Minnow Chaser

[scrubs]

I was wondering if anyone's built the Minnow Chaser from the Making Wooden Fishing Lures book? It's a somewhat thin minnow shaped plug with a front wire with metal beads and blades. Any impressions of it if you have or have seen it in the book? Anyone built anything similar? Curious as to if it's a fish catcher or book filler.

 

bill

[Nathan]

You may want to post a picture of it..I'm not familiar with that bait...Nathan

[scrubs]

You may want to post a picture of it..I'm not familiar with that bait...Nathan

Haven't built it to post a pic. Tried coping a pic from the book but again no success. All I really wanted to know is if anyone has built anything like this, a lipless Husky Jerk style body with a wire shaft on the line tie with beads & spinner blades on the shaft.

 

bill

[Nathan]

Bill ,

I know what type bait your talking about now...I haven't built anything like that ..but it sounds interesting...Nathan

[Griffond]

Umm Diemai didn't you have something similar to this ? I thought I saw something like this in the gallery 

[mark poulson]

This sounds like a variation on a prop bait.

[scrubs]

This sounds like a variation on a prop bait.

Kind of. It's as if you removed the treble from a double bladed inline spinner and attached that to the line tie of a lipless jerk bait. Blades are an inch or two in front of the body.

 

Doesn't sound like anyone's done anything similar except possibly Dieter and he's done everything.

bill

Edited October 4, 2013 by scrubs

[Griffond]

So in theory it sounds like a Blue Fox Vibrax minnow only made to float almost or a much bigger version like this...

 

[Griffond]

Scrubs do you have the book there with you? if so just take a picture of the page instead of coping it cause that would even show enough to get an idea if the vibrax isn't close enough

[scrubs]

Yes, that's somewhat like it. If you want to see it here's the Amazon listing where you can "look inside". Almost the whole book is available in that including templates.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wooden-Fishing-Lures-Techniques/dp/1565234464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380905364&sr=8-1&keywords=making+wooden+fishing+lures

 

I've got the book so if the Amazon doesn't do it I can take a pic of the page. You know the stuff here is so much better than a book. If books like this had drawings of the action and how it sits in the water they'd be a lot more helpful. The Pfeffer and Dieter's banana lures have a lot more info.

 

bill

[mzee]

This is pic from text.  Not a detailed book, but an introductory. 

[diemai]

Umm Diemai didn't you have something similar to this ? I thought I saw something like this in the gallery 

I have made similar lures to that "BlueFox" lure shown above , but did not put them up in my gallery , ......in fact I had already forgotten about them , right now I remember again !

 

To make them heavier , I had "carved" the bodies from solid aluminium blocks   .

 

But there were some similar models like the one in the book put up in here , I'm almost sure to remember to have seen such before .

 

Also I can't remember any significant catches on these lures , but I do not tie them on very often , I must say(have a few "Blue Fox" to carry along , too) .

 

Guess , that they are basically lures for trout and perch , not suited for pike(or muskie) that much , .........but one never knows , ...if size and size and shape do fit .......    ?

 

But here's something , that might help eliminating mistakes in the build :

 

http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/25507-why-isnt-the-spinner-turning/

 

Greetz , Dieter

[scrubs]

Only obvious differences between the one in the book and the Blue Fox and in the link Dieter posted are the spinner shaft is hinged and the blades are a lot further away from the body.

 

Guess I'll just have to do one from the book.

bill

[diemai]

Only obvious differences between the one in the book and the Blue Fox and in the link Dieter posted are the spinner shaft is hinged and the blades are a lot further away from the body.

 

Guess I'll just have to do one from the book.

bill

Bill , ....why going through all of the effort of an entire new bait then , .....you could make yourself a detachable spinner shaft and rig it to any suitable hardbait  like a sinking glidebait or a sinking minnow crankbait(reverse way attached at tail eye , rear hook rigged to previous tow eye , the small lip now sitting on the tail end should not disturb too much) .

