Jmarsh

Nathan, Thanks for rekindling this thread. I like the idea of a topless frog. Did you weight the body at all? if so how did you go about doing that without affecting the action when "upside down". Great idea though, I will have to give this a go!

Thanks for the response Mark. I tested it in the tub like I said and it still sat how I wanted to with the small amount of weight. Slightly tail down with just the head sticking out. I think I am going to have to try your swinging hook idea for sure. Looks like I see a lot of frogs in my near future. Wish it was spring break so I had access to my workshop, unfortunately here at school all I have are small coping saws, carving knives, and some sand paper.

I agree with mark, keep the weight on the bottom side. I am currently trying to work through the same problem. The frog that I posted previous doesn't seem to have a preference towards a side when I drop it into the tub. I am trying to figure out a weight scheme that will help keep it belly down when casted. However I am not sure if me dropping the bait from 3 ft above a tub in different orientations will simulate what is happening when casted. What are your guys' thoughts? Go ahead and add some weight which seems to add some success in the tub, or wait until I throw it out on a pond for real? This is the scheme that I am looking at. I have been using sticky tack to "add weight" where I am wanting it. It will only be about .5g per spot. Surprisingly adding that little bit of weight towards the front helped it flip the correct manner for the most part. I sometimes think that the bait is to wide and keeps it from flipping onto its belly, and wonder if a slimmer body would help keeping the correct orientation.

Mark would you need to recess that in to the channel a little bit? I would be afraid that with full compression the spring still wouldn't allow clearance for the hooks because the spring still takes up space upon being fully compressed. Maybe this is what you had in mind and I just didn't fully understand. Unfortunately I may not have the chance to build anything any time soon, I have to write a paper and give a presentation over the reconstruction of a decellularized mouse heart in a few weeks, which means not much free time.

These hard frog designs just keep getting better. I am going to have to try and whip myself one of those up. Oh and Mark, I really enjoyed the magnet idea to keep the bait weedless. You mentioned using a spring, how exactly are you planning on implementing that?

Interesting article Frog. That seems to be exactly what Nathan was leading towards. Funny that it has already been done, and none of us had never seen it before. Guess I have to carve another frog body and try this new design out.

His material he is using seems to be a whole lot thinner than the lexan I have used for lips. How thick can you get away with and still stamp it like that? Also how sharp would you have to make your punch, I feel like anything to dull and you would just end up cracking a lot of lexan?

Nathan, I like your texas rigged idea. Maybe on my next bait I will try using two single hooks on either side and texas rig it rather than the using the frog hooks that I am currently working with. On this one it may just come down to leaving it as is for this first one. Being as though it is a proto anyways its meant to get poked and prodded and changed.

I have been thinking about it, but not exactly sure how to execute it with this setup. I would say some kind I wire that is either fixed into the wood or bent with the hook, but I'm not sure what strength of wire is strong enough to keep out weeds but week enough to bend when a fish hits it.

Yeah I am worried about the same thing FrogAddict. I am kind of hoping that by angling the tow point level with the body or even upwards a little, it will give enough leverage on the lure that one of the points will get a solid set. But like you said finding out if it works is half the fun. Thanks for the compliment as well, I have been carving long before I started making lures, so I decided to try and make one a little more detailed than your normal crankbait that I have been making.

Sorry finally saw the additional reply options. Here are a few pictures of my take on the hard bait frog. Sorry for the poor picture quality, my iphone camera isn't the best.

FrogAddict, my lure is very similar to yours in its construction. I think wiring the hook eye to the tow point is almost essential with the kind of leverage and stress you will be putting on that hook. I am also thinking about getting some skirt material to make some kind of plug to insert on the rear of the lure just like JuneBug was talking about. Instead of cupping mine for the popper action, I made mine very sloped at the front like a lot of the soft frogs are so I hope that will give me some good action. I was going to try and attach a photo or two of mine but I haven't quite figured out how to on this setup yet, but I will keep trying. Unfortunately, being a college student, I don't get as much tinker time with these lures as I would like to but it will get finished sometime or another.

I am fairly new to this site, as well as to making lures. But I was thinking about making the same type of thing, and the lure is still in the prototype stage, but what I did was use a larger frog hook and cut a slot in the bottom for the hook to set in to allow clearance from the back of the bait, as well as having it set a little farther back in the body, so it extends out the back if that makes any sense. Again I haven't finished my plan, I am trying to find a good way to hold the hook in place besides just epoxy, but I may drill a hole for a small wiring harness/through-wire setup. If this doesn't help I can try and post pictures later to help show what I am talking about.

I am fairly new to lure making, and make very small batches of lures. When I go to make a suspended (or slow sinking lure) I also use Archimedes theory of water displacement. But to do this I place a tray on my scale and zero out the scale. I then fill a container full of water until it is just shy of spilling out. I then place this container on the tray and begin by placing my hooks in the container, and then dip in the bait until completely submerged. This will cause water to spill out of the container into the tray. Upon removing the container from the tray the leftover water in the tray is weighed, and that will be the desired final weight of my lure. I then weigh my lure body, components, and then compensate slightly for paint/epoxy, and then use the difference between these two weights to determine the amount of weight to add to my bait. It is a tad bit time consuming but it has been fairly reliable when trying to make my jerkbaits sink as slowly as possible.

I appreciate the input guys. Really helps.

Hey I have a few quick questions about thru wiring. I haven't been making lures that long but make small freshwater cranks. So far I have gotten away with using screw eyes in the wood that I have been using, but was thinking of making some balsa cranks which I know are too soft for screw eyes. I have done some searching and it looks like stainless steel welding wire is best but what thickness is best for small cranks 2"-4"? Thanks in advance.

Instead of using the the rain-ex to thin the paint as it more than likely is a hydrophobic substance (key for water beading) and createx is water based. Wouldn't it be better to run through your gun and allow to dry to help with tip dry? I could be very wrong in all of this, just a thought.

But is it enough of a chrome look in order get the flash of foil? I am not looking necessarily for a mirror finish, but something that is still reflective.

I haven't used it myself but I have read about it on another forum and heard that you have to have a perfectly smooth surface cause any imperfections will show through the finish. Also you might think about spaz stix's clear coat made purely for their chrome line cause I have also heard that the chrome dulls slightly with etex and other epoxy finishes directly on top.