[BJ Smith]

Gawd Bless Youtube

Now.... what was the question?

[rofish]

Imagine a balsa crankbait which you could fit tight in a steel sheet envelope. Would the air inside the wood be compressed? Or imagine a mini submarine with people on bord, which could dive to big depth. Are people inside the submarine affected by the great pressure of the ocean at such depth?
I think that a crankbait running at considerable depth would be affected by the pressure (would shrink) only it the topcoat allows it. And that depends also on how strong the wood is.

[Stringjam]

Originally Posted by benton B

If I'm not mistaken, Brian's deep cranks have straight lips. I find baits with straight lips kind of dead at any depth. Maybe braided line would be a better opiton for deep cranking. Might reduce the effects from line stretcha and resistance.

Braided line is also my preference deep cranking - - especially when fishing around really deep cover like brushpiles or stumpfields....you just have to feel what that bait is doing to really finesse it around that kind of stuff.

[mark poulson]

I've tried braid for deep cranking, but the lakes I fish are clear with rock, and braid doesn't like rock.
I use 10lb BPS flouro for all my cranking. I can feel everything. And I think the flouro deals with rock better than braid.
For Crigs, I use 15lb braid with a swivel and 10lb flouro leader.
I also use braid with a flouro leader for Ikas, Senkos, and with a mono leader for topwaters. The braid floats, which keeps it out of the rocks when I'm on the bottom. The flouro sinks, and, if I'm dead sticking on a slack line, or picking out a backlash, the flouro can drop into the rocks, and get stuck. Grrrr!!!!
I love braid. I also love flouro. I guess I'm just easy. :O)

[Stringjam]

Originally Posted by mark poulson

I've tried braid for deep cranking, but the lakes I fish are clear with rock, and braid doesn't like rock.

Same kind of waters here - - I just use a leader on the braid, and it absorbs all the nasties of the rocks without giving up the fine diameter of the braid.

The 20 lb. PowerPro I use is about the same diameter as 8 lb. test - and it breaks at close to 25 lbs. That means I can get super deep and still fish around cover that I wouldn't even think about throwing small mono near.

People sink a lot of cedars and blackjacks around here, and it's murder on line if you get a hot bass that wants to go back in after he's hooked.

[clemmy]

Think about it...

There's a reason suspending baits will sink at certain temps. The lower you go, the greater the pressure (up to the thermocline) think about pulling a lure through a pool of thin weight oil...then doing the same with a higher viscosity...

[smirkplug]

At about 200 feet deep plastic crankbaits implode or crack and fill with water. At deep depths the water is cold and my flourocarbon gets brittle and breaks at my knots. Also these findings are based on Lake Tahoe fishing, Macknaw lake trout and the elevation is about 6200 feet above sea level. We use wire line to cut the water to get that deep and feel the wiggle and avoid line stretch.

[senkoman85]

At 200 feet deep you're at over 6 ATM's of pressure. That's some serious pressure at that point and will cause lure failures due to shrinking air. I would think plastic baits would implode, as there is no room for the vaccuum in the hollow body.


At 33 feet, the bait is subject to 2 ATMs. That pressure is nothing. Take a bait without hooks and squeeze it tightly in one hand, that is roughly the equivelent of 2 ATM's. Place it in the palm of one hand and squish with the other, and that's equivelent to about 3 ATM's or 99 feet deep. Stepping on it would be roughly equal to 8 ATM's or 264 feet deep. I would think that stepping on a crankbait would be a point of failure for almost all baits.

An interesting study that I will have to do however. I will completely seal up a balsa bodied bait with Decvon 2 ton and after curing, will place in a jar of water (weight will be added to the bait so that it will sink). I will then vacuum seal the jar and see how much air will be released and if there is any failure in the bait. I know it isn't THAT scientific, but it might help with a clearer answer.

[rofish]

Senkoman85,
You think that air would shrink in a plastic hollow crankbait. Does air shrink in a submarine? The pressure of the water is applied to the wall of the crankbait or submarine, not to the air inside them. And yes, plastic crankbaits can implode at high pressure, because their walls are plastic, not steel.
About your study.
Do you think that if you reverse the conditions (from 8 atm. instead of 1 atm, compared with 0 atm instead of 1 atm. the results could be compared? Not mentioning that it may be difficult to reach 0 atm. in a jar. I would think twice before I would make such a test.

[senkoman85]

RoFish,
I was basing my facts on scuba diving facts.

If, for example, you blow a balloon up on the surface and take it down 60 feet (3 atm's) then it will not be the same volume...the air compresses. It also happens inside your lungs.

If you were to fill a balloon up with air at 60 feet (3 atm's) and bring it to the surface, it would explode before it reached the surface due to the expanding air. This is why you must exhale while ascending from the depths, to avoid blowing a lung out.

I'm unsure if a submarine is a good example, I am not familiar with submarines and could be wrong. I think an airplane would be a better example for what you are trying to say, as an airplane climbs higher into the atmosphere, there is a thinning of oxygen and more pressure applied. Because the cabin pressure is regulated, you don't notice it but there is tremendous force on the outside. Are submarines built the same way, so that one wouldn't notice an increase in pressure?