9.5 Inch Bass Swimbait

[capt mike]

I think my baby bass is about ready for paint. I'm still working on the swimming action. It sinks fairly slowly and even and swims pretty good. The strange thing about it is that every few feet it will just dart out of it's track and then go back again. I think it must be a line tie issue. Anyone experience this before?

Anyway, I tried the lure in my pond with the hooks on it and this bass grabbed it right next to the dock. It's in the gallery in hard baits. You can see the bait with the tackle box divider tail. The lure is still wood color, no paint at all.

[Vodkaman]

Sounds very much like a hunting action. Any chance of video of this. This action could be desirable.

Are you getting a lot of roll with the lure?

Dave

[capt mike]

Sounds very much like a hunting action. Any chance of video of this. This action could be desirable.

Are you getting a lot of roll with the lure?

Dave

A little roll, yes. Not bad. I am going to seal the wood putty repairs and try some weight on the hooks and another line tie location. How much weight do you think the clear coat will add on a 9.5 inch bait? I may not want to add any more weight. This fine tuning will drive a man crazy.

I have a video of the shad and the bass. The bass was not swimming because of a bad line tie. I changed the location and it's better now.

[mark poulson]

That's an incredible amount of detailed carving. Beautiful.

And Vman's right, hunting/erratic action is the gold standard for lure actions. It reads "injured" every time.

What did you use to seal the wood?

[Manny]

Sweet bait and catch... I recently incountered a little roll with the swimming action with my swim bait. If you get it figured out let us know.

Are your plans to mold and cast it after figuring it out ?

[capt mike]

Sweet bait and catch... I recently incountered a little roll with the swimming action with my swim bait. If you get it figured out let us know.

Are your plans to mold and cast it after figuring it out ?

I sealed the bait with helmsman spar. I read that many striper lure builders use it with good lresults. This time I sanded it to give some tooth.

Manny, I once i've tried my hand at a few baits, and satisfied with the hardware and actions, I guess I may try to experiment with molds and resin. Don't have one shred of experience with that. Seems like a long way off right now. So much to learn.

Edited July 7, 2010 by capt mike

[mark poulson]

Sweet bait and catch... I recently incountered a little roll with the swimming action with my swim bait. If you get it figured out let us know.

Are your plans to mold and cast it after figuring it out ?

Manny,

In terms of roll, swimbaits are just like crank baits. Flat sided baits roll less than rounder baits.

If you have a tall enough, thinner bait, you can still round off the top and bottom without getting too much roll.

I typically make lures that are 2 1/4" tall, and 3/4" thick at the tallest and thickest points, and I round them off to make the transition from back to side to belly softer. But they still have tall, flat sides, and they don't roll, even when I burn them back to the boat, or over a shallow point.

I also found that I can get away with rounding the top more than the bottom without getting rolling.

Making sure there is enough flat area on the sides seems to be the key.

I recently made a more rounded lure, that was almost 1" thick, and much "fatter" looking, and it rolled.

I'm probably going to thin it up, since I don't like it's action.

Edited July 7, 2010 by mark poulson

[capt mike]

[Heres a video of the baby bass before I corrected the line tie.

[Vodkaman]

I see what you mean. It looks like it is right on the edge of swimming. If it had a sinusoidal action inbetween changes of direction, it would be a winner. Hunting lipped cranks wiggle and change direction.

I have not experimented with cutting a mouth on a swimbait. My thinking is that it acts like a lip, which generally produces vortices too fast for a good sinusoidal action.

What did you do with the line tie to fix the problem and did it achieve the swim you wanted?

Dave

[mark poulson]

I find having the line tie just above the center of the lure works. I cut mouths into my swimbaits, and it doesn't affect the swimming of the lure. I put my line tie into the roof of the mouth, so the eye of the screweye is centered between the top and bottom jaws.

Edited July 8, 2010 by mark poulson

[Vodkaman]

Thanks for the feedback Mark, good to know.

Dave

[capt mike]

I see what you mean. It looks like it is right on the edge of swimming. If it had a sinusoidal action inbetween changes of direction, it would be a winner. Hunting lipped cranks wiggle and change direction.

