[Helmout]

Got some question about weighting and i dindn't find any answer with the search engine.

First of all when i put a bait in the bathub to see if it is balanced all bait most float balanced????

I will build crankbait that i will troll at hight speed

Will it be beter for my deep depht model if when i test them they sink by the nose???

Will they reach beter depht if they sink by the nose???

For the shallow model they must float balanced???

Thx a lot

[BobP]

There really aren't too many hard and fast rules. If you build a crankbait that is nose heavy it will swim with a head down attitude. That increases the angle at which water hits the lip, increasing drag and usually making the wiggle wider and harder. Crankbaits will dive deeper if they are chest weighted and ballasted to make the crankbait a "slow floater". If you make a sinker, you may lose it trolling before you get much use out of it! You can make a deep diver and a shallow diver out of the same crankbait, built exactly the same except with different size lips and lip angles. Big lip angles (measured from horizontal) will dive shallower. Lips that are close to horizontal dive deep. Long lips dive deeper than short lips. If you know of baits that are great examples of what you want in your bait, take a close look to see their weight, dimensions, lip shape and lip angle. That will go a long way toward getting you where you want to go. There are some outstanding makers of trolling baits here on Tackle Underground. Take a look at the Hardbait Gallery for pics and do a search on this forum for some specific building pointers. That should get you started.

[Hoodaddy]

Prior to getting into this addicting hobby (for me) I used to listen to freinds about certain baits and colors and be swayed into purchasing them that way. Now I have hundreds of unused baits lying in boxes and elsewhere just resting.....or rotting . When I started making them I fortunately found (the same as many.... found this wonderful site) and opened my eyes and got me thinking about what makes a C/B do what and why. Also to the unfortunate demise of some of my favorite baits they got cut apart, paint peeled off, lips measured ,weights weighed and measured.....and everything recorded. Then I thought I was ready to start......"Thought" was right ......... Well after 5 yrs. I'm still finding things out and hope to continue doing so as I go along experimenting with weight placement, finishes, wire, lips and angle,line tie placement, clearcoats and everything else that you never foresee when beginning.

So to make a long stroy short....er I agree with Bob you should grab up some of your baits that work like you want your bait to and check them out....thoroughly. Measuring thickness, legnth, width, lip length and angle, shape and if you get real curious all the internal aspects also.

TU can give you a good starting point on some things but you will have to experiment yourself to see what works best for you and...learn how to make adjustments on how to make them better.

There are some really good people on here that will make your sailing a little smoother and have they're own niches that they excel in so keep asking and searching and you will get where you want to be.

By the way.....That watch I took apart when I was 10 still isnt working.....

After all that........ my veiw on the subject is that lip angle, tow eye posistion , weighting and shape of bill will affect the dive most. i.e. low bill angle,tow eye slightly less than half the distance from nose of bait to tip of lip, and more of a forward weighting will get you started in the right direction.