Lure--Prof

Ben's right about standardizing your processes, because repetition will develop speed and accuracy. I build thru-wire balsa crankbaits that are very tough and still retain balsa-buoyancy. I seal balsa with epoxy, paint with Createx on the prepped epoxy, and then clearcoat with Dicknites, multiple coats. This is not the only way to build a tough balsa bait, but it is the way I like to build them. BTW, I epoxy my ballast in too. I know none of you guys are guilty of this, but I've see a lot of anglers slap their lures on the water to remove bits of debris from their hooks before the next cast, and I've seen the ballast removed from some of their prized balsa lures in the same motion. Most of the abuse bass lures endure is done above the water against objects we didn't intend for them to encounter, or at phenomenal speeds lures will develop with todays high modulus lure-launchers. Balsa, used as a core material in a resin sandwich is combines strength and light weight, proved in many thousands of boat hull stringer systems over many years.

Great tutorial! Thanks Ed!

Ben, it got so cold here in Kentucky, my thermometer asked for hazardous duty pay!

I completely agree with Gene! If all one has to do to submit a competitive valid entry is to purchase a lure, and then paint it, The Coolest Lure Contest becomes a Lure Painting Contest. For most lure builders who design, test, refine, and build original lures from raw materials, painting is the "fun" but only the final stage, in creating a cool lure. As the rules currently stand, a professional airbrush artist with no real interest in fishing lures could conceivably stand a good chance of winning this contest. Needless to say, this is not fair to those of us who create our fishing lures from scratch. Dean

A good reason to make your own lures is to make them as well as possible. Using non-rusting wire is one of the things you can do to that end, and in this case, it doesn't take any longer to do.

What my buddy Ben said...and here's a source! http://lurepartsonline.com/Shop-By-Category/Tubing-Spacers/Spacer-Tubing.html

Welcome back Tater! We missed you! I'm glad you finally listened!

Skeeter, I agree. "Silent crankbaits" is a misnomer anyway, because if it has hooks and split rings, it rattles, as anyone knows who has dragged a lure through a bathtub. I design and sell crankbaits from the ground up, as does Skeeter, Benton B, Nathan, and some others who have been around here for awhile, and I'm sure they cringe like I do every time we hear that some "Pro" has "designed" a new bait. What an insult to lure builders everywhere! Dino

Tap the can with DN, simple. If you're dispensing into jars, use an inert gas like Bloxygen, which is made for the purpose of presenting a barrier to prevent exposure to the atmosphere. It works. Seal the top of the container well! For coating over foil, I use a slow cure epoxy, after which I scuff it and clean it thoroughly. I then paint with Createx, heat set, and brush on DN. For multiple DN coats, scuff between coats and clean with a microfiber cloth.

What Bob said, Brite-Bak, is the easiest to remove all the wrinkles from. www.venturetape.com Plain aluminum foil works also. Use 3M's Super 77 spray adhesive for good results. Buy the smallest can you can find, it goes a long way. Guys here use to look for the cheaper "store brand" foils as they are thinner.

Actually, we custom builders have a huge advantage over Bagley baits: They were always built to a price point, where they competed against an explosion of plastic lures hitting the shelves. We do not have to compromise our methods or materials for production purposes, if we choose not to do so! Jim was always looking to build a better bait, but with methods that, at the very least, would not impede production costs.

Glad you said that Dave. For years, if I had a lure that blew out at a medium retrieve, I used to always used to start working on it to bring it back in line to a commercially acceptable hunting action. Eventually I began fishing with some of those wilder actions which could only be retrieved with what most bass anglers would consider a slow speed, requiring some discipline with modern baitcasting reels. These lures have become my best fish catchers. These lures dive quickly, running up to ten feet deep with .015" diameter fluorocarbon, and seldom get hung in the fallen trees I like to fish with them in my favorite lake. It's an old trick to fish deep-divers slowly in shallower water, allowing the lure to deflect off of cover and dig right back into it. I think my wilder hunting actions enhance this technique. We talk about high speed retrieves and slow retrieves, and it bears remembering that these terms are relative to the equipment we use. Most crankbaits used in bass fishing are retrieved with baitcasting reels and there is quite a bit of variation in the speed of retrieve these reels are capable of these days. Modern small, light, baitcasters range from 25 inches per a single revolution of the handle up to 33 inches per single crank while reels marketed as "cranking" reels may be as slow as 21 inches. When crankbaits first achieved popularity, only reels marketed as "High-Speed" were that fast! This is worth remembering when someone talks about how they used to "burn" square bills back in the late 1960's or early '70's. They (we) were burning up the reel handles, but weren't moving the bait through the water any faster or as fast, than what a modern reel would at a comfortable medium retrieve, or even a slow winding action with a 7-1 ratio. Spinning reels, generally speaking, retrieve faster than baitcasters, while the push-button spin-casters are much, much slower.

