Lip Angle

[bobv]

Hey guys, I've cut out some balsa bodies and not sure what angle to mount the lip. I'm starting with a 3 1/4" flat side bait and want it to run 1 - 3ft. the lip is 1" x 3/4". Any thoughts? Thanks Bob

[littleriver]

Hello Bob. One of the easiest ways to figure out which lip angle, line tie position, lip position i to use is to study factory baits that dive to the desired depth your wanting from your own bait. Most online and retail stores even have them broken down by diving depth. I learned much from this practice.

I would think something around 40 degrees should work just fine.

Vic

[diemai]

Not only the lip angle and size presets the diving depth of a lure , but also the buoancy of the lure's body . To give you an example , .......I once swapped a lure 5 1/2" blank from balsa , wanted it to dig quite deep , so I mounted a larger triangular lip pointing about 30° forward .

The lure swam fine , but dug down not more than 3 feet this way , .......popped back up like a cork , if you would stop the retrieve .

After I put loads of lead into belly and also back it still floated back to the surface on a pause , but much , much slower , ..........it now went down for at least 12 feet or even a tad more , .....still wobbling along seductively .

You can't plan on a crankbait's action on only one of it's features alone , ....they all must match one another , and if you alter just one , you'd get a different result in entire swimming action time after time .

Good luck , diemai

[bobv]

Thanks guys. I figured on adding ballast on the belly. I took a similar bait and weighed it and adding the difference to my bait. Just looking to run a maximum of 3ft and a fast rise is good when plowing it through trees.

[BobP]

I think an angle of 45 degrees is almost "standard" on shallow running balsa baits. If you front-weight the bait to swim with a nose-down attitude, that effectively increases the lip angle, which decreases the running depth.

You didn't really expect straightforward answers, did ya? You could do worse than copying the general configuration and weight of a KVD or Lucky Craft shallow runner.

[littleriver]

Bobv, A method I use often to get the ballast right when copying a bait is the "float test". Weight your bait so it floats the same as the bait your copying. This will help get the right amount of ballast in the right place in your own lure.

[bobv]

Thanks for the input guys. Bob