aulrich Posted July 8, 2023 Report Share Posted July 8, 2023 as per usual it's the night before vacation and I am putting together a lure. After a few tries I finally got this shape to swim. then I added the fancier details. The paintjob is still a bit ham fisted but it was the first paint since last summer. At this point I only have one wire on the joint so with luck it holds up. After I bondo'd the ballast in it ended up a bit nose heavy so the next one will have wood flour and ca glue for the front ballast hole instead. Print time is a bit long at about 8 hours but I was shooting for a density of maple and at 35% infill it came close but without top coat it was sinking a bit fast but we will see how it fishes. I am still thinking about adding a tail and dorsal fin but I am not sure. This shape will be morphed to a soft plastic that one will have a full set of fins See ya'll in a week hopefully with fish pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azsouth Posted July 8, 2023 Report Share Posted July 8, 2023 The one thing I can tell you..."let the fish decide"... not people. I have made a few baits and the ones I thought were Caracter/Poorly painted/wonky baits just absolutely got smashed. If your anything like most guys making baits you are your own worst critic. I think it's a great looking bait but what do the fish say? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hand Crafted Angling Posted July 9, 2023 Report Share Posted July 9, 2023 Looks awsome! What did you do for the hinge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted July 11, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2023 The hinge is just twisted wire screw eyes. The way pike can flop around the boat some times can break a lure but it took the beating and stayed together so far. It took me a while to figure out how to work it but it did catch fish. I am new to this style of bait I was surprised on how shallow running it was on a straight retrieve. To keep it down I had to work it really slow. The sink rate turned out to be about right the standard 1 foot per second. Considering the pattern this time of year is generally big plug’s moving fast it’s a good sign. There are plenty of times where the shallow running will be useful , especially later in the season when the cabbage is tall and thick I should be able to work it right above the weeds. I will try a double wire connection to see if I can get a better glide that is a nice advantage of cad multiple versions are easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hand Crafted Angling Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 Nice! Double hinge is something I’ve always wanted to try. It’s on my ever growing list of projects. I know they make these figure 8 pin hinges but I’ve yet to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aulrich Posted July 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 I have done a printed hinge it worked ok no where near as free moving but did work on that lipped lure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...