Swimbait weights

[bssmstr]

I recently bought a swimbait while fishing the "Skeeter Boat Owners Tournament" after watching a demo.

My question is, "Where do you buy the insert that the plastic is molded around?"

You put your line through a hole near the front of the lure and it came out on bottom near the middle and you tied on to the supplied split ring with a treble hook on it. You have to put one barb inside the plastic and then "tune" it to run straight.

Short of disecting the lure - it looks to be a square box with a hole drilled through it. I would like to buy some of these and pour my own design and colors. (PS-it does not have much weight as the lure will float and stays near the surface when 'slowly' retrieved.)

[Patrick]

Try flexible plastic tubing/Aquarium air tank hose

[Delw]

goto a hobby shop and by antenna tubing, they use it on rc cars.

for the stuff that goes into the lead you use brass ferrals or alum insert.

we are making the alum inserts and the lead molds for our swimbaits

[Mattlures]

we all make amd design our own inserts for our swimbaits. you cant buy them. The bait you are referring to most likley has a machined aluminum insert made by the company producing the baits.

[darrell]

Depending on the size of the swimbaits, Mojo weights work great for the pro-rig method and I use them on most of my swimbaits from 3" to 7". On my larger trout swimbaits (8 inch or bigger) I use wire harnesses that fit in the mold and are poured around. However I do use a large long mojo in one 9 inch bait that works and fits perfectly. The mojos dont weigh much so the baits stay on top, and you can add more weight elswhere if need be when you pour for bottom scratching baits. I sometimes use the brass mojos type wieghts as well.

I have made my molds so the mojo weights fit snug inside the mold and the plastic is poured around them, I do not bore a hole and add them later. They come in different sizes and end up being a more low-profile fit than some of what you can buy off the shelf. You actually dont see any of the weight at all when the bait is poured. You can also go to a hobby store and get very small diameter plastic tubing used for model cars and it will not melt. It took me a while to find a tubing that would not melt.

Also go to Home Depot, Lowes or plumbing stores and there are all kind of brass tubes, small tube connectors, etc that will work as well and for bigger baits.

good luck

[borderbasser]

As far as the metal tubes are concerned, how do you prep them to keep from damaging the line?

[Delw]

The best way is to get a flaring kit at an automotive store store and flar the edges. the flar will put a nice flare on the ends with out making the inside sharp.

Make sure you also by seamless tubing as some of the seamed tubbing is sharp inside.

[borderbasser]

Thanks Delw.

TJ

[bssmstr]

Thanks to all for the info. I'll try some!

[BucketMouth]

If you wanted to avoid the metal you could us teflon tubing. It has a much higher temperature range than most tubing. Also there would be little risk of line damage. I think the temp. range is over 500 degrees f. It is available at most industrial supply companies for around a buck a foot. Try http://www.mcmaster.com and search for PTFE tubing.

[David Reid]

BM, Melting point of Teflon is around 250c off memory and goes up to 280 C for the really good stuff (= 482 F & 536 F respectively) but often it melts around 230 C (= 446 F) so none of it should cause problems as you say. What is the actual melting point of Vinyl tubing do you know? Was wondering if you could use that with a solid teflon insert or similar you later could pull out and reuse. The melted plastic when poured is not going to be above 350 F (=177 C) so even if it tends to melt the Vinyl tubing it shouldnt melt or distort the teflon too much and hopefully should be removable. Anyone tried this? If so does it work or is the teflon too hard to remove? I have some luminous tubing that has a 2.5mm ID x 4.3mm OD ie. 0.9mm wall thickness I wouldnt mind trying out. Any comments or a No No before I try it?

[Delw]

Teflon will work howevere teflon leaves a extreamly shard corner when cut. If not cut properly it will leave a sharp burr were the chamfer meets the hole inside.

the best way to cut it for most guys is to chuck a extreamly Highspeed steel 30º chamfer tool in a drill and spin it at low rpms, you can do it by hand too. Make sure you have a new one as old dull ones will do more pushing than cutting and it will leave the sharp edge.

if you used the chamfer tool on any metal throw it out don't use it on teflon.

The only problem with teflon is that the insert will slide out unless you put a few grooves in the tubbing so it will grab the plastic and not slip, however because teflon and very slippery it more than likely wont work and after the first fish it will probally slide out. ( unless you use a big Dia with a small hole and big grooves)

[David Reid]

Thanks Del, I get the message re Teflon slipping which I certainly imagine it will without grooves, burrs, or something to hold it there. It also needs to be cut at right angles too and I know from experience its easy to run off when cutting a number of pieces. Apart from that it would be excellent. What do you think of what I suggested about using Vinyl tubing? That would melt enough to start becoming integral with the bait to hold and secure I imagine. Would it be strong enough or too flexible I suppose is then the question? The stuff I have has a 0.9mm wall thickness and is reasonably rigid. I suppose the only way to find out is to try it.

[Delw]

The rc car antenna clear vinyl works pretty good, I have seen it in a few swimbaits, I got piece here that didnt melt into plastic. its has to be pretty thick. It did melt a tad on super hot plastic.

Think about it this way, sometimes people put to much effort into reinventing the wheel. for example a swimbait might only last 2-3 fish, ive had mission fish last only one fish some 2 and some 4 but usually 1-2 then the plastic comes apart from the lead head.

[David Reid]

Have you got a pic of it and can you Mic it if poss please. Yeah I hear what you say about reinventing the wheel we all do it at times and me as much as anyone at times. Mind you computers over the last 12 years and Google and Wikipedia have saved me tremendously. When I was younger it took me quite a lot of time to learn someone else has always invented it and often got round things better than what you do yourself unless you give it a lot of thought and time. Yeah I thought this vinyl tubing might be alright and I have got 200 M of it here less about the 0.7 M I have used.

[Delw]

I posted a pic in another thread about swimbaits on this site

[David Reid]

Yeah: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2044&d=1178554127

but I still dont know what size the tube is and wall thickness.

[Delw]

Its your choice as it has to do with line size. if your throwing 20lb test you would need something big enough to for that line size to go through.

the outside dia, doesnt make that much of a difference.

I think you would probally be ok with .062 inside dia. as that should cover most lines and give plenty of play but not too much.

[David Reid]

You obviously dont need too much as most leader material and most breaking strains will fit within 1/16in tube as you mention. You could even fit most of the steel traces within that. The stuff I mentioned and was thinking about has a 2.5mm ID = 1/10 or 0.10". Just wondering if that would be too sloppy and cause any problems or need pegging. Trial and error I suppose. Unpegged it might even allow the bait to slide up the line and out of the way so less damage. Take it you use either a split ring or a swivel just before the hook. I suspect a split ring is better myself as I often like a swivel and preferably a ball bearing swivel 2 M or so up the line. Others may be different of course. Any chance of puting a small indentation in the bait at the lower exit point of the tube so the split ring is half buried and the hook shank is flush with the body at this point. Something else you could also do is put a tube in to the tail for trap rigging these things.

[Delw]

Most people just tie a treble hook on the end of the line and stick one hook of the treble into the bait.

running a tube through the bait will just ruin the action of the tail

Delw

[David Reid]

Yes you are right about the tube ruining the tail action, I hadnt thought about that. I suspect your right about the KISS aspect too. Heres me just trying to complicate it. I certainly like the idea of sticking one hook of the treble into the bait though. Not only does it beat a flailing treble thrashing around hands down but the bait would certainly certainly run straighter and the movement of the tail will give you all the action you want.