Help with jerk bait action

[acexx33]

Hello everybody. Pretty new to bait making and need some assistance with getting this one to work. I've carved out 4 blanks to test different lead placements and hook placement. It's carved out of red cedar. I have found about 7ish grams of lead is about what it needs to achieve a slow float. My problem is it just shoots thru the water like an arrow with no kind of action.  Iv tried a few different lid sizes and shapes with zero change. I got I e clean blank leftover. Any advice would be cool. First time posting to the site. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by acexx33

[Flaswimbaiter]

First off welcome aboard. First bit of advice I would give you is to make your lips slots extremely tight. That way you can test Baits without putting the lip in permanently. The baits shape looks good, the only thing I could think of is to experiment with the location of your line tie. Maybe put it closer to the lip. 

[acexx33]

5 minutes ago, Flaswimbaiter said:

First off welcome aboard. First bit of advice I would give you is to make your lips slots extremely tight. That way you can test Baits without putting the lip in permanently. The baits shape looks good, the only thing I could think of is to experiment with the location of your line tie. Maybe put it closer to the lip. 

Thanks the the reply. I'll try moving the line tie around see if that helps. The last blank I put lead in has a tight lip slot so I'm able to swap them to try different shape/sizes. 

[Hillbilly voodoo]

I also would start with a line tie change. Either move it to the underside of the nose closer to the lip or install it in the lip itself 

When weighting your jerk bait keep it towards the front hook hanger. You want to keep the rear of the lure light so it’s easier to swing

That wider square lip laying on the table in your pic would be the best choice of the 3 I see. I like to make sure my lip is wider than the body

hope that helps

[acexx33]

1 minute ago, Hillbilly voodoo said:

I also would start with a line tie change. Either move it to the underside of the nose closer to the lip or install it in the lip itself 

When weighting your jerk bait keep it towards the front hook hanger. You want to keep the rear of the lure light so it’s easier to swing

That wider square lip laying on the table in your pic would be the best choice of the 3 I see. I like to make sure my lip is wider than the body

hope that helps

The one on the table was the last one I tried out last night when I decided I might just be noob over looking something silly. So I came hear because it's been pretty informative. I've found the middle lead placement is the most stable placement. I tried to two extremes with closes to the head then closest to the tail to see what happen ( new to bait making lol). So far lead placement has been my biggest struggle in developing a new design. Ill tinker with line tie placement and see what happens. If that don't work my next guess is lip angle? Or maybe on to the next until  I figure out what I'm doing with myself haha

[Hillbilly voodoo]

1 minute ago, acexx33 said:

The one on the table was the last one I tried out last night when I decided I might just be noob over looking something silly. So I came hear because it's been pretty informative. I've found the middle lead placement is the most stable placement. I tried to two extremes with closes to the head then closest to the tail to see what happen ( new to bait making lol). So far lead placement has been my biggest struggle in developing a new design. Ill tinker with line tie placement and see what happens. If that don't work my next guess is lip angle? Or maybe on to the next until  I figure out what I'm doing with myself haha

If it was in my hands I would have it working in 5 minutes but I lost count of how many different designs I have made years ago lol

I have made baits similar to your design. Weighted them just behind the front hook. The angle you have on your lip will promote a wide swing no need to change it. Ideally I would personally put the line tie in the lip so it’s under the nose but clear enough to easily clip on(I run leaders because of what I target) without issue. Like I mentioned a lip wider than the body. A coffin style lip likely the length of the one on the 3rd bait would give you something nice

It’s just a matter of tweaking things and learning. In time you will just know lol

[Hillbilly voodoo]

The fact you are showing a willingness to experiment and test theories I will give you some respect right away. You will learn more than those who just want to be told how to build a lure because of it

For the reason above feel free to pick my brain till you get this figured out. 

[acexx33]

9 minutes ago, Hillbilly voodoo said:

If it was in my hands I would have it working in 5 minutes but I lost count of how many different designs I have made years ago lol

I have made baits similar to your design. Weighted them just behind the front hook. The angle you have on your lip will promote a wide swing no need to change it. Ideally I would personally put the line tie in the lip so it’s under the nose but clear enough to easily clip on(I run leaders because of what I target) without issue. Like I mentioned a lip wider than the body. A coffin style lip likely the length of the one on the 3rd bait would give you something nice

It’s just a matter of tweaking things and learning. In time you will just know lol

I'll try all that, thanks for the replies and help!

[Hillbilly voodoo]

5 minutes ago, acexx33 said:

I'll try all that, thanks for the replies and help!

No worries and if you’re lure blows out with theses changes slowly file your lip shorter till it stabilizes. After that you can measure the lip and know exactly what you need if you want to duplicate that lure

good luck

[acexx33]

2 minutes ago, Hillbilly voodoo said:

No worries and if you’re lure blows out with theses changes slowly file your lip shorter till it stabilizes. After that you can measure the lip and know exactly what you need if you want to duplicate that lure

good luck

Yea that's the end goal. This is the first one I'm actually making notes and gonna try and duplicate. From this point iv just made a bunch of one offs in the journey of learning what I'm doing. I'll make the changes and post a pic of the end result if successful 

[acexx33]

1 hour ago, Hillbilly voodoo said:

The fact you are showing a willingness to experiment and test theories I will give you some respect right away. You will learn more than those who just want to be told how to build a lure because of it

For the reason above feel free to pick my brain till you get this figured out. 

Well that did the trick. Thanks again. Unbelievable what 2mm down would do. Still goin to try the coffin with tie in it to see what happens but that might be good there.  Vulnerable lesson I won't forget lol. 

[Hillbilly voodoo]

No problem 

With lure building it’s often just a matter of tweaking a few things till it’s right and sometimes it doesn’t take much

If you screw up and adjust enough lure building each design gets easier. I only know how to fix things because I screwed up lots and didn’t give up lol

[Flaswimbaiter]

If you are not failing….you are not learning.