First Attempt At Photo Finish

[Ringonu]

Going to try out my lineup of lipless cranks. Also going to give tgese a go. All were painted using regular ol' spray paint. Almost tempted to get an airbrush now...

[MickD]

I finished the lipless cranks with your templates.  Look great, but action is somewhat subdued.  I tried to speed up the action by changing out the #4 hooks for #6, with no success.  I took an unfinished blank and put a truly flat top on the head of it, thinking it would help, but it doesn't appear that it worked either.  These blanks have way more weights/balls in them than normal lipless cranks, so maybe that's the problem.  I think I'll take a couple old lures that have good action and do the bluegill and sunfish treatments on them.

[Ringonu]

Good to know. Like I said, if they don't work they'll make good xmas ornaments. I put size 2 short shanks so I'm not too confident after hearing your report. I am testing off the bank tomorrow so I doubt I will get to see te full affect. I plan on hitting up the yard sales looking for name brand lures to refinish.

[Big Bait Fishing]

that pumpkin seed is awesome !!!! nice job  

[Ringonu]

After testing this morning the lipless weren't great. They had an ok wobble but kept wanting to turn on their side. The wake baits worked great. Most stayed on top witha few riding just below the surface. Going to try these out on a smallie creek and see how effective they are.

I am going to keep playing with the lipless to see if I can get them to work. All lures were from wlure in case anyone was thinking about ordering them.

[MickD]

Same experience with lipless cranks as Minnow.  I've tried smaller hooks and flattening the head with an epoxy add-on without success.  I think they just have too many steel balls in them, too high moment of inertia.  I think I'll try drilling out some of the balls, repairing them, and see if it improves the action.  They might catch fish that are really on, but they are not anything like Excaliburs.

[Big Bait Fishing]

if you guys are making them for yourselves , you should use some good lipless crankbaits like Red Eye Shads , a photo finish on them like that pumpkinseed would be awesome ..

[MickD]

if you guys are making them for yourselves , you should use some good lipless crankbaits like Red Eye Shads , a photo finish on them like that pumpkinseed would be awesome ..

Just finished two today, one on an old Rapala and one on a Rattletrap.  I took some good looks at the lipless cranks in my box and noticed a couple things of interest.  The tops of the fronts of all of them are much wider than these blanks.  I added a flat top onto one, didn't help, but today I about doubled its size.  Will let you know how it works.  I noticed the construction of a  translucent ghost pattern Excalibur, and it has about 8 small, about BB sized balls in a compartment very low on the lure.  These blanks have about twice as many balls, some very large, so large they cannot really rattle, and they are mounted higher on the lure, so that positioning may affect the tendency to turn over.  I took the big 3 in the middle out and am replacing the big balls with 5 .186 diameter balls.  They really do sound better, will let you know what happens with the action.  One last thing, the Rapala had a larger front hook than the rear, which might tend to keep it upright some.  I think that making the top much larger and flatter, changing out the big balls for smaller ones, and putting the larger, heavier hooks back on (at least in the front position) might help a lot.  Worse case scenario is to use, as suggested and in process now, proven lipless cranks for blanks.  A lot more expensive, but should work fine.

[MickD]

The pumpkinseed, finished over an old Rapala that was never successful, caught a fish on its first cast today.  Action looks good, and obviously it works.  Nothing on the bluegill finished Rattletrap, but it looks better than the blanks we've been trying to use.  Looks like refinishing lipless cranks that work is the way to go.

 

By the way, the added flat top on the China blanks does give it a better action, but I still don't think it's as good as most commercial lipless cranks.  Not the way to go.

[Ringonu]

Thanks for the updates Mick. I will be on the hunt for old lipless cranks. Yard sales here I come