MaineBassin

Nice. Where abouts in Maine? I'm out of western. Oxford hills area

I have one 9 inch. It doesn't crank down very deep. I prefer to go as slow as possible to get it wagging. Only luck I've had cranking it was in current over a rock pile in about 9 fow

If you have some waves don't hesitate to let it dead stick. Great action rolling in the waves.

Pm incoming

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll reach out.

Hey guys, heading to davenport florida (just south of orlando) for a week mid april. Gonna have the chance to fish for the first time in florida. I'm looking to hire a guide for a day. So far I've got warrior2bass (nick kefalides), chuck pippin and Dean puller on my list to reach out to. I mostly swimbait fish. Not interested in live bait. Looking for a double digit (aren't we all). Not looking for numbers. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Justin

Thanks Roger. I'm not giving up. I love fishing top water and really want one of these baits. Just need to experiment and see how things are affected with each change. Did you fish the punker much?

I watched a few of engineered angler (pretty sure that's his name) on YT. He did a video on weight placement for topwater. I tried to go with that. He said you want to be a little front heavy. As for experience with topwater glides, minimal. I've fished spooks where you walk it back and forth. I tried that retrieve but also tried to get it to glide out, stop, glide again etc. I read somewhere about when fishing the punker to let it finish each glide before working again. So slow with long glides each way. It's hard to explain these things, I just want able to get a video.

I was able to get out and swim them all. I'm happy with the wnc. It has good movement at light wake and cranks down really good. Probably 2 feet, maybe a little more. Using the lower line tie on the rat gives awesome action. It wobbles side to side alot. Can wake it really slow. If I crank it faster it really gets clacking and wobbling. I'm very happy with it. I had one fish hit it. No hook up tho. It is a big bulky bait that's for sure. The sound of wood knocking is so cool. That brings me to the lunker punker type baits. They need some more tuning. The skinnier one has too much weight. Is under water sitting still. The bulkier one seems to be weighted pretty good. When working it, it was very inconsistent. Sometimes would glide out 8 or so inches then straight or back a bit, sometimes twice to the same side. Not sure if this is due to weight placement...or....

Little more progress. I've added more weight to both baits and added a line tie down by the lip on the rat. Painted the rat rattle can gray (had it kicking around at work) and one coat of epoxy. Have not done a final swim test. Hoping to today. It's hard for me to get time to hit the water. I also left the higher line tie. Wasn't sure how to safely remove it. I'm the mean time I have started on new baits. Lunker punker style. These were made out of yellow pine vs cedar for the wnc and rat. This wood def carved better. Still had some chunks that would cut out. But I used wood putty to fill in low spots and sanded. Worked awesome. These came out much better. Not perfect but better. I again guessed on weight. Swim testing today. One is thicker and more boxy. Other is slimmer and more rounded, if that makes sense. I did a lip on the skinnier one. 2.26oz for skinnier one. 2.86oz for bulkier one.

They did float high. I'll try that. All they have for weight added are 5 gram plug belly weight inserts. I added a line tie below the nose on the rat. I'm gonna see what that does. I'm new to lure building, but I'm not convinced (yet) that the joint is too big or loose. I used pretty small connections as I did not want big wide joints like many other baits I've seen. There really isn't much room to go smaller or tighter here. Any tighter and I feel the back section won't be able to rotate and contact the front to create some knock. Thanks for the feedback

VID_20200516_161537.mp4 I finally got to swim test my baits. The wnc style had awesome action when cranked down. But it wouldn't do much at a slow crank, trying to wake. It would dive down nearly two feet. Floating it had awesome action as well. The rat didn't do much for action. It basically bulldozed with a huge wake. Barely wobbled. I need to relocate the line tie down to near the lip, below the nose. Hopefully that helps. Is there anything in particular that makes a bait wake with hardly any reeling? Like how the slammer wobbles with very little retrieve. Lip angle? Lip size? Both lips are big as I figured it's easier to cut down vs replacing. VID_20200516_161439.mp4

That's the way to go with tails. I've been searching high and low for something softer for a tail. I don't like the lexan tails. Just personal preference. For the time being I threw in some paint brush bristles. Not sure how I feel about it. Better than no tail I guess

slammer is my go to when i cant get a bite. Love the topwater bites from these. And i rarely (knock on wood) lose a slammer fish.

I agree. i made my first two baits with cedar. Bought a 8 foot 2x4, can make a lot of baits. What i found was cedar was pretty difficult to carve. At times little chunks liked to break out. What i like was that it cuts great on the band saw and i can shape with a rotary tool with sanding drum. Once sanded down and coated with epoxy, it looks great naturally. Has a real nice knock to it out of water. I plan to make a bigger glide sometime soon and i may go with oak or maple. But i would love a wooden glide that will stay in 3ft of water.

