Luke Brennan

Thats actually a pretty solid idea. I am currently making two rads but one is a flat joint (the one I posted) and the other is a V joint that will use a spoke as a hinge pin. Im sure the trial and error on this bait will help a bunch on the next one for sure. Seems like everyone does things a bit differently depending on the rat. A lot of the suggestions I received from other people were to basically start with no weight, see if it swims and go from there. Not a bad idea either. Thank you for the advice. Your rats are looking very nice. and it also looks like you live in Monterey, ca. Im in Santa Cruz. Small world! The wood I used this time was western red cedar. It appears to be very light and I would imagine quite buoyant . Like ive mentioned above, it seems like some people dont use weight and allow the hooks to ballast the bait, and go from there, which is what I'll probably end up doing. I plan on keeping the line tie closer to the bill, so thats a good suggestions. I wasnt aware that a flat bottom and the line tie were components in the rat walking correctly. Thank you for that. I'll post a pic of it finished, and my results for others who may have had similar questions. I appreciate the compliment and advice. Luke

What can I even say to that? I'm not looking to copy someones design. Its pretty hard to make a fresh looking rat bait now a days with all the rats on the market. even though I'm sure it wasnt a real suggestion, Cutting open a nez wouldn't help me much considering its a resin bait. I got help on some other forums, thanks for your suggestion.

Sorry it took me a while to respond. All the info I was given helps me a bunch. The table saw idea by John is a very good idea. Thank you for the recommendation. The links also helped me out with joint ideas. I had not though to use sand paper and to flip the joints around to create a better joint., as does cutting the joint flat and rounding out the inside. Thank you all for the guidance,

Im currently making a large rat wakebait. I'm curious as to what people are doing weight wise. Ive weighted and ballast glide baits before but not a wake bait. So my question is, are you weighting the entire bait, front to back. The front section only, or the back section? I was thinking the bait might work well with some weight stuck between the bill and hook hanger. I'd love to get some advice either way. I still have some details and sanding to do but here is the rat I've been working on.

. I didn't see the video pinned or anything. Do you have a link, or could you tell me where to locate the video? Thank you to everyone for the help. Very kind of you all.

I'd say I got about the same results on both baits that I've made. I was able to correct them so it wasn't a big deal, but on the blue gill I recently made I had to sand into some detail I put on the fins in order to straighten everything. It got me thinking, and I figured there was a better way. I appreciate the response.

Thank you. That is reassuring to hear. I appreciate the advice.

I've made a couple single joint swimbaits recently and both times that I have cut the "V" joint they have come out slightly crooked and I had to sand them a bunch to get the two pieces to be symmetrical. First time I used a ban saw, and the second I used a small wood working saw. I'm assuming that cutting the joint while the bait still has a flat uncarved bottom may be the best choice which is what I did the very first time I made a lure, but not the second. How do you guys cut the joints straight the first time so you don't end up wasting so much time and wood by trying to straighten everything out? Thank you for the help.

Im pretty inexperienced when it comes to air brushing. What I did was buy a sketch book to practice laying different amounts of paint and trying to fade everything properly. It helped a bunch. The other thing I noticed is most paints will need thinning to help go through the gun. Other than that, there are a bunch of amazing tutorials online that demonstrate techniques. Look up "Solar baits" youtube page