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diemai

New Weightshifter Minnow Bait Prototype

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Looks like I'm the only one not happy with that small lure :lol: !

Vic , I haven't considered about a trailer on the rear hook , great idea , thanks for pointing out , ......I know that such usually slows down the action a bit , maybe it would do the trick ?

Glenn , I have made two PVC lures before , that sport internal bores to accommodate the shifting weights . These really cast better and further , but it was quite elaborate to make them .

http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/gallery/image/8040-more-pvc-crankbaits/

Quite finacky job to furnish the belly slot for the internal wire form without breaking through into the internal ballast chamber , belly slot has to be kept very narrow in that way .

Due to the curved bodies there actually are two lengthwise bores drilled under an angle to one another and meeting somewhere in center of the lure , so both bore entries also need to be plugged after having inserted the ballast .

Cast them quite a lot so far, especially the silver one , .....but sadly never scored , ......in fact I almost lost it last fall to a very bad snag in the Hamburg "Alster" lake .

I find these ones here with the Lexan core quite a lot easier to make .

Ben , I hope , you're right , .....I'm into great expectations about that 4" minnow that I'm presently working on .

Thanks for your interest , ...... greetz , Dieter :yay:

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Diemai,

The best casting distance is achieved when the lure flies straight, tail first, and does not tumble. I use the MaxRap and it is one of the best casting lures partly because it is easy to make it fly tail first. If you "whip" the rod too strongly, you can cause the lure to tumble in the air where a smoother cast will allow it to fly tail first and fly further. Also, the diving lip can cause enough air resistance to slow down a lure. I think it would be easy enough for you to cast a few times with your prototype without the lip to see this. Just be sure and use a nice smooth swing to get it to fly tail first, it does take a little practice and also helps to start the cast with about 2 ft of line between lure and rod tip. Of course, you won't want to change the diving lip if that is what you need to get the action and depth you want. I've attached a photo of a very inexpensive lure that we have found to cast exceptionally well. That is, it is easy to make this one fly tail first. This lure is 4.75 inches from tail to tip of the lip and weighs about 16 g with hooks and paint. I sanded the paint off of this one some time ago to study the internal construction so you can see where the steel balls inside are placed. There is one larger one in the tail that cannot move much and two smaller balls that can move all the way up to the nose.

Best Regards,

Warren

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Edited by wchilton
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@ wchilton

I also consider the "MaxRap" to be the best performing distance casting minnow bait presently available ,..... bought three of them recently .

Probably I should really take care to hone on my casting methods , as you've described , ....I must admit , that I haven't bothered a constant stance too much so far , ......and there must be something not quite straight about it , as even well-balanced and proven distance-casting baits(some homemade deep divers , Rapala DownDeepFatRaps , etc .) don't launch evenly well cast after cast .

I'm using spinning gear to be able to cast a wider range of different lure types and weights from the bank , .....but I've read , that casting gear would be superior in terms of casting lipped baits , provided that their weight is heavy enough , .......the baits would fly more straight anf not foul with the leader too much due to getting to tumble in the air .

Off course I also own a few casting rods , but don't use them too often .

The line shooting off the casting reel's spool on a cast flies straight behind the lure , not offering too much air resistance , ....whereas with a spinning reel it is spiraling around the rim of the reel's spool causing more friction and also air resistance .

But , as said before , I'm using spinning gear , as it is more versatile working different types of lures with just one rod , ........as a bank fisherman I cant't take multiple rods along .

Also I'm aware about the diving bill offering some grade of air resistance as well , ....... it would become less , the more the bill points forward , though , ..........on some deep divers the bill even acts like some kinda rudder to provide guidance and stability on flight , so the lure darts out dead straight , .........the "DownDeepFatRap" is an excellent example for such unmatched casting performance .

The lure on your picture is what in America you'd call a jerkbait , I guess , ..........the bigger weight in the tail is to generate the desired walking or sideward darting action working the lure along with little jerks or twitches .

Of course it also enhances the casting performance , ...but do the moving smaller forward balls cuse the lure to sit level at rest ?

I assume they won't , ......their purpose would rather be to generate some noise , I reckon .

But nevertheless it's always interesting to see the interior of commercial baits , though obviously difficult to reproduce for the hobby lure carver .

Thanks a lot for chiming in , .........greetz , Dieter :yay:

Edited by diemai
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Diemai,

The lure I posted a pic of does sit level at rest with the metal balls in the front. Many lures of this type have internal balls that shift front-to-back.

I didn't specify, but we also use spinning gear almost all of the time. The resistance of the line during the cast actually helps to keep the lure flying straight. I know this because I have tried using lighter line and noticed a bit more tendency for the lure to tumble in the air. Also, when casting for distance I tend to throw rather high so the lure travels in an arc. At the top of the arc, the lure may be 20 to 30 ft above the water surface. There are no overhead obstacles like trees or wires in the ocean/bay where I fish but have to watch out for birds while casting like this.

Regards,

Warren

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@ wchilton

A new aspect to me to hear , that the shooting out line of spinning reels helps the lure to fly straight , ........guess , that this only counts for such balanced minnow lures designed for long casting like f. e. the "XRap" , "MaxRap" and the one on your picture , too .

Bigger lures with bigger lips cast better with casting gear , .......I've read this in local magazines and also experienced it by myself , ........I'm refering to 6" to 7" pike crankbaits like "Buchertail Depthraider" , "Cisco Kid" , "Grandma" , etc . , ........the bigger an offset lip also does it's share to foul the belly hook with the leader too often , .......with casting gear this does not happen that much !

