Manufacturers’ Listed Lure Weights

[Manly Studson]

I purchased a small 1/8 oz spinner bait and a 1/4 oz lipless crank bait—both of them by SK. But the actual weights were .25 oz and .46 oz respectively. Anyone else notice that lures are heavier than listed?

[EGbassing]

Are you sure your scale isn't measuring over?

[Manly Studson]

26 minutes ago, EGbassing said:

Are you sure your scale isn't measuring over?

I don’t think so, because my scale accurately weighed the SK 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz tungsten weights that I bought.

[jbrew73]

It seems that some lure company’s weight hard baits without the hooks and rings.  Same with some jigs and spinnerbaits, they seem to be only weighing the lead used not the complete lure.    You never really know until you weigh them yourself and what also bites is rod manufacture ratings seem off too.    

 

Once I got a feel for the ratings, or lack of, it really hasn’t remained an issue for me. 

 

[Manly Studson]

3 minutes ago, jbrew73 said:

It seems that some lure company’s weight hard baits without the hooks and rings.  Same with some jigs and spinnerbaits, they seem to be only weighing the lead used not the complete lure.    You never really know until you weigh them yourself and what also bites is rod manufacture ratings seem off too.    

 

Once I got a feel for the ratings, or lack of, it really hasn’t remained an issue for me. 

 

This makes sense. I’ve seen some sites show pics of lures without hooks too.

[WRB]

Weigh in grams and convert to oz. 28.35 grams per ounce, divide weighed mass by 28.35 = oz.

Tom

[MickD]

14 minutes ago, WRB said:

Weigh in grams and convert to oz. 28.35 grams per ounce, divide weighed mass by 28.35 = oz.

Tom

Tom, respectfully, it's not about the units.  The lures were listed in oz and on what appears to be a calibrated scale, they are heavier than advertised.  If your point is that you need a scale properly sized for the objects being weighed, right on.  You cannot trust a postal scale for 1/4 oz lures.

 

I have never weighed lures.  While often a skeptic, I never saw a need to.

[Glaucus]

Lures such as spinnerbaits and jigs will always weigh more than listed because only the weight of the head is taken into consideration. Add the skirt, hook, blades, wires, guards, etc and the weight ends up nowhere close to what is listed. Also important to remember when adding a trailer.

 

The lipless has me confused. Those hooks and split rings shouldnt have a 1/4oz registering at almost 1/2oz.

[WRB]

19 minutes ago, MickD said:

Tom, respectfully, it's not about the units.  The lures were listed in oz and on what appears to be a calibrated scale, they are heavier than advertised.  If your point is that you need a scale properly sized for the objects being weighed, right on.  You cannot trust a postal scale for 1/4 oz lures.

 

I have never weighed lures.  While often a skeptic, I never saw a need to.

Scales that weigh in grams are more accurate then ounces.

We have had this discussion in past threads and came to the conclusion mfr weights vary greatly from package listed weights because the weight may or may not include hardware like hooks, blades, skirts etc.

Tom

[Manly Studson]

I found this review of the lure on BP’s site:

 

”I just got 7 baits in 1/4oz size. Opened them up and thought they seemed pretty hefty for a 1/4 oz bait. Just for laughs I threw a couple on my scale and they each weighed .460 oz thats over 80% again what they should weigh. I have dozens of these baits in the 1/2 and 3/4 oz size and love how they work. The sad part is I thought they casted a mile due to maybe being aerodynamic or better yet my casting skills. Nope it's not me. For the record they did work great on the small mouth bass I bought them for.”

[Munkin]

Any lead bait that is manufactured the weight is based on the lead alone. Most spinnerbaits weigh close to double what is on the package. The man that owns Cast Industries explained it when I had them make me a custom mold.

 

Allen

[MickD]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Scales that weigh in grams are more accurate then ounces.

We have had this discussion in past threads and came to the conclusion mfr weights vary greatly from package listed weights because the weight may or may not include hardware like hooks, blades, skirts etc.

Tom

I have a scale that weighs in all units.  It is not that capability that is important.  

The important thing is that your scale must be matched roughly to the weight you are trying to weigh.  Regardless of units.  A bathroom scale, regardless of its units, will not weigh the weight of lures, or epoxy proportions, or any other "light" weights accurately.  My scale is designed for , and is accurate, in the range of 0-10 oz or so.  And is accurate in whatever other units of weight I want to use.  It's not about the units.

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Manly Studson said:

I purchased a small 1/8 oz spinner bait and a 1/4 oz lipless crank bait—both of them by SK. But the actual weights were .25 oz and .46 oz respectively. Anyone else notice that lures are heavier than listed?

