Imprtance of buoyancy

[robalo01]

I didn't want to steal the "sinking lure" thread, so I thought I'd start a new one.

How important IS buancy to a bait?

I stated in an earlier post that buoancy is what keeps the bait righted during the retreave, but is it really necessary for a lure to be made of a buoyant material? If so, how would you explain blade baits and spinner baits?

It seems that the resistance to the water during retrieve strains the lure in one dimention, while liberating it in another. The object takes the path of less resistance and will either (1) swirl in the vortex, or (2) the heavier part will fall while the lighter part rises erecting the bait, or (3) in the case of lurres with bills, it will do both in oscilation.

So, what maters then isn't that the bait be lighter than water, but rather that the differance in weight/volume of the material of the upper mass of the biat contrast enough with the weight/volume of the lower part of the lure so that when strained on a horizontal axis, it rights itself.

Is this right?

If so, how difficult would it be, in theory, to make a pure lead rattling lure, or, a solid poly resin diving lure (fragility aside)?

Edited April 15, 2009 by robalo01

[jamie]

I personally think you could make a rattle bait out of lead and a solid poly crank for the reasons stated above. The rattle bait would have very thin walls where the rattle chamber would be. Rattle baits need to be weighted more head forward to run proper.The two most action baits that sink in the musky world (first two to come to mind ) is a fuzzy duzzit and a chatterbait. These baits have high vibration and you feel every inch that it swims back to the boat. And If you can make a battleship float through engineering design anything could happen. I once seen a concrete canoe that the people from wv tech made for the conoe race on coal river.

[BobP]

Buoyancy does not keep a bait upgright, ballast (including the treble hooks) does. There are two good reasons I can think of to build buoyant crankbaits. First, buoyancy gives a bait more lively action and better rebound off of cover. That's one reason balsa baits are great for shallow cover, especially heavy cover like laydown trees or rocks. More rebounds off cover = more bites. The second reason is practical. Buoyant baits will often float off of snags; sinking baits won't and may never be recovered.

Spinnerbaits are snag resistant due to their shape. Blade baits are designed for fishing deep hard cover. Lots of guys build crankbaits molded from resin compounds mixed with microbaloons, or from foam. A hollow lead crankbait? Possible? Sure. Practical? Nope.

[atrophius]

In addition to what Bob said, it depends on the area you fish also. If you are casting over underwater structure, the ability to let it rise over logs, stumps etc. is a plus. may prevent getting snags in the first place.

[jamie]

Bouyancy is a very important to lure action and it does make a better bait( my opinion for certain baits). Inmy post above I was kind of answering the last question ,can you do this with lead?A person could try taking apart a rattle trap( maybe thin the sides down alitte from the head back and mold the the two halfs, then pour lead then glue the two halves together.Playing with how much lead you weight and leave hollow in the head would need experimenting with. The lure wouldnt be( in my opinion) a not so durable lure due to the thin sides but it would be neat to see if you could get a good swim.

[Sonny.Barile]

Baits made entirely of metal or nonbouyant materials need to be retrieved quickly or they sink straight to the bottom. I use metal jigs and blade body baits for certain types , of fishing but they do not work when I need to finess a bite.

[mark poulson]

Buoyancy allows the placement of ballast to achieve the most action. Heavier, less buoyant materials react more slowly because there is more mass throughout the lure, and therefore more inertia to overcome to get a lure to wiggle or wobble.