Wood baits

[HogHooker]

Hey guys, new to the site and new to making baits, all of my cranks and poppers are cut in half and then have the parts slotted in, i see ur baits seem alot cleaner in look than mine, anyone have dirrections of keepin the body whole, without using screw in rings for the hooks or split rings

[BIG M]

Hog, I twist my hangers out of 20ga stainless steel wire.  Drill a 1/16" hole and epoxy the hangers in.   I don't do the thru wire method, takes too long and in my opinion is pointless.

[HogHooker]

1) do they hold up?

2) What kind of epoxy do u use? probably not 5 min.

[BIG M]

I cannot pull a hanger out, no way no how.  I use devcon 5min epoxy to glue in all my hardware and devcon 2 ton for my clearcoat.

[HogHooker]

how do u get it in the drilled holes, needle or does it come with a long thin tip?

[ernel]

Most people use toothpicks to push the epoxy into the drilled hole. Coat the spiral warps with epoxy before placing into the drilled hople as well. After pushing the hook hanger into place, wipe off the excess epoxy that flows out.

[HogHooker]

thanks, would a needle work though, like one with a big nozle seems like it would be easier.

[BIG M]

I mix my epoxy on a paper plate and scoop some up with the end of the hanger and twist into the hole.  

[HogHooker]

thats kinda what i did, i put a golb on the hook holder and twisted/shuved in, then pulled out and put more in, fill almost to the top then put the holder in, there's excess but atleast i know it'll hold.

You two guys are a huge help, without ur help there would have been alot of trial and error, does curving the lip a little help in diving ability?

Big M i hope u dont mind but i used the shape off one of ur flat sided cranks and angle for the lip. I made it a little thinner from back to belly, and i made the lip shorter so it runs shallow. I'm hoping in the 4 foot range.

[BIG M]

Which bait did you copy?   I may some more info for you to help your bait to run like you want it to.

[HogHooker]

i copied the flat sided shad looking bait, one of your older baits, in green and firetiger. I have 5 of them made i just need to paint and then tune them.

Anything i should know about them

[BIG M]

Not really, if you placed the balast weight in the lowest part of the belly and made your lip angle at least 25 degrees those baits will swim.

The first rule of crankbaits is to make sure all of you hangers and weight are perfectly centered.  Second rule and to make sure the lip slot is perfectly cut so that it's perpendicular to the body.   If the slot is not straight you can fix it with a metal finger nail file.

[HogHooker]

Thanks, ya i figured thats where the balast weight should go, and i have the lip at 35 degrees to make them run shallow, i love watching them run just over weeds or branches and have a bass come and hammer them.

[guitarkid]

I've heard of people putting epoxy in with big surrenges. about 1in. o.d.