New 3" wake bait

[Fishwhittler]

Here's a wake bait I've been working on. 3" long, made of 1" pine, weighs 1oz.  It's my first wake bait that actually works the way I want it to; most of my other attempts at wake baits have ended up either rolling to far and spinning on retrieve or not rolling at all.  For this one I took a shallow diving lure body, cut the bill slot at about 75-85 degrees and moved the line tie right down onto the bill.  It uses the same amount of ballast as the shallow diver and has a very wide roll.  Now that I've got a design that works I'm going to try making one out of 3/4" PVC instead of 1" pine.

Thanks for looking.

Ben

[BIG M]

Ben, that is a sharp looking bait.   You skills are getting better and better.   The way you are using the same body style with different lip angles is the correct way to learn the crank bait craft.   I love the trial and error style of building baits.   Make sure you take good notes on each new bait.

[FL Knifemaker]

That looks NICE!! 

[Fishwhittler]

Thanks Big M.  I also like building baits by trial and error.  When I come up with a new lure design I make a new template with the bill slot, hardware attachment points and weight points marked on it; it saves time down the road trying to remember how I did it the first time.  So now I have about three or four different templates for this body style, each one with different bill angles and line tie location.  The weight amount/placement doesn't seem to need much adjusting for this body style.  On the 1" thick version I put a 1/4oz. sinker in the belly and add a few 3/4 inch long twists of 16 gauge copper wire (poor mans lure weight) for both the wake bait and the shallow diver; the 3/4" thick version of the same body style needs only the 1/4oz. sinker.  Probably if I was going to turn this body shape into a deep diver I would add another 1/8oz. weight in front of the belly hook hanger, but it might not need it.  I've also been experimenting with moving the weight up and down in the lure body to change the baits action.

Fun stuff.

[Fishwhittler]

That looks NICE!!

Thanks!