Jointed Resin Gliders And Roll

[RiverMan]

Intuitively I would think a lighter body with more lead toward the bottom would reduce roll on a glider. I am working on a resin glider and it works good but I want it to work gooder! The said glider is shad shaped and 10 inches including the tail. Any thoughts, comments, are welcomed.

Thanks

Edited December 19, 2014 by RiverMan

[Vodkaman]

I recently went through all the videos that I did on the 4 segment swimmers that I did. The main aim was to produce a swimmer that had zero roll and head shake. Out of the ten protos that I built, I did get one that achieved the goal and another that came close, but I never figured out the reason at the time.

After a study of the vids, I am now convinced that it was all about the joint freedom and extent of movement.

The explanation is, that if resistance at the joint is encountered, when the water forces are moving the segments, then some of the force goes into rolling the bait.

Like I said, this was a 4 segment swimbait, but I am convinced that the same would be true for a two segment bait. If I had a workshop, my next test would be to build two identical lures, one with a restrictive hinge and one with total freedom.

Dave

[mark poulson]

I eliminated roll in my jointed swimbaits by giving them a V section, with the top and shoulders at 7/8" thick, tapering down to 5/8" at the belly.  That reduced the amount of buoyant material in the belly section, so I could use less ballast.

For the one piece gliders I've made this was also a key to reducing roll, plus a deeper belly, so the ballast is lower.  Keeping the ballast as low as possible was the key for me, and keeping it spread in front of and behind the belly hook hanger, but close, helped, too.  

The final thing, and probably the most important, is, once I got my ballast to the correct sink rate and action, I fine tuned it so the baits fell horizontal on the pause.  Just like Dave suggested for my S Waver, although I wasn't smart enough to transfer that knowledge to the S Waver until he hit me over the head with it again!  Hahaha

 

For my successful S Waver copy, I found that wasn't the case.  A more rounded back, and flatter belly, seemed to work just fine.  But that is probably because the glide retrieve with it is a low or medium speed, not burning it back to the boat, like I do sometimes with a jointed swimbait.

[Vodkaman]

Funny Mark - It just makes sense though.

 

DAve

[RiverMan]

It falls perfectly horizontal, joint loose, swims good on steady retrieve and slow retrieve, nice wide left to right. On fast retrieve it comes in ok but I would like to see the belly stay down more.

[RiverMan]

I have been thinking, this lure has two sections, a front head section and a rear tail sections. The head section is roughly twice the size of the tail section. To get each piece balanced, I am findimg it necessary to use a fairly large weight in the head, around 3/4 ounce and a fairly small weight 1/4 ounce in the tail. I'm wondering now if the tail has so little ballast that it's pulling the head section over with it. If I make both sections lighter so that the tail section also requires significant ballast I'm wondering if it will help.

[Vodkaman]

If like you say, 'the bait falls perfectly horizontal', and the joint is nice and free, then you have done all you can. Mark's V-section suggestion, of raising the center of buoyancy while keeping the center of gravity low, will improve the vertical stability, but that would be one for the next build.

 

Dave

[squirrel3495]

I faced this exact problem. I solved it just like Mark said. Making sure that each section falls horizontal by themselves. If more ballast is in the head to compensate for the tail, I ran into all kinds of problems.

[RiverMan]

I was looking at the bait sitting in the tank of my toilet, my sink rate testing spot, and noticed that if each section isn't balanced the joint will bind a little bit. When each section is balanced independently the joint is free. So yea, I agree it's important. I am going to run some tests today on the two layer resin idea, have done this before but after reading Squirrels post which I found in the archive (thanks Squirrel) I want to revisit it. I am also going to try some heavy ballast options, light body and lots of weight low to see if that will reduce roll. If I can get the wife to go along to the duck pond will post a video clip. Thanks.

RM

Edited December 20, 2014 by RiverMan