I will never question the price of swimbaits again :-) This was my 1st attempt at making a wood bait. Lots of time and effort. I know it will get easier as time goes on, but I see what it takes to make a quality bait now.

And no, I won't be offering these for sale. At least no time soon :P This bait is 8" long nose to tail and weighs 3 oz. It shadows all of my other swimbaits in girth.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3133.jpg

I've still got a lot to learn and the baits got a few imperfections, but I'm sure it'll still catch fish
:+

That looks pretty awesome for a first shot a wood bait, Jake. I bet it has some crazy tail action with the big boot tail along with the joint. Great job. I like the par marks in the paint job too.

PS: Jake, it's Jake Wilson. Calicokid is another one of my names on a few websites.

Thanks Jake. Ya I recognize your user name.

I meant to add some red gill marks, but I forgot. I'm gonna try and carve some gills into the next one. It was fun to make, frustrating at the same time. I used spray paint to paint it with cause I don't have an airbrush :+

Nice looking lure! Try making one w/ a flat joint insted of cutting it at an angle I like the action better that way!

Nice looking bait, theres a big learnig curve when it comes to wood. Sometimes the time invested making it is almost as rewarding as fishing it.

Great looking bait Jake....I'd never guess that was your first one.I bet it kicks real nice...Congrats!!..Nathan
www.Bettencourtbaits.com

Very Nice! You did some great work there.

I assume the concave joint that looks like bare wood is sealed?

Dan

Thanks guys. That's just a reflection Dan. It's sealed and painted. I know you can't really see it in the pic, but the color on the side is pink over gold, over pink. With a light scale pattern. It's got a nice color change when you rotate it in the light.

I'm working on another right now. My original design has 2 joints and a different hinge. But I thought I'd better take it easy for my 1st :P

Great looking plug. If you don't mind me asking, what size/type of eye screws did you use? I have a plug that I shaped and haven't been able to finish because I can't figure out what eye screws to use. The ones at Lowes/HomeDepot seem so short I am affraid that a fish would pull them out.

Sonny the hook eye screws are .092 stainless steel 1" from stamina. The line tie is from home depot. It's 3/4" long. I used devcon epoxy with all of them. Used a small wire to put some in the hole, then put a drop on the tip of the threads before I ran them in.

Just wondering, did you lathe your initial blank or hand carve it? Your taper looks really good, which is nearly impossible to get balanced and looking good through straight carving.
Tight lines,
Wade

You're right Wade, lathe. Started with a piece of 2x2 pine.

Jake,

I made one like yours a while back although I did not paint it. The tail I choose to use is that I poured from a 10" optimum the way you can make it work is to point the lip stright down or (if that does not work)....make the lip wider than the lure. If you want to save yourself effort just take some old plano divders cut the slot in the lure and keep testing it (by cutting the dividers to different widths) in your bath tub till you can get it to run right...I have been doing this by varing the weight I am adding, are you adding weight? Since I dont have space to paint mine my friends is doing some for me know..I am basicly getting a slammer that I can get to run 10 feet if I want.

Taylor, just a month ago you said you just made your 1st wood swimbait? And in the last 2 months you've asked what swimbaits to buy because you've never really fished them. You even said you didn't own anything that was 9" or bigger. Now you're a pro telling me how to make baits?

If you look at the picture, the lip is straight down. No weight is needed. Weight is not going to change the resistance applied to the tail. You also told me to make one with a flat joint? What the hell is that all about? There are only 2 or 3 big wood baits on the market right now, and you said for yourself you've never fished baits that big? Then you went as far as saying you bought 2 12" Slammers. Why buy them if you don't like the action? They don't have flat joints. Make sure you read all of your posts to get your stories straight before you try and tell me something else that makes no sense at all!

Jake,
I was not trying to offend you I made a bunch of woodbaits and tested them out quite a bit I was just making some suggestions that you may like to try. Although I have not made many for LMB I have made quite a few for stripers and had sucess w/ them. The flat joint on this type of bait will give the lure more action. You are right I have not really fished many big woodbaits for LMB since I usally fish in deeper water I am mostly using big plastic swimbaits and trying to get a wood one to get down deeper. You are also right in that you dont need weight but if you do decide to add it you can make your lure swim much deeper just depends of where you want to fish it. Also I bought the slammers to check out how they were made and wanted to see the action on them, the baits that I thought did not have good action were the castaic and rago. Nico ensures me that action on big baits may not be as big as a factor as realism. I have grown more accusom to fishing these big baits for striper that want a bait that really move so I guess that is why I liek a bait that moves a bit more.

Well I finally got the bait wet. And it didn't swim :( I put one of the tails I poured on a Slammer and it didn't swim either. Put a Slammer tail on my bait and it swam perfect. What's the saying 'Don't try and re-invent the wheel"?

It might just need to be longer, but I think it would look funny sticking out there 3 inches :P Back to the drawing board.

Just a theory, your tails are boot shaped "Swimbait style" tails, right? My theory goes along the lines of that you can have a lip or a swimbait tail. If you have both in the same proportions they will cancel each other out. Many of the older big wood baits had a small swimbait tail. The little tails did not take much action away from the plugs because the didn't create enough drag.
Tight lines,
Wade

Thanks Wade. That was pretty much the same response I got from Mattlures. And we all know he makes a good swimbait. ;-) I didn't know that is what would happen. I was just looking for something a little different with a fat, compact appearance.

What was funny, is when I reeled in fast with the boot tail on, the nose of the bait would pull under water. The only thing above the surface was the tail splashing water side to side. It made a pretty good 'fleeing fish' bait. Looked like it was trying to get away.

That actually sounds like it could be a good speed specific bait. Not to versatile, but you might be able to get something to go on it. Maybe you should try throwing it around some agressive Stripers.
Tight lines,
Wade

Jake

Excelent job for your first wood bait. Here are a few of my first wood baits. Looks like good firewood.

Henry

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3165.jpg

Thanks Henry. I don't see anything wrong with those? They just need some finishing and some water :7

I remember the rat you made awhile back. That was nice. I'm guessing the ones in the pic are the trial baits?

Funny thing about wood, you can make five identical baits one will be a money bait three will be good and one will not run well. The stuff in the picture either did not run right, was an experiment, or had something go wrong while building.

I now understand why most people make baits out of plastic. The only thing is the wood out performs plastic. It swings faster and is much noisier. I just have a hard time hitting a home run every time at bat. The baits in the picture are my strikeouts.

I have the slammer style down pretty well, even came up with a new joint system. The rat gave me fits until I stumbled over the secret. Now it is my best bait. Using the right combination of wood I can get them extremely noisy. Also found a way to amplify the noise from a 3/8 steel ball inserted in the bait.

Henry

Please go on! I'm interested in your thoughts on the Rat.
Tight lines,
Wade

That looks great make some more and im sure people will pick tham up.