[twells]

Hey guys,

I have been lurking for awhile and for my first post, I thought I would show the bait that I have been working on. It is going to be a 4-4 1/2" gizzard shad swimbait/wakebait. I am not sure if it is going to be a 2 or 3 piece bait, or if it is going to be a wake or a 3'-5' diver. Any and all comments/suggestions would be welcome. Thanks for the look guys, that is what makes this such a great site!!

Here are the pics...

Thanks

Thomas

[boomah21]

looks like a great start.

Cant wait to see your finished work. Will it be lipless?

[twells]

No, the plan is to have a lip. I am just not sure what angle/depth I will run the bait at...

[diemai]

@ twells

The bait looks very nice already , but to make things easier , I would have made the separation cuts prior to putting the body to shape(still in the stage of a flat wood board) .

For one separation I'd employ alltogether four perfectly aligned sawcuts leading down from back , belly and either flank , leaving a ridge in the center of body to still hold it together , until all outer shaping is done .

Also a lipslot and a slot for the tailfin I'd cut at this stage prior to shaping .

I haven't quite done this on my first swimbait as well , shown in my thread "swimbait , very first attempt" , but only because the shape of my bait is kept quite simple , the flanks are rather flat and no details carved in , so I could handle the transitions from section to section just by eyeballing , but I think , when making a more detailed lure like yours , I would go with that method described above .

Its quite tricky now to fix your lure for accurate sawcuts , you also might put blemishes into its finished shape .

But at least now I know , how a gizzard looks like , don't have them in Europe , but looks much like our native bream , only that one gets twice as big .

greetz , diemai

[Mountain Man 26]

I would make the section 1 (the head) longer and section 3 (the tail) shorter. This will give you more room for ballast and, for what ever physical reason that I do not know, it will just swim ("S" action) through the water better.

[mark poulson]

I agree with Mountain Man about the section sizes. That has been my experience, too.
Mountain Man, when you figure out why it swims better, let me know. I sure don't know why, but I think it may have to do with the head being rear weighted, which makes it unstable. The back of the section is heavier, so it moves more slowly than the front, initiating the swimming motion. And yet it is big enough to "anchor" the S, and allow the other sections to "flap" in the current flow behind it.
When I've made equal section lures, they only swim at certain very limited speed ranges. Too slow or too fast, and they don't swim.

[DSV]

you nailed the body shape!

x2 about making the head bigger and the tail smaller. it also helps if you weight the head the most, the mid section in the middle, and the tail the least.

ps. how good is that strike king king shad? i've heard pretty bad reviews about them but thought about buying one.

[boomah21]

I own a few of the strike king king shads....they look good however the action of most of my homemade swimbaits are way better! They work ok however not something I would go crazy and buy up every color

[SmokeyJ]

Originally Posted by DSV

ps. how good is that strike king king shad? i've heard pretty bad reviews about them but thought about buying one.

Action isn't bad. The bad reviews come from the fact that the hinge on them breaks extremely easily. Not a good thing on a bait that expensive.

[mark poulson]

Originally Posted by SmokeyJ

Action isn't bad. The bad reviews come from the fact that the hinge on them breaks extremely easily. Not a good thing on a bait that expensive.

I bought them when they first came out. The action isn't that great, but they swim, and they are very brittle.
I won't buy another one.
If you're buying a jointed swimbait, the BBZ is the best bang for your buck.
And they work.