[snooterfish]

guys , i am wanting to get some of the wooden lures bodies from lure craft that would be close to a rapala DTF series. if some of you guys who have done this for a long time would take a few minutes and go to lurecraft.com and look at there crankbaits and componates list and give me your honest opnion. i could order a bunch of different ones but my budget is a little on the week side . i appreciate any help you would offer me.
richard (snooterfish)

[Terrydabassman]

Saw everything BUT crankbaits n such.

[clemmy]

Well given those choices, I'd say body #4. One problem is the lip slot is in the wrong place tho....

Clemmy

[BobP]

I tried some of their roto molded fat balsa bodies because I can't hand carve round shapes accurately and it's hard to cut a straight lip slot in bodies that are already shaped. The ones I got (1 5/8") are TINY and from soft balsa that's fairly rough. They require considerable sanding and a few had lip slots that were out of true. Jann's sells balsa baits that are undercoated (a plus) but these are not. So bottom line, there were plusses and minuses. JMHO, if you want flat cranks, it's easy to work from raw materials and you'll have more build options (like lip angle). If you try the Lurecraft balsa bodies, I'd plan on installing a thru-wire frame and epoxy undercoating to reinforce the soft balsa wood.

[snooterfish]

thanks guys for the help. i think i will look elsewhere, maybe janns. i have a couple rods to build, i may as well go ahead and order blank parts and crank bodies at the same time and save a $ or 2 on S & H.
richard