JD_mudbug

Once you have the head carved, how about using some of the paddle tails already on the market and cutting shaving them to fit with an Xacto knife. If your like me, you probably already own a bunch. This might get you in the ballpark without much effort and cut down on the amount of work. Lots of them available for $5 and under a pack. It would only waste one bait out of a pack. Even if a particular bait doesn't work with your head, you can just fish the pack normally. Once you find a paddletail that gives you the action you want, you can make mold that combines the tail dimensions of the existing bait with a front end to match up to your head.

Boss makes plastic skirt hubs and lead skirt hubs. I have used the plastic hubs on wire. The plastic hubs are very durable . Maybe one of those products would work. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/BOSS_Punch_Hub_5pk/descpage-BOSSPCH.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/BOSS_Lead_Punch_Hub_10pk_/descpage-BOSSLDHUB.html At one point, I believe Boss also made the hubs in aluminum. You could try contacting Boss directly if you want a bulk order or to see if they still make the aluminum ones. https://www.fishboss.com/products/ Boss also makes a skirt flare band. I think a wire would wear through the band unless you put the band on some sort of tube before putting the wire through it. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/BOSS_Ultra_Flair_Bands_100pk/descpage-BOSSFLAIR.html Additional info: I dug out my plastic skirt hubs and .051" wire fits through the hole. .062" wire does not go through. You might be able to drill them out to make .062" wire fit but I have not tried that.

I use SS shaft wire or a cut section of a SS steel nail for pins. I will use regular steel nails if I don't have the other two for freshwater. I keep the pin in by trying to not drill all the way through the bottom of the bait. The top hole and the bottom hole, if I drill through, get plugged with a tooth pick or small dowel and super glue. The bottom hole gets plugged first if I happen to drill through the bottom if the bait. Cut the point of a round toothpick off so it just barely won't go in the hole. Put the glue on the toothpick and use slight force to jam it in. You don't need it to go in too far. Let the glue dry, trim flush, a quick sand, a drop of superglue on the flush cut part of the toothpick to seal. Next, put the pin in from the top, mark the length with a sharpie against the top of the bait, cut the pin just below the sharpie mark so the pin will be recessed. Once cut, drop the pin in to check the length. If you need to get the pin out to shorten it and can't grab it from the top or can't get it out by shaking the body section upside down, you can slide the pin up from the slots with small needle nose, flat screw driver, butter knife, or a blade on a multi-tool. Once you have the pin of the proper length, assemble the 2 sections, put the pin in, prop the 2 connected sections so they sit upright, and seal the top hole the same way as the bottom hole. If the hole diameter is too big for a toothpick, use small dowels. You can whittle a small dowel down to fit the hole with a razor knife. Walmart sells small dowels for $1.27 and a variety pack of dowels for $5. You can use the larger dowels to plug ballast holes. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Horizon-Group-USA-Wood-Skinny-Dowels-1-Each/658354132 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Horizon-Group-USA-Assorted-Dowel-Value-Pack-1-Each/314840186

I can only toss in one cent. I have deutan color blindness. I have no choice really but to choose function over color. I look at function first as in ‘I need a crankbait to fish 3-6 feet deep and bang off objects. I need a squarebill or another bait that can deflect’. For a mass produced bait, I first look to a brand that I know makes a good bait for the function I am looking for. Then, I look for color. If I there is a brand I have not used before for that function, I will be more likely to buy their bait if the paint scheme looks better or comes in a color the known brand does not have. If I am buying a custom bait, it is the same. Function comes first. I try to find out the diving depth, tight/moderate/wide wobble, fast float/slow float/suspending/sinking. Then, I look at color. In each function, I like to have a minimum of 6 colors: a pearl or white bait, a black or dark bait, a chrome or gold chrome bait, a couple of the local prey colors, and a loud color like a fire tiger or hot steel. Like most people who fish, I have way too much tackle and have a couple dozen different colors in each type of bait function. Packaging comes last. Packaging can help or hurt. I can differentiate colors better against a white background. Unfortunately, a lot of fishing packaging contains multiple colors or black behind the lure. I don’t mind elaborate colors on the top or around the edges of the packaging. I like it when there is just one color (preferably a light color) in the area behind the bait. One thing I don’t like is seeing is calling a color scheme a cool or comedic name which does not describe what the color actually is. I have a hard time telling what color a lure is and calling it ‘paycheck’, ‘donkey punch’ or 'freak show' does nothing to help me. It can be a turn off.

