swimbait , very first attempt

[diemai]

@ mark poulson

At least that bass would make up for a nice meal:wink:!

No need to feel bad about it !

Here in Germany we are also learning to release our fish more and more , though still some people take everything home , that they can get a hold of .

You can truly say , that we have some of the most ridiculous and stupid fishing restrictions of Europe , if not of the whole world:yes:!

After these restrictions releasing any legal sized fish is not allowed , according to it one MUST kill the fish caught and take it home to eat(or for the cat !)

On the other hand accidentally caught illegal sized fish must be released , but when hurt too bad to survive , these must be killed , chopped to pieces and thrown back into the lake:eek: !

As a consequence of this stupidity , you must get away from the lake , if you have caught and killed your restricted daily(or even weekly) limit of , say , two pike , or switch to another target species , that you never have caught your limit .

There are a lot , lot of more foolish restrictions to obey , but I don't want to burst up this thread with it .

You should consider yourself lucky , to be able to decide yourself to release a fish or not , or even keep it in a livewell(also illegal in many parts of my country) .

Here we are not , at least not without having to face a charge , when getting caught by police or fishery inspectors .

But still many of us constantly break these restrictions in that way , since to us fishermen it is clear to be seen , that only "catch and release" provides a sufficient stock of fish in our local waters , though we most likely still can't catch as many fish here as in our neighbor countries , since that "kill policy " is still too widely spread over here !

I was one of those as well , that obeyed the restrictions , but I am not doing it any more for years now , it's ridiculous to take a small pike of just 20" home for cooking , and also a zander(walleye) of 18" won't make up for a very large fillet , but these are the legal sizes in my area(these also differ locally) .

Greetz , diemai

[mark poulson]

I can sympathize with your plight.

You have to wonder about these bureaucrats sometimes, and some of the so called experts who craft rules and regulations. Most of the time, it's the people with the most political clout and their own agenda who fashion the rules, not the ones with the most knowledge of the subject.

Here in California, where we have an Austrian weight lifting actor as the Governor, a Federal administrator has decided that the State has to pay $7 billion dollars to improve the State Prison health care system. That's $7 billion for 170,000 prison inmates, while better than half of the general population of the State has no health care insurance, and the private and public hospitals are closing there doors due to lack of funds. And the State is projecting a $15 billion dollar deficit in their budget.

So inmates will have great health care, and taxpayers will go begging for health care, and can't find a hospital even if they can afford it.

Crazy. The inmates are running the asylum.

And common sense is an endangered species.

[diemai]

@ mark poulson

Not strange to me to hear this , Mr. Schwarzenegger is an European:wink: !

Over here it's similar , people that never achieved something positive for state and/or society , or even turned against these , get stuffed with benefits , since they are considered to be "poor underdogs" in terms of nowadays so-called "political correctness" .

Other people , that have worked and payed taxes , health,- and pension funds for a long time or even their entire life , are fobbed off with almost handouts , and still have to pay taxes on their pension money , extra fees on medication and health care , and so on........ !

First mentioned group doesn't , it's too unjust !

I strictly believe , that the German people are under the spell of a kind of a political mafia , that has forgotten or just doesn't care about the concerns of their citizens .

We are allowed to go to elections now and then , but otherwise they'd do , what they please , off course only for themselves or industrial lobbies , where many of them are involved in , but would not care for the common people (only if there is still a chance to rip them off for some more money) !

I can't call this democracy in it's real sense of the meaning .

In old Athens , hundreds of years before Christ , the founder of democracy , such politicians would have gotten kicked out of town by frequent public elections of all citizens for a year or two , so they could not do any harm to their people anymore:yay: !

But it is useless , to get mad about it , no one would listen and nothing would change !

Better go fishing , as long as we can , greetz , diemai

Edited June 23, 2008 by diemai
spelling mistake

[diemai]

Alright , enough about:pissed: () politics now , let's get back to lure talk :

Few hours ago I glued in the hinge screweyes into my swimbait blank , the gratitude goes to mark poulson , for having explained to me , how to do that accurately (first set both eyes for proper spacing of sections , remove one eye and glue it in to use the second one as a depth reference) .

