fishnut7 Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 (edited) First of all, this website is very helpful and full of great info. Thanks everyone....I just started building my own plugs/lures and have became addicted to building and watching the lures evolve. I just got done with my first lures. I went out the other day to see how they swim and went home discouraged. Only a small portion even swam upright/good. Is this an issue with the front screw eye and can be fixed by bending, or is it because my bills aren't set perfectly straight and centered? I ordered bills off the web and epoxied them in the slits that I had cut in. Any info. on how to tune/fix/replace would be very apprecitated! Edited December 13, 2010 by fishnut7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 First of all, this website is very helpful and full of great info. Thanks everyone....I just started building my own plugs/lures and have became addicted to building and watching the lures evolve. I just got done with my first lures. I went out the other day to see how they swim and went home discouraged. Only a small portion even swam upright/good. Is this an issue with the front screw eye and can be fixed by bending, or is it because my bills aren't set perfectly straight and centered? I ordered bills off the web and epoxied them in the slits that I had cut in. Any info. on how to tune/fix/replace would be very apprecitated! fishnut7, It's really hard to give you any help without seeing the lures in person. So many things affect how cranks perform. Swimming straight can be affected by the line tie or the bill. Or the shaping of the lure. Not swimming upright is from improper ballast. Or it may be the bill size and shape. Or it may be that the bill isn't straight. For me, symetry is the key starting point, and then test, test, test. I have to admit that, except for my bigger cranks, which are really small swimbaits with bills, I copy successful cranks that I like instead of trying to create my own. I'm not an accomplished crank designer, I'm just a good builder. Do a search here for building cranks, and you should find some good threads on those subjects. There are also a couple of videos and websites that are "how to do it" links for crank building, but I don't have those links. I think the links were included in some of the threads you can find through the search feature here. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishwhittler Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 It sounds to me more like you don't have enough ballast. Many baits that don't run straight the first time can be tuned to run straight, but only if the bait has enough ballast to keep it upright. I use egg sinkers for ballasting; the two sizes I use the most are 1/8 ounce for medium-sized lures and 1/4 ounce for bigger lures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 It's important for a lip to be straight and level, but it doesn't necessarily have to be PERFECTLY straight and level. One that is slightly out whack should still have a basic swim action, so I'm thinking your lures may have other problems. Do they include ballast weight in the belly to stabilize the bait while it swims? Tip: If you're shaping your own lure body, cut the lip slot immediately after cutting out the rough body shape, while the body is still "square". Why? Because after you round over the bait's edges, it becomes extremely difficult to cut a straight lip slot. Yes, you usually have to tune a bait to make it swim straight. If it swims to the left, bend the line tie slightly to the right - or vice-versa. Keep testing and bending it slightly until it retrieves straight back to you. If you can't get it running straight, it too far out of whack and will have to be modified. Mark makes some good points about crankbait design. When building crankbaits, you need to start from a "known-good design". Everyone of us does that. Experienced builders have their own successful baits to work from. Someone new to building doesn't have that baseline, so I also recommend looking at some popular commercial baits to see how they are designed, and pick one you like as a starting point for your own design. Pay attention to the position of the ballast/belly hanger, overall weight and dimensions of the bait, size/shape of the lip, lip angle, and where exactly the line tie is located. Those are all critical design features. After you build a few, you begin to get an idea of what will works and what won't, and you can start to modify your design to improve it. It's a challenge to build good crankbaits. But it's also rewarding in many ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 excessively deep bodies can be problematic. We definately need a pic of what you are making. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
