Suspending Crankbaits

[zip pow]

Started trying to build some balsa 10 ft fully suspending crankbaits weighted the bait heavy in front lighter in rear haven't. Got the bait to truly suspends evenly any good tips out there?

[jbass]

Started trying to build some balsa 10 ft fully suspending crankbaits weighted the bait heavy in front lighter in rear haven't. Got the bait to truly suspends evenly any good tips out there?

Suspending baits are a little tough. Once you've added ballast to the bait, make sure it's heavy enough to start to sink below the surface. I normally do this in a big pot of water (no need to go to the lake) and then start clipping of a little of the ballast at a time. Once you reach a neutral state (just floating below the surface not sinking) it is suspending. I don't make alot of these, because when they suspend and get hooked on a limb or some sort of cover, they don't float to the surface, and you need a "hound dog" or lure retriever. This is how I do it, and I assume there are others here that do it differently. Good luck.

[BIG M]

To make a balsa crank suspend is royal pain in the butt. First the crank needs to have a nose down attitude in the water, don't try to change that. I would weight the bait for a very slow rise then paint/finish. Then I would use suspend dots to fine tune the bait out on the water. At different water temps the bait may float or sink. jbass has a pretty good system in his post, print that one off so you have on hand for the build.

[zip pow]

Thanks jbass this should help alot

[BobP]

Where suspending baits really come into their own is in colder water. A bait that suspends in cold dense water will sink in warm less-dense water. If you make it float very slowly in cold water, you can use it in warm water and can add a few suspen-dots in cold water to get it to suspend there too.

There's really no substitute for "test floating" a lure in water if you want it to suspend. On a wood bait, undercoat the wood (no paint yet) and add all the hardware (hook hangers, lip, split rings, trebles hooks). Then float the bait in a pot of water the temperature you will fish. Hang lead weight on the treble hooks until the bait rises ever to slowly. Use the weight of that lead to ballast the crankbait, then paint and topcoat the bait. That will get you very close to suspending. The only weight you will be adding to the crankbait after the test float is the finish, which weighs around .02 oz on a typical bass crankbait.