[DSV]

wow, big post rofish!

a lot of thinking material in there.

the slots for the chain are kind loose fitting, but what i planned on doing was filling every slot on the bait with D2T and then lay the chains and wires and weights in and then put some D2T on the inside surface of the bait to help it stick together.

as for the wire loop idea, i really thought hard about doing that for this bait, but i decided not to because that is a very common method, and i wanted this bait to be unique. so i used bead chain which is something i have never seen done before.

i was taking a gamble at doing something i have never seen done before because i dont know if it is proven success. but i figured i would go ahead and do it and see if it works or not. who knows, maybe it will start a new trend!

as for the number of beads between eac segment, i was planning on leaving 2 beads inbetween each segment. i havent tried it with just one bead though. i know 2 beads looks very spaced out, but i did this because i want a wide range of motion on this bait.

why do you say it will fall apart!? thats not very positive . and i will not think a big fish will steal it from me because that isnt positive either! instead, i will think that a big fish will borrow it from me .

this bait won't be seeing much action from huge fish either. i would be shocked if i caught an 8lb bass (which is huge to me, but not to some people from california or the south). bass are the top predator in most of the lakes i fish, except for a few that have pickerel. so its not like i'll be catching 30lb pike with this lure.

[DSV]

oh, and diemai,

the rubber cement didnt work quite like i had planned. it wasnt holding very good so i ended up using two sided tape.

then the tape started falling apart.

tonight for the second run i think i am going to just use a drop of super glue here and there.

[mark poulson]

I think Rofish was concerned about the actually wear of the wire to ball connections in the chain. Swimming the lure will make these points rub a lot (assuming it swims like a fiend!), and sst, while very corrosion resistant, can be a somewhat soft metal, unless it's tempered.
But, as you say, it's a prototype, first-of-it's-kind lure. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Get it finished and fishing! The worst that can happen is you'll have to make another if something in this one fails.
And I hope it's tested by a personal best bass!

[DSV]

yeah i will not really be too upset if this one goes wrong because i had a blast making it and i cant wait to make the next!

[diemai]

@ DSV

I would be scared about using "a drop of superglue here and there" !

One might not get the halves apart anymore , this stuff can be devlish !

Double sided tape sounds safer to me !

Last fall I started out making my first baits(one piece) out of two halves(halfround pinewood dowel).

For symetrical shaping of back and belly and also to press them together to obtain an indention of the internal wire harness into the joining planes , I connected the two parts flush with thin and long brass woodscrews(2 mm dia. X 20 mm length , roundhead ) .

When I had to grind and sand the flanks of the lures tapered , I replaced those screws with ordinary bamboo toothpicks to pin the halves together , since the screw's heads and points were in the way for such work operation , the wood pins potruding I could just grind away .

For lateron permanent wood glue bonding with the harness set in(indentions have been previously extended with a very small "Dremel" router bit) , I mounted the screws again to press parts together until glue sets . The two ends of lurebody I additionally taped together tightly with plastic tape(cable insulation tape) , so that they would sit real tight together .

So , what I want to say briefly is , that why not drilling crosswise holes throug the body sections to pin them with toothpicks , barbecue sticks or similar . Two or three per section would be OK to achieve a rigid temporary bond , and you could just hammer them out with a filed blunt nail or wire piece , when you want to open up the halves again .

For final closure of the screw holes you just set the wood pins in with glue after removing the screws and sand flush on the flanks or , vice versa , fill up remaining holes with wood filler .

It only works this way with woodglue , since it doesn't bind the screws .

When using epoxy , you would have to set in the wood pins straightaway and press the lurehalves together by other means than screws through them .

Sounds a bit complicated , but it isn't , once you get a hang on it !

Good luck and success , Dieter

[DSV]

thanks for the advice diemai.

i dont think im gonna use superglue

i also dont think im gonna go drilling holes through my lure. its too late in the process for that. maybe next time.

instead i will just use hot glue.

it dries fast, holds tight, and peels off easy.

i just re-configured the weights:



i coated the insides of the new weight holes with superglue to seal them because i dont feel like waiting on polyurethane to dry for such a small area. after the superglue in the holes is dry, the lure will be waterproof and i will stick it together with hot glue and give it another run in the bath tub!

[diemai]

Nice idea as well about hot glue !

Yeah , I forgot to mention , that I don't advice you to try these crosswise wooden pins on this actual lure-in-making , but maybe for a later model , would have been to late at this stage , though !

Dieter

[DSV]

well the hotglue worked nicely, it was easy to separate, but it was a bit of a pain in the *** to get out of the weight holes. other than that it was good.

well the bath tub tests came back positive...IT SWIMS!

it hung vertical in the water and swam. i think it will swim better when i take it out and cast it because as you can see from the video, it doesnt begin its S motion till the end of the pull, once it has gained some momentum. it also does a 180 when twitched. i tried to show this in the video but it was very difficult holding the camera in one hand and pulling the bait with the other. so sorry for the crappy, shaky video, but here it is:

[b75nweav]

Lookin' good DSV.....

[diemai]

@ DSV

Still the video provides sufficient information , well done !

Though I am not into swimbaits yet(never even completed my first one , first paint tomorrow) I think that something could be done to improve the action of your bait .

But I am sure , more experienced guys would call in and tell you their own opinion !

OK , as you stated and also to be seen in the video , your bait takes quite a long way to "kick" to wiggle , I assume , that this could be improved , if the lure still comes to float up a little deeper as it does now(or even would be a sinking lure) .

In my theory , there is a kind of leverage between tow eye and the head portion of lure , the current generated by the retrieve speed tends to press against the head portion , so it would be forced to swim to one side .

The pull direction towards the angler tracks the lure back again , the hole thing results into this snake-like motion .

So , I think , if your lure would be less buoyant and sit deeper , the force of the oncoming current on the head section would be higher , either letting the lure wiggle stronger or earlier on the retrieve.

You can try this by taping on some weight addition on the belly externally , I do my crankbait weigthing that way , it does not hinder the action too much !

But obviously there is not much space left for any more weights , but your lure does work without it as well , so no problem !

Really great for your first one , indeed !

Dieter