Jointed lure first attempt

[mark poulson]

Great minds think alike!

Good luck.

[Vodkaman]

To be honest, I didn't notice a twisting in the swim action. But, when the lure halts, the last two sections do twist up. Because you have used balsa, a very buoyant wood, any sections without ballast will try to lie flat. This takes up the slack in the hinges and twists.

You cannot solve this problem at the hinges, the play is required to keep the movement free. The only solution is to ballast one or both of the rear sections. Maybe just the second to last section alone will reduce the problem to your satisfaction. Of course, this might harm the action you have now, only a trial will reveal.

[excaliber551]

Vodkaman, I just got back from testing it in the pond. The twisting is from the tail not being correctly secured which allows it to twist a bit. You are right the tail section was twisting.

I didn't know why until you explained it and after I watched the video in slow motion several times. The tail doesn't twist unless I really jerk on it. I think the new connection will fix that.

It swam a bit differently in the pond. It was much smoother and the action seemed to be more fluid and less jerky at slower retrieves. When I pulled it hard it had the same action as it did in the tub.

I tried to add additional weight to the rear hook but you're right, it really killed the action. It swam with the head downhill a bit due to the weight so I tried less weight and that seemed to fix that. I need some different size weights so I can experiment some more.

This weekend I'll have more time to tinker with weighting it.