Also glued in the tow ,-and hook eyes .

This afternoon I am going to try on the fins , that I intend to make from bristles of larger painting brushes , I thought about using dark and lighter colored bristles together for a contrasting look .

I guess , that it was on a German site (or here on TU ?) , where I saw the bristles first stuck onto a piece of tape to create the entire fin in one piece to later glue it in place into its fitting groove (off course after having finished the final clearcoating) .

Well , I am eager to find out , how it would work out , but now I am hungry:popcorn: !

Cheerio , Dieter

[mark poulson]

Good luck with the painting and with the fins.

And good luck against Turkey.

[Vodkaman]

Diemai. You could well have read it here, it was mentioned back in February and covered two weeks ago (thanks to JrHopkins). I have included the link so anyone can catch up with the tecnique.

http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/13607-attaching-fiber-fins.html

That bait is looking so good.

[diemai]

@ Vodkaman

Gee , totally forgot about that one , I even wrote a comment on it , thanks for reminding me !

@ mark poulson

Thanks a lot , it's gonna be a very exciting match , starts in about 5 hrs. 15 min . , shouldn't miss it !

The Turkish team are the underdogs , many of their top players are either hurt or suffer from penalties , I guess , there are not even enough players left to be able to make the legal three player exchanges during the match .

But never underestimate that team , their will to win is second to none and if one fights until the end , they are the ones !

Edited June 25, 2008 by diemai
wrong spelling

[Vodkaman]

I've booked a holiday tomorrow, would not miss this one. I worked in Germany in '96. That year England lost on penalties. The bar was a Turkish bar, I nearly stayed home. To my surprise, everyone was rootin' for England.

After the match, everyone gets in the car and promenades around the town, horns blaring (Have you any idea how annoying this is!). With the strong Turkish presence in Germany, the atmosphere is going to be awesome, just wish I was there (schwaebisch hall).

[diemai]

@ Vodkaman

Hahaha , indeed I have an idea about the Turkish fans blocking up the roads , making a helluva noise with their cars and horns:lol: !

It was during the last world championships 2006 in Germany ,

the Turkish team had won a match , and my wife and I were cruising around the city of Hamburg that evening , looking for a place to do nightfishing for eel (yes , you can do that , even in the heart of the city !) .

Due to those soccer fans whe couldn't even go , where we wanted to and check for a good spot .

We got into a jam for a while , I was totally fed up:pissed: , so we drove out of town again to put out our baits in a more rural area !

As far , as I remember , we haven't caught that night:( !

Tonight it's gonna be the same in Hamburg , there is a very large fan party going on in the city , with expected tens of thousands visitors , German and Turkish alike !

But I am not going fishing there tonight:wink: !

Greetz , diemai

[diemai]

OK , I guess , for my first time the fin affair has turned out quite well so far:) .

As a reference about their shape I have first cut out simple templates of cardboard , these I used to sketch the outer shape of the fins onto some masking tape , that I stuck on my workbench with some other tape , sticky side upward .

This way I could better determine on how to lay the single bunches of bristles onto the tape .

Off course I had to bear in mind , that the base of the fins had to potrude over the tape a little more than the depth of the fitting grooves in the lure blank .

This did not turn out too well with the tailfin:( , since the tape got too close to the lureb lank , but I can still cope with that by lateron glueing it in very carefully .

First the base only , after remove tape and then glue the rest .

After all bristles were in place , I fixed them with a second strip of tape .

When finally glued in after the final topcoating , I'd off course trim those fins to proper shape .

I haven't used that many bristles , since I am a bit scared , that too many would have an effect on the lure action , I just don't have any experience with it !

[diemai]

Well , the tailfin was a bit more finacky to do , since it required little longer bristles , so I had to open up the smaller brush to gather them .

But finally everything turned out well , so I tried to fit in the taped fins into their grooves .

I found this almost impossible , since there would always be some bristles binding on the outside , so the whole thing didn't slide in properly !

