Trimming crankbait bills to fit crankbait

[claye75]

Just wondering if you have to trim the bill to the width of the crankbait. (Where they glue together) If so what the bast way.

Thanks

[diemai]

Really can't tell in general , but for sure it would give a neater look .

Also it would minor the effective plane of the bill at its "root" , which is somehow better for the lure action , can't really explain , why it is so , I think , that it has also to do with leverage of the bill around the towpoint.

If the bill is too large , it would either make the bait wobble too much or even not at all , it just depends on so many different factors .

If you really like to find out , take a waterproofed , rigged lureblank , make two different lips and set them in temporary to test in a bathtube(not outdoors , you may loose the lips) .

I guess , you would find out a certain difference , but with another luremodel it must not be neccessarely the same difference again .

Crankbait "physics" in detail are complicated , hard to predict accurately .

If you don't run special computer design programs like the big manufactures(who of us does:huh:?) , you can only rely on experience , so we should go'n try get some;) !

[BobP]

You don't want to see the sharp rear corners of a lip sticking out to either side of the crankbait. It's more an esthetic than a functional thing. I sand them off with a Dremel sanding drum. My impression is that a lip that narrows to the width of the lure's nose tends to pull a little easier. That's significant on deep diving lures that produce a lot of retrieve resistance anyway. The increased pull resistance is the reason many guys don't fish deep diving baits. If you pull the lip out of a Rapala DT16, you'll see the lip narrows at the bait's nose and then widens again to conform to the inside width of the head slot.

[claye75]

thanks for the information. I'm having a blast playing with theses thigs