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Basschamp167

Wood Width for Muskie Jerkbaits/Crankbaits?

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Hey all,

I am looking into making a few 9 and 10 inch muskie crankbaits, mostly out of pine, poplar, and hopefully cedar if i can find any. The cranks are going to be based off of Tigger's designs, and i will have a link posted to one I have taken a liking too. My question is, and i know that this goes for gliders, is it better to start with a wide wood stock? The poplar and pine that I use now is about 3/4" wide, is that OK for making 9 and 10 inch baits? Also, I have been having trouble weighting a few of my cranks so they stand vertical in the water. I notice Yake Bait makes a few twitchbaits out of cedar but he only adds about 1/2 to 3/4 of an ounce to his lures. I typically need to add over an ounce of lead to my lures to make them stay vertical. Could that be because of the type of wood or the wood thickness? How about the height of the bait?

Thanks All,

Zachary

P.S. Here is the link to Tigger's lure: Tackleunderground Home - Luremakers Photo Gallery - Yellow perch

Edited by Basschamp167
Miscommunication
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While were on topic, anyone have a general consensus for a preferred length for wooden muskie baits?

Being in Florida, don't really see very many and I'm curious what most Muskie builders limit their lure bodies length to.

I've seen some small baits catch Pike & Muskie, yet I've seen adventurous builders on TU who make some as big as their arm.

Thanks.

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Yeah, I think Riverman is on to something-scale. If a 3.5 inch bait starts out in 1/2" wood, a 6" bait begins with 3/4" wood, then 8-10" probably needs 1" or better.

3.5" is to .5" as 7" is to 1". So 8-10" would be 1" or larger. This is just a rule of thumb as a jumping off place. As you get further into the construction of your bait, you'll know whether to go thinner or thicker.

Most of the baits I work on start with a template, both side and top view. If I need to reduce or enlarge my bait, I go to the copier and change the setting by percentages until I see what I want. So simple it's stupid.

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While were on topic, anyone have a general consensus for a preferred length for wooden muskie baits?

Being in Florida, don't really see very many and I'm curious what most Muskie builders limit their lure bodies length to.

I've seen some small baits catch Pike & Muskie, yet I've seen adventurous builders on TU who make some as big as their arm.

Thanks.

On average my baits run 8 to 10 inches and downsized would be 6 inches or under. Oversized for me would be 12 to 14 inches and overkill is 16 inches or better on a wood bait. I do throw the mag bulldog alot I mean alot and that baby is half as long as your arm when its stretched out in the water, and it catches fish. What someone calls big maybe average sized on big water but fishing the creeks and small rivers alot here I dont tend to throw in the overkill size in wood baits very much. I do like to break a few of the big boys out when lake fishing and the bass fishermans jaw drops when they see you throw something they wished they had in there livewells for the big weigh in.:D
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Hey guys,

Thanks for all the help. I will try to find some 1" or thicker stock wood to make some lures out of. If i can't find any, i might just try it with the 3/4" and see what happens, or glue two 3/4" pieces together, although that would be quite thick. I have made a few twitchbaits around 8" long with 3/4" stock and they seem to work fine so far, but i have only used it for one design.

Jamie, when you talk about the mag bulldawg, do you mean the 12" or the pounder? Because i bought two pounders to try out this season and see how they work for me, i even had to buy another rod just to handle the friggin' things.

Thanks you,

Zachary Taeschler

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On a glider bait the longer the bait the wider the bait needs to be. A 12 inch glider would be harder to tune or glide with a thin blank ( you will end up just making a pull bait out of it) and walk the dog action is killed. So in me experience longer the bait the wider the bait for gliders anyway. there will be someone here who will say different but thats my :twocents:

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One thing you can do to help with making a bait glide left to right a little better is alter your tow eye. What I mean is if you hold your bait and look at it from the side view you should see through the eyelet. What im suggesting ( what I do ) is when holding your bait and looking down from the top of the bait, you should be looking through the eyelet. Its like looking at a clock standard tow eye is is 12 and 6 oclock my way is 3 and 9 oclock. What this does is when you work your bait on the standard eyelet your leaderwill swing left and right and pivot in one spot, but if you place the eyelet the other way ,instead of the leader pivoting in one spot the leader will slide in the whole circle of the eyefrom left to fight. In turn what this does the leader will almost lay right beside of the bait on each pull and when you pull the bait again it will pivot sharper.This will help make a bait that wont glide left to right work. Its not the cure but it does help and also makes baits that do glide turn sharper.