I will give an explanation a shot. It takes a lot of little steps that make it look more daunting than it is. With practice, it becomes fairly easy. The nice thing is there are opportunities to correct screw ups while in progress. Caution – long post ahead. Coming out of the back a body section you need a loop or 2 which can be eye screws, twisted wire screw eyes, and even wire through. The 9” bait pictured has two .092 LPO screw eyes coming out of the back of the front and middle sections. Through wire can be done but requires more work if there will be more than one screw eye in the hinge. The screws should be long enough to make sure they are secure as possible. I used 2.5” long screws on this bait in the front section section due to the bait’s size. I used 2” long screws in the middle section. There is around 3/4” inch of exposed screw leaving over an inch embedded in the body. Make the screw eyes as long as possible. I could have tightened this joint up a bit and left a little less screw exposed. It was an experiment in using a swinging tail fin made from paint brush bristles. The easiest way to go is to make the screw eyes parallel. You can do non-parallel angled screws but you will have to cut angled slots which can be a pain to prevent friction. Parallel screw eyes are best at reducing friction which will reduce action. You put the screws in the center of the joint across the bait horizontally. Do not glue the screws at this point. If you use 2 screw eyes, you must locate them on the vertical axis so there will be enough room in the following section for the slots. The following section usually tapers down. If you put the screw eyes too close to the top and bottom of the front section, there may not be enough material at the top and bottom edges of the following section for the slots. You don’t want the material at the top and bottom of the following section to be too thin or it could break. If you mess up installing the screws, you can slightly bend the screw eye shafts where they enter the front section if they are off a bit. If you mess up installing them by a big margin, you can pull the screws out, fill the holes with toothpicks and super glue, and reinstall in a slightly different location. Once the screw eyes are temporarily installed, line up the following section with the front section. Put the following section into the joint beside the screw eyes. Mark where the slots will go. Cut the slots. The depth will decide how big the gap will be between the sections and the potential range of motion. There is no set distance so you have to figure what you prefer. I cut my slots with a hand saw. I then clean up the slots with small files. The spade file and square file in this kit is very useful here. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Steel-Precision-File-Set-with-Storage-Case-6-Piece-707476H/207112197?NCNI-5 After cutting the slots, I use a drill and small drill bit to scoop out some material inside the slot by drilling in on an angle from each side. Start around 1/8” inside the side edges of the slot. This gives the slot a curved back inside the lure making it easier for the top of the screw eye to fit and move. Line up the 2 sections with the screw eyes going into the slots to check if the slot depth and gap between the sections are ok. Deepen/widen the slot, tighten the screws, extract the screws a bit until you get the gap and range of motion you want. You can temporarily tack twist wire screws with soft glue or even tape. You probably want the gap to be a bit bigger than you what looks good to you to accommodate a thick clear coat on each section which will decrease the gap. Looking down from the top of the bait, mentally note the location of the holes in the screw eyes for the next step. Now you can drill the hole for the pin. You will be drilling straight down from the top of the following section in the center. Try to drill downward parallel to the pointed front of the section. How close to the pointed front of the section will vary from bait to bait. On the pictured bait which is western red cedar, there is just over a 1/4” inch of material between the hole and the front point of the section. Smaller baits will not require as much material between the pin hole and the point. After you drill through the top piece of material and just start to hit the middle piece, stop here. Take the drill out, put the sections back together for a test fit to see how you are doing so far. Use a test pin that is long enough to stick out of the top for easy extraction. If good, keep drilling. You can stop drilling just before you breach the bottom of the bait. If you go through the bottom, it does not matter as the hole can filled anyways. Once the pin hole is drilled, you can test fit again. If you need to adjust, you can elongate the pin hole a bit in the direction required with the drill. You can also use tooth picks here to fill in a messed up pin hole or even just a portion of the hole as long as you have enough material between the hole and front of the section. Just use toothpicks going in from the top and bottom for test fitting. Once you have everything where you want, pull the pin out and any toothpicks out of the pin hole. Mark the depth of the screws where they go into the front section with a sharpie. Pull the screws out so you can glue/epoxy them in. Right after the screws are set in and before the epoxy/glue sets, you can test fit again to make sure you marked the screws correctly. Make any adjustments to the screws before the glue sets. When the screws are set, I seal the sections. If you have not done so when shaping the sections, you probably want to round off any sharp edges as clear coat doesn’t cover those well. Make sure you seal the slot as it will be hard to get in there after you permanently install the pin. If you want to seal the slot here with epoxy, you will have to deepen and widen the slot a smidge with a drill/file/sandpaper to make up for the epoxy’s thickness. Install the pin. At this point, you can just cover the top and bottom of the pin hole with tape to test the bait. I use .062” or greater stainless shaft wire or a clipped off steel nail for the pin. The pin diameter depends on the size of the bait and size of the eye hole in the screws. If you needed pinhole toothpicks, put those in with the pin with super glue. Once the glue is dried, trim off the exposed parts of the toothpick. Seal any exposed toothpick caused by the trimming. You can now the fill and seal the top and bottom of the pin hole. I usually use a short piece of the middle section of a toothpick or a small wooden dowel to plug the ends of the pin hole. Seal the ends of the pin hole. Now you can test and finish the bait. Some people prefer to paint and finish each section before permanently installing the pin. When starting out, I thought it was easier to complete the pin installation and test the bait before wasting time with painting if the bait was a dud. You can just make out the pins in the pics.