 

2 hours ago, Glaucus said:

Lures such as spinnerbaits and jigs will always weigh more than listed because only the weight of the head is taken into consideration. Add the skirt, hook, blades, wires, guards, etc and the weight ends up nowhere close to what is listed. Also important to remember when adding a trailer.

 

The lipless has me confused. Those hooks and split rings shouldnt have a 1/4oz registering at almost 1/2oz.

 

There's your answer!

 

I'm not positive about the lipless but they may not consider the BBs for this rattling. 

[Manly Studson]

Thanks for the replies. I’m targeting spotted and smallmouth bass for the first time, and I’m purchasing lighter lures to fish in streams. I was mostly curious about the actual weights of the lures.

[Glaucus]

17 minutes ago, Manly Studson said:

Thanks for the replies. I’m targeting spotted and smallmouth bass for the first time, and I’m purchasing lighter lures to fish in streams. I was mostly curious about the actual weights of the lures.

Smallmouth in streams love a Ned Rig.

 

 

The smaller Whopper Ploppers are OK too.

 

 

KVD 1.5s bashed ferociously off the bottom rocks is OK too.

 

 

[Fishes in trees]

I used to not weight anything - didn't see the point in it -either a bait cast ok or it didn't.  Then for some reason which escapes me right now I got a scale which weighs in grams and now it is important to me to KNOW how much any given bait weighs.  True fact, many companies stated weights on hard baits, spinner baits, jigs, etc., have just a casual relationship to actual weights.

I'm not sure what purpose knowing this serves, but it is a pleasant pastime - sorting & weighing baits with the stereo blasting and a cold, frosty IPA close at hand.  Brewer Slider heads in particular, can be off a couple of grams either way from the weight stated on the package.

[Munkin]

Answer me this; why is a pizza round placed in a square box but cut into triangles?

 

Allen

[OkobojiEagle]

...now I have to worry whether I actually got a cup of coffee.

[WRB]

51 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

...now I have to worry whether I actually got a cup of coffee.

A lb of coffee weighs 12 oz!

Tom

[WRB]

15 hours ago, MickD said:

I have a scale that weighs in all units.  It is not that capability that is important.  

The important thing is that your scale must be matched roughly to the weight you are trying to weigh.  Regardless of units.  A bathroom scale, regardless of its units, will not weigh the weight of lures, or epoxy proportions, or any other "light" weights accurately.  My scale is designed for , and is accurate, in the range of 0-10 oz or so.  And is accurate in whatever other units of weight I want to use.  It's not about the units.

A scale is only as accurate as it's caligrated unit of measure. If that unit of measure is in ounces it may not display smaller units the 1/8 oz, then displayed in smaller of grams for example. 

The OP has his answer and no reason to beat this dead horse.

Tom

[OnthePotomac]

Oh yes, there is a difference on many weights posted on the product.  Years ago I began dropping new weights on my fancy digital gram/OZ scale and was surprised at the difference in posted weight and actual.  Not much in some cases, but a difference.  I mark all of my hard baits with a sharpie with weight and depth, so just use the scale data.

[MickD]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

A scale is only as accurate as it's caligrated unit of measure. If that unit of measure is in ounces it may not display smaller units the 1/8 oz, then displayed in smaller of grams for example. 

The OP has his answer and no reason to beat this dead horse.

Tom

I see this concept is hard to comprehend.

[detroit1]

Ok Munkin..here you go. Pizza is round because it is the easiest / quickest shape, square boxes are easier to make and fold,and they are cut in triangles to divide in relatively equal pieces and easier to eat. Next!

[fin]

As @Munkin already answered, the weights listed are just the amount of lead used.

 

Some traditions might make sense at the beginning, but end up making no sense after many years. This may be one of those cases. In the case of spinnerbaits, it’s understandable - you could have the same spinnerbait design with different amounts of lead. In the case of crankbaits though, it doesn’t make sense to list anything other than the actual weight, and I don’t see how they ever got started down the road of listing the lead weight.

 

Weight listings on lures are about as relevant as coffee sizes at Starbuck’s.

 

[WRB]

2 hours ago, MickD said:

I see this concept is hard to comprehend.

If your scale reads in ounces and the smallest fraction of an ounce displayed is 1/8 oz it will read 0 with 3 grams on the scale or if it reads in 1/16 oz increments it will read 1/16 oz, both are inaccurate. 1 gram is 0.0353 oz will not display on a ounce reading scale, must change to grams units or for example add more of the same samples; 5 of the same lures and divide by 5 to determine accurate weight.

Not too difficult to comprehend.

Tom