Deps 175 ??

[MDBowHunter]

Hey guys I was hoping someone might be able to tell me if all 175 can be weight tuned?  I know I can add lead tape, split rings and that kind of stuff, But I was under the impression that you can remove the skin and add weights somewhere on the bait. Which leads me to the second part of my question and that is does a floating 175 have the same provisions to add weights? I ask this because I want to pick up a few and I was hoping that I can just get a floater and add what weight is needed when it's needed. Thanks in advance for all the help

 

[WRB]

There is a good article  by Jadon Sealock on Butch Brown "learn to use glide baits for giant bass" with a photo of the Deps weight system. Yes you can pull the outer Deps skin back and change the weight system.

Tom

[MDBowHunter]

13 minutes ago, WRB said:

There is a good article  by Jadon Sealock on Butch Brown "learn to use glide baits for giant bass" with a photo of the Deps weight system. Yes you can pull the outer Deps skin back and change the weight system.

Tom

Thank you Tom

[SPEEDBEAD.]

The difficulty will depend on if you are starting with a slide swimmer or silent killer.

 

The slide swimmers are already a SS bait, the SK is a floater but there are a few things you need to do:

 

With a SS, you can remove the front hook and split ring. Insert a flat screwdriver or something similar from the joint up to the hook hanger to assist in lifting the skin up over the hanger. The front skin pulls forward, over the nose. You'll then see the cavities with the weight in them. You can add or remove weight at that point, reinstall the skin and hardware and test.

 

With a SK, you'll still remove the hook and ring from the front but you'll also have to cut the bill off and sand it down to where you can slide the skin off the front. I've converted quite a few 250s this way and it works fine, it just takes a steady hand so you don't mess the skin up with whatever you're cutting the bill. You'd then follow the same steps as above with removing the skin but you'll definitely need to add weight as there is none in the body cavity of a SK. I prefer tungsten putty but they sell Deps tuning weights specifically for this application. An additional step with a SK is there is a weight in the tail. You'll see a drain hold on the bottom of the tail. I usually take and Exacto and make a small incision, use forceps to grab the weight and then slide it out the bottom.

 

The difficulty is also going to be different if you are working on the OG (foam) or the new style (injected).

 

I don't mess with the back section skin as it is glued/epoxied to the bait. The front section has no adhesive on it.

 

Hope I covered it enough. Feel free to ask, I'm far from an expert but I've done it enough to know how not to mess it up.

[MDBowHunter]

3 hours ago, SPEEDBEAD. said:

The difficulty will depend on if you are starting with a slide swimmer or silent killer.

 

The slide swimmers are already a SS bait, the SK is a floater but there are a few things you need to do:

 

With a SS, you can remove the front hook and split ring. Insert a flat screwdriver or something similar from the joint up to the hook hanger to assist in lifting the skin up over the hanger. The front skin pulls forward, over the nose. You'll then see the cavities with the weight in them. You can add or remove weight at that point, reinstall the skin and hardware and test.

 

With a SK, you'll still remove the hook and ring from the front but you'll also have to cut the bill off and sand it down to where you can slide the skin off the front. I've converted quite a few 250s this way and it works fine, it just takes a steady hand so you don't mess the skin up with whatever you're cutting the bill. You'd then follow the same steps as above with removing the skin but you'll definitely need to add weight as there is none in the body cavity of a SK. I prefer tungsten putty but they sell Deps tuning weights specifically for this application. An additional step with a SK is there is a weight in the tail. You'll see a drain hold on the bottom of the tail. I usually take and Exacto and make a small incision, use forceps to grab the weight and then slide it out the bottom.

 

The difficulty is also going to be different if you are working on the OG (foam) or the new style (injected).

 

I don't mess with the back section skin as it is glued/epoxied to the bait. The front section has no adhesive on it.

 

Hope I covered it enough. Feel free to ask, I'm far from an expert but I've done it enough to know how not to mess it up.

