It’s prototyping season
Since I am not big on ice fishing I often spend extra time in the winter prototyping new lure designs. I have my spot for open water testing except when it’s really cold
This design is something that has been rolling around in my head for sometime but I just had not brought it to life till now. The action is very nice on both a straight retrieve and a pull pause. The design was based off of a 12/0 weedless swimbait hook that will sit in a hook slot for good hook up ratio combined with staying weedless. Also working on a heavier external harness with heavier weight for deeper water. Using a tough saltwater blend of soft plastic to make them as durable as I can for soft plastic(only one stronger option but involves special equipment) This is a rough prototype from a silicone mold and poured with scrap remelt so not a pretty finished product. An aluminum mold is being made to give a nicer finish. Adjustments to the fin and curly tails are being done to improve the pour with the aluminum mold too. This will give a cleaner shiny finish. They will look much better once they have eyes and properly poured colors 9 inch bait and roughly 4.5 once with the weighted swimbait hook. I have not finalized the chosen weight of the external treble harness Weedless https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f37aded39e.jpg External treble https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9dd9d3d4c1.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
very interesting for sure, almost looks like a longnose sucker to me. I dont recall seeing an upside down paddle tail before whats the action like?
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Unfortunately I can’t post clips here or I would just post a clip of the action. In the new year I will have some clips and pictures on a Facebook page with my lures It has the classic paddle tail tump and with the twin tails going. The paddle has the side to side with a little twist as it does. It falls on a 45 with some hang before starting to fall because of the flat bottom/twin tails. It runs well fast or crawled After doing some testing today I am ditching the treble harness do to fowling. It just runs so much better on the large weedless single. Should be good for both pike and musky especially in weeds or areas where snags are an issue. |
Well I will add another design but a finish model. This is a 10inch trolling/casing lure. One tie point is shallower with a tight faster wiggle. The other is deeper with a lazy wiggle and wonder side to side. Worked well on a pull pause as it dives with a lot of back up on the rise
I was catching pike with an un painted prototype casting deep breaks in the fall. This is the first complete one https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2cdb95daa1.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Very cool smoky. My son was on a kick when he was younger building big bucktails. It’s definitely rewarding catching something good on something homemade. I like that big plastic.
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I started with inline spinners for trout/salmon at 8 years old and branched into basically all forms of lure making since. These days I focus on large pike and musky lures. Almost all my lures get shipped to eastern Canada or eastern US where there is a higher demand for them by musky fishermen Keeps me in never ending fishing gear and a few $ in my pocket. Plus if I don’t like something about a lure I make an improved version or if I want a lure that doesn’t exist I work on designing it |
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Outside of combining curly tails with a paddle the action is very different than a relentless rider. Probably the closest would be some of the creature baits for bass but still slightly different. The hang time on the pause and weedless factor in a swimbait designed for pike/musky I can’t add clips to this forum but I have slowly started a Facebook page that I am slowly adding some clips and some of my lures. To stay within the rules of the forum I will PM the information if anyone is interested |
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I love that sucker profile, that looks like a winner.
I got a little sidetracked this winter, and for some reason, I decided to try and build a CNC router. The project did end up causing a bit of project creep but the shop will be better organized in the end. with luck, I will be making chips in the next month or so. I give myself an 80% chance I will be able to do aluminum molds but if that does not work I will for sure be able to make molds out of Corian (countertop plastic) Supposedly the same stuff that Ukrainian mold company uses. The wife and I are lucky enough to go to Cabo in March so I have to make more saltwater gear. Just started modeling a bottle plug, a popper, and a skipping type are on the list too. This is V1 of the bottle plug a standard surfcasting lure. |
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Really need to mix in a few things with faster turnaround times I have never used the stone molds so can’t speak on them but I definitely prefer aluminum over silicon when it comes the plastics. Good luck with the cnc router Not big top water guy so not much experience with poppers. What are you targeting in Cabo |
The last time I was there there were some sierra mackerel, they are a lot like pike, so shiny spoons like Kastmasters or deadly dicks are the go-too. I will be adding diamond jigs and buzz bombs 2-3 oz range tipped with a hochie. There is a bait fish called glass minnows that don't seem to be as migratory as mullet.
There should be snapper types around the rocks if I bother to dip bait. poppers could come in handy there too. If the mullet are around then who knows maybe jacks and roosterfish but that is very unlikely I have seen a few over the years but they are typically in the surf June to October "ish" I have been on charters and I have never been on a boat that has caught anything too interesting. But it is fun to tool around the beach the break of dawn then meet the wife for a late breakfast and get on with your day. |
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I am stuck waiting for summer to do any trips this year. Want to make a trip to sask with the wife but priority is musky again this year at least once. It’s a good fishing trip and It’s profitable for me |
Musky is on my to-do list as well, I have a cousin with access to a cabin on Lake of the Woods. When I am in Winnipeg next summer visiting my folks I really should try and get there.
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Still figuring out what I can pull off this year. If I am dragging kayak’s again I will head towards vermilion bay. Got to know some knowledgeable locals out there and talking an eagle lake kayak trip combined with some lake hopping to nearby musky lakes If I can’t pull off the time to drive out I might fly out and fish the Ottawa river |
I have been rolling this idea around in my head for a long time and finally started carving the prototype. This type of lure will be using a variety of lure making styles to complete it. I am referencing a combination of a European pike lure and a musky lure design with some of my own twists to it
So far I have the head carved which comes in at 3 1/2 inches Odds are it won’t be what people think in the end https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...361a4fe3d0.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Debating on carving in a mouth
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Stopped thinking and just started doing
What’s your thoughts on the more detailed carving https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e8942afdb4.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Nice, I always struggled with symmetry, will that be a head for a big soft plastic?
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Nope not a big plastic but plastic will be involved. I will test a blade too as a possible option. Are you familiar with a beaver or disco pike? Think along those lines but I will add a few of my own twists. |
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Here is the current project for the vacation it's called a bottle plug.
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Hope you post some pictures from your trip |
Just getting the one project into the final tweaks stage. Tested the action out yesterday and need a little more weight in the head because it’s a little light without the external weight. Outside of that it looked good with the rubber tail as a pull pause style lure and looks good burned with the blade subbed in
Definitely not a lure for everyone cost or size wise. It should work well for its intended purpose https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...977f8bafa0.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Gonna need a bigger boat :)
That will give an insane profile in the water, I can see a musky wanting a piece of that. |
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Musky should whack it and bet it hammers pike too. I will put a few to the test come open water season. I know a few guys that I can’t show this picture to or they will be bugging me for one before I finalize the design |
A complete version of the earlier prototype I posted
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...187747582b.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
A tail baits I just finished
These are a shallow running lure. Designed with a slow horizontal fall on the pause. A little wobble of a straight retrieve or twitch https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3ceea68f12.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Still two more layers of clear for this one. This is a combination lipless crank/twitch bait depending on the line tie you usehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e1b94ebf1c.jpg
Next is a finished version of the swim bait I originally postedhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...76814b902b.jpg I also created an improved version of one of my tail spinshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b384b65532.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Dang those are looking awesome. It's almost time to put them in the water.
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Looking forward to open water no more of this staring down a hole garbage :sHa_shakeshout: A lot of my stuff has caught fish in the early prototype stage before becoming a true finished lure or I have caught fish on a similar design but upgraded it. I have one more design that the first will be finished in the next few days. Unfortunately one I wanted to put out this year will be late do to the molds I designed being behind schedule |
Sweet looking lures.
Dodger. |
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