 

Plastic shads on leadheads are also very well suited to be attached to a spinner , either straight shaft or also the "L" shape of a spinnerbait .

 

I've also seen book pictures of a detachable buzz blade "L" wire form rigged to the original tow eye of sinking  lipless crankbaits like "Ratt'L'Traps" or "Rattlin' Rapalas" .

 

Greetz , Dieter

[Griffond]

Yeah that is a good point Dieter they actually used to sell those here in the states back in the 80's? just long wire spiners shafts to add to what ever you want... 

[scrubs]

I had thought about that Dieter but not reversing it. I was thinking of grinding the lip off a plastic minnow bait like the blanks I got from wlure. Actually it might be interesting to try it with the lip first.

 

I had a blank of the one in the book and I tapered it off and drilled ballast and eye holes. So I'll still do that too.

bill

[Griffond]

This is making me want to make one of these... I have a very large original rapala template I made I could skip the lip slot and just put a 1/2 oz or heavier split shot near the tail in the body and make the wire a solid piece vs a two piece... could be a really good fall musky or large pike lure perhaps add a bit of bucktail or feathers to tail hook... a person could have all sorts of fun with this idea

 

[diemai]

@ scrubs

 

Bill , if you've got one lure blank to waste , go ahead chopping off the lip  .

 

But if I come to think of it , ........you might have to overweight that blank to an extend , that it would not be suitable to be used as a crankbait anymore , anyway , ....maybe even when using an ordinary sinking minnow bait in a reversed manner , it might rise to the surface too fast with the spinner attached ?

 

I have never tried such rigs , but read about it in one of my luremaking books .

 

@ Griffond

 

Really some good ideas to tinker with , ....probably seeing some of your results soon   ?

 

Good luck , ....cheers , Dieter

[scrubs]

I was looking through the "Classic Fishing Lures" book and saw quite a few similar Muskie lures by a builder by the name of Latiano. Gives me hope that it's a solid idea. He used solid wire traces with spinner blades. I have some 5" and 6" minnow blanks so easy enough to try. That was a good idea about leaving the lip on to start. I could make up some removable spinner shafts to try.

 

bill

[Griffond]

Ok the question I have about this lure is nose heavy or tail heavy?  and does any one know how thick the one in the book is supposed to be?

[diemai]

@ scrubs

 

6" blanks would surely be large enough to attract pike and musky , ...so good luck building  , Bill !

 

@ Griffond

 

...............good question , haha , ..no such measurement on the sketch , .......but for the given length there I'd go for a max. width of 15mm , both ends of body would be tapered a bit , anyway .

 

After the sketch the lurebody might probably sit level with given weight positions , .......but slighly head or also nose down won't matter too much , I reckon , ........the lure hanging tail heavy would improve the casting performance and a lure a little nose heavy might not rise up as fast , as any spinning blade generates some lift to a lure , a Colorado blade the most and a Willowleaf the lest lift .

 

Greetz , Dieter

[mark poulson]

To me, it looks like an inline spinnerbait with a crank body.

Since it would have to sink in order not to pop out of the water on the retrieve, I'm guessing the lighter you make it, the deeper the belly and ballast would have to be, to overcome the tendency to spin created by the blades.

[mzee]

1/2" thick, uses brass spinner bodies in front two holes for  weight and a glass bead in rear hole

Edited October 6, 2013 by mzee

[scrubs]

Not sure about the balance point but the one from the book is 3/4" thick. Since he specifies solid shaft beads for trolling and hollow for casting with the same body weight it would appear he doesn't care about balance???

 

bill

[Griffond]

ya know I have been drawing up some ideas about this before doing anything with it... I am was thinking about doing a thru wire with out the joint but that would make a week point and bend point if a big fish nailed it which I could up the wire size but I don't know if that would cure the problem... now on the other hand the joint... it kinda dawned on my to just put some strong heat shrink tubing over it and that would make it solid while still giving it some flex... I think solid would be better vs a loose joint...