Jerkbait, Wood Body Rattle

[archeryrob]

OK, I want a little input from you guys on this. These are two piece split lures and I was trying to get a better rattle, easier, ect. I did the drilled solid bait with soda can on the sides and it seems to sound better. I was hoping this would sound as good and be tougher.

 

The top shows the patttern red lines for hanger holes front, back and the one curving was to have the BB's rattle on it. I had luck making one lure by chance for my boss for Tarpon and the through wire went right through the rattle hole and it made more noise by hitting the wire. That is what I was hopeing for with the one pic, but its not sounding much different, at all.

 

 

Here is pic with the hanger set into it, so the BB's coupd hit it. Not sure I made any difference on this one, except maybe weaking the middle hook hanger.

 

I might take the third one out and through wire it and pass the through wire though the rattle chamber and see if that is any help.

 

Thoughts??

[northrivergeek]

I tried many ways to make lures rattle.. the best and easiest I found was jig rattles, or plastic pen couple bb's in and melt over the end of tube, and drilled a pocket for tube, and epoxy over the hole I inserted tube.. you could do the same here in that chamber and the hook hanger wouldn't get in the way of the bb's

[mark poulson]

I find a side to side rattle is louder than a front to back.  I seal my side to side rattles with aluminum can discs, super glue, and bondo, and they are pretty loud.  I drill through holes at the eye locations on my walking baits, and use 3D eyes to cover the aluminum discs.  I use 2 SST ball bearings that are just under 1/4", and they make a loud noise.

I have found that putting the rattles side to side on wide X'ing crank baits can cause the aluminum covers to be dented and bulge, so I am careful to coat the bondo filler with super glue to make it stronger.

I also use glass worm rattles in baits, if there is room.  Again, side to side gives me a better rattle with them, too.

[archeryrob]

Yea Mark, I think I am going back to the one piece lure and soda can sides. I just made the third through wired and the BB's hitting the through wire and no noticable difference, that I can tell. I have that one clamped in the vice for the titebond II to setup.

 

I would not jump all the way to failure, but I am not as happy as the sode can sides.

 

Jig rattles are like #8 shot in a tiny glass tube. I figured they would get silenced ina  lure.

[JunebugsCustoms]

I know this is counter intuitive, but in speaking with the guy who owns the company that makes the glass rattles, I learned a valuable tip.  Sometimes, fewer rattle balls is better.  In looking at your pic in the OP, I noticed 3-4 BBs in the chamber.  Given the small chamber size, that many BBs may in fact impede the sound, because there isn't enough room for movement of that m any rattles in the space.

[stretcher66]

i have used a small piece of stainless tubing with 2 ss balls and one glass bead and it worked pretty good.

[diemai]

I'd do mine of 8mm dia. brass tubing like this :

 

 

For smaller baits I'd use jig rattles of plastic , ..otherwise I'm with Mark , crosswise mounted rattle chambers are more effective than lengthwise ones .

 

Not shown in the clip , ...prior to priming the lure blank I would fill up the rattle holes either with polyester putty(the kind used for cars)or a homemade putty consisting of epoxy glue thickened with fine sawdust .

 

Greetz , diemai

Edited January 4, 2014 by diemai

[RayburnGuy]

I made some similar to what Dieter has in his video. Actually Dieter's technique is what led me to the way I'm doing it now. (thanks Dieter ) Only difference is I used aluminum arrow shafts for the rattle chamber. The type of aluminum the arrow shafts are made from is fairly hard. When mounted crossways in the bait I made them long enough so the ends would be close to flush with the finished side of the bait. The reason for doing it this way is so there was not a lot of epoxy, wood glue, Bondo or whatever covering the ends of the rattle chamber and end up dampening the sound.A couple of steel BB's beating against the hard aluminum ends were louder than anything I've tried so far. The arrow shafts are thicker and harder than the circles cut out of a pop can (tried this also) and they resonate much better when the BB's beat against them.

 

If you decide to give the arrow shafts a try you will need to heat the spot where the tab folds back onto the shaft to close the tube. Just remember that aluminum heats very quickly so depending on your heat source you can end up melting it if too much heat is applied. Another thing about aluminum is that it doesn't change colors when heated so you can't go by that like you can steel. The easiest way I've found to do this is to cut your shaft to length and with the tabs cut and ready to bend. Then hold the tube with a pair of pliers and the tab against a solid surface. In the other hand have a propane torch ( the kind with the blue bottle of propane you can buy at the hardware store) and start heating the tab where it connects to the shaft while gently applying pressure to the tab. It should start folding over when the aluminum gets hot and pliable. Just add your BB's and repeat the process for the other end to close the tube.

 

Ben

[mark poulson]

One plus for putting a side to side rattle beneath and between the eyes is you don't have to cover the aluminum with bondo, since the eye will cover it, and the top coat will add reinforcement.

I get a better sound with one ball bearing since it move farther, and faster, than multiple balls.  The larger the ball, the deeper the rattle.

[fatfingers]

A cheap a readily available source for rattle tubing is the handle of an acid brush. Simply cut to length and make end caps from a small piece of soda can.

I also agree that side to side rattles are louder than rattles with the tubing mounted lengthwise.

[robalo01]

Small coins make good rattle ends.

[mark poulson]

Small coins make good rattle ends.

 

I'm too cheap to try that.  Hahaha

[Lincoya]

I use .22 cal short rifle shells to make my rattles. I use a small bolt to slightly expand one shell, place one BB in that shell, and then place another shell into the first shell. I then drill a hole cross-wise into my bait while the bait is still flat, place my rattle in the hole, and epoxy the rattle into place.

 

Gene

[diemai]

I'm too cheap to try that.  Hahaha

One guy on a local forum over here used the small coins of the German Democratic Republic , which finally perished in 1990 . These were made from an aluminium alloy and suited the purpose very well , ........and , ....they did not cost a thing being just scrap in history  .

 

Greetz , Dieter

[JunebugsCustoms]

Ok having read the "vibe" of this thread so far, I have a question as to direction of placement.....

  In a crankbait, or any bait that relies on wobble/wiggle for action, I would tend to agree, side to side placement is optimal.  But with a jerkbait, which is what the OP was posting about, the action is more of a "jerk" toward the line, and not so much a wobble.  Would that not make the optimum placement for the rattle to be parallel with the backbone, ie in a nose-tail orientation? 

[mark poulson]

Ok having read the "vibe" of this thread so far, I have a question as to direction of placement.....

  In a crankbait, or any bait that relies on wobble/wiggle for action, I would tend to agree, side to side placement is optimal.  But with a jerkbait, which is what the OP was posting about, the action is more of a "jerk" toward the line, and not so much a wobble.  Would that not make the optimum placement for the rattle to be parallel with the backbone, ie in a nose-tail orientation? 

 You're probably right.  Depending on how much you work it, it's probably a toss up.

I use glass rattles, the long ways front to back, on poppers which are too small for other type rattles.