dooge Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 i made some crankbaits and jerk baits out of balsa the smallest is 2.5 inches/3.5inches/4.5 inches iused 1/8 ounce finesse wieghts for the 2.5 in and 3/16ounce for the 3.5-4.5 in . imade about 20 baits just trying to experiment a little and to improve technique well i went saturday to a lake near by to see how they would do and had some bad results most of the lures did not have any action at all, they would swim straight but that was all i have used crankbait bills from janns and made some of my own from lexan , can anyone help me with a winning formula, i like using balsa because its easy to form but i found there are different grades of it some of it will hold up and some wont, iam trying to be as consistant as i can with size and weight any sugestions would great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baitmaker2 Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 usually the problems you described are due to (1) lip angle (2) line tie placement (3) lip shape . get a large plastic tub , the type you get at wallmart to store christmas trees in , and check your actions before you glue everything together , you will still need a larger water source to final tune your baits. what i have found about the janns lips is that do better when placed in bait at a slight angle , don't go too deep into your bait with your lip cut , this will put your line tie too close to bait . hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coley Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 It sounds to me like you have a weight problem. How does the bait sit in the water? It should have about 1/4 of the back sitting out of the water and the front of the lip should be under water. You didn't mention where the weight is located. It needs to be in the lowest part of the belly or just slightly forward of this location. The ideal place is over the belly hook. Try wraping some extra weight around the front hook until it sits right in the water. Use solder or clamp split shot on the hook shank. You can also use a rubber band to hold the weight on. I hope this helps you. Coley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savacs Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 I gues it's the lip position. I usually test my lures in my bath-tub. I had the exact problem with one of my lures today. A 2 and2/3inch. I have made the exact same lure before, but a bit larger then this with 1/2inch. That worked perfect when it hit the water. But this one, just goes straight down, and doesn't wobble at all. I moved the lip from the left to the right, and finally found a position for it where the lure starts to wobble. I haven't seen anything like this before, only on a 3,5cm lure i made about a month ago. It couldn't care less about the lip. it would wobble only when i put it in a position(the one and only that made it work). @ Coley: The lip is under the water, and i have about 1,4 of the back uotside the water. I think i know what the problem might be. At this lure might be the weighting, because i did make a larger rattle than normal for this one, with a larger lead ball in it, and that sits just above the "main" lead in the lure(it's as high as it can go). And the "main" lead sits just above the belly tremble, because if i had made it otherwise the ratte wouldn't've fit the lure . I cramed everything inside of it:(. But i'll make it work sooner or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brug-Man Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 I don't really have a direct answer for you, I can just tell you what I have been doing and everyone so far works perfect. I utilize finesse weight also, but 1/16 and I also use a 1/16 cotter pin for my hook hanger. I just recently finished a balse crank bait that I carved and placed a 1/16 weight in the very bottom of the belly and a 1/16 weight on the ass end with the other hook hanger, the bait is 2inchs long without the bill. This amount of weight is perfect, great action, great feel, casting, etc. I have a pool so I just test all my baits right after I prime them, (oil based primer). I carve, install all hardware, prime, test, tweek if needed, then final paint, clear. But the 1/16 weight has been great did the same with a topwater plug 1/16 in the belly hook hanger and 1/16 in the ass end hook hanger, hits the water pops up on the belly in a split second sits beutifully on the top of the water and also great action. One thing I can add is that the wider the body is carved does extremely effect the action also, if the body is to wide or fat then it can have a tendency to spin in wide circles the slimmer the bait the tighter the wiggle! GL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaPala Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 If lure is swimming straight with no wobble, I'll look at 2 things: 1. Lip angle (or size but if lip is almost as wide as body of lure it would usually make the lure wobble already. I have made lure with the lip even narrower than the body & it has nice tight action) 2. tow-eye position: Moving tow-eye forward, up or down just a bit (or combo) in some cases will make the lure wobble nicely. Sorry I can't be more specific, if u can post a pic (& give lure blank weight, weighting position/amount and wood type) maybe I can diagnose it better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savacs Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 That ayn't that hard to controle on wide bodis. What i like on wider bodies is that they have an eratic action. I like the eratic action rather than the extreamly well tuned action. I'l try tomorrow with different tipes of lips, and get back on you and'll tell you what happened. Solong for today, because i'm gonna paint a few baits!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 The lip my not be wide enough to provide the necessary resistance to make the bait wobble. Try cutting a new lip 1/8" wider than your bait and see if the action improves. Also if the line tie is too far from the nose can cause a simlar probelm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savacs Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 The line tie is exactly in the nose. I tryed it again, but with the same lip. This does the same thing that the 3,5cm one. It wobbles perfectly, but only in one position. I don't have time to test some more, because i'll be gone today. Hope i'll be home soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savacs Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Ok found the problem!! I squashed the line tie a little so it would be about half of mm longer. It worked. It's amaizing how mutch half a mm counts. Now it wobles exactly like the other one. Thanks guys!! And todai I painted like i never painted before. Amaizing what you can do with a little of excercise Sorry that i have now pictures, but i'll make some as soon as i can. Mine are not quite as good looking as yours(yet), but getting closer to doing that every day!! Gtg now, because here it's about 2 in the morning. I'm crazy!! I know, but could not help my self Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savacs Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Kinda late, so I'm sorry for my spelling. Just checked out my writing, and looks terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overkill Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 I have had this problem with a large swimbait that I have made. I have tried all different lip angles to no avail. I have deduced that there is to much bulk and weight in the rear end of the bait. I will be refining my design and try again. Also there are times when no action might be better especially if you can make those baits suspend, they could be great cold weather baits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savacs Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 For colder weather you could use mutch smaller lips, than normal. You won't feel the lure wobble in your rod blank, but it will wobble more delicately, than normal. For me it worked, but never tried it on a suspending lure, only on floating ones. I made the lip as small as possible, so it would wobble slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