Thanks for posting the pics. I believe that crankbait blank is a knockoff of the River2Sea Snub 50 Crank. I have a couple and they came with two number 8 hooks. The size 8 hooks it came with touch each other but not enough so they hook each other. The body is very stubby with a big hump back. The pics don't do the stubbiness justice. It has a lot of bulk for such a short lure. The body itself without the lip is only around 1-7/8" or 50 mm long. The hook hangers are really close to each other being only 1-7/16" or 36 mm apart center to center. If I was fishing it in water with bass or larger fish, I would use short shank size 6 hooks. I have also fished baits like this with just a tail treble hook in regular size or short shank 6. Because of how close the hangers are, your hook options are limited. So you should be looking at regular 8s and short shank 6s for this bait. Anything thing bigger will tangle. Size 10 or 12 would be too small due to the girth of the lure.

+1 for #1. The other two baits are more of a traditional shape. I have made a few multi-section baits in the shape of a chain pickerel. The nose/forehead of those baits reminds me of your bait #1. My pickerel baits all ended up diving deeper than expected.

Can you post a pic or a link to the blanks you bought? It would be hard to make a guess without seeing the shape of the blank. A fat bulbous blank may require a bigger hook possibly an upsized hook in a short shank version. Something bulbous like a wiggle wart usually takes a 6 or 4 treble. Something slender like a 2.75" Pin's minnow takes a size 10. The 2" Pin's minnow takes a size 12.

I have used spinnerbaits in saltwater for stripers and blues. I find looped wire spinnerbait frames are best suited for stripers and blues. They can mangle the R bend ones easily. If I am using an R bend in saltwater, I will put a small piece of surgical tubing over the R bend so I can use a leader without the snap sliding down the wire when a fish hits. On some, I have tied bucktail instead of using the typical skirt and used a grub for a trailer. On others, I use skirts made of magnum size skirt tabs. Another way to use them is to not use a skirt/bucktail and just put a soft plastic bait over the skirt collar right to the head. A paddletail shad or ribbontail eel will work for stripers and blues. Maybe try a plastic shrimp or other soft plastic good for redfish on the spinnerbait. You can modify a mold slightly to take a loop wire where the hook would go. You get a loop right after the skirt collar. You can attach a treble or single hook with split rings and swivel. That way you can replace the hook as needed. A .051 looped wire spinnerbait with a loop right after the skirt collar and free swinging hook gives more durability.

A couple of weeks ago at the MLF Toyota tournament on Sam Rayburn, Derek Mundy used an 8xd for a 39 lb 7 oz bag with a 13 lb 10 oz kicker on day 2. He had another fish over 10 lb on day 3. He won the tournament by 14 pounds. Second place guy used a 6xd and an 8xd for his big fish. Most of the big fish were caught with cranks. https://majorleaguefishing.com/series/top-10-baits-from-sam-rayburn/

I don't know of a source. Here are a couple of other pics. The wire is like a horseshoe with the legs pinched together a bit and bent over.

