Suspending, Or Sinking, Jerkbait

[archeryrob]

Anyone have a recipe for one of these they might be willing to share?

 

Or just tips so I don't have to make as many throw away lures?

Edited December 17, 2013 by archeryrob

[mark poulson]

Here's how I make a jerkbait out of PVC trimboard.

I start out my picking a successful commercial bait that I want to imitate.

I make a similar minnow body with a similar bill, add the line tie, hook hangers, and the trebles, and then float test it in a bucket of water.  I add weights (small egg sinkers or split shots) to the times of the trebles, or taped to the belly, until I get the lure to float level, and then continue adding until it just barely sinks.  I record where the ballast was, weigh it, subtract 1 gram for paint and topcoat, and then drill 1/4" holes in the lure belly near where my ballast was when I test it.  I fill the holes with 1/4" lead wire that weighs the same as my test ballast.  I retest to make sure the lure still floats level, with the back almost underwater, and then I dry it, remove my trebles and front split ring, and paint and topcoat the lure.  I use Createx type paints, and Solarez UV cured top coat, so I am ready to fish the lure as soon as the Solarez is cured, which takes me three minutes in my nail polish light box.

I reassemble it, and see how it floats/sinks now that it's finished.

If it still just barely floats I try fishing it with flourocarbon, to help it stay down.  If it just sinks, I'll use nylon monofilament to slow sink, because it floats.  And I take suspend dots with me when i fish the lure.  Different temperature water is more or less dense, and affects buoyancy, so I may need to add more ballast on the lake.

Once I get a bait that works, it's pretty simple to make others.

Edited December 17, 2013 by mark poulson

[saltshaker]

Buy the suspending 110's from Predator or unpaintedlures and let 'er rip. You can pretty much control the action with Etex and the size hooks you choose.

[mark poulson]

Buy the suspending 110's from Predator or unpaintedlures and let 'er rip. You can pretty much control the action with Etex and the size hooks you choose.

 

Great idea!

[BobP]

I like suspending and sinking jerkbaits in the winter and like Saltshaker says, it's far easier to buy a model that SHOULD do what you want than start from scratch.  I've tried the Megabass 110 knockoffs and they are nice baits but like anything - Trust but Verify.  In the world of suspending baits, float testing is your friend.  I needed tennis racket lead tape to modify the 110 KO's to suspend with a head-down attitude.  Float tested them with the trebles I planned to use before painting, applied the tape in the amount and location needed, then painted them so the lead tape disappeared during the process.  BTW, I like a similar "dying shad" mod on a Smithwick Suspending Pro Rogue that makes the bait slowly sink tail-first when paused.  I've caught a lot of fish on it because shad struggle and slowly sink tail-first when they die, and it's a strong feeding cue to bass.  Plus it's not something jerkbait companies design for.

 

If you're persnickety about exactly how your jerkbait behaves in the water while fishing, you really have to be ready to modify the bait on the fly to match the water temp and line you are using that day.  Suspendots and different trebles/split rings in the boat are standard issue for hard core jerkbait fishermen.

[Predator Bass Baits]

Getting a lure to suspend needs precise weight, if you use devcon for your clear coat I think it is about a 1/2 a gram heavier then dicknite clear and depending on what type of hook and split ring you use can change the weight also, a Gama hook is heavier then a owner or mustad.

[RayburnGuy]

The weight of epoxy has been brought up before. The Bob Smith epoxy that I use claims that it is close to the weight of water. Now what they call "close" I'm not sure. Dave (Vodkaman) spoke about both the difference in weight of epoxy and water as well as how much added circumference was added to the bait by applying a coat of epoxy. The added circumference also plays a part in this formula if you want to get that critical.

