modifying lures?

[rboat]

Has anyone had success shaving the dive lips on cranks and jerkbaits to make them run shallow or even wake the surface? I would like to experiment to create a wake bait with a different action than what is currently on the market. I am afraid if the lip is shortened, it may lose too much action. Anyone tried this before?

[Randall]

I often heat up bills and bend them downward to get a shallower running bait. I do it pretty often with the balsa shad raps to make a wake /jerkbait out of them. It's also an easy way to mess up a good bait. I have shortened a bill or two to make a crankbait run more like a jerkbait. It's a trail and error process though and every bait will be different as to what you can do with it.

[BobP]

I've heated/bent the plastic lips on Bomber Long A's to make them into wake baits.  It's easy to screw up if you do it with a butane lighter - I recommend a heat gun or an alcohol lamp.  You can do the same thing with Lexan lips on wood baits.  Can't speak about shortening the lip, but it's easy enough to reshape them with a Dremel sanding cylinder.  Bend the lip before you shorten it.