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sallystrothers

Why Do You Do It?

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What do all of you have a passion for making hard baits? Sometimes I wonder myself why I make them, since for most of us, we can get them readily available from our local retail outlet. So what motivates you to make your own hard baits?

For me: the challenge of discovering an aspect of our natural world. Ironically, as timeless as fishing with artificial baits is (I have a fly fishing book dated to the 1400's!!) the nature of hard baits is supremely (God like) multivariate. There are so many factors determining the success of a bait no person could quantify.

What drives you to make lures?

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What drives you to make lures?

It keeps me out of my wife's way :blink:

Other than that I like to challenge my self and build the perfect bait (IMHO) The constant formulations of weight vs displacement to get the desired effect or my constant struggle in understanding vorticity and the way they spin and turn on a given point of a bait is just mind boggling. The fun of it all

E=mc2 is cool but C7H5N3O6 is the bomb

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It keeps me out of my wife's way :blink:

Other than that I like to challenge my self and build the perfect bait (IMHO) The constant formulations of weight vs displacement to get the desired effect or my constant struggle in understanding vorticity and the way they spin and turn on a given point of a bait is just mind boggling. The fun of it all

E=mc2 is cool but C7H5N3O6 is the bomb

Yes, and I have rendered my analytic skills near useless in understanding vortex shedding. What is that formula BTW? Polyurethane?

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I could not say for certain. It has very little to do with fishing or making money. I like building stuff. I am an amateur inventor and like to explore how things work and use that knowledge to build and test new designs. I like designing and building jigs and machines.

Basically, I am addicted.

Sorry about the vortex thing. Vortices mess with your mind.

Dave

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I could not say for certain. It has very little to do with fishing or making money. I like building stuff. I am an amateur inventor and like to explore how things work and use that knowledge to build and test new designs. I like designing and building jigs and machines.

Basically, I am addicted.

Sorry about the vortex thing. Vortices mess with your mind.

Dave

I have done some interesting modeling where I am able to relate the frequency and "wavelength" of the vortices as a function of water temperature, cross section diameter, and retrieve velocity. It helped me understand the fluid mechanics but I still have yet to incorporate the findings into my bait design, haha.

Edited by sallystrothers
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I have done some interesting modeling where I am able to relate the frequency and "wavelength" of the vortices as a function of water temperature, cross section diameter, and retrieve velocity. It helped me understand the fluid mechanics but I still have yet to incorporate the findings into my bait design, haha.

You need to read up on Strouhal number. Here is a link to get you started, but there is a ton of info on the web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strouhal_number

In the simple equation, the length is the width of the lip in meters, so a 1" wide lip would be 0.0254 meters. I found that for lipped lures a Strouhal number of around 0.12 was close.

By re-arranging the formula, you can predict what frequency of wobble you will get by changing the lip width, without having to build it.

I have a simple spread sheet that you can have a play with, if you pm me your email, I will send it to you or anyone else interested. I tried to upload it, but TU would not allow.

Dave

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VodkaMan, that is interesting and I wish I could understand it but there is a vortex in my head that just keeps spinning it back out. I always enjoy your technical post. I only build the lures that I am interested in fishing with. Usually to replace one that has been discontinued. Musky Glenn

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I like not being constrained by whats available in terms of action, size, finishes. It certainly hasn't saved or made me any $....its cost me thousands I'm sure. When I struggle to get it right it sometimes makes me want to run out and buy someone else work and just go fishing. I'm addicted to the process of creating, testing and refining.....when I stop and think about how much work goes into doing it I almost vomit when I see a good bait that sells for less than $10... I vaguely fantasize that someday my process will get me to a point that I can build 100's of perfectly uniform finished lures in my garage and sell enough to fund my passion. I haven't gotten there yet so it drives me to keep going. Progress keeps me going, people keep me going, the fish keep me going....its a sickness of sorts.

JK

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we started years ago. back in the day cranks were expensive and un available in canada. . in short we can build, create special things for our musky needs. i am sure everyone has a secret or pet lure they use.

Or, in the case of musky fishing, everyone has a secret pet they use as a lure.

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I make my own to kill time being retired gets boring .

Besides when you catch a fish on something you made its kind of a rush.

I grew up near some of the best fly fishing in the country and have enjoyed tying flies for this very reason. I think I was 10 or so when I caught my first fish on a fly I tied myself and I was terribly excited even though it only was a 10" brown trout.

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I have always enjoyed woodworking. I am more of an artistic woodworker and have always been a fisherman. When I purchased my first lathe, it all kind of started there. As I made lures, message boards like these have been my fuel to build a better bait and everyones ideas help. I mean,lets face it....unless you are challenged in some way; with resources like google and youtube etc....Anyone should be able to do this if they are patient enough and want it bad enough! And like I read earlier in a post...it's a special rush catching fish on your own baits!

Benji B)

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I wanted patterns that produce better than factory jobs. Right now I only do repaints. I don't have the skill to really crank out the numbers I want but ultimately I want several boxes full of custom cranks, from which I can pull out the perfect lure for any given water clarity. Rather than being forced to choose from firetiger and chartreuse/black, for instance, I'd be able to pick a lure shot with midtone pearls and light chartreuse accents for moderately stained water.

I want a huge selection of cheap wooden lures. Wood is getting rare and expensive (ie, bagley) these days but it fishes right and produces better than plastic most of the time, especially in stained to muddy water. I hope to start making my own wooden lures eventually. I'll still fish plastic at certain times.

Of course, catching fish even on a repaint is awesome.

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I make lures and paints because I figured out a long time ago that when I am punching someone else's time clock, they expect me to actually be there when THEY want me to be there, not when I want to!

Now, I get to work 24/7/52! Much nicer... ;)

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I started painting cranks when most of my favorite factory cranks were thrashed from pike teeth. I finished chipping the paint and have really enjoyed the whole experience, so now i am looking for a ton of cool blanks to keep the painting craze happening. In the meantime i will go through my box and pull patterns that havent produced and give 'em a coat that hopefully will!

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I make lures and paints because I figured out a long time ago that when I am punching someone else's time clock, they expect me to actually be there when THEY want me to be there, not when I want to!

Now, I get to work 24/7/52! Much nicer... ;)

I have a friend who runs a construction business. He jokes, "Hey when you have your own business you only work half days. Either the first half of the day or the second half."

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