With this two lures in my previous gallery link I've observed similar to you , .......I also cast them in an arc , ....at the beginning of their flight they'd still tumble a bit , but after having passed the highest peak of their trajectory , they straighten out and dart on tail first until impact , ......which surely lets them gain a couple of yards extra .

I know too well about those hazardous birds :lol: , .......two years ago at the Hamburg city "Alster" lake on one Saturday morning during fall season I became a bit mad about not being able to cast that far anmyore , .......it really was time to spool on new line , as the spinning reel's spool wasn't filled properly anymore , ....I had cut off too much worn line through the season .

I headed for a tackle shop located just a few 100 yards away from the city lake and had my reel refilled to the spools rim with 0,15mm Berkley braid , payed 16 Euros for it , ....I exactly remember .

So happy about my purchase I got back to the lake , ........my casting spoons made at least 1/3 more of a distance now .

But the happiness only did last for a few dozens of casts , as suddenly a few geese came flying in my way from the left hand side , only 10 feet above the water's surface , .....did not see them coming , they were just too fast .

Well , one obviously caught my line , .........before I even figured out about what was happening 40 or 50 yards of my brandnew line plus my casting spoon were gone , ...happened within the blink of an eye :censored: !

But I did not see any goose come down , ....guess nothing happend to them :nuhuh: .

I will now wait to test my latest 4" prototype coming weekend , ...I have great expectations in this one to perform well , .......but I shall see .

greetz , Dieter :yay:

Edited by diemai
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@ mark poulson , @ littleriver

The other way round with me , Mark and Vic , .......a matter of practice , ......with my first casting reel I used three or four line fillings , before I could work it out without backlashes , ....at least I was smart enough and used cheap monofilament for practising , ......easier to pick apart the bird's nests than braid , anyway ! :lol:

Also has to do with length of the rod , I guess , ...the longer , the better the leverage to accelerate the lure to dart out .

Casting rods are generally shorter compared to spinning rods , I guess , .........but looks like fashion changes .

I have an old book from the early 1970's where spinning rods of 6 to 8 feet are recommended , ....nowadays somewhat longer rods are requested , I guess , ...at least for pike and zander .

My spinning rods are 9 feet , a happy compromise in terms of working certain bait types with the rodtip pointing downward , good casting performance and also the use in my small collapsible boat .

But there are also spinning rods of up to 11 or 12 feet available , ...... mainly used by seatrout anglers at the coast of the Baltic Sea , that need to cast their lures behind the breaking waves , ...but also some freshwater anglers use them from open shorelines .

Still about 25 years ago casting gear was rather unknown to the wide majority of German anglers , ....only the saltwater anglers travelling up north to hunt for giant Norwegian cod and halibut were familar to the use of big casting reels then .

But by that time big glide baits were introduced over here , .....to work these stiffish and short rods equipped with casting reels were required , hardly available at first , early enthusiasts like myself had to import them , ..........but within a few years the offerings in local tackle shops and mailorder shops increased year after year , by now you can get different kinds of casting reels and rods over here as well , ......but casting gear is never as popular over here like in the USA .

Greetz , Dieter :yay:

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I enjoy the history of how fishing tackle evolves in certain countries. I remember using one of my uncles red ambassadeur reels about 1960. Man, what a birds nest that turned out to be. One cast is all I got, but I never forgot it. One other thing he taught me might help on your effort to cast farther. Take two steps forward cast and walk back, an easy way to gain a couple of yards distance. :halo: lol Keep the information coming. Musky Glenn

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@ Musky Glenn

..............guess , those old time ABU reels were more subject to cause backlashes compared to more modern reels ?

Now you name it , ......I know about this "step forward" method , .....the anglers at the beaches of the Baltic Sea over here also do this , ....as I've seen on film(never fished the sea) .

With their mighty 14 feet+ rods they need to cast their heavy bottom sinkers and bait(no lures)far beyond the breaking waves , talking 'bout at least 100 , .......better 125+ yards , I guess .

They use huge spinning reels by the way .

They'd even connect a thicker length of line (about 30 feet)to the end of the thinner main line , because the force of the cast would put too much strain on the lower portion of the main line and let it snap off .

greetz , Dieter :yay:

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My first baitcaster was an ABU . Recently gave it away to a nephew along with the Berkley lightning rod it was on. Still working great! The nice thing is how simple it it is. Just two settings. Drag and the casting drag dial. Learned how to plastic worm fish with this setup. Caught many a fish with it. Casts fair with much weight but the new reels like the shimano curado with the centrifuge drag system cast much further with anything tied on them.

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Guess that I simply lack practise with the casting reels , should really use them more often . I also have two ABU's and two or three low-profiles of different brands .

One of these I have mounted to a short rod only using it for working little jigging spoons underneath the boat , .....more convinient to let down these lures compared to a spinning reel , .........and, .....no casting required :lol: !

Here is the latest video displaying the pond test of my latest "WeightShifter" prototype , ........this roughly 4 1/2" is gonna be the last one of this type , .....looks like it fully fulfills my needs , so I'm gonna make some more like this thru the coming weeks and have them all painted during coming winter .

Thanks a lot everbody for your interest in my humble lure work , .......greetz , Dieter :yay:

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