Dave you are correct within the parameters of a particular lure design, and I will say that those parameters cover a lot of lures; and you don't need me to tell you this . BTH is also correct that a little goes a long way when it comes to trimming a lip. However, when you introduce multiple ballast locations, particularly in lures with shallower bellies, and lower anchor point of the lip, along with using compound lip angles and various tow points through the lip, the dynamics, along with a certain amount of cause and effect of hunting, change. I know I'm not being very specific here, nor do I intend to be. I've been building lures a long time and have always been fascinated with creating actions which are not store bought. I'm just saying that there are a lot of variables that can be created with lure body materials, diving lips, ballast, and varieties of hook, and tow point locations. The term hunting is generally used to convey an aberration in an otherwise predictable action. These aberrations may be an occasional kick-out that occurs at a certain retrieve speed, to lure that is literally performing two actions at once, such as a rhythmic wander while performing a tight X wiggle. However, you won't achieve an action like this by building a conventional design, and trimming a lip that is a little too long. That being said, Dave has done a nice job of elaborating on particulars with which a crankbait builder can use to build a hunter, and a basis for going "further".

Travis, realize that the lure is wiggling while the lure is kicking is out left-right, left-right, which is what we all recognize as "hunting". Hunting action does not have to be, or appear random in nature. The lure literally has 2 separate, but simultaneous actions. It is a bird dog, just a very well trained one!

Dave is correct when he said that there is more than one weigh (sic) to make a hunting lure, which figures, because the definition of a hunting lure is more generally descriptive than specific. Hunting may refer to a random kick-out at a certain speed, or it may be a very rhythmic, non-random constant zig-zag while the lure wiggles: and this design is as repeatable as the build is accurate. Its zig-zag path will normally widen with increasing retrieve speed. Body design, ballast location, lip shape and tow point and their interrelationships are typically the major parameters that are tweaked to produce any action, of course, and the magic "hunt". And one man's hunter is another person's non-hunter. LP

Amen to this thread Ben! Supposedly B.A.S.S eliminated landing nets to prevent injuries to bass caused by those old nets. Net design has come a long way since then however, first with rubber mesh nets, and soon after, rubber mesh nets which actually work well! Since the no-net rule, the landing alternatives that most bass bass pros use are far worse than injuries which can be inflicted by a modern bass landing net. Most often, in The Elite Series, the bass are hoisted into the boat by the rod and bounced on the boat floor; then allowed to flop around the carpet while the pro mugs and fist-pumps for the fans and camera, until he he deposits it into the livewell...and none of the other landing methods treat a fish as well as a proper net job can. With proper use of a net, the fish does not have to be played excessively, and the bass requires minimal touching while being unhooked. This is also much safer for the angler, with today's ultra-sharp hooks. All the pros talk about conserving the resource, but talk is cheap; more of them should man-up and show more regard for the bass. Handle them with respect! Dino

