be able to tape some extensions to the bill like Dave suggested earlier but it is too easy for me to just make another bib using the router method. Takes about 30 seconds. I plan to cut out the bib with the router everywhere except the part that fits into the body. This I will cut with the band saw . But you know talking about this has given me an idea. I could tape a wood extension to my bib template . I would not have to do any work. The router will do it all.

Technically I think your right but we may need to bring in an expert. Anyone seen Ben?

Just a brief update on the proto......Been really busy lately and not time to work on the bait but took it out again this evening for some action testing. First I tried a smaller square bill and this proved to make a working bait with a average wobble. Good but not great or different. So I decided to give Dave's advice ago and move the bib out or make it longer. Thank you Dave! Since the bib fit rather snug in the lip slot I just slid it out to try varying longer lengths. This proved to provide a whole popouri new actions I had no idea were there. Really cool and different actions. The most i could add with this bib was appx 1/8 of an inch before it was too loose to trust to stay in place. As excepted ,the action really tightened but the vibration this bait was now giving off was great. Best thing i can compare to is a chatter bait. Gone was slow wide wandering wobble. Now the rod tip really hummed as the bait pulsed its way across the bottom . Which is more likely to get bitten, that may depend on season and species but i really liked the vibration . Ive gotten lots of bites with baits putting of that kind of vibration. I am going to make another bill like this big one. Only this time longer, so I can explore lengthing it even more before choosing an action and finishing the bait. Hopefully next week it will be finished. Vic

Nice work Jeremy! Thank you for sharing it with us. You must like a challenge to take on this design for your first bait. Congrats on making it a success. Here is to many more...... It's a great club filled with lots of interesting people. Many of whom, I am deeply indebted and eternally grateful. Because, I do love the joy and satisfaction I get every time I see one of my babies swim for the first time. Thanks