Crankbaits still dominate some tournaments. There are so many different types of baits out there and many different styles of fishing. I don’t see any bait consistently dominate today. Ott Defoe won the 2019 Classic mostly throwing a DT4 and Storm Arashi lipless crank. He also threw a chatterbait on the last day. A lot of the anglers threw cranks that tournament. Jacob Wheeler came in second mostly throwing a DT6 and the Storm Arashi lipless. I think fish can be conditioned to a lure in the short term. Long term, I don’t know if they have the brain power to remember they got caught on a crankbait or any other lure before. Several times I have caught a bass on a lure and had that same lure type stuck on the side of its head which had not rusted out yet. I once had a fish snapped me off on a 1-minus crankbait. I caught the fish 2 weeks later in the same shallow cove on another 1-minus in a different color and got my original lure back. I have caught bass on soft plastics that were gut hooked with a similar soft plastic bait. When I have read articles on the major tournaments, most of the successful anglers used a handful of different baits. On multi-day tournaments, the angler finds concentrations of fish in a few areas and milks those areas for the whole tournament. This means they may throw certain baits on day 1 and 2. Then because they have hammered the areas with the same bait, they switch to a different lure and keep catching bass. With some exceptions, a crankbait has a chance to dominate a tournament just as much as any other lure. As always, it depends as always on the angler’s skill, weather and water conditions, and a bit of luck. If you are fishing a weed choked lake, a crankbait may be little use. If someone like KVD used only crankbaits and fished against me in typical conditions and I could use anything, he will still beat me most, if not all, of the time. Back in the day, an angler may have only known a couple of techniques and could be successful. Cranks, jig, Texas rig, spinnerbait were the popular techniques. There are a lot more different lure types on the market now. Everyone can go to YouTube and see tons of videos on different techniques. The competition today is more skilled. A good angler has to be more skilled and versatile to give them the best chance in a given situation. The electronics of today also compound this. Today, you can spot fish anywhere with side scan. There are contour maps on the web. The fish are easier to find. Having versatility to target those fish no matter where you find them is what makes an angler successful. The pros are also sponsored. So, their job is not only to win the tournament but to push their sponsors’ products. If they catch 4 out of their 5 bass on a crank not made by their sponsor and they catch 1 bass on a soft plastic made by their sponsor, they will say they won using the soft plastic bait. You have to find the longer detailed articles or see the actual videos to see what happened. The commercials will typically just hype one bait used by the winner. When I used to fish tournaments, I would start with moving water coverage baits first like cranks, spinnerbaits, lipless, chatterbaits, even spooks or ploppers. I would look to target active fish and get 5 quick fish in the boat. I would always have a weightless soft plastic on a spinning rod for misses and followers. If the moving baits produce quality fish, I would just stay with them. If not, I would go to the slower stuff like jigs and Texas rigged baits. Even when I am fishing moving baits, I would always take a quick cast to the usual obvious targets with a jig or Texas rigged bait.

How about a jointed multi-section bait?

Travis is probably right. Impossible to be sure without a pic. The Jenko Trapline Rip-Knocker does come in some Mystery Tackle Boxes. At 3:10, the video shows you how to rig it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=VLgSdaZjTDs Unlikely, but maybe it could be a keychain or Christmas ornament. Those usually have a round metal knob on on end for the key ring or wire to attach to the tree. Mine has no line tie or belly hook hangers. Even more unlikely, it could be a salesperson's sample to show color patterns that got in the box by mistake. Companies used to put them in a foldout display board or on a ring. I don't know if lure companies even make those anymore.

Take a look at this post by Dave aka Vodkaman http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/35283-how-do-lipsbills-work/?tab=comments#comment-290212

ddl, I do not use epoxy as a sealer but I have seen posts where people use up to 50% denatured alcohol. 1 part resin, 1 part hardener, 1 part DN. Mix the hardener and resin first. Then mix in the DN. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/32034-thinning-enviro-tech/?tab=comments#comment-261587

In the past, I have used spar urethane cut with 20-25% mineral spirits to help it penetrate a bit better and get into through-wire shaft holes. I saw that formula in an old saltwater/striper magazine. I dunk the bait for a couple of minutes with an occasional stir of the bait, lightly brush off the excess with a cheap brush to prevent pooling on the end, and hang to dry overnight. I use a tennis ball tube container to dunk big baits. I stopped using spar because of the dry time and residual smell. Back in the day, a lot of people used spar urethane as part of the ‘Old Timers formula’ for a penetrating sealer. 1 part spar urethane, 1 part boiled linseed oil, and 2 parts mineral spirits. I never tried it because rags soaked in boiled linseed oil can spontaneously combust as they dry. I didn’t want to be the guy on the news who burned his house down because he threw some wet rags in the trash. I still use wood hardener from time to time. The off-gas time on wood hardener is long. I soaked a body for 2 days once. It was still off-gassing 2 weeks later. The body was 2.5 oz before the soak, 3 oz after the soak. I don't think there is anything out there that will penetrate into wood deeper. I mostly make baits in the winter. To be sure the wood hardener has fully off-gassed, it almost feels like I should dunk a bunch of bodies in one winter, hang them to dry in some out of the way corner of the shop, and finish the baits the following winter just to be safe. I mostly use thin superglue now for the quick dry time.

I agree with the 3 posts above. I think the taper looks better. I also like the taper because it gives the tail hook a lot more clearance for hookups.