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Thanks again guys, but I think there is some miscommunication. I am not looking to make gliders, I want to make crankbaits. I know if you make a glider the wood stock should be thicker, but it wasn't clear to me whether what you guys responded to me had to do with crankbaits. Sorry about the confusion and thanks again.

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I just did some numbers on what you are doing. With one ounce of ballast, I estimate 34% of your lure is above water (no hooks or hardware). This is close to tipping over, as you are finding.

The lure could probably stand another 1/4oz or even 1/2oz and still be a floater. This is all based on a pine density of around 0.5gm/cm3.

Dave

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check out this thread by KALAMIES.COM called tonny roach(search forums) I didn't know how to pull it up

I was having same problem weighting Large cranks 12" long they were falling to the side I used a small block of maple(hard wood) 6"x4"approx cut in half (length wise)with table saw. Clamped it together and drilled different dia. size holes and lenghts at the split providing me with holes to pour tire weights different lenghts and different dia.clamp together

Using elastic around your crank place different weight on belly moving forward and backward side to side till bait sits in the water the way you like

ballist or weight usually just past center towards the front as it contains the most wood

I have just started using a smaller dia hole and shorter depth near the tail for added weight. I use white cedar because it's available, but it's light and needs weight.

My cranks 12'' weigh 6-7 oz before paint(rattle cans) 2 coats of nu-lustre 55 and hardware

If you can't find the post previous mentioned let someone know

Tim

Edited by dixiet
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So many different varieties of cedar. Most are around 0.49 to 0.57, which is why I did 0.5gm/cm3.

But the best cedars to use for lures are the lighter colors, as they are lighter in density too, getting as low as 0.3gm/cm3.

For a density of 0.35gm/cm3, the ballast would be around 2.5oz.

These are very approximate, based on a shape that I put in my computer, it will be slightly different to yours. Also, I don't know the density of your wood.

If I knew the density of your wood and the weight of your body, I could get closer.

Dave

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Ok thanks, I translated the page and searched fro the thread but i couldn't find it. I understand what your saying about the weight molds, i made one a little while ago. I will probably weight my lures with egg sinkers from now on until i find the place where i want them to achieve the right action. I will definitely try your idea with the elastic, made use super glue or something to hold the weights in place during the test. I might have to ditch the pine and start using poplar or cedar, but i can't find cedar anywhere.

Edit: Just saw vodkaman's post, didn't know there were that many types of cedar. Anyway, it looks like poplar and i guess still pine, but it is still very annoying to have to weight them so much. Previously using Poplar I didn't need to weight cranks all that much, but i hope i won't have to weight it much more than pine.

Edited by Basschamp167
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OK guys,

I just finished the 9" inch deep diver I was working on, I sealed it, weighted it, and I am testing it out on opening day this Saturday before I paint it. The bait looks good as of right now, it has about an ounce and a half of lead in it, made out of 3/4" stock Pine. I added a large round lip, with the line tie in the nose. Give me a little and I will upload a picture of it.

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Thanks again guys, but I think there is some miscommunication. I am not looking to make gliders, I want to make crankbaits. I know if you make a glider the wood stock should be thicker, but it wasn't clear to me whether what you guys responded to me had to do with crankbaits. Sorry about the confusion and thanks again.
Imsorry its just you mentioned musky jerkbait in the thread title and gliders in some places are called jerkbaits in the musky world. Goggle rollie and helens musky shops site and key in jerkbaits and you will see what comes up. Musky terms and bass fishing terms for baits are alittle different thats why all the musky guys were responding with glider info. Edited by jamie
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Jamie,

It's really no problem. I'm a bass fisherman too, so when I say jerkbaits, i think of dive and rise baits and twitchbaits. I call glide baits gliders, but like you said, in some places jerkbaits are called gliders. And Rollie and Helen's is a great store, i've bought a few things myself from them.

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Hello all,

I finally got around to testing the bait in my friend's pool, and it swims perfectly! As far as I could tell, it hit 8 feet easily, and i'm hoping i can get it down deeper than that. I am working on painting it Walleye color for the muskie in the reservoir where I fish. When it's done i will post a picture in the gallery. It wanders a bit at higher speeds, but im not worried about that because I want it to be a slow trolling lure.

Thanks

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