 

As far as I know there are no exact formulas when it comes to ballasting a suspending lure. I use the Archimedes theory and it can get me as close as anything I've found, but to get a bait that will barely float, or sink, still requires some tinkering. I've stated several times that on one particular lure I was building the difference in ballast between it being a slow sinker and a slow floater could not be weighed in thousandths of an ounce on my digital scale. When something that doesn't weigh even a thousandth of an ounce is the determining factor in whether or not a lure sinks or floats it's a pretty safe bet that your not going to be able to figure it with a mathematical formula.

 

As for throwing baits away there is no need to do this just because you don't get it right on the first try. The process I go through to build suspending baits is to get it as close as possible on the original build. After installing ballast I seal the bait with epoxy. Once the epoxy cures it is tested with all hardware attached. If it still acts within the boundaries I've set then it's on to paint and clear coat. It's then tested again. If the bait fails at any stage of the process I either add more ballast or drill some out.  Even if it fails after paint and clear coat have been added I can always go back and do spot repairs where the ballast has been changed.

 

And don't forget that a lure that barely rises at a certain water temp will probably turn into a sinker at a few degrees above that temp. Building suspending lures can be a hair pulling experience. Most especially when you first start. The trick is to not let it get the best of you.

 

Ben

[mark poulson]

Maybe we should be adding swim bladders to our baits so we can adjust them to suspend as the water temps and depths change.

 

I was joking when I typed that, but I bet, at least with PVC, one could add a flotation chamber in the top of the bait, sealed with a threaded plug, and add or remove water to change buoyancy.

Not that I'll try that.  I'm too lazy, but I bet that would work.

Edited December 19, 2013 by mark poulson

[BobP]

Ya gotta draw the line somewhere.  Before I add swim bladders to jerkbaits, I'll start fishing with bass minnows again... after all, they suspend and have a lifelike action!

 

I say don't make suspending harder than it has to be.  If you build a jerkbait to slow float in 70 degree water, you can easily modify it to suspend or to sink in any water you're likely to encounter with Suspendots, a little lead wire wrapped around the front treble, or heavier trebles.  I like Suspendots 'cause they're fast to use in the boat.  Even changing the line from mono to fluoro has an effect.  Practically speaking, a suspending or sinking jerkbait is most useful in cold water when bass are lethargic and long pauses are necessary to get bit.  In warm water periods, jerkbaits are usually fished much faster and suspending action is less important.

[RayburnGuy]

Maybe we should be adding swim bladders to our baits so we can adjust them to suspend as the water temps and depths change.

 

I was joking when I typed that, but I bet, at least with PVC, one could add a flotation chamber in the top of the bait, sealed with a threaded plug, and add or remove water to change buoyancy.

Not that I'll try that.  I'm too lazy, but I bet that would work.

 

Rick Clunn had his name on a bait like that years ago Mark. It had a hole in the bait that could be opened or closed with a little rubber plug. This way you could adjust the buoyancy of the bait by adding, or removing, water. It didn't stay on the market very long and that's probably why I can't think of the name of it.

 

Ben

[Nathan]

I was just going to mention that bait Ben...I can't remember what it was caked either.It was a funny shape...It was called something like the " Ripping Minnow"....Nathan

[RayburnGuy]

I found one on Ebay and they were calling it the Rick Clunn Rip N Rick. Also said it was manufactured by Norman Lures.

 

Here's a link to it if anyone wants to take a look at it.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BILL-NORMAN-RICK-CLUNN-RIP-N-RICK-CRANKBAIT-JERKBAIT-LURE-VINTAGE-TUFF-MINT-/321264108363?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4accd5434b

[BobP]

A few yrs ago, I read an article that recommended drilling holes in Bandit 100's to fill them with water as they are retrieved so they have a different action that was attractive to bass when more active and louder baits were being ignored.  That's not about suspending but may be related to the Rip N Rick.  With all the talk about different mods to crankbaits, what I come away with is:  "Different" gets bit sometimes.  The problem is knowing which "different" and when to use it.  It's too easy to get wrapped around the axle worrying about what will be MAGIC in a particular fishing scenario.  My answer is usually to put the crankbaits away and throw soft plastics