swimbait help

[spare tire]

Here is a pic of my swimbait I'm working on. My question is when does apperance become more important than good swimming. This bait swam extremely well before I attached the fins, it still swims good just not as well. I would assume that the fiber fins react the same sort of like a rudder. I thought of heating up the fins and giving them a little bend out, top opposite the bottom , also the tail the fork could be bent opposite directions as well. Would this disturb the keel affect enough to make it swim better?

Please check out this video with the fins

Thanks Tim

[lockjaw]

Appearance should never be more important than swimming action.

I would trim the fins down to make it more streamlined and see if that helps. If not, I'd just remove them or try to replace them with a different material. There's no point in having a realistic looking lure if it doesn't swim the way you want.

[spare tire]

It does swim good with fins, but a little better without. I don't think a different material would help, a rudder is a rudder. Isn't the nice paint jobs and details more for the fisherman and less for the fish? I mean the right color might be important but the looks I think are mostly for the fisherman. Does this bait swim well?

Thanks

Tim

[mark poulson]

Action catches the fish, paint job catches the fishermen.

Your lure swims great without the fins. Lose them.

The hooks dangling down give the impression of something below the lure, like fins.

I would only worry about adding fins if I were making a twitch bait, that was meant to be cast out over a long point, in clear water, and dead sticked, with twitches every couple of minutes.

That kind of patience is the territory of the guys in the Big Bait Posse, who ambush giant bass at Lake Casitas in SoCal. They are really long on patience, because they know the fish are looking up at their lures.

The rest of us have to take it on faith.

Edited May 4, 2009 by mark poulson

[Vodkaman]

In the first pass on the vid, I think you can see the 2nd and 3rd segments trying to move more, but the finned 4th section just stops the action and the 2nd and 3rd sections are kinda left hanging.

Nothing to lose by messing with the fin shapes, but my gut tells me it will just introduce roll and possibly make it swim lop sided, but this is just little more than a guess. I think the tail is fine, but that 4th section is like a dinner plate, it does not want to move sideways.

Soft fibres might work better (soft and thin), giving less resistance, or just trim the fins down. But I think Mark has the best solution, the lure worked best without them, so lose the fins.

Dave

[Mnbassbuster002]

if your fiber fins aren't working well and you still want to put fins on u can use a soft plastic fin. i have done that with a few baits. i just stole them off some ripped up charlie's or baits like that they seem to work well. i prefer the fibers though for where i am from... too many muskies and pike.

hope it helps out

Jeremy

[spare tire]

Thanks everyone for the advice which I will listen to.

Tim

[hazmail]

Gee Tim I watched your video over and over and thought with the fins seemed better, it has action at a much slower speed, where without the fins you seemed to be ripping it to get action.

As V/Man says the fins on the second last segment seem to be inhibiting the action there, but overall looks good - not sure what the fins are made of, but if they are rigid as opposed to flexable they will act just like a tail fin on a rocket and try and keep the tail in line with the head - I would be trying something more flexable here (silicone??). Also the fins may be creating drag at the rear, forcing the tail end down and the whole bait to more horizontal than without the fins - this is something I have found after 3 failures, if the WHOLE bait is not travelling in a horizontal plane or paralell to the surface, the vortex is shed under or over the following segments so you get no effect, and this may even contribute to roll. This is very pronounced with the profile I have been making where you get a wing effect with the uneven sloping head.

Dave may be able to clarify this vortex shedding idea, it's all beyond my feble brain.pete

[spare tire]

Pete, all the shots in the video have the fins. The fins are made of polycarbonate (lexxan)

I cant see that softer fins would help this, they would seem to have to lay almost completely flat when in motion to make a differance, I think.Can I leave the tail on or does that kill the action as well?

I could try a little smaller fins but I think this would effect the swim as well be it slightly less, it would still slow down the action. I would think that no matter what one did it would effect the action somewhat, even fiber fins. So why does anyone put fins on at all?

Thanks

Tim

[boomah21]

Honestly I would almost always say action is more important however I think it depends on you are fishing it...for example if its a bait you plan on "dead sticking" then looks would prob be more important. I am just getting into swimbait fishing but from my understanding a lot of big fish can be caught this way.

[hazmail]

Tim - Sorry I could not see the fins in the last half of the video, maybe my eyes just did not want to!!

Other than looks, fins might be used to add a little drag to the rear end - as they say '90% of a lure is made to catch fishermen not fish', but whatever it looks like, it has to move or have action sometime.pete

[Mnbassbuster002]

sorry i didn't see your video i was just reading the responses i made a pike very similar to that and it worked good with just the the tail fin. here is the like to a picture and the link to the video. the paint is a little rough but it's for muskies so i don't think they will mind.

[Jeep]

Maybe you have too much sections? Less sections will give more 'leverage' ... or use fibers,

I did use a lexan tail on my pike swimbait, but I only put the tailfin on for the same reason.

Anyway it looks good! Both action and shape!

Grtz

[mark poulson]

Jeep picked up on something I think is key.

I've found that the more sections you have the more serpentine, but subtle, the swimming action.

My three piece lures have a tail that flaps like a flag in a strong wind.

My four piece had a nice S shaped serpentine action.

My five piece lures have slippery, snaky action.

I think the additional segments act to "calm" the vortex's action, counteracting each other and damping down the action.

I've had to widen the gap on my five piece lure joints, especially the tail, to get a more pronounced swimming action.

I didn't read the initial post well enough the first time, and thought it was of both the finned and non-finned lures.

Personally, I think your lure in the video swims fine. I wouldn't change a thing, just paint it, and go fishing.

[spare tire]

Thanks again everyone I'll keep you posted on the future of this bait

Tim