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First baits


Spencer_518
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This is a thread I’m going to keep updating on my progress with some baits I am working on. I had some question about wood and resin in my other thread but not appropriate to keep updating that one with my progress. 
 

first bait was carved out of poplar by hand with minimal power tools. I really love a super slow sinking glide that has a tight acting you can work around cover and keep it in the strike zone. The profile is ok but the swim and balance of bait really surprised me. It has a decent steady glide but what I love about it is the right slashing back and forth. Burns well too and doesn’t blow out. It’s a pretty flat sided bait which doesn’t bother me. It’s a little over 3oz and 8inches long. I snagged the tail off of some bait I had laying around. I really wish I didn’t paint the bait lol. The baits going forward will just have the wood grain and minimal paint. 
 

2nd bait is almost ready to be waited and  also carved out of poplar. This one I am going for more of a wide glide but still a super slow sink. Carved tail instead of a plastic or Lexan material. 
 

after these two baits are made I am going to attempt to make a few copies of wood of the same bait and see how close I can get them. I am not ready to be messing with resin. 
 

below I’ll post some pics of the baits when I get home from work and I’ll try to update with progress. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for so long now and was just not too motivated because I am not artistic and lack simple mechanical skill. 
 

also, just want to shout out everyone whose answered all my questions before. The support from everyone is great!

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Here’s a ish video. I’ll try to get a better one with the GoPro in a few days. It sank when I put it in the sink last night but it seems to want to be a low float I guess. Can walk it on top and it will dive a bit on a steady retrieve. I attempted a hinge but ended up messing the bait up pretty bad but at least it swims lol. A little over 4oz on this one.

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Set up the belt sander tonight. This is going to a game changer for sure and really speed up my process. I’m going to be sticking to wood for a while. For some reason the resin process really intimidates me. 
 

next bait I’m going for a sucker/ fallfish profile and hoping to get a super slow sink. I’m pretty happy with the two baits I just finished but I am worried about the quality and integrity of the baits hardware and such. I need to invest in some heavier screw eyes.

 

Question about the hinge on most baits. What are you using for the pin? Where do you buy it and what kind fishes is it? 
 

thanks!

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A little update on the 3rd bait I’m working on. Again carved out of poplar. My local Home Depot has and end cap filled with poplar boards so I have a bunch.  Bait is just under 6.5 inches without a tail and was going for a sucker/fallfish but not sure if I captured that. Guessing this bait will be around 3.5-4oz with lead and hardware. Hoping to have lead in it within the next few days then a test swim. I was going to carve some scales but afraid to "Not Allowed" the whole thing lol345E4847-3B87-4D87-94B8-F56496B2EA50.thumb.jpeg.8fece167da8b69f2a83c202b7077ab21.jpeg

I think for my next project I will try to make 2 or 3 baits carved out of poplar and see how close I can get them to match. 

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Tested the latest bait for a few minutes today. The swim is nice but on the twitches I can’t get a back and forth action. I think I will have to remove some lead from the front and tail… any other tips? The other two baits did not have as much lead close to the nose or the tail it was more near the joint which I think helped. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Also got this gill in the works. My buddy and I have been putting in some hours every week. We have multiple baits cut and carved and playing with different hinges and line ties, hardware and what not. We are hoping to have 3 baits ready by spring to fish. A glide, gill glide and a wake. Small profiles nothing huge yet. I figured since we are in upstate ny we stick with 6-8inch max in length. Pretty excited to keep workin

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I like to post progress showing the good the bad and butt UGLY. Top pic is the first 5 baits we have made and the gill on the bottom. Some swim good some not so much. Got the profile down now that I like with the sucker/fallfish/ carp style. Now it’s honing the carving skill and paint skills and also the weighting of the baits which I have been struggling with. Not a ton of room for weight with the joint hardware… but we will figure out. Bottom pic is the gill @bass_buster_69 has been working on. He’s got 3 or 4 cut and ready to go just need carving, paint and weighting. Like I said we think a 3 bait line up would be nice to have by spring. Sucker glide, gill glide and a wake. Stay tuned… #LFG

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