Look better than they swim - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Lower · 10-11-2005, 02:01 PM

Here's a few I finished up the other night. When I made the prototype and swam them, I was pretty impressed. Tweaked a couple things and turned a handful. Now that their finished I'm not that impressed (I am getting better with the airbrush, however).

The proto was not painted, so I guess I could not see the roll. Now that their painted, the roll is very obvious. Sits nice in the water and does have good action, just too much roll.

They are all 3.5 inches. I made some bigger dannies, 6" or so and they swam great. Trying to figure out why these roll so much. Things I thought of:

Lip--used a small Lefty lip (middle slot). The only reason I used it is because it's the smallest width lip I had. Is there a reason these lips would not work?
Body shape? Weighting (shot of lead mid body)? Any ideas? Trying to keep the profile a little smaller...thinkin freshwater.

They are pretty though...

Christian · 10-11-2005, 02:11 PM

those thing look like they will kill.

maybe try uping the size on the belly treble. i made a few small swimmers that rolled out all the time. upping the treble fixed it.

reelecstasy · 10-11-2005, 02:12 PM

They do look sweet

I have the same problem when i make the smaller ones as well..Wish I could give you an easy answer, but still tryin to figure it out myself..

Diamond Tackle · 10-11-2005, 04:59 PM

Nice colors.
Have you tried bending the EYE up just a bit ?This will make it dig a little more. In addition I would also try taking off the treble tail and go with a siwash or even just a teaser.There may me too much drag & weight in the tail. Small plugs are very sensitive to any balance changes. On future batches you can also cut cut the lip slot just a bit higher. Nothing says the lip slot has to be perfectly centered. Is there any belly weight in this plug, if so how many grams?

stripercrazy · 10-11-2005, 08:51 PM

wow, what a paint job

EricW · 10-11-2005, 09:23 PM

I would say to try to use a smaller lip, and/or mount it higher. Maybe it is getting in the way. Unless you want a deep diver. I have some small swimmers 4" or so, and it swims really nice but the lip only hangs down about 1/2 or so over the bottom of a plug. I think the suggestion of moving the front eye up some may help too.

THey do look really nice.

What are you using for the clear coat finish?

Eric

thefishingfreak · 10-11-2005, 09:33 PM

nice paint.
green is for mackeral. never seen a short stubby mackeral?
paint those silver first then black back.

Jigman · 10-11-2005, 10:12 PM

Paint is

You might find them to roll less if you place the line tie dead center and the lip just above center. Also, the lefty lip will give a little roll to a plug. You could grind the edges of the lip so that the sides are straight out from the plug (i.e., no curve to the lip).

I do some freshie swimmers in a similar size, no weight, colorado blade for a lip (bend it down straight like a surfster lip). Swims real nice and the smallies eat it up. Might be something else to try.

Jigman

Lower · 10-12-2005, 01:54 PM

Thanks for all the compliments and feedback. Looks like I have a few things I can try on these finished plugs and some new direction on the next batch. I plan on turning a handful and play with the recomendations below.

What would moving the lip slot higher do? Less lip hanging off plug? A centered through hole works huh? For some reason, I thought it had to be off centered.

Tinman...I used ~1/16 oz (1.85 grams) in belly. Sounds like I may play with weighting and maybe even try not weighting. Also realized I did have bare treble on proto. Maybe the drag of the bucktail is a problem...I'll play with that.

As for the clearcoat...used Envirotex.

Hey FF...I'm thinkin freshwater...bluegill (dots were for fun)

I'm learnin....

Jigman · 10-13-2005, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lower

...What would moving the lip slot higher do? Less lip hanging off plug? A centered through hole works huh? For some reason, I thought it had to be off centered...

Generally, with the lip slot higher, the nose will not dig as much, so you will have less roll. More of a side to side wiggle too. Line tie can be anywhere you want it, really depends on the action you are after.

Jigman

thefishingfreak · 10-13-2005, 08:28 PM

i heard bassmaster say move the weight back from center on single hook dannys.
just joshin' bout the paint they look sweet and you should send me one 'cause we're infested with macs

Lower · 10-14-2005, 09:11 AM

Thanks again. Looks like I will be turning a few and playing with how I construct them. Dear Santa....I've heard great things about Duplicators....

FF...You dont want any of these. Let me get them swimming right...then

hunan · 10-17-2005, 02:13 PM

beautiful paint, my man. get any large on your yak?