muskietom51 Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 Seen a lil bait simular to these thought Id give some Bass baits a try to share with my non muskie fishing buddies. They are 2 1/4 by 1 inch tall thickness is 3/8.Cedar bodies. I'm thinking of round lips i'm looking for them to run 4 to 6 feet any suggestions on how big they need to be lenght an width. I'm hoping to stay about 6 grams total weight. I havent figured out how much weight i need but looking for some ideas on the postion to put the weights on the belly. I think if I put the hooks forward of the belly hook i should get more wobble read this somewhere here. Lol for some ungodly reason I always come back here when the water is hard. There is a lot of good reading an help here thanks to everyone new an old its been a while OK now I'll try to add a pic wish me luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackjack Posted January 3, 2011 Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 Tom, Personally I would weight those baits at the lowest point on the belly of the bait. When you start fooling around with moving weights foward and higher in the bait you will mess with the stability of the bait as it moves thru the water. Weighting at the lowest point in the body will make the bait run straight and true as long as the rest of the components that are installed are square and true! Hope this helps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted January 4, 2011 Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 I agree with Blackjack on where to put the ballast but am wondering about the target weight of 6 grams, or less than 1/4 oz. Put some finish, a lip, and trebles on them and they may exceed 6 grams with no ballast at all. A bass bait less than 1/4 oz is difficult to cast and a flat wood crankbait also tends to sail, so I like medium size bass baits to weigh at least 3/8 oz, or 10-11 grams. I work up to a target weight by weighing all the components on a scale, adding .03-.04 oz for finish, .05 oz for #6 trebles and split rings - then subtracting the total from my target weight to get the ballast needed. I'd expect around .1 oz of ballast in a bait that size. Many of us use integrated belly weights that include a belly hanger molded into a slug of lead ballast, but if you are just making a few and using wire hook hangers epoxied into the bait, I would put the ballast directly in front of the belly hanger. JMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskietom51 Posted January 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 Thanks to both og you blackjack an Bob. You both have hit this one on the head so far as for the weight I got me a scale an weighted the bait body I'm already at 5 gram. I dont use smaller baits and was thinking how would i beable to cast something so light an great point about the flat sided sailing. Before I add any hardware I will weigh it with all componits. I'm not just clear how long I want the lip or width, as Blackjack probably can tell this is simular to his lil pete thats the angle I want on the lips. I want them to atleast get down to 4 for I'll keep working on this the info is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskietom51 Posted January 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Thanks to both og you blackjack an Bob. You both have hit this one on the head so far as for the weight I got me a scale an weighted the bait body I'm already at 5 gram. I dont use smaller baits and was thinking how would i beable to cast something so light an great point about the flat sided sailing. Before I add any hardware I will weigh it with all componits. I'm not just clear how long I want the lip or width, as Blackjack probably can tell this is simular to his lil pete thats the angle I want on the lips. I want them to atleast get down to 4 for I'll keep working on this the info is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskietom51 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Well it finally warmed up enough out in the cave to get stasrted again, ran into a issue I really messed up. these baits were made from cedar the first one came out ok, but when I started to drill the lower section of the belly for weight placement,the wood split on me. I cut the out with the wood grain do you guys form your baits cross grained to stop spliting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodieb8 Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Well it finally warmed up enough out in the cave to get stasrted again, ran into a issue I really messed up. these baits were made from cedar the first one came out ok, but when I started to drill the lower section of the belly for weight placement,the wood split on me. I cut the out with the wood grain do you guys form your baits cross grained to stop spliting. [/quote.....try putting the body in a vise and use sharp cutting bits. that should help splitting cedar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 (edited) I drill the weight port before I carve/sand the body to shape. It seems to help with tear out some. I found cedar to be a real pain with chipping/ tear outs when drilling ballast ports. You might try drilling the ballast port first then cutting out the body. As for the about of weight in those bait, by the size of the bodies I would guess 1/16oz would be about right. For lips take a look at some of the pre-made circuit board lips form (lureparts on-line) they have a nice round lip that would work well in that little bait. I would keep the lip angle between 25-30 degrees for that style of bait. This little bait is similar to yours but made from 1/2 thick balsa, I used 1/8oz ballast at the lowest point in the belly. Hope some of this will help. Edited January 26, 2011 by benton B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskietom51 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 I drill the weight port before I carve/sand the body to shape. It seems to help with tear out some. I found cedar to be a real pain with chipping/ tear outs when drilling ballast ports. You might try drilling the ballast port first then cutting out the body. As for the about of weight in those bait, by the size of the bodies I would guess 1/16oz would be about right. For lips take a look at some of the pre-made circuit board lips form (lureparts on-line) they have a nice round lip that would work well in that little bait. I would keep the lip angle between 25-30 degrees for that style of bait. This little bait is similar to yours but made from 1/2 thick balsa, I used 1/8oz ballast at the lowest point in the belly. Hope some of this will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskietom51 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 After i posted duh i thought of drilling before i shape great info Benton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAangler Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 When i drill a hole for the weight I start with the smallest bit I have, then I work my way up. I leave the drill in reverse the whole time. I never had a problem with the wood splitting this way, and the bit usually won't go all the way through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
