O'baits Posted September 16, 2020 Report Share Posted September 16, 2020 (edited) How-To-Make an Lightened spoon for Trout fishing. So this is going to be a guide of how to make and an trial run at the same time for new version of traditional "Lightened" Trout spoon, that we use a lot on Finland for Trout fishing. These spoons mimic a fish called The great sand eel (Hyperoplus lanceolatus). Here you can see the traditional version of the spoons made by me. Originals have a curve on the nose and is connected to line by its tail. Curved nose makes the lure spin like worm kind of fashion. "Lightened" in quotations as it really doesn't get lightened during manufacture, but there is material glued to heavy stainless or acid-proof steel spoon to add buoyancy. This material is usually cork or rigid foam. I use cork sheets. These spoons usually are from 10 to 15 cm of length, which aquals about 4 to 6 inches and weights from 22 to 35 grams (0.7 to 1.2 oz). This is the updated design. There's an added tail that has the curve, so it's connected to the line by its nose. After grinding the steel to its shape, it time to glue the cork in place. I use polyurethane glue for this, but epoxy is a good choise also. When gluing the cork in place, I'll take an old Japanese way of adding the pressure by using thread. Now it's time to wait for the glue to set and I'll continue my work tomorrow. Cheers, Jarmo from O'baits Edited September 16, 2020 by O'baits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 Next phase is obviously sanding the bait down to its shape. Convex side of the spoon is rounded evenly from top to bottom and head to tail. On the concave side I'll leave a flat area, from mid to tail. This is done to add water resistance and get a bit more swim in case tailfin isn't enough. Sealing the cork material with Cyanoacrylate. I'll always use CA with my wooden gliders also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 After foiling with aluminium tape. Pressed the scales by rolling exacto knife over the foiled spoon. And painted lure. Painted directly over the foil, without first adding clear coat. This way I can get more life to my paintwork, when paint adheres and reflects differently on high and low spots of the foil. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 Great tutorial. Do you have any video of the modified lures swim action? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Vodkaman said: Great tutorial. Do you have any video of the modified lures swim action? Dave Not yet but I'll post it as soon as I'll get this one made ready. Clear coating today so I'll try to post it later this upcoming weekend. I'll also post the swimming action of the traditional model so we can compare how both of these swim and if this is an upgrade or total failure. Jarmo from O'baits Edited September 17, 2020 by O'baits 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 That would be very useful for me. I have always been fascinated by these types of spoon lures because the swimming action was difficult to explain. I more or less have the explanation locked in now, but would be very interested to see the comparison. I may then be in a position to post my explanation. Knowledge is power. With an understanding of the fluid mechanics, it may be possible to design even more effective 'S' spoon lures. I have had a lot of success with this type of spoon, trout love them. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 "Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' " Using epoxy to coat my baits, nothing to tell here that's not told several times already, but in case there's a lurker here searching for information, here's some.. Why would one use apoxy some might ask? Well there's nothing why it's a must. You could also use, say like polyrethane clear coat, dip you bait, wait for it to dry, dip again and so on. Depending what kind of paint, foil etc you've used, especially in case of glittering your bait, you have to dip quite a few times to get a glass like shiny surface to your bait. So there comes the ease of using epoxy, usually one coat is enough, sometimes I use it as a middle coat also after applying glitter, to get even base for paint. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted September 18, 2020 Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 (edited) Clever image! Love it - explain how. We can clearly see the clamp operation too. Very nice Dave Edited September 18, 2020 by Vodkaman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted September 18, 2020 Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 Does the epoxy crack when the spoon is bent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 2 hours ago, mark poulson said: Does the epoxy crack when the spoon is bent? These spoons? These doesn't get bent as 3mm steel is pretty rigid. But I haven't had problem of cracking happening in any of my other spoons nor it has happened with my gliders either. I only use marine grade epoxy that is used with surfboard and boat building so it's a bit more flexible that regular laminating epoxy. Might be the reason this not happening to me. If someone had problem with epoxy cracking, would be interesting to study in which kind of bait this has happened and what kind of resin was used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 9 hours ago, Vodkaman said: Clever image! Love it - explain how. Well it seems when choosing file to add, this site accepts GIF images also. So I took a small under 7 seconds video, downloaded an free app that changes video to GIF and run that. After changing my small video to GIF image, just added it to my post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted September 18, 2020 Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 3 hours ago, O'baits said: Well it seems when choosing file to add, this site accepts GIF images also. So I took a small under 7 seconds video, downloaded an free app that changes video to GIF and run that. After changing my small video to GIF image, just added it to my post. Beautiful baits! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted September 19, 2020 Report Share Posted September 19, 2020 GIF, I should have known. But I am sure I have tried to upload GIFs before with no success. I will try again in the future - thanks Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjs Posted September 19, 2020 Report Share Posted September 19, 2020 Neat. Wonder if I could try this with a krocodile spoon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'baits Posted September 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2020 9 hours ago, mjs said: Neat. Wonder if I could try this with a krocodile spoon... You sure can. It's common practice here in Rapala's birth country. It's usually done only for concave side, but you can test it and add it to both. Easiest way is to add epoxy glue, add thick coat of glitter and smooth this whole thing with epoxy. This usually adds about 2mm on both sides. This does wonder for the spoon, and gives a fair bit of lift to it. Cheers, Jarmo from O'baits 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Epp Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 This is really neat! I'm excited to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
