auburn fisheries dude Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 It's a lipless crankbait, i tested to see whether it would swim correctly, but it wanted to swim sideways so much it would reach the surface on a slow retrieve. looking at the pics, would you say it was caused by my ballast position. Is it too high, too long, and not close enough to the nose of the lure? i really need some help pics: ballast is 1/32 oz too light? http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9486/dscn0583.jpg http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/545/dscn0587.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman2 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Did you try running it without the front treble & split-ring to see if that made a difference? or without the one on the back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman2 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Might want to throw up a pic of the bait straight on from the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 It looks to me that the ballast is too high in the body but I don't think I'd want it nearer the nose. If anything, I'd move it rearward, just in front of the neutral balance point of the lure with trebles attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diemai Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Don't have much experience with these lures , but to me it looks , that the ballast ist too small . Try taping some equally sized lead sheet stipes on eiter side , right about same level where the weight is located and test the lure . It might not wiggle and/or vibrate anymore , since you have changed its hydronamics now , but if it does not lay on its side anymore , you're on the right way . Otherwise I'd tend to say , that the ballast should be moved forward , but I'd first try this taping weight thing to get a first idea . good luck , diemai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I know nothing about this kind of lure or how they are supposed to swim. I am picturing in my mind the angle of the line. It seems to me that there is more body in front than behind. This is an unstable condition. The lure will rotate nose down until the pressure above the eye equals the pressure below the eye, in the direction of tow. Because the eye is too far back, this balance is never reached and the lure flips to one side. I do not think the ballast is an issue here. You can test this idea out by drilling a few 3/32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBlaze Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I know nothing about lipless cranks and what it takes to ballast them. I do know that I have cut a couple of them open and if I remember right, the only weight in them was the ball bearing rattles and I think the rattle chamber was in the bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazmail Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I have used a few of these (never made them), and just from the pictures, it looks like (as Dave said) the tow eye is too far back, move it about 1/2" forward. Or if you hang the lure horizontal, about opposite the bottom hook hanger, it just does not look right where you have it - maybe drill a few holes and test in different positions before doing any permanent gluing. pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I don't think you have enough balast weight and it needs to be placed lower in the belly. If that's a copy of another bait, take the original apart and look at how/where the weight is placed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadawgs Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 can't help you out with ballast but I did want to say that lure has looks great. what is cast out of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyJ Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I would recommend going to some different online tackleshops and take a look at some different lipless cranks in "ghost" colors to see what they are doing with the ballast. I am not going to post the pics because they are not mine and I don't want to steal bandwith. Where you put the ballast depends on how you want the lure to behave. My favorite lipless cranks tend to be nose weighted so they stand on their nose at rest on the bottom, maybe slightly angled towards the back. I find this design comes through weeds well and is good for "yo-yo'ing" off the bottom and tend to wiggle at lower speeds. I think you need more ballast, and I think you need to split it between at least two different locations. If you look at a Strike King Red Eye Shad, for instance, the main ballast locations are just behind the belly hook hanger and then in front of the belly hanger towards the nose, but low in the body. If you look very closely at the Spro Aruku Shad you can see a low nose ballast and then a long slender ballast in the belly that stretches from just behind the belly hanger back to just over halfway towards the tail. These are two lures that I have done well with. Even simpler, if you look at a Bill Lewis Rattletrap (thanks LaPala ), you can see that the chambers would position the weights towards the nose and just behind the belly hanger via gravity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburn fisheries dude Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 can't help you out with ballast but I did want to say that lure has looks great. what is cast out of Thanks, and its not even painted yet ...... i aint gonna lie though, its actually a BPS XPS series crankbait, so i'll buy a couple of them friday and open one up!! The resin is just this clear casting resin i got at Hobby Lobby, comes is a tin. i added the yellow transparent color to it also. It poured well but be in mind that i am not using microbubbles either. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburn fisheries dude Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I would recommend going to some different online tackleshops and take a look at some different lipless cranks in "ghost" colors to see what they are doing with the ballast. I am not going to post the pics because they are not mine and I don't want to steal bandwith.Where you put the ballast depends on how you want the lure to behave. My favorite lipless cranks tend to be nose weighted so they stand on their nose at rest on the bottom, maybe slightly angled towards the back. I find this design comes through weeds well and is good for "yo-yo'ing" off the bottom and tend to wiggle at lower speeds. I think you need more ballast, and I think you need to split it between at least two different locations. If you look at a Strike King Red Eye Shad, for instance, the main ballast locations are just behind the belly hook hanger and then in front of the belly hanger towards the nose, but low in the body. If you look very closely at the Spro Aruku Shad you can see a low nose ballast and then a long slender ballast in the belly that stretches from just behind the belly hanger back to just over halfway towards the tail. These are two lures that I have done well with. Even simpler, if you look at a Bill Lewis Rattletrap (thanks LaPala ), you can see that the chambers would position the weights towards the nose and just behind the belly hanger via gravity. Thanks so much, it looks liek the ballasts are as low on the body as possible, plus the air chambers will give it even more nose dive. In the rattle trap there is 4X more ballast weight than mine in the nose alone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyJ Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks so much, it looks liek the ballasts are as low on the body as possible, plus the air chambers will give it even more nose dive. In the rattle trap there is 4X more ballast weight than mine in the nose alone! If you look at lipless cranks of similar weight, they all seem to be relatively the same size, and they tend to be much heavier than lipped baits of similar sizes. Beyond the rattles adding extra weight, I think these lures need to be heavy to be stable enough to run properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTfishingrods Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I dont have anything to add other than what has been suggested already but its not a failure when you and the rest of us can learn something from it. You cant even imagine how many I have sitting in buckets that dont swim like I had planned, Some of them were casted as copies of other well known baits also that didnt perform like I wanted. But man this is fun!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman2 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I learned I don't know squat about making a lipless crank run true!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