And one can't use greater force on it , it would all get out of shape or even spoil entirely:( !

So I had the idea about fusing the bristles together at their base with my two-component glue .

Don't know , if this was described somewhere before ? If it was , I did not notice it !

In this case , please forgive me about saying that "I had the idea":huh: !

Anyway , I dipped the ends of the bristles into the mixed glue , the weakpoint about this is to bond them as flat as possible together .

To achieve this , I had to wait , until the glue started to set , because it's too liquid and sticky during the first minutes after mixing !

At this stage I tried to press the bristles flat together with my fingers , but the glue was already to hard and they sprung back to shape , so I quickly pressed the fin base flat in my vise , which helped a good deal .

But after curing more I found some spots still a little too thick to enter the slots , so I had to extend these for about almost one millimeter .

Anyway , don't think , that this matters too much , because the entire fin slot would be filled up with glue finally .

I really enjoyed this work , since it is a new challenge for me , my gratitude goes to all the guys here on TU , that provided their kind and generous assistance for me .

Now I am hoping , that things would continue to turn out reasonably well with my first swimbait , and that one day local pike would honour my work !

To be continued..........Dieter

[The Natural]

Very nice...I'm sure glad I'm not a swimbait guy; that's waaaay to much work for me!

[mark poulson]

Congrats on what looks to be a successful fin installation.

And on the German team's victory.

[diemai]

@ mark poulson

Thanks , Mark:worship: , but to me (and I'm sure many others) it's a kind of bitter victory .

The Turkish team in many parts was the better one , but also it shows a certain pofessionality about the German team , that they did not miss too many chances in front of theTurkish goal to score , due to some well played counter attacks and passes (in fact they only had a few changes compared to their opponents:() .

Anyway , this match was nothing to brag about , not at all , just keep quiet in humility !

@ The Natural

Thanks for your kind words , but I don't consider myself to be one as well , I just thought , I'd pick up the challenge for once !

But trust me , if I'd get the first good fish nailed to it , I'd be in my workshop the next day and launch some more:wink: !

Greetz , Dieter

[mark poulson]

Diemai,

I don't know soccer from schmocker, but I know your team won. If they go all the way and win the championship, they will be the best team, plain and simple.

So, for you, I'm rooting for the German team.

[diemai]

@ mark poulson

Certainly you are right , but we'd expected a far better performance of our team , also because of the way , that some players had been talking previously in TV interviews !

But I guess , such a "ballyhooing" is part of the game !

Also we German people are known to be always moaning and wailing about everything:) !

But thanks anyway , Dieter

[Perch]

F..ck! We lost to Spain... I will support Germany in the Finale!

[diemai]

@ Perch

Can't say , that the Russian team didn't deserve it to go home:yes: !

But the German team is also able to play like the Russians did today , no doubt:huh: !

But they might as well do as good as the Spanish acted today , you never know ?

Alright , today before the soccer match I applied a clearcoat onto my swimbait and the other lures of my actual batch .

Tomorrow , they'll have their first bath tube testing !

Until then , diemai

[diemai]

Hi , everybody ,

This morning I have determined about the weighting of my swimbait .

I usually do this in a waterbucket in my workshop by taping in-line sinkers and/or leadshot onto the lureblanks at desired(or better required)location .

But I only proceed jerkbaits(and now also swimbaits)this way , since they require a certain sink rate or swim level , if floating models .

Crankbaits I'd test straight in my bath tube , so I can check their action under various weighting options .

Off course I'd also test this swimbait for action with these weights still taped on , but usually I don't do this with jerkbaits , since I have enough experience with them(unless new prototypes) .

If the sinking behaviour in the bucket is fine , they'll work , that one I know:wink: !

Anyway , the lead , that I taped onto this lure , just lets it float up about level with its back slightly sticking out .

If I submerge it by hand , it would rise at about 1" in 1 1/2 to 2 seconds .

So , after I drill the holes to embed the weights and after the paint ,-and final topcoats it would loose some more buoancy and maybe sink at 4" a second , maybe little more ?

