jcampioni Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 What attributes lead to a tight action. I made my first balsa flat side and it tracks true but has a really wide action Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Here is a video that I made of , so you can see the difference. You will see that the coffin and the pointed shape give the narrowest action. The speed or period of the action is determined by the width of the lip, keeping everything else constant. The narrower the lip, the faster the action. This indirectly controls the width of the action, as the direction changes before the lure can swim too wide. So in conclusion, for a narrow swim, you need a narrow lip. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) In my experience, there are multiple attributes of a tight action crankbait. Some classic tight action baits are the Zoom Tapp and the Tennessee Tuffy T1 coffin billed medium depth cranks. They are minnow shaped, about 3" long, 3/8 to 1/2 oz, with a coffin lip set at a shallow angle. A Tennessee Tuffy T-1 can be seen at http://tn-tuffy.com/tuffyt1.html IMO, the tight action is mostly caused by the lip angle and the length of the flat body. If you are trying to make a bait of this type, those attributes and the ballasting must be spot on to get it to swim properly. The Tuffy has a tight action but with a distinct thump. Nice bait! Edited October 27, 2015 by BobP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Further to what BobP wrote - spreading the ballast front to rear will also reduce the width of the action. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRammit Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Convenient that this thread appears... I was planning soon to design me a new crank for the coming of colder water Something a little deeper than my norm, and certainly tighter My plan was a longer, more slender body (as mentioned), i think having the ballast closer to the x-axis makes for more roll and less wobble..... Also i think splitting the ballast (as Dave said) would get rid of the "pivot point" and reduce wobble even more As for the lip, i would trust the experts here!... Im looking for about an 8' dive out of mine, so my angle will naturally be shallow..... Love that video Dave! Musta watched it a few dozen times! The coffin bill looks best of both worlds, tight wiggle and would deflect off cover better than the shaped bill.. Plus if BobP says coffin, coffin it is! Edited October 27, 2015 by JRammit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 I don't know what it is about coffin shaped lips, but with them I had to go through more design changes than usual to get a bait that I was happy with. It can be a fine line between getting a tight wiggle and a bait that won't wiggle hardly at all. And it's even more difficult to get a bait that has a tight wiggle and still has some thump, which I always want to feel whatever the style of bait. Good luck with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Truly flat sides help. The larger the surface that needs to wiggle, the more water resistance. Like putting your hand out a car window, flat at first, and then making a fist. The flat hand creates more air resistance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRammit Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 I havnt worked with balsa, in fact all my cranks thus far have been PVC... But there is evidenced here that choice of material has a great affect on action I was thinking of going with poplar for this build... My thinking is of a less lively action from the denser wood, plus an easier dive with a smaller lip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 If you use the Azek PVC decking, it is almost a dead ringer for poplar. A lively bait is still great in a flat sided, tight wiggle (X ing) shad bait. That's what makes rattle traps so effective. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRammit Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Good to know!... I will order some, but first i have to answer to the wife for the box that should be arriving today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Good to know!... I will order some, but first i have to answer to the wife for the box that should be arriving today Being divorced and living alone I don't have this problem, but maybe we should add a place in the forums, or maybe the "How To" section, on "stealth" deliveries, purchases, etc. Obviously I don't know a lot about this since I am divorced after all, but I do know a lot about what DOESN'T work. Ben 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRammit Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Ha!... I like the idea, but no way it would work in my situation.... My wife works nights, so she's home all day when deliveries show up The convenient part of this is, i never have to check a tracking number.. I just check her face every day when i get home 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinnerbayt Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Good to know!... I will order some, but first i have to answer to the wife for the box that should be arriving today Depending on your work location you may want to think about having orders delivered to your work. Keeps it on the low and your wife out of the know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRammit Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Depending on your work location you may want to think about having orders delivered to your work. Keeps it on the low and your wife out of the know. I like the way you think!..... But she's actually pretty cool about it... I do get the look, but not the "youre in trouble" look, its more of a "im keeping track" look........ No telling how many boxes of clothes or shoes show up while im at work, but im sure we're even 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinnerbayt Posted December 1, 2015 Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 That's cool then. Mine just looks at me like.... "What did you order now?" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted December 1, 2015 Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 Back to the original question for a moment. In tests I've done the closer the ballast is to the lures center of gravity the wider the action will be. As Dave and Bob have mentioned previously ballast placement plays a big role in determining what type of action you get. Picture in your mind the way a seesaw works. If the fulcrum is placed directly in the center of a board and there is equal weight at each end the seesaw will work as effortlessly as possible. If you change the location of the fulcrum, or place uneven weights at each end, it now requires more effort to keep the seesaw going. By increasing the amount of force required to move the seesaw you will limit it's movement. You can do the same thing to a crankbait by choosing where to place the ballast. I built a balancing beam that helps find the center of gravity on my baits. I did this by taking a small block of wood and sawing a shallow slot into it. A piece of hacksaw blade was then epoxied into the slot with the smooth back side of the blade pointing up. By placing the bait onto the centering beam and moving it back and forth you can find the center of gravity. This is done after the diving lip and line ties are in place. It's not 100% accurate since the balance beam isn't tall enough to work with hooks installed, but it will get you fairly close. Before I started building baits I always thought it was the flat sides that determined whether a bait had a tight action or not. After seeing that I could build flat sides with a really wide action I found that just having flat sides had little to do with how wide the action was. All aspects of a lures construction has at least some input into the action it has. Some of these just have more than others. Ben 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