Ben, the main deal with getting casting performance out any of the Garcia round reels that don't have a disengaging levelwind is to to make sure that the levelwind mechanism and all associated gears, including the nylon timing gears in the left sideplate stay clean, and completely grease free. Just use a little light oil of your choice, and did I mention, NO Grease? Pop the spool out regularly and make sure that the tolerance between the spool sides and the reel frame is always clean and dry too. Over-oiling the reel can sometimes cause a film to get into this tolerance, and this will completely kill distance of course. Be sure to just use a drop or two of oil on the bearings, and if you're using Hot Sauce, just use a single drop. I used a variety of round reels when I was a striper guide on Lake Cumberland, 6000's, 6500's and 6's, which were the cheapo version of that reel, and of course they had bushings. Theoretically, bushings will outperform bearings, because the tolerance is tighter, as the properly maintained bushing provides its thin film of oil as it's bearing surface, while the forgiveness of bearings usually maintains metal to metal contact. Having casted about a billion miles with Abu-Garcia bushing reels, like those 6's and the old red 5000's, some of which I converted to bearings in the late 1960's, I'll say that bearing reels have advantages in smoothness and are actually easier to maintain, but they don't actually cast further than bushing reels. I'm just saying that if you'll keep your 6500's clean and avoid the grease, in order to minimize the friction of the additional reciprocating parts in those designs, that will make more of a difference in casting distance than a bearing upgrade on these particular reels. And these reels will cast a long way, much further than typical modern bass reels, if you throw bait or a rig with some weight to it, coupled with a 7 to 8 foot rod. You might start a trend Ben, when these guys see how far you can cast a Mann's 20+! That wide spool and that levelwind really keep the backlashes down, allowing you to really wind up and wing that sucker! Dean

Use stainless, you don't have to use the tempered wire unless you want to, I use mostly the ductile stainless for balsa crankbait harnesses, there is no reason to use galvanized, as it will rust eventually. I've used brass, and copper too, but the ductile stainless is stronger.

I like Iwata brushes. My Eclipse HP-BS is a workhorse with a .35 nozzle and can still paint beyond my ability. I can take it completely apart and put it back together very quickly, so I consider it very user-friendly. Buy brand name paint, shakeit thoroughly, and filter every squirt of it through a small piece of panty-hose stretched beneath the top of your paint container, and you'll avoid clogs. If you think that all professional airbrush artists use expensive top-shelf guns you'd be wrong. The higher priced guns normally have features that the lower-priced guns such as the Revolution and Eclipse don't have, but they do not sactifice quality. A lot of pros use Revolutions, VL's, Eclipses, etc.

Woodcraft stores, and Woodcraft online are good places to buy Bloxygen. The "tap the can" method works seamlessly also, as Ben mentioned. I use a couple of wraps of "Parafilm M" laboratory film to seal around the top of my jar lids after I add Bloxygen...a roll of it lasts a long time. Google is your friend.

Hey Bob, I use superglue on those finger splits too, and it also works well for those cuts caused by a sharp blade. I buy my balsa at hobby stores: most of them have a display of Midwest balsa and basswood boards. I like a good medium grade of balsa myself, as it is easily worked with sandpaper, and has better buoyancy than the really hard grades. When I use superglue on balsa, I apply it with a cheap kids' brush from Walmart. I always seal balsa baits with epoxy before painting.

Sometimes you strain your brain for solutions: other times you pull them right outa your, uh, bass...

I thought it had to be the Eclipse series...but that is still a good price on that brush, and is a lot of gun for the money.

I have put them on and then taken them off of several lures. I agree 100% with your assessment of these expensive hooks. If you decide to install them, use a good needlenose pliers to hold the upper portion of the hook shaft immobile, and split-ring pliers in the other hand. Trying to install them by holding the bottom portion of the hook with your fingers is a whole lot like a dog chasing its tail, (but not nearly as entertaining) as it spins away from the point of the split ring. I also see their best feature, that of negating leverage as fish tries to shake loose, as a weak point when it comes to getting unsnagged. I've been there, and it is a disadvantage. And, as these hooks dull easily compared to the premium steeled trebles many of us use, you don't have leverage on the hook-set itself anymore, as hook points can rotate to the path of least resistance when pulled. When I first saw these hooks in the tackle shop, I could only see their potential for putting more fish in the boat. In use however, I learned about their negative qualities. I also don't know how strong they ultimately are, though I suspect these hooks will straighten before breakage occurs. In the end, I think these hooks create more problems than they solve.

Thanks Rookie for the kind words! I knew you'd be happier once you got away from the Devcon 2-ton, if for no other reason than your allergy cleared up! And speaking of Muskies and trees...Once while pre-fishing for a bass tournament, my team partner and I watched a muskie leap to grab a lure that was swinging from a limb over 3 feet above the water, ... The 30 inch muskie's aim was good. He nailed the lure! And there he hung. He wiggled a little but really didn't thrash about much. I thought my partner and I were going to fall out of the boat, we were laughing so hard at this fish's sudden helpless predicament. I swear that fished looked embarrassed!