I recall reading something about (not sure if it was in regards to the punker or phoney) to work it slowly. rather than quick short walks, get it to glide out, wait until it stops, then work again, wait til it stops, then work it again. no idea if this will help you at all. Other than that i have zero experience with these. Looking to make something similar soon.

I have all the hardware installed. Was able to find a worm fat enough to fit on the screw lock. Will def go with a smaller one in the future. I wanted to find a soft rubbery type material for the wake tail. Was hoping to find a soft silicone mat or similar. No luck so I will go with paint brush bristles for this one.

I think I'll rattlecan the rat white (don't have an airbrush yet), do the middle the best I can, nail polish the ear holes pink, one more thin coat over that of epoxy and be done. Lips are in both baits. I may have to move line tie on rat to down by the lip as many people suggest in other rat builds. But I'll see how it swims. I'm sure with a good airbrush you could paint the insides anyway. With the hinge, you have good access to the insides.

Those look good. You notice any difference in using poplar vs cedar?

Beautiful job

Thanks. Hope so. Just occured to me, now that I have epoxied the joint hardware, how am I supposed to paint the insides? Brush?

They are ready for water. Overall I'm pretty happy with how they came out. Could be better. I've learned a lot that will lead to better future baits. I just guessed lip size. Read a tip online of "it's hard to add to the lip by cutting", so I went bigger from the beginning. The tail screw on the rat is too big. Future will be smaller. I'm also worried that the rat line tie may have to be moved to down by the lip. Water testing will tell. I'm also a little concerned about the strength of the metal and the holding power of the straight leg joints from lpo. I did trust them to give some extra surface area inside the wood with the epoxy. I also need to find some thick silicone for wnc tail. Don't want hard ones if possible. Working with epoxy has a learning curve. I found that cutting with DA when applying to seal the wood worked awesome. Much easier to work with. No running of epoxy and a quick sand once dry and it was ready for another coat. Each coat applied improved the finish. I have 2 full coats on them now. If they swim good I'll paint then one last clear finish. Both have a real nice clack. Wood just has a different sound to it. Rat is 2.75 oz without split rings and hooks. Wnc is 1.70 oz without split rings and hooks.

Thanks guys. I think I'll order some Truecoat then. I will also change my hardware strategy. One last question. Do you guys seal, install hardware, swim test, paint, then final clear coat over paint? Or is paint the last step?

Thanks for the feedback guys. @chefchris what about the epoxy Truecoat? I thought you were impressed with that stuff...not the other super glue one. It's $40 plus shipping for a decent amount. I hear you guys regarding drilling 3/4 of the way and using epoxy and the wood for strength. I drilled most of my holes big (say one size) and basically filled them up with epoxy then put the hardware in. Do you think this is strong enough without any wood strength holding them? I will look back through the forum for how to's for sealing etc. I just looked quick to find the Truecoat name I was thinking of. Some great tutorials from Chris and others. Thanks for all the feedback. Look forward to getting these wet and see how my first ones perform.

Hey guys. With inspiration and motivation from so many amazing bait builders on here who provide awesome help, I've jumped into the world of swimbait building. I also have some rookie questions that I have not come across that have come up from what I've done so far. So I have 2 baits going. A rat and a wake/crank style bait. Both made out of cedar. Wnc is around 5.75" and the rat is 6", both without tails and bills. The rat is a bulky bait, about 1.5" wide, hopefully not too bulky. I have most of the hardware epoxied in. For the hook hangers I used 5 gram plug belly weight inserts. They seam a little light gauge wire but I read on here guys saying they are strong, esp for bass. I bought some 062 wire to make hardware, but have not done that yet. I just used 072 1.25" closed screw eyes and straight leg pins for the other side. All from lpo. I am using bob smith industries 2 part epoxy/hardener. So some questions.... 1. Any concern with the strength of this stuff? 2. When drilling the holes for hardware, do you make them a little loose to fit more epoxy or tight to rely more on the threads? My thought was with the epoxy being stronger. 3. I was going to buy the epoxy @chefchris mentioned (pretty sure it was him) that was a sealer / hardener in one. But wasn't ready to drop $50 on a big bottle of it off the bat. I tried to paint on this epoxy on the outside, as you can see in the rear section of the rat. It applied very tough. Like it was hardening already as I was applying it. I weigh each bottle with 50 50 ratio. I don't have a turner so I just hung it to dry. Lots of bubbles and uneven surfaces. I think I'll bite the bullet and get the other stuff. If I remember correctly you just submerge atleast half of each piece until bubbles stop then flip over. So can I use this epoxy as an external sealer? Then paint over it then seal again? Any tips or suggestions strongly welcomed. Thanks guys. Justin