"davidoznot" wrote in message
...
Just curious. I come for the trout fishing fly tying realm.
But I like lure fishing too.
And it amazes me how expensive crankbaits are.

So I marshaled a few fly tying skills and figured out a
way to make cheap and relatively easy homemade crankbaits.
They're actually better lures because A) they're soft
(fish bite down and do not let go so quickly) and
B) it's easy to sew in or tie on tufts of feathers
and/or flashy plastic, which dramatically enhance and
exaggerate the side-to-side wobble of the crankbait.

Fly tying is a multi-million dollar market.
But homemade lure making is limited to twisting up
spinners, spinner-baits and putting factory molded
tubes and worms onto hooks.

If bass fishermen found out they could make their own
crankbaits, for maybe $0.75 each, instead of six
bucks a crack.....and if they also thought they ended
up with a superior crank bait, what's the chance
homemade lure making would someday be like fly tying,
with tens of thousands of active participants?

I haven't got photos yet. But I will.
To make a crank bait of any kind you need to
balance opposing forces: buoyancy on the top
side of lure with weight below, so the lure doesn't
flop over upside down....so it maintains a steady
side to side wobble instead. So you use fabric cement
(Tear Mender) to glue closed cell foam on top to
open cell foam below. Slice into the foam and glue in
a diving bill made from a clear plastic tomatoe container
from the grocery store (sand the bill were the glue goes).
Thread a wire through the foam body, so you can twist on
a spit ring at the front end, with loop at front.
Glue the bill in with CA cement. Slit the open cell foam
body and use fabric cement to glue in enough lead to make
it castable. Trim the bill at with toenail clippers (and bend
the wire body) as needed to tune the lure, so it tracks in
a straight line. Sew in Crystal Flash, Marabou, etc,
to give it a wafting tail and side fins.

Costs less than a buck. You can make shallow wide wobblers
or deep diving vibrators. Would you want to make these?

Should I pursue blabbering about this?
Just curious. Seems to me like I'm doing something nobody
else is.

I sounds interesting. I would love to see one of your creations.

I do not know how many bass anglers would make their own crankbaits. Some
do now. Check out Tackle Underground to see what some are doing.

There is a guy who reads my forums who makes his own large hard swimbaits
out of bass wood.

Personally, spending 5-8 dollars for a crankbait might sound like a lot, but
spending an hour or two making one is not a profitable use of my time. I
can make enough money in an hour troubleshooting as a communications
contractor to buy a couple. I do make some things and play with some things
for the fun of it, but not to save money.

I hate to make any predictions because I have been wrong so many times, but
don't think the mainstream bass angler is going to start making his own
crankbaits routinely. That doesn't mean that some won't or even that a fair
number might not give it a try.