[5 fish on]

While my airbrush is on the frits( thanks for the help but still no paint coming through the tip ,I use the open cup and seems to be clean as a whistle) I was thinking about what might be beneficial about having metal lips on crankbaits . A thinner lip would allow deeper depths and if you get the front edge razor sharp it might cut through vegetation . Does any body out there regularly use metal and if so what do you use . I was thinking on using aluminum . Another thought , what are the pros and cons of the scoops on alot of the rapala baits . Bandits ,normans , and most other companies do just fine with a plain jane flat bill . Does the dish give more or different action , steeper quicker diving , or does it just catch the eye of the consumer .

[Dean McClain]

If you get the front of the bill razor sharp, there's better than an average chance it's going to cut your line first time you hook a fish.
Dean

[RiverMan]

This is a good question, have often wondered the same thing myself. There is probably some benefit to the "scoop" on many baits altho it might be difficult to measure. The biggest advantage I see of the plastic bills is is that they are theoretically invisible. Therefore a predatory fish approaching your bait will see only the "bait" and not the bill. Still, there are some really cool baits that have been made over the years with metal bills.

jed

[chrisfish]

Hello,

I use aluminium lips on about 90% of my cankbaits. Only the
small crankbaits get plastic lips. I use 1,5 mm Alu sheet.

Don't sharp the Alu Edge!

The advantage of Alu is that you can bend it easily,
even after mounting, to correct the walk through the water.

The extra weight is no problem for most of the baits. If you
want even more extra weight (for divers) you can use brass.

Visibility: The fish really don't care at all....

Best regards,

Christoph

[Coley]

All of the old wooden Bombers had a .020" brass lip.
The ones I make now have the same .020" brass lip.

Coley

[Nathan]

Like fishchris said,they are easy to adjust and alter the action,and if you fish around alot of riprap,they hold up very well bouncing off rocks..Nathan

[RiverMan]

That's interesting Chris and welcome aboard! Would like to see a picture of some of your baits if you haven't posted them already.

Jed

[KcDano]

The cupped or dished face of a diving plane provides more surface area as opposed to a flat plane of the same dimension and the cupping reinforces the plane.