I have not experimented with cutting a mouth on a swimbait. My thinking is that it acts like a lip, which generally produces vortices too fast for a good sinusoidal action.

What did you do with the line tie to fix the problem and did it achieve the swim you wanted?

Dave

In the video, the bait did not have its hooks installed. It is better now; enough to finish. I put the line tie up a little higher and at a different angle. I still have other ways I'd like to try the line tie. I tried putting some small weights on the hooks and it improved again. Thats when the fish struck it and knocked off the weights. I think the hooks, paint and clearcoat will provide the extra weight. We'll see. I'm going to do one with a closed lip next. I agree with you about the lip theory, I was worried about that. I 've seen many baits with open mouth design, but like anything else, it takes time, tweaking and experimentation to get it right, i'm sure. That's part of the fun, right?

[Vodkaman]

I am glad things are progressing for you.

Mark has a lot of experience and he is sure that the mouth has no effect, this is good enough for me. But you can test for yourself without harming the lure, by filling the mouth with soft modelling clay, for a swim test.

Dave

[capt mike]

I am glad things are progressing for you.

Mark has a lot of experience and he is sure that the mouth has no effect, this is good enough for me. But you can test for yourself without harming the lure, by filling the mouth with soft modelling clay, for a swim test.

Dave

Hey, that's a good idea. I may try that if the other attempts fail.

[mark poulson]

In the video, the bait did not have its hooks installed. It is better now; enough to finish. I put the line tie up a little higher and at a different angle. I still have other ways I'd like to try the line tie. I tried putting some small weights on the hooks and it improved again. Thats when the fish struck it and knocked off the weights. I think the hooks, paint and clearcoat will provide the extra weight. We'll see. I'm going to do one with a closed lip next. I agree with you about the lip theory, I was worried about that. I 've seen many baits with open mouth design, but like anything else, it takes time, tweaking and experimentation to get it right, i'm sure. That's part of the fun, right?

You hit on one of the keys to a good swimming lure. Keep the ballast low.

I always weight and test my PVC lures with all the hardware, including the hooks, in place.

The PVC is very buoyant, so the lures float on their sides when I first test float them for weighting.

I add egg sinkers to the tines of the trebles to get the right amount of ballast, and in the right location. Then I weigh the sinkers, cut the equivalent amount of 1/4" lead wire, and install it in holes I drill in the underside of the lure. The lead wire fits snugly in a 1/4" hole, so I test them again with the wire in place, but not pushed all the way in, to see if they still float or sink right before I push them all the way in. A drop of crazy glue holds the weight in place, and bondo fills whatever depression is left.

I try not to drill the holes any deeper than necessary, so I don't have too much trapped air adding buoyancy and messing up my weighting scheme.

I have to say I don't miss worrying about sealing wood anymore. I am just prejudiced in favor of PVC, I guess.

[capt mike]

OK, I finally finished painting my baby bass. It turned out to be a little over 10". I haven't weighed it since I plan to do 2 more coats of clear. The eyes and tail show up red in the photo but they are more brownish red (raw sienna) in person. I made stencils for the lateral line and for the gold scale tips on the back. I used cotter pins again and brass rods for the hinges. What size screw eyes should I use for this size bait? I think i'd like to do a 12" next. Let me have your honest critique. This is my second bait . The pics are in hard baits gallery.

[mark poulson]

OK, I finally finished painting my baby bass. It turned out to be a little over 10". I haven't weighed it since I plan to do 2 more coats of clear. The eyes and tail show up red in the photo but they are more brownish red (raw sienna) in person. I made stencils for the lateral line and for the gold scale tips on the back. I used cotter pins again and brass rods for the hinges. What size screw eyes should I use for this size bait? I think i'd like to do a 12" next. Let me have your honest critique. This is my second bait . The pics are in hard baits gallery.

Very nice. I see what you mean about the tail looking red. Most largemouth have a black band at the end of the tail.

I love your paint scheme on the body and head.