[diemai]

During the past days in my work breaktimes I sketched down some new designs of "Banana"-style lures , today I put the first one of these into practice , the others hopefully would follow up during the next days and weeks .
This one is approx. 3 1/4" in length .

The difference to my previous "Banana's"(pls. check gallery) is , that I made the lip a little different , not plane and long like I used to , but short and a little cupped this time .
I wonder , wether there would be differences in any aspect of the lure action between the two variations .
To save time , I used light teakwood for this lure , not abachewood as usual , the latter requires time-consuming treatment to render it waterproof .
But I am aware , that this lure shown might probably turn on it's back , maybe even a balance weight won't help , since the body is pretty much curved .
The other models , that I sketched down so far , don't have such a pronounced shape .
There are some essentials about such "Banana"-lures to be considered , that I have found out through the years , since I like such baits quite a bit and made a lot of them for myself and friends :

1. The lip portion has to be slim , thus less buoyant .

2. The rear has to be more voluminous , thus more buoyant .

3. The cross-section in general must be either round or slightly oval(width more than heigth , not vice-versa) .

4.The lure should float up with its two ends level or little head-down , not tail-down !

5. A pronounced body curve generates more wobbling action , but less diving depth , on the other hand a very curved lure tends to overturn and swim on its back , less curved "Bananas" vice-versa !

6. The position of the tow eye is very important . Such lures are shallow runners , it does not work out to attempt to place the eye higher towards back of bait to make it dive deeper , the one and only result is overturning !
On straight-lipped "Banana's" the towpoint should be located quite near the front end of lip .

7. A small balance weight placed into the belly in front of belly hook hanger most likely improves the balance and action of the bait in terms of a stable running , on oval cross-sectioned lures these are even essential to prevent the lure to probably float up lopsided .

OK , maybe , this little excursion into "Banana"-bait dynamics would be useful to someone around here .
I went through many headaches to find out about the statements above for myself , though they may neccessarely not be complete or even a bedrock .

Greetz , diemai

[Vodkaman]

Diemai. A very generous post, sharing your hard earned information.

I have often contemplated making a Helin type lure, they have a very strong aesthetic attraction (they look very sexy, in a masculine fisherman way). But just by looking at the style, I can see the difficulties of setting it up. The relatively high ballast position compared to a more traditional lure, I see as a problem, which you solved with the parallel lip, which keeps the roll under control. The buoyant rear end combined with the curvature, pulls the rear upwards, presenting more lip to collect the vortex action.

I bet that little gem really shakes its tail feathers and teases the fish. I would love to see a video of the action.

[CreekMonster]

Very nice. I really enjoy your work.

Jay

[JBlaze]

Diemai Like the looks of those bananna lures. When I was young, we trolled for Walleyes using a lure called a Jet Lure. It had the same general shape as your bananna lures and really thumped. I bet yours will too. Thanks for sharing the results of your many hours of expermentimg with these. I am sure it is appreciated by many.
John

[RiverMan]

A beautiful lure you have carved from wood! We use kwikfish here in Oregon for salmon.......chinook love them! I carved some myself several years back but can't seem to find a picture of them.

RM

[LaPala]

Diemai, have you looked at Aussie lures like Halco (Poltergeist, Rellik Doc) and Predatek (Boomerangs, Woomera) offerings? I think the Aussies are wild over the bananaish lures but they usually render it with a plastic lip. Some slight modifications in the basic banana shape in those lures addresses the roll over issues you mentioned. But I agree the amount of curvature in the lure dictates a lot of the lure's action. For buoyancy issues, try playing with wedged shape body cross sections too, this will help a lot in addressing the needed stability.

Hazmal's lures are to me in the banana category too (oops, better put a disclaimer in here, I'm referring to the lure shape not the man ) I think Pete will know a lot more Aussie lures that are banana.

[diemai]

Thanks a lot about the reflections about my "Banana"-lures , that's great !
Forgot to mention one important thing :
When cutting out such a lure from a woodboard , make sure , that the woodgrain would be leading in about parallel to the slim lip's outer shape , this way you'd achieve the best possible stability of the bait !

@ Vodkaman
You took the words right out of my mouth , there is something erotic about the curvy body of such lures......... !

@ LaPala
I only know the "Poltergeist" by pictures , so I can't tell about their action , and it's also new to me , that the Aussie's are crazy about such lures !

@ RiverMan
Certainly those baits are also attractive to all salmon-like fish , I have caught trout in local put-and-take ponds on smaller "Bananas" .
It's a pity , that I never managed to make a smaller one less than about 2 1/2" , it cant be made much smaller in terms of proper body shape relations , I suppose , since the lip requires a certain thickness to accommodate the linetie wire form .

@ JBlaze
Haven't yet caught a "Zander"(very , very similar to American walleye)on such bait , these rarely come up shallow , most of the time they are bottom located , and are most likely caught on bait minnows and plastics , rigged onto leadheads . Few are caught on crankbaits over here , if I hazard a guess , maybe 10% to 15% !

@ CreekMonster
Thanks for your kind words !

Sorry , Vodkaman , I can't provide a video , but one of the containing pics shows the wake , that a large , buoyant "Banana" generates on a calm surface , retrieved very slow , with the rod pointing upward .

Another pic shows three of my largest "Banana's", that I made for an "How To "-essay for a German angling magazine , taken in perfect float-up position .
These are about 4 2/3" in length , as a linetie I used a roughly "T"-shaped piece of brass-sheet , that later did not prove to be too practical , since its very hard to bend it to tune the lures .
So I'd better stay with wire in future , just thought , that this sheet metal would provide more weight on the lip , so I won't have to place extra belly weight , but for these large , buoyant ones I still had to .

Third pic shows some different models , that I've made through the years , but not all , by far !

greetz , Dieter

[rofish]

Diemai,
I have not made such banana lures yet, but since you have made us share your findings, and I do not fully understand your explanations, I hope you will not find my questions to be too dumb.
You say the lip area of the body must be slim, and the rear area must be attractive ... er ... I mean more voluminous, and therefore more buoyant. This situation would lead by itself to the fact that the lure would have a nose down attitude. And if you add weight in front of the belly hanger, the nose down attitude would only increase. But you said that these lures must float with the 2 ends level, or a little nose down. Does it mean that the rear hook and hanger have so much weight that they can counterbalance the weight of the tow wire (big enough, as it seems) combined with the weight of the lead? And the front volume of the wood is smaller than the rear half?
These lures seem to be tricky to make, in such a way that they preserve some stability.
Have you ever tried to split the weight between the 2 ends? Because I think that this way such a lure would have the best stability. What if you would just glue some lead sheet under the lip area, and you would also put some lead in a lower area at the back? Just asking your oppinion about some dumb questions of a guy who has not made such lures yet.
And now the last one. From your drawing, it seems that the wire for the tow eye goes somewhere into the body (the lip), but I think that the 2 ends of the wire go through the lip, and then they are bended flush with the back of the lip, perhaps there is a groove for them, and perhaps they are epoxied in place. Is that so ?

[jamie]

diemai, once again I love your style of lures, I like the paint on the three in the water they just pop out at you

[kellure]

Nice design work and crafting.