Thad Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 The smallies are crushing Long As and Redfins around here now and I'd like to make something similar to Buckeye's Wake Up. My question is about where would you put the ballast and roughly how much? Also how wide would you make the bill on a 1/2" thick bait? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoopa Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 You most likely would want to have a large head so you could get a wider wobble. I bet for the weight placement would be in the front of the lure in that range because you would want that to be the pivot point. The lip will just help the lure wobble more though. just the width of the lure will make the lure wobble. If I was gonna make a lure like that I would make the rear sides thin so they wouldn't create much drag. Never did design a wake bait, but from all my research about lures and past experince that is where i would start at:twocents: Goodluck, Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diemai Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 @ Thad Make your lip up to 140% of body width wider at its tip , the base should be a bit narrower than the lureblanks width . The wider and longer it is , the more the lure would tend to lay on either side on retrieve , but once you've reached a certain grade of width , the lure might not wiggle anymore , but dig down straight only . The tow eye should be located at about nose tip of the lure(for a wake bait) . Like spoopa said , you can leave the rear flanks narrower , but I would make the front portion a bit more voluminous and not too narrow . A wake bait is supposed to stay just beneath the surface , thus it requires sufficient buoyancy , otherwise even the downward pointing lip would cause it to dive a few inches below , especially , if you have set in extra weights , ......as a result it won't cause no wake on the surface anymore . You can set the grade of wobble either by the length and width(generally speaking , ... the plane)of the lip and by utilizing ballast acting as a keel weight . Combining both is also possible , off course . I have made just a few wake baits before , I always made them highly buoyant(thus voluminous) and with wide and long lips , .........thus I could always embed some weight and/or shave the lip , if the wiggle turned out too strong for my taste , ......or the lure even turned on its back ! good luck , diemai:yay: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thad Posted October 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 Thanks for a good starting point guys. I'm going to start working on it today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benton B Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 Set the lip angle at approx 85 degrees and make the lip a little wider than the body. Ballast weight will be hit/miss, you may have to make a couple of baits to find the best place for ballast. I would start by putting the ballast weight in the first 1/3 of the bait and move back from there. I have made a bunch of wake minnows and it's not the easiest bait to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
