Lili Man Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 Dan, I am getting ready to cast my first lure. I used oomoo 25 for the mold and will be using feather lite for casting. What temp do you think is best for pouring the molds. And do you have any other recommendations before I use the feather lite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snax Posted December 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 Dan told me the other night that 72 degrees is optimal for pouring. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rclark12 Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 72 degrees for oomoo or feather lite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) I agree it helped the action quite a bit Mike. Most of the hard swimbaits we build tend to over exagerate the swimming action of a fish. As part of my job, I have watched hundreds of fish swimming underwater and mostly all you see move is the tail of the fish, the body remains very steady. As a fish gets larger and closer to the surface, however, the swimming motion becomes more exagerated. The fish in this video is about 7 pounds (roughly 27 inches), if it were 7 inches the swimming motion would be far less pronounced: I have built a number of hard plastic swimbaits now and each of them had a more sinuous motion with four sections than they did with three. However, the size of each section makes a big differce too. If you intend to use the bait for bass I think 4 sections is better because many bass fisherman really like to "slow roll" their swimbaits and more sections will peform better at slow speeds. Four sections on the surface looks very realistic. However, for other species such as musky, pike, stripers, etc., I think 3 sections provides some advantage because it is one less joint to worry about and therefore lessens the liklihood of something going wrong when a huge fish grabs the bait and starts spinning on it. This video clip is my fav swimbait that I have built thus far, it has three sections (two joints) and as you can see, this bait will really dance. At 57 seconds into the video I slow roll the bait. YouTube - swimbait video by Bikini Bait Company Jed V. Edited January 3, 2009 by RiverMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snax Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 While we're on the subject of talking swimbait designs, I have an observation to share. I'd built up a batch of wooden swimbaits recently and when I went to test the actions I noticed that some swam perfectly while two came in like a stick. The only difference it turns out was that on the two that didn't swim, the the slots for the screw eyes and hinge pins was larger. That allowed the sections to twist slightly which interrupted the hydrodynamics needed to cause the swimming motion we've all come to know. I took them home and filled in the spaces with epoxy and then used the band saw to cut new tighter slots. Voila, they swim great now. I think that the particular angles of my body sections also had a lot to do with this. I'm going to make one with the reverse angles like one of our members did recently. I believe that this will help make the swimbaits swim a slower speeds which seems to be what many anglers look for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snax Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 That video of the Trout swimming near the surface was very interesting Jed. You can really see the fishes head move from side to side as he thrust his tail. Very exaggerated as you mentioned compared to how they swim subsurface and when they are holding in current. So far one of the best swimming motions I'v seen on a swimbait is on Nate's new multi segmented Trout. They swim even at an absolute crawl. That's what I'm going to aim for with my own plastic models or at least on the ones that are aimed at the Bass market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 If that is what you are wanting, then more joints would be better. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snax Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Yeah, it's good to tailor the actions to what the particular market desires. For musky and pike I also like the fewer and stronger segments. Those California Bass anglers are very particular when it comes to these swimbaits. By the way, Jed, your baits also swim incredibly well. The comment about Nate's wasn't meant to suggest that anyone else's aren't great too. I just like the way his move with very little forward motion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Oh hey Mike, I think Nate's trout is the finest of all trout swimbaits on the market, period. He put an incredible amount of time into that lure and it really shows. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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