Crankbait tuning

[basssj]

Here is my deal. I have a couple old bomber speed shads that I cannot get to run correctly. I have tuned them to run perfectly straight back to the rod tip but the problem is that they will roll more to one side than the other. In other words, as the bait is wiggling on retrieve it looks like it is consistently rolling up on one side, further than the other. I have carefully examined the baits carefully and the hook hangers and line tie appear to be aligned and the lip is in square. Any suggestions on getting a truer action from this bait?

For those of you not familiar with a speed shad, they are a plastic flat sided crank bait, kind of shapped like a football. They will run about 5 ft. deep with an extremely tight wiggle. Bomber discontinued them several years ago, so they are difficult to find. I would like to make these run better and salvage them if possible. Thanks for the help.

[Lure--Prof]

The old Speed Shads had a lot of nice flat-side reflective flash on some models, a little ahead of their time with that. They worked best where casting accuracy wasn't of dire importance because they would catch alot of wind, but also alot of fish in the wind with that big mirror flash. They also worked well in fairly sparse big-limbed laydowns.

I assume you mean you have the line tie perfectly straight when you say you have it tuned to run straight. If that is the case do this: With you directly facing your lure in the water, retrieve the lure straight toward you, if it is rolling up more toward your left shoulder, then, with the lure still facing you, correct by bending the line tie slightly toward the right. It is not uncommon to have to do this on brand new lures. It is also not uncommon to tune the lure to run right or left on purpose, for fishing docks, laydowns, etc.

I hope this helps. If this doesn't answer your question, then you'll need to explain further.

Dean

[basssj]

Dean,

Thanks for the reply. Let me try to explain a little more. If you were right over top of this bait looking down on it as it is coming throught the water, you would be seeing the typical but extremely tight "X" pattern as it is moving in a straight line but you would also notice that the X pattern is not symetrical. It is consistently digging harder to the left ultimately causing the bait to roll up further on that side. Keep in mind that the bait runs straight back to the rod tip while doing this. I have tried to tune the lure to eliminate this behavior, when I do, the bait will just run crooked either left or right depending on how the line tie is adjusted. Very minute movements will throw the lures completely out of tune, it is frustrating as you can imagine.

One thing that I am going to do is remove the hooks and rings and test float these lures to check for left to right balance. At this point, I am not certain that they are floating perfectly straight in the water. I have been thinking about drilling and installing some balast also. You are correct they don't cast worth a darn in the wind.

This action is not acceptable because I have other speed shads that do run true with a symetrical action and will outfish the bad boys, 20 - 1. I have fished them enough to know the difference just by closing my eyes feeling the action through the rod.

[longball]

it sounds like a small inperfection on the side of the divebill. If it digs harder to the left side you might try to file off a very minute portion to straighten it. Its hard to tell from text what it is doing but digging to one side sounds like more area to catch water (ie an un noticed epoxy edge on the dive bill)

[Lure--Prof]

I will assume that one half of the lure hasn't taken on some water. Do the right and left sides of the lip meet evenly? On the same note, are the lure halves joined evenly the length of the lure? Do both halves of the lip have the same symmetry? Have you changed hooks from the originals, or do all of your Speed Shads have that same long-ish shank cad-plated looking hook? And finally, but not least: Look at the lure, and feel it along its bottom half right above the middle hook screw eye; is it concaved more on one side than the other? This is not uncommon, and I'm not completely sure if they left the factory like this, or exposure to the sun (my guess) caused the plastic to somewhat disfigure. But I'd be surprised if that isn't your problem, considering its action.

This is probably a baffling post to anyone unfamiliar with this lure!

Dean