I have used JB weld on a couple of pvc baits. The baits are 2 halves with a straight wire through with a drop wire for the belly hook. One is a 4" long wake bait that is 1.375" wide by 1.375" tall at its bulkiest spot. It is in great shape after 3 years use and has taken several northern pike. I used the original or the marine version JB weld. It says 5020 psi on the package. It floats low in the water and did not require any ballast weight because of the JB weld. If you want one thicker pvc piece check the molding section of the stores. Some of the molding pieces are thicker than boards. You may have to order them and ship to store. Royal makes a 1.5" x 1.5" square trim which I think comes in 8' and 12'. It may be called a 2 x 2.

Looks goods. Wire-through is definitely worth a good upcharge. If you hold one end of the wood drink stirrer down with an index finger, a few wipes down one of the faces with a piece of sandpaper will make them fit into a 1/16th slot. It takes only a few seconds. I have used them on a few baits to fill belly slots. I also use them on lip slots in test baits to try thinner lip material.

Maybe something thinner than popsicle sticks would work, like wooden beverage stirrers? https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Count-Coffee-Beverage-Stirrers/dp/B001FVPAOE?th=1

For a soft plastic bait, they probably want 200 of the exact same bait to carry them through a tournament season. For a particular hard bait, some people want enough to carry them through a lifetime. It’s about confidence. As jigmeister posted, an angler doesn’t want to worry about the bait being different or not available. The bait maker could quit the business to take up sasquatch hunting. The company that supplies the components may change their products like changing the shade of the color or changing the size of the flake by an angstrom. The bait maker could discontinue the color or the lure. The company making the lure could get acquired by another company and the production method of the lure changes (ex. look at pre-Rapala Wiggle warts on eBay). An angler doesn’t want to worry about these things, whether real or imagined. An angler just wants to concentrate on fishing. They don’t want to have to even think about finding a replacement until offseason. In the case of a hard bait which could last forever in storage, an angler may never want to worry about replacements. When I heard my favorite crankbait was discontinued, I immediately contacted the company. The company said they could do another production run of 300 baits. So, I and a couple of buddies chipped in and bought a 300 bait run. The company charged wholesale price. I thought it was worth it. Later through a friend of a friend of a friend, I tracked down another 100 or so sitting in a box in their warehouse. So, I bought those too. I had caught fish on it for 20+ years when it was discontinued. I have fished with it for another 20 years from my stockpile. I don’t need to buy them on eBay. I will never be disappointed about not having the lure. It still has not been brought back into production. As I get older and need less of a stockpile, I give them away or sell them. I do use a lot of different lures. I try to have backups of my successful ones.

I sort of figured that was what you were thinking, but wasn't sure, lol. I thought there might be a very slim chance you had a weird way to build spinnerbaits and was curious as to how it could be done without at least one bead behind the clevis to prevent the spacer sleeve from wearing through the end of the clevis. I never thought of beads as spacers until I started targeting pike. On pike/musky spinnerbaits, alot of companies do not use spacer sleeves or tubing. They just use a whole bunch of beads as spacers. I don't really like the look of 6 beads in a row. Maybe it's marketing to make them appear more similar to bucktails. I have made some with extra beads for pike/musky just to throw in some more obnoxious color. I have not noticed those baits performing any better than those using sleeves.

On the blade arm of the spinnerbait wire, I usually put a bead before and after the clevis to give the clevis a bearing to spin on.The front bead helps the clevis to keep spinning if the bait goes through lake snot. I also usually put a bead after the spacer sleeves and before the loop the swivel goes on. I just do this in case I am not perfect in bending my loop. The last bead prevents the spacer sleeve from potentially sliding into the loop. Pic - I spaced out the components to make them easier to see. Order put on the arm: bead, clevis with front blade, bead, spacer sleeve(s), bead, end of wire loop with swivel and rear blade. The beads on this bait are 1/8". The frame is a compact hidden weight LPO frame. Full pic of the bait is in this post. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/37610-blade-weight/

I use 1/8" and 4mm beads on small to average size spinnerbaits with .040" wire or thinner. I prefer 1/8" beads on small spinnerbaits (1/4 oz) as they are a bit smaller than 4mm. I use the 4 mm on typical 1/2 oz and 3/4 oz spinnerbaits. For 3/8 oz spinnerbaits, I use 1/8" beads if I have them otherwise I just go with 4mm. You have to check the hole size in the bead and make sure the spinnerbait wire will go though it. The hole size can vary depending on seller. The hole size on the 4 mm beads I bought is 1.2mm or .047". You will need bigger beads for heavy spinnerbaits with .051" wire and possibly .045". The 4 mm beads I bought usually slide on .045" but sometimes they don't. There can be small variations in the hole size in a given pack so don't cut it too close. For larger spacing like separating 2 willows blades, I use spacer sleeves like Jig Man or clear spacer tubing.