gordon Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 (edited) I am looking to create my first Wakebait. This will be a simple 2 sectioned bait with an almost straight down lip to create the movement. I was thinking about the effects of moving the lip back on the front section more towards the center of the body. As this is moved back, would it create a mode exxagerated wobble, if weighted correctly? Whilst I fully intend to explore this and experiment, I was wondering if anyone else had done this and what the results were? Edited September 25, 2012 by gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleriver Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 I have experimented with moving the bib back on the body some. The further back you go the more exaggerated the wobble but at some point the bait will blowout the side. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted September 26, 2012 Report Share Posted September 26, 2012 I have actually put the lip all the way back on the tail...you can get some interesting action from the bait...The further back the bill the shallower the dive...Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon Posted September 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the feedback. Interesting about putting the lip right at the back of the bait, kind of like a swimtail on a Soft plastic hollow belly. That may give some good disturbance on the surface, especially if I ensure the second section is bouyant. I will let you know how things turn out. My main reason for making wakebaits is for night fishing for large fall bass - hopefully :-) Also, my wife loves fishing topwater but she cannot work a popper or dawg type bait for too long before it hurts her wrists. I am hoping my wake bait efforts will be a good substitute for her to use. Edited September 26, 2012 by gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted September 26, 2012 Report Share Posted September 26, 2012 Keep us updated on your progress....You'd be amazed what you can come up with if you start thinking out side the box!!...Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon Posted October 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 (edited) So far, my efforts have been less than successful. I made 3 single jointed wakebaits from PVC, by the time I added ballast, foil, epoxy, hooks ect they barely floated, one of them sank. I then read about building MS Slammer type baits and that you do not really need any ballast as the 2/0 hooks will do the job. I drilled out all the lead ballast from one and that cured one problem, floats real good, hooks are enough to provide adequate keel weight. My other problem is they will not swim, I the joints are real loose with a good gap and no binding. I have tried small square lips (like on a redfin plug) at 85 degrees all they way to 60 degrees. I have also tried this with larger round lips, and larger square ones too. Any advice would be appreciated. The lips position is just below the eye of these baits. The irony of this is, these are the first 2 sectioned swimbaits I have made, had I made my usual 3 sections baits with no weight they would swim fine. I may just go and drill the ballast out of some of my 3 sectioned swimbaits and have done with it. Edited October 17, 2012 by gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Put the line tie under the nose of the bait, almost on top of the lip. That will get your baits swimming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon Posted October 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Put the line tie under the nose of the bait, almost on top of the lip. That will get your baits swimming. That did not work for me either. My design must be missing something fundamental. On a 2 sectioned wake bait do the sections have to be a certain dimension? Front section bigger than the rear or vice versa, or do they have to be the same? Or does it not matter? I used Baseboard PVC as this is what I had success with making swimbaits. Do I need to try something more bouyant which will enable me to carefully place some ballast? If so, where should the ballast be placed? These baits are oval in profile, I see the MS Slammer for example is very round, do I need a round profile to achive some action? Lots of questions.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 As a general rule.... The break down on a double jointed bait is 50/30/20.... for a single joint it is 60/40...again this is just a guide line...Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 How big is the bait? length and width. How much ballast and exact location? Post a pic of the exact bait please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) Here is a picture of 2 of the baits, they are 6 - 7inches long with the tail. Ballast has been removed at the moment, they sit well in the water with the ballast of the 2/0 trebles. The lips were origionally small and square, I also tried a larger round lip as you may find on an MS Slammer. I am thinking I may need to make these thinner or shape them differently to get them to work. My bait making so far has been large swimbaits carved from PVC which have all worked fine for me so far. I may need some more finesse in my designs for hardbaits other than swimbaits. Edited October 22, 2012 by gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleriver Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) I would try a wider bib first. Wider than the bait and narrower than the bait where they join. A wedge Bib. Also move the ballast closer to the bib. And finally if that does not work, move the line tie closer to the bib. i would just try one thing at a time. Sounds like the body of the bait is dictating the action. You need to put the bib in control of the bait and doing these things will do exactly that. Nice looking bait! Hope you get it swimming soon............. Edited October 22, 2012 by littleriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon Posted October 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 (edited) I would try a wider bib first. Wider than the bait and narrower than the bait where they join. A wedge Bib. Also move the ballast closer to the bib. And finally if that does not work, move the line tie closer to the bib. i would just try one thing at a time. Sounds like the body of the bait is dictating the action. You need to put the bib in control of the bait and doing these things will do exactly that. Nice looking bait! Hope you get it swimming soon............. Thanks for the feedback, I definately agree that the mass of the bait is dictating the action rather than the bib. I decided to try a wedge bib as you say, no difference. I then put the same wedge bib up front right near the line tie - sucess - nice swimming action, the only problem is I have now made a shallow diving plug, which I am sure I can use. I used carved PVC for these baits; although bouyant, I think I need a more bouyant material such as balsa. I think had my baits been made with this I would have now acheived my goal. As the extra bouyancy would keep the bait afloat, this very property of the bib trying to pull the bait down and the bouyancy keeping it afloat should cause a very nice "disturbance" on the surface of the water. So far, I have only played with PVC for my swimbaits and these wakebaits. My reason for doing was that it is easy to carve plus there are no water logging issues. Are there any more bouyant materials (Plastics) that I could use? I now will of course have a go at a Balsa or Cedar wakebait too. Another question, that I have been thinking about for some time......... A lot of surface baits are jointed, a lot have a single body. In my mind, if a surface bait has a good side to side action, the single bodied bait would move more water and create more of a disturbance, becasue the jointed bait would follow the first section rather than kicking out more. Is this the case? Edited October 25, 2012 by gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleriver Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Your welcome; glad you found the information useful. Sorry however, the bait is not performing as expected. If your set on changing building material to something more buoyant it may not be a bad idea. But if your willing to keep working with what you have , I have an idea. Change the angle of your bib. Change it to an angle like Nathan's http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/25425-diving-billsjust-not-for-diving-anymore/ This should bring your wake bait to the surface. Not sure if your aware of it or not but you may cold bend lexan to a point to test these new angles without having to cut new lip slots for your experiments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakesmith1979z Posted November 2, 2012 Report Share Posted November 2, 2012 Have you considered just starting with a 1-piece wake bait? It might be gratifying to start simple and expand from there. At any rate, keep us informed on your progress... very interesting post, I love wake baits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
