![]() |
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
crankbaits | big fish 2005 | Bass Fishing | 2 | April 26th, 2005 12:43 PM |
Soft Plastics hard or soft? | Chuck Coger | Bass Fishing | 6 | October 21st, 2003 01:31 PM |