Awesome info thank you, I picked a couple SS floaters for pretty cheap. I'm guessing that there is  a plastic plug in the cavity where the weight goes for floatation purposes, at least that's what it feels like. Where do you get the tungsten putty, is that a Home Depot item? Thanks again for the help. Oh they are the newer models.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I get mine from Hobby Lobby. They sell it on Amazon as well.

 

Anywhere that sells Pinewood Derby stuff for the Boy Scouts should have it for purchase.

[MDBowHunter]

9 minutes ago, SPEEDBEAD. said:

I get mine from Hobby Lobby. They sell it on Amazon as well.

 

Anywhere that sells Pinewood Derby stuff for the Boy Scouts should have it for purchase.

Actually TW has it already ordered. TY

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Forgot to mention that if you get it tuned and don't plan on adding/removing weight in the future, a coat of epoxy over the putty will help keep it from dirtying up the skin and some of the putty from possibly being lost through use.

[SnailsYeast]

On 3/20/2017 at 12:40 PM, SPEEDBEAD. said:

The difficulty will depend on if you are starting with a slide swimmer or silent killer.

 

The slide swimmers are already a SS bait, the SK is a floater but there are a few things you need to do:

 

With a SS, you can remove the front hook and split ring. Insert a flat screwdriver or something similar from the joint up to the hook hanger to assist in lifting the skin up over the hanger. The front skin pulls forward, over the nose. You'll then see the cavities with the weight in them. You can add or remove weight at that point, reinstall the skin and hardware and test.

 

With a SK, you'll still remove the hook and ring from the front but you'll also have to cut the bill off and sand it down to where you can slide the skin off the front. I've converted quite a few 250s this way and it works fine, it just takes a steady hand so you don't mess the skin up with whatever you're cutting the bill. You'd then follow the same steps as above with removing the skin but you'll definitely need to add weight as there is none in the body cavity of a SK. I prefer tungsten putty but they sell Deps tuning weights specifically for this application. An additional step with a SK is there is a weight in the tail. You'll see a drain hold on the bottom of the tail. I usually take and Exacto and make a small incision, use forceps to grab the weight and then slide it out the bottom.

 

The difficulty is also going to be different if you are working on the OG (foam) or the new style (injected).

 

I don't mess with the back section skin as it is glued/epoxied to the bait. The front section has no adhesive on it.

 

Hope I covered it enough. Feel free to ask, I'm far from an expert but I've done it enough to know how not to mess it up.

Would you use tungsten putty if you were to tune a floating SS or only use tungsten when tuning a SK?

[WRB]

25 minutes ago, SnailsYeast said:

Would you use tungsten putty if you were to tune a floating SS or only use tungsten when tuning a SK?

You need to PM Speedbead, he was planning to be out of country about this time.

Tom

[SPEEDBEAD.]

There's other ways to tune them but the Tungsten putty is the easiest and most correctable/adjustable.

 

The man who does it best, Butch Brown, has all sorts of different things he does including drilling into the bait. Not something I'd recommend for a beginner. Stick to the putty.

[JediAmoeba]

Bringing up an old thread here... I had a 175 about a year ago and quickly unloaded it because the swim wasn't what I expected.  I recently got another one because I realize it is a really good size and the S-Waver 200 which is about the same size swims like a turd in pudding.  

 

Revisiting this bait I threw it a few times and remembered my problem - you can swim it from slow to fast very well as long as you remain consistent on your retrieve.  If you do a burn/pause it will glide out fine and do a 180 without issue.  The problem arises when you try to continue retrieving after a burn pause.  I have tried some added weight in the front and back but the bait takes 2 - 2 1/2 glides to get right again.  In the water it looks very awkward and kills your control if I was to have a follower.  

 

Has anyone figured out where the ideal location is to add weights, which line or anything else to correct this?

 

Today I tried changing the front and rear hooks to a 1/0 and 2/0 in all sorts of combinations.  I added putty to the nose, I tried mono 15#, braid 30# and a weight strip moved around and wasnt able to really change it up too much.