RiverMan Posted February 15, 2004 Report Share Posted February 15, 2004 Today I took these four plugs down to the reeever. The plugs are made from cedar and are 6 inches long and just under 1/2 inches thick, big guys. Starting from the top and going down the lip slots are cut at 60, 50, 40 and 30 degrees respectively. Each of them has an upper and lower tow point drilled into them. I tested each with a large bill and small bill (shown at bottom of pic) and at both tow points, a total of 16 tests, 4 per bait. The 60, 40 and 30 all ran very straight in the water with the small bill, diving to about 5 feet but had almost no wiggle at all. These same baits all had good action with the large bill in place diving to 5' or more, the 60 version was more of a wobble than wiggle which is what I am looking for part of the time. Now, here's my question. The second bait from the top, cut at 50 degrees is the only bait that would not run BUT it is also the only bait in which I had already inserted the weight. All the others I had the weight rubber-banded in place as you see on the top lure. The lure that won't run sits in the water at the same level and aspect as the others and has a very similar amount of weight.......so what's the deal? I am guessing that the center of gravity was changed too much with the large weights I installed. The weights are long enough to where they extend to at least the mid-line or further (toward the dorsal) in the bait. Any suggestions on how best to handle this? Thanks!! Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeeter Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 I believe that the problem is the legnth that the weight is going up inside the bait. You never want a weight to pass the center point of the lure in my opinion. I always compact my weights to be as close to the bottom of the lure as possible. The reason the others probably worked was because they were banded on the bottom of the lure. Skeeter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Yea that was my guess too Skeeter so built two others today doing exactly what you just wrote. I will test them in a couple of days. The lures are designed to mimic sardine/herring that we use for spring chinook in April and May. The bait with the 60 degree slot has great wobble and stability which is exactly what I want for anchoring in big water. I pulled the bait through the water about as fast as I could and couldn't get it to roll. Thank you for taking the time to respond. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
out2llunge Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Your lip design will also affect the action. SOmetimes some lures I've made will NOT work with the lip I want to use. So I changed the lip and bingo the lure worked. Try a rounder shaped lip and see if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 That would be the first thing I would suspect too Lunge except for all of the other lures ran perfectly with either the small or large bill in place. The lure I had already weighted wouldn't even begin to run......the physics in cranks is just amazing, it's quite a challenge and alot of fun. A test tank would sure simply things. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
