New Swimmerspoon Prototype

[diemai]

Hi , folks ,

Some of you might have seen my first jointed spoon model in here :

Made a few of these more than 1 1/2 years ago , ........had only thrown them for a few times since then , as I did not take so many boat trips since and these jointed lures are too precious to me to be used fishing from the bank(easy snagging with the three trebles , I guess) , .....a lot of work involved cutting out and shaping all of those metal parts, .......no catches occured so far !

So I've thought about a solution on a jointed spoon model that would be easier and faster to build than the "All Metal" lure in the video linked above , ...........so I finally came up with this one , which I tested this afternoon :

The first metal section is basically the same in shape and cupping like on the earlier model , .........the major difference are the four trailing sections being made of PVC hardfoam this time , not metal .

Only took me well about 45 min. to turn out the sections on my lathe , grind and sand the flanks flat(the final cross-section is somewhat oval) and drill the center bores for the connecting wireforms , .......with some more routine I'd surely get faster with it as well !

Left the four sections in one piece at first , ...still connected by some material left inbetween the single sections , ...it's much easier this way to sand the parts flat and round off all edges so far , ......separated them afterwards to furnish the bores , ........drilled from either side of each section to meet in center , .........just to assure a centered hole exit on all section ends .

The buoyant tail sections of this new swimmerspoon prototype seemingly make up for a different swimming pattern compared to the first "All Metal" lure , ...........in my opinion it has an attractive appeal on the drop with the leveled and rocking first spoon section and the PVC tail trailing behind it , .......guess , the first model could never act as attractive on the drop !

Fishing this new protoptype in a pause-and-retrieve manner would be essential to maintain desired swimming depth , as it rises towards the surface pretty fast , ....but I guess , that this should not be the problem , ..........I've found , that the "All Metal" lures rise up quite fast as well , ........but could never descend again as appealing as this new one with it's buoyant tail sections .

The metal head section will still be equipped with two bead eyes(like a "Red Eye" spoon) , either be plain polished or annealed to a dark blue/purple color , .........the PVC sections will be painted and topcoated the "usual" hardbait way .

First tried the design with a smaller first metal section of a bit more pronounced cupping(wanted a possibly smaller lure) , ....but that one did not work at all , this smaller spoon section simply could not generate enough motion and power to have enough force to track the trailing segments into a "snake" course , it simply would not wiggle at all , just rise up straightaway , .............so I came up with this proven larger and more moderately cupped first spoon section !

greetz , diemai

[mark poulson]

Dieter,

Those look and swim great!

You are, indeed, the Metal Meister!

Do you think making the metal head part of the lure with PVC out of heavier metal might counteract the fast rise?

And now, the most important question.

How in the world do you manage to film those lures as you walk along that platform without falling into the water???!!!

[Vodkaman]

Dieter, the lure certainly has a nice movement as it swims and on the drop. A successful build in my eyes.

It would be nice to build this type of lure and control the depth, but I fear that the build would once again be complicated, either by weight system or double curvature.

Great video.

Dave

[rofish]

Very nice swimming, indeed. And, most important, something the pikes have not seen before.

If you are concerned by the fact that this lure comes too quickly to the surface, I guess you might try a thicker metal sheet. Or perhaps an "S" shaped metal section. Do you also consider attaching a soft worm or a soft plastic shad to the spoon? I have not seen such lure yet. Just an idea, which was triggered by yours.

[Mattlures]

I like that alot. I want to buy one from you to use in saltwater. Will you sell me one with extra heavy rings?

[diemai]

Thanks a lot , fellas !

@ mark poulson

I had already made experiments with thicker steel sheet back in 2009 in terms of constructing the first "All Metal" model , ...........I've found , that this spoon shape would not wobble as strong when being made thicker , thus more heavy , ...this 1 millimetre thick version works best , has the strongest wiggle possible .

Only fell into the water two times so far whilst fishing , ...not bad for a carrer lasting for more than 20 years now , ..........once I lost balance in attempt to recover a float from an overhanging bush and sank down the bottom of an old harbor basin(I was heavily dressed , as it happened in cold October) , ........got myself out real quick by pushing and accelerating myself off the bottom at 10 feet with my two legs , so I virtually darted ashore again , ........it was too damn cold !

Second time I was walking the bank of the Elbe-Lübeck canal and stepped into a rat hole and got stuck into it with one leg , thus lost balance and fell into the canal , .......but it was during summer this time , so not as bad !

Guess , that filming from any platforms and pontoons , ....no matter which size ,..... won't be that dangerous !

@ Vodkaman

Probably the easiest way would be to attach a little sinker , lighter in weight than the lure , to the connecting snap between main line and wire leader .

As you said , it would be quite a challenge to design a spoon with any sort of diving device(though there are some commercial ones around) .

And still , ...not all spoon shapes or designs are able to track any kind of trailers without loosing too much of their wiggle or even not work at all , most of them can't take a trailer !

I've found out about this spoon shape still being able to toss a trailer as with the initial spoon protoptype of this shape I had accidentally hooked a littered condom floating in a Hamburg city canal , ......I saw that the spoon was still wiggling well with this little attachement doing a nice "snake" move" , so the idea of these multi-sectioned spoons slowly came into being .

@ rofish

Certainly an attached plastic worm or grub would work very well(if even a condom does ) , .....haven't yet tried it , because I have a kinda affinity against plastic lures , especially when attached to other lure types, ...........guess that during my early fishing years I've had too many sticky messes in my tackle boxes !

@ Mattlures

I usually do not sell any lures , because of all the work involved can't be paid with money IMO .

But I'd gladly swap for other homemades made by fellow lure tinkerers .

greetz , Dieter

[Vodkaman]

Inspired by a used condom, now that's funny.

The lure is behaving more like a large lip, than a spoon. Even if the spoon action slowed, say with a longer trailer, the 'S' action of the trailer would prevail. Huge driving vortices comming off that spoon.

Dave

[diemai]

Inspired by a used condom, now that's funny.

The lure is behaving more like a large lip, than a spoon. Even if the spoon action slowed, say with a longer trailer, the 'S' action of the trailer would prevail. Huge driving vortices comming off that spoon.

Dave

Dave , ...these things work different to a swimbait , I guess , .........the spoon part just oughta wiggle to toss the trailing sections into the snake move , .........made a smaller and more cupped spoon at first , that one did not work well , ....almost no action at all .

greetz , Dieter