My UL spybait challenge

[earthworm77]

I got an email from a buddy who  asked if I could make a UL version of a spinbait for trout fishing in  the mountain streams of North Carolina. It seems that Duo Realis  discontinued the spinbait 60 and now only makes an 80 and 90mm version. I  couldn't even find a 60 but I remembered that I had one. I am a jig and  spinnerbait guy, I've never made a hard bodied bait  before. I took on the challenge because I felt if I was successful, I'd  have a hell of a bluegill/bass bait for my own pond on my property in NC  and the rivers I fish here in Florida.

 

How I  went about it: I'm not ashamed to admit I made a 1pc mold of the 60 and  cut it down to the length I wanted and sanded it to the necessary  profile I was looking for. I made both a 1 5/8" and a 2" body.

But  with that came the issue of properly weighting it so that it would fall  flat horizontally with that sexy little shimmy. I needed to add weight  to a solid body, not a bait I could assemble from two halves with spots  for the weights molded in place.

 

I  molded about a dozen bodies and then had to experiment with weighting  the baits. I needed the bait to do two things........swim straight  without wobble and fall perfectly horizontal with that sexy shimy like a  Senko. I drilled a series of small holes ahead of and behind the belly hook and filled them with tungsten  powder. I got really lucky and pretty much nailed it with the first two  baits I made. Next I mocked up a bait with the screws and hardware I  would use to complete the bait to test it.

I  swam some of the baits in the pool and found that they blew out and  rolled if fished too fast. I simply bent the paddles of the lead prop  the opposite of the tail prop and this was instantly corrected.  The bait fell exactly as I wanted it to and it swam great. I would  decide to use Decoy single hook's on the 1 5/8" bait and Gammy trebles  on the 2".

At  about the time I was knee deep in the project, I read on Tackle Tour  that Duo made the Tetra Works mini prop which is a ul version of the  Spinbait. Despite the bait being rather difficult to acquire, I managed  to get one and here is a comparison photo with the 1 5/8" bait I made.

 

Here a few smaller ones @ 1/8oz ready for clear coat.

2"  baits are about 3/16oz. I was going for small in the sense of length  and profile. A slightly heavier bait in moving water or deeper water  like the quarry pits I fish could be a good thing.

 

 

These are essentially the finished baits in both 2" and 1 5/8".

A couple were also specifically made for deep water.

 

Here is a family tree of the 90mm,80mm, 60mm and 48mm baits from Duo and a couple of mine.

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[Munkin]

They look great!

 

What are you using for resin Alumilite or something else?

 

Allen

[earthworm77]

RP40. It is a 2 part alumilite type casting material.

[Adam.love05]

Bravo! They look fantastic