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swarma

Adding Weight

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Merry Christmas!

I recently purchased a bunch of cheap hardbaits off of eBay. They look great, but only swim somewhat well, since they have a tendency to keel over. They are a little top heavy, so I grabbed some super glue and added a little washer as a weight on the bottom of the lure. Problem solved!

However, I'd rather use something a little less bulky and odd-looking than a washer. What do you all recommend adding to the bottom of a hardbody, plastic/resin lure to help overcome balance issues?

Thanks!

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@ swarma

Not that easy to add weights to those hollow plastic lurebodies , once they're glued together !

And you won't know , whether they would have any internal chambers , that would prevent any internal weights from possibly moving all over the length of the bait , thus rendering or even spoiling the action unpredictably .

The easiest way is to add weights from the outside of body , but you've said , that you won't like the looks ?

There are so-called "Suspendots" or Suspendstrips" available , made by the "Storm" lure company , these are little stick-on/peel off pieces of lead sheet for lure tuning .

You can also make similar at home utilizing roofing lead sheet and double sided carpet tape .

You might as well just wind some solder wire around the belly hook shank .

Internal weights need to be fixed somehow inside of the lure for previously mentioned reasons , and it is tricky to do .

First you need to drill a (belly) hole to insert the weights , I would go for lead shot in this case !

To be able to fix these weights to a certain location inside of the lure , you have to smear some glue , prefarably epoxy , onto the lead shot , insert it and clamb the lure in a way , that the weight would roll to desired location and remain there , until the glue has set .

You might also utilize a piece of wire to be able to move the weight inside , if neccessary .

You can do this with multiple lead shots , make sure that your glue sets SLOW , super glue would not work , as it may bind the weights to unwanted locations too fast !

After the weights are bonded , you might also try to insert some glue to the hole and let it set around the fixed weights for added strength .

You can finally close the belly hole by epoxying a round head brass wood screw into it , with the shank of approbiate diameter and cut-off length , ..........maybe , sucha screw alone would already serve your purpose well , so you won't have to insert weights ?

If your lures SHOULD have such internal chambers mentioned above , you could probably skip the inside glue proccess , as the weights can't move much over the lures length in this case !

I have never done this before , but have read these lure tuning instructions it in a German angling magazine and I also have a swapped "Swim Whizz" type of lure , on which this has been done with success .

If deciding on the internal glued lead shot affair , do it on only one of your lures at first to see , whether it would work out for you , .......no need to put holes into all of them , ...probably ;) !

good luck , diemai :yay:

Edited by diemai
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I posted this over on BBC. So I just cut-n-pasted it over here. Sorry it's a bit long.

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First thing I do, is depending on what bait/brand I'm drilling into; find a transparent color of the exact bait. If I don't own one, I look on tacklewarehouse.com or landbigfish.com or one of those sites with good pictures of the baits. You can usually see the rattle chambers in the pix, and get a general idea where they are at.

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Now, holding the bait in the position it runs through the water, I use a .0400 size drill bit (or any VERY tiny bit), and drill vertically through the bottom, to the rattle chamber I'm working with. I then take a piece of clear tape, and tape over the hole. Then using a tiny syringe, I poke through the tape, and inject liquid super glue (NOT gel-too thick for syringe, and NOT fast drying, you want a little time to work with it) into the rattle chamber. The tape slows most of the glue, from leaking back out. Put another piece of tape over the tiny hole you poked through the first piece of tape to inject the glue; this keeps the glue from coming back out. Then give the bait a rattle back and forth/to-and-fro; or whatever it takes, to get super glue on the rattles. Then position the bait in a resting place, exactly as it would suspend/travel through the water. The rattles will settle in the bait where they are supposed too. And make sure the tape on the hole, has a good seal to keep the glue from leaking back out.

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Come back a few hours later. Give the bait a shake, if it rattles; repeat the above procedure, with a bit more glue.

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Once the rattles are secure and the glue is dry. Take a round toothpick, stick it in to the hole; until it is a tight fit. (you may need several styles/sizes of toothpicks on hand) Snap off the toothpick, flush with the bait body. You may need to take an Xacto knife and trim the excess smooth. Then, when you're happy with the toothpick position, drip the liquid super glue slowwwly onto the toohpick dot on the belly of the bait. The toothpick will soak up the liquid super glue.

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I usually come back a few hours later, and give it a few more drips, to make sure the toothpick is soaked with super glue. This will form a nice water tight seal.

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If you cap the syringe, and seal it up quickly in a ziploc, or somethng similar. You can actually reuse it. I've had syringes sit over a week, and was able to use them again without the super glue drying up in 'em.

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Don't just randomly start drilling into a bait without a good idea where the rattles are. You may end putting a lot of unnecessary holes in it.

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As an example. The River2sea Dep 65 has a main body rattle; then it has a bunch of tiny plastic pieces, rattling around in a chamber under the chin of the bait. While the #4 Shad Raps, have 3 seperate chambers, only in the belly; in front, and behind the bottom hook. smile.gif

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This all may sound like a pain, but once you do it a few times; it's really quite easy. And the only indication of anything being done to the bait, is a tiny pinhole dot on the belly. But you can use some touchup paint or something to cover it up. smile.gif

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Sorry this is so long; its just the best, easiest and cleanest way to silence crankbait rattles I've found. beers.gif

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Also, if you want to make floating baits suspend. Use the same procedure above, but a slightly larger drill bit, to accomodate the diameter of those bait weights.

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http://www.basspro.com/webapp/...sults

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Seems to me that the dot thing will almost look like the washers that you dont like. How many of the dots will you need and where do they go. The lead tooth pick thing look very promising though. As for the heavy hooks that has not ever done any good on my baits. I would rather put the weight where i want it rather than where I have to. As for drilling a hole in the bait if it dont work you will not be out much now will you.

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@ Frank

These "Suspendots" are of very thin material(never used the "Suspendstrips" , but they're larger , maybe even thicker ??) , thus one single dot won't make up for a big difference on a larger , voluminous lure , I guess ?

The homemade ones of roofing lead sheet and double tape maybe more effective , as the lead sheet is thicker and they can be cut to required size and shape .

Disadvantage is , that they cannot be easily removed again , as double sided carpet tape sticks like hell .

greetz , diemai :yay:

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@ Frank

These "Suspendots" are of very thin material(never used the "Suspendstrips" , but they're larger , maybe even thicker ??) , thus one single dot won't make up for a big difference on a larger , voluminous lure , I guess ?

The homemade ones of roofing lead sheet and double tape maybe more effective , as the lead sheet is thicker and they can be cut to required size and shape .

Disadvantage is , that they cannot be easily removed again , as double sided carpet tape sticks like hell .

greetz , diemai :yay:

I know what they are but how many do you need to match what the washer weight and where do you put them. I am guessing that you cant hide them.

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@ Frank

I have used them before to tune some homemades .

To gain the desired effect on those lures , I had to stack quite a few of these dots onto one another , did not look that good at all !

You might paint them over for a bit of "camouflage" , but you'll always have that pack potruding over the lures belly !

greetz , diemai :yay:

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