The piece of wire attached to the toweye resembles the wire leader , that I would use later when fishing with the lure for pike .

Using this "substitute weight" helps quite a bit , that your finished lure later won't hang too much head-down on your line & leader:wink: .

When lure has dried sufficiently , I'd just disassemble it and drill the weight holes at the determined locations , which I mark with a waterproof felt pen , before removing that plastic tape & weight !

I would swage the most likely round or oval weights a little flat , not to have to drill too deep into the lure , since often there are eyescrews mounted , that limit the depth of the weight holes .

For same space reasons I sometimes even have to swage the lead into a rectangular(or cubic) shape and thus have to furnish elongated lead-pouches with a small router bit on my drillpress with cross-slide table !

Finally I'd close the holes with my time-proven two-component glue and work them flush after curing with "Dremel" and file .

One final word :

When utilizing this "tape-on weight" method to determine the sinkrate , submerge and shake the lure a bit underwater to get rid of possible airbubbles under the loose tape portions , these otherwise might false your results:yes: !

The tape comes loose after some time and you'd have to re-new it , when having to tinker for a longer while:huh: !

Greetz , Dieter

Edited June 27, 2008 by diemai
mistake

[mark poulson]

Fingers crossed! I like your weight placement. Should swim great.

[rofish]

Diemai,

The tape technique you use can surely do the job it is meant for - determine the weight and placement of the ballast. But it may have a downside, as you mentioned - trapped air, which might alter tha data.

Instead of the tape, some use a needle (sewing needle or office pin) on which the lead is placed. You press the needle into the belly, and see the action of the lure in the bath tub. If not satisfied, you change the position of the needle.

But now I use a different technique. I have (and use) cylindrical lead, with the diameter of 4.5 mm, which I poor myself. Cut ou pieces of different lengths (and weights), see which one is the best for a certain lure, then I glue the lead cylinder to the belly. This way, I can test the lure at the neaby river. I take the superglue with me, and if not satisfied with the action, I can easily change the position of the lead. At this stage, the lure is sealed, including the lip slot, so I can also try several lips. I do this only for prototypes. But I choose the lip this way for every lure.

[diemai]

@ rofish

If taking care about that trapped air , it works pretty well for me , no way !

But I might not want to pierce holes into my lures with needles(only pike are allowed to do that with their teeth:lol:) , it probably won't work with thru-wired lures , since they have this slot in their centers , filled with glue and wire , guess , no needle could easily enter !

Your method about the cylindrical lead is better , since you can cut it to different lengths , this way it is far easier to alter the weight for fractions .

Sorry , can't write more now , my wife just got home , we'd be off fishing now !

Greetz , Dieter

[mark poulson]

@ rofish

Sorry , can't write more now , my wife just got home , we'd be off fishing now !

Greetz , Dieter

[diemai]

OK , I have now tested that swimbait with the still taped-on weights in my bath tube , and , I am very happy........IT WORKS PERFECT !

It has that distinctive snake-like swimming pattern even on a slow pull , it looks great !

I am sorry , that I can't provide a video , but this(unfortunately out of focus)picture still clearly shows the sideward swing of the tail section:yay:.

Next step now would be to work in the weights into the lures belly .

greetz , Dieter

[diemai]

Finally I managed now to place the determined weights into the swimbait body .

It was a bit finacky , since I could not just drill the holes as deep , as I maybe wanted to , since the hinge screweyes locations hinder deep drilling .

So I had to go as shallow as possible with the weight holes , therefore make them quite large in diameter , thus swage the leadshot and sinker weights rather into a "disc" shape:wink: .

To use the space as good as possible , I employed some wood router bits to precisely cut these holes , with their bottoms plane .

Well , things worked out well , maybe not the easiest method , but works out fine for me , and I don't mind tinkering a bit !

Anyway , the weights are fixed now , and after curing I'd cut the glue plugs on the holes flush with my "Dremel" and files .

More details about my method of glueing in the weights in my thread "New Banana Lures"

Greetz , Dieter