Avalonjohn44 Posted October 18, 2007 Posted October 18, 2007 Crankbait Question... I have only ever fished lures with clear plastic lips, coffin lips, square lips, rounded diving lips, bent shad rap shallow lips, etc. I am seeing more and more cranks with what people are calling circuit board lips, mostly gray, thin material that is supposed to deflect the lure a different way, and maybe get it deeper more quickly. Do the newer type lips work well? Is the deflections dramatically different? Does the lip being opaque affect how a bass regards the lure? Are they more sturdy than the clear lips? Quote
The_Natural Posted October 18, 2007 Posted October 18, 2007 I've never considered a different deflection property, but generally circuit boards lips reach depth quicker (thinner), and are more flexible/don't break off as easy. With the induction of the newer, super thin lexan lips such as the Lucky Craft BDS/RC, Daiwa thin Lip, etc...pretty much have all the benefits of quick diving depth, and I suppose the hard lexan may deflect a little better, but I really haven't noticed a negligable difference...I think the lip's shape has more of an impact on deflection. Quote
Stringjam Posted October 18, 2007 Posted October 18, 2007 I have a lot of cranks with both cb and pc lips - - I don't think it makes any negligible difference. The biggest cb lips I've ever seen were on my Lee Sisson P-20's. I personally didn't like it too much because the cb lip made it look like a monster coming through the water instead of a shad (cb isn't clear ya know). Maybe the fish don't care.......they have a really neat action! Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted October 19, 2007 Author Posted October 19, 2007 Now those are some beautiful baits. Quote
BIG M Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 I've not noticed any change in catching since I switched to circut board lips on my baits. These do however cause the bait to dive a bit quicker but I doubt there is any real difference in how the bait deflects off a stump. Circut board will chip on the edges when you fishing rip/rap alot. But other than that this stuff is as tough as lexan and 10x tougher than any plastic lips. Most big man. are using G-7 and it is a translucent white color. I use G-10 that is a translucent green. The fish don't care about that lip, and down deep I bet you can't see it. Stringjam, how much tuning did those baits need? I've found Session baits have poor quality control on their line ties being off center. Quote
Stringjam Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 I've not noticed any change in catching since I switched to circut board lips on my baits. These do however cause the bait to dive a bit quicker but I doubt there is any real difference in how the bait deflects off a stump. Circut board will chip on the edges when you fishing rip/rap alot. But other than that this stuff is as tough as lexan and 10x tougher than any plastic lips. Most big man. are using G-7 and it is a translucent white color. I use G-10 that is a translucent green. The fish don't care about that lip, and down deep I bet you can't see it.Stringjam, how much tuning did those baits need? I've found Session baits have poor quality control on their line ties being off center. Both of these were straight out of the package......overall, I was really impressed with the P-20 (I sold them for some reason.....lapse of judgment....I'll probably buy some more....). The action is completely unique compared to any other 20' diver I've used....a very quick, but hard kicking wiggle (nervous, if you will). They perform extremely well in heavy cover (these are also some of the most buoyant 20' divers I've used). The only thing I didn't like so much was that they were somewhat difficult to cast long distances - especially in any wind.....probably has something to do with that airplane wing coming out of the front. My #1 spot still belongs to the Competition Cedars 4500LR for a true 20' bait.......I can cast it incredibly far (one reason I like cedar) and gets down with seemingly half the strain of most other cranks in this category. It seems odd to me that this bait was designed by Tom Seward (who designed the Hot Lips Express.....which cranks like an anchor). He killed it with this design, though! Most importantly - I've caught a lot of fish on it. The only downside is that it is a very slow riser.....still very good around deep cover, but takes a LOT of patience! They're epoxy coated.....but they still get the typical Poe's "crackle finish" pretty quickly... (upper 2 cranks) I know what you're saying about some of the QC on Lee's baits. Lee does, however, have a few designs that really stand out to me.....the diving and shallow Slim Willie's for one. He obviously knows how to design a killer bait - but sometimes the mass produced result of his design leaves a little to be desired. The stuff you make looks so killer...especially the flatsided deep diver you posted a few months back. I've been putting off the order, but I'm definitely going to get around to trying your stuff......so many cranks out there - so little time! BTW......have you ever tried a Lohr's LL20? I just picked one of these up a while back.....the action reminds me a lot of a Tapp. I think this is the first flatsided crank I've used that actually approaches 20'. I've yet to find anybody else that has actually used them. Quote
Guest avid Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 Man, I am totally jealous. I love the look of those baits. I'm not talking about the paint jobs. As gorgeous as they are, the paint on many crankbaits is really classy these days. No, I'm talking about how aggressive they look with those long diving lips. Now if I could just find a lake in SE Florida that was 20' deep. Sigh........................ :'( Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted October 19, 2007 Author Posted October 19, 2007 I have a few lakes near me that go over 20 feet, but I have no boat to get out there where the fish are, so I haven't plunged into lures that dive over 10-12 feet. When I do, I'm gonna get a mess of those top two lures in Stringjam's photo. Sweet! Looking up Competition Cedars right now... Quote
Stringjam Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 I have a few lakes near me that go over 20 feet, but I have no boat to get out there where the fish are, so I haven't plunged into lures that dive over 10-12 feet. When I do, I'm gonna get a mess of those top two lures in Stringjam's photo. Sweet! Looking up Competition Cedars right now... The only place I've ever found them is straight from Worden's website......oh, and about a dozen or so from ebay for about 99 cents each - sometimes it's good when certain lures don't have any reputation. Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted October 19, 2007 Author Posted October 19, 2007 There are some on there now, no bids, but 4 of them for $15... I'll wait for the .99 cent ones... That Lohr's lure is pretty good looking too... Quote
BIG M Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 The reason the P-20 doesn't cast well is it's too light and the body style. They had to use that lead shot in the lip to get the bait's dive angle steeper so it could get down to 18+. I build a bait very similar to that design and have the same problem with casting in the wind. But Mr. Session has some great designs and from what I've been told, no body could build a better bait back in the day. The Poe's baits are 1 of the best deep running baits out there, cedar is the reason. The higher density cedar is the ticket for building those deep running baits, but you have to sacrifice the quicker rise you get from balsa. I don't understand why the finish on the Poes baits are not holding up. I have a idea that those baits are not sealed well in the begining. Oil from the cedar may be cracking the paint or water is getting to the wood. I've never used a Lohr's bait, but I will tell you to check those screw eyes from time to time. Screw eyes tend not to hold well in balsa wood. But then again I'm not sure if Lohr's baits are all made from balsa wood. It is a very interesting body style with the tail down. Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted October 19, 2007 Author Posted October 19, 2007 I've never used a Lohr's bait, but I will tell you to check those screw eyes from time to time. Screw eyes tend not to hold well in balsa wood. But then again I'm not sure if Lohr's baits are all made from balsa wood. It is a very interesting body style with the tail down. Do most of the wooden baits manufacturers use screw eyes rather than thru wire? I want to start making my own like you do, and was willing to buy a few baits and cut them up to see how they do it. I thought screw eyes would have been fine, some of my bagleys that I've had for years use screw eyes, and have never slipped... Quote
BIG M Posted October 19, 2007 Posted October 19, 2007 I don't use a thru wire harness. I twist my screw eyes out of 20ga or 18ga stainless wire. You can't pull the hangers out period. I've only experienced a screw eye pulling 1 time on my own baits, back when I started. Quote
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