Weight Of Lures?

[1nstinct]

This may be a stupid question but when companies say a lure weights 1/2 oz or w/e is it the weight of the whole lure or just the base w/o and hooks or o rings on it, and for spinners/jigs is it just the head weight or everything like the hook and all? thanks for the help.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Well Im not sure but here are some baits with manufactures rating and my actual weight with digital scale I use in the lab at work.

SK Bitsy Minnow rated .125oz my actual .0834

SK KVD Sq Bill 1.5 rated .375oz my actual .40275

Koppers Live Target Frog rated .625oz my actual .6489

SPRO Bronzeye Frog rated .625oz my actual .5731

[Jigfishn10]

I'm almost postive that wire baits (spinnerbaits & buzzbaits) and jigs are rated by the amount of lead used to cast the head. Crankbaits, jerkbaits and such are built and rated by the body material and amount of ballast used (internal weighting system).

Spinnerbaits and buzzbait will be heavier than their rating with the amount of hardware they use for blades, as well as, the amount of strands for skirt material. Jigs will be the same with the exception of hardware.

Crankbaits will be heavier with hardware & hooks, as well as the paint finish.

[River Rat316]

Yep as far as jigs and spinnerbaits it is the amount of lead used in the head, it also varies from jig to jig and company to company, since the size is actually figured at pure lead and almost no one pours pure lead just for the reason it is to soft and paint chips so bad on that soft of a head.

[SirSnookalot]

Not sure about lures but I do weigh my spoons and many are not the same as the weight on the package.

The only concern about lures for me is the depth it's running, so weight is of no importance to me, spoons are different and the weight does affect how it rides in the water, or bouncing on top.

We are going to get comments about lure weight vs lure rating on the rod, I pay very little attention to this, constantly using heavier lures with no ill affects to the equipment with years of use.

[Bluebasser86]

Almost all baits are mass produced so they won't all weigh the exact same but they should be close. Jigs,spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits weights all go by the lure head. I'm not 100% on the crankbait weights but I'd have to agree with earlier posts that their weight is at least pre-hook and hardware.

[Grey Wolf]

This may be a stupid question but when companies say a lure weights 1/2 oz or w/e is it the weight of the whole lure or just the base w/o and hooks or o rings on it, and for spinners/jigs is it just the head weight or everything like the hook and all? thanks for the help.

IT'S JUST THE BASE WEIGHT BEFORE ANYTHING IS ADDED.

[J Francho]

It's not even that its before or after skirts and trailers are added, what they say is a 1/4 oz. jig may not even be that close. If you are that worried about specifics, get a gram scale. I simply use on the water observation to see if the weight is doing what I need it to do that day.

[BassThumb]

It's a good question. Like they said, it's a base weight.

One of RiverRat's Northstar Premier jigs that has a 3/4oz base weight actually weighs a hair under an oz all together.

One of his 1/4 oz jigs with a small trailer added weighs more than a 1/2 oz.

A 3/4oz Secret Weapon spinnerbait with a trailer hook weighs 1 1/8 oz.

[1nstinct]

thanks for the help guys i wasn't that worried about the weight it was just one of the questions i was thinking about thank for the answers guys.

[RoLo]

Jig weights and hook weights are important because they determine the sink rate of our lure.

Fortunately, the weight variation among lures from the same mold is insignificant.

More worrisome though are "mislabeled" weights, which I see more and more.

Very recently I fetched a new package of 1/4oz jigheads to replenish my tackle box.

The jigs looked curiously chubby so I ripped open the package and dropped one on the scale.

Sure enough, they were 3/8oz jigs mislabeled as 1/4oz jigs and this was Owner (not a fly by night)

One day last year while redear fishing I discovered that my BPS round-shot was mislabeled.

The package was marked “3/0” but was actually No.7 shot, which is twice the weight (19 vs. 9 grains).

For years I used a postal scale for saltwater tackle (grams),

but now use an RCBS powder scale for all weight sorting (1oz = 437 grains)

The precision of the powder scale allows me to segregate

tiny shot and small hooks that weigh only a few grains.

BTW: It isn't necessary to obtain the weight of each item,

but simply use the scale as a comparator.

Set the scale midway between the two candidate weights,

and the beam will either bang the top or not budge at all.

Roger