advice needed on my swimbaits

[tubinator]

Well, I finally got some hooks to try out my swimbaits and they seem to have good action, but, the retrieve speed needed to get the action is fast! More like a summertime bait when the water is in the 70's to 80's. I am trying to get this 4" size bait to "swim" slower, kinda like slow rolling a 1/4 oz double willow leaf spinnerbait.

I have attached a pict. of my mold, bait, hook.

The mold is 4", the hook is a 1/8 oz. 4/0 and the paddle is 13/16" wide X 1 1/8 long and domed. I am using calhoun's tube plastic. 2 body dips at about 310 degrees, then a dip up to and including the paddle at 350 degrees. I paint on the glitter including as you can see on the paddle (I really like the lime .008 from Del-mart) and attach the eyes. I then do the final dip at 350 degrees again to cover the glitter all the way up to and including the paddle. My mold is shaped so that it can hang from the wire after the dips and the plastic runs right off the point at the nose of the bait. Also, the angle of the paddle to the body of the bait has stopped the drip I was getting on the paddle.

The wire hanger on the mold has helped me get more consistant body shapes, as long as I am dipping at the above temps. I hold onto it as I dip the body, but when I dip to the paddle, I hold onto the part above the paddle, so that I can be more accurate with the dip/ plastic on the paddle. And as quickly as I can after the dip, I hold the mold by the wire hanger, then hang it to cool.

I hope this info has helped someone, now can someone give me some idea on how to get this bait to work (swim) slower. I know most are only dipping the tail/paddle once, but I really, really like being able to use glitter on the paddle, chartreuse tails work great in the lakes I fish, and I'm not into paints or dips.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

This is a hobby for me not a business. Thanks!

[longhorn]

Since you want to keep your design and process I'd try softer plastic. Maybe the tube plastic for one dip and softer for the final. This designing and making baits that work and also look good is a trial and error process. I've found that swimming tubes are especially difficult and have given up. Your bait looks great! You have way more patience than me.

[borderbasser]

You may need to switch to a little softer plastic or just add some softner to the tube plastic. That would be the first thing I would try aside from only dipping the tail once. It is possible that the softer plastic for the final dip would do the trick. Anyway, two dips of tube plastic on the tail seems to me like maybe a little too much. Give it a shot.

TJ

[Green_Fingers]

Your tail seems to have more of a sloping angle than the swimbaits I use that have good action at slow speeds. Maybe if you bend the blade on your dippind stick to more of a 90° angle that might help give it more action. With the tail as you have it now, I would imagin the the water will "roll off" it more easily than if it were at 90°!?

My two cents!

Simon

[tubinator]

Thanks guys, I have tried changing the angle of the paddle many times and the angle of the paddle now gives me the best results, before this I always got drip ball on the paddle or I would hold the mold so the drip would roll off and the body drip would be wrong or it would drip onto the body.

Softer plastic (which I have tried) tears easily when removing the bait from the mold, although I have not tried doing the first dips with the calhoun's then doing the final dip with lc's 532, that is something I will try next. Maybe the tough calhouns will give me the strength, and the 532 will seal the glitter and eyes, and be thin enough to not add resistance to the tail.Good idea.

Longhorn: I don't have a whole lot of patience either, but I really think this bait will work for me in the lakes that I fish, plus I would rather experiment and take my time to get this bait right rather than spending $1000's trying to find somebody else's.

[Green_Fingers]

Tubinator,

I forgot the most important thing in my last post, which was to tell you that is one heck of fantastic looking bait!!

Would you consider selling me one of your molds/dipping sticks for them!? PM me if a posibility.

Cheers,

Simon

[tubinator]

Ok, so here is what I did. I added 3 teaspoons of softner to the calhouns, dipped the body twice, at 310 degrees, let cool, snipped the drip from the nose, then dipped again in calhouns at 350 all the way to the paddle. Added the glitter and eyes, snipped the drip from the nose. Then I heated the lc532 to 330 degrees and dipped the bait again all the way to the paddle. The glitter ran off the bait more then when I was just dipping in calhouns, so when I did the final dip I didn't let it drip back into the lc532. The first bait got torn at the tail when I tried to remove it from the mold, so I tried again and left it to cool a little longer. The second time worked! Took it to the pond and YEEEEEE HAWWWWWWW! Perfect action! Nice wiggle and the paddle was just doin' what it was supposed to do, and at nearly 1/4 the speed. Perfect! Just what I was looking for, Thanks Guys,Here's a pict. of the bait.Damn I just love the effect the glitter gives. Time to buy more colors.

[tubinator]

April Fools, No really here it is!

[tubinator]

Must be uploading spasms. Maybe third time is the charm!

[tubinator]

Hey Guys, The first post of this thread shows a pict. of my mold with a black line drawn in at the nose of the bait. I was thinking of cutting a notch there in order to give the hook keeper a bit more plastic to grab onto, but then I got to thinkin' that I may be able to add a rattle to the keeper, push it into the bait followed by the keeper, and this would allow the rattle the ability to bounce around inside the bait, making more noise. What do you think? Would the rattle make enough noise to be heard by the bass?