Making Crankbaits

[King Eider]

OK, this is not for Crappies but thought some of you may have had experience with making plugs for bass fishing. Is there a preferred product to use when casting surface lures? Something along the lines of urethane foam. I need something that will float yet be strong enough to hold screws/hooks when fish strike and want to tear the plug apart. I am working on some things like jitterbugs. Any help is greatly appreciated.

["G"]

Basswood is what you need......do a google search and you should be able to find some sources to buy it from.

[skiptomylu]

Basswood is what you need......do a google search and you should be able to find some sources to buy it from.

Agree and all you need is to but some dowels then shape that!

[genec]

basswood is so soft that hooks will pull out unless you drill holes and cement hooks in it ,that is for bass

["G"]

Balsa wood is too soft.....basswood is not, I have made lures for years with it and never had any of the screws that hold the hooks pull out.

[jackie53]

jann's netcraft, lureparts online and lurecraft has balsa and some even have kits hope this helps!!!!!

[snake River]

we have made crank baits years ago out of altar and all the other woods that you could think of of course these were not lightweight insufficient like the big boys make course I was only a kid in high school and I was bound to determine to make something up to catch fish I carved out a huge flat finish it looked terrible but it did catch fish we have made some poppers of course on a broom handle and you use your imagination but they were quite successful is a largemouth bass didn't seem to care what it looks like loads it look good to them they were going to eat it or should I say it might not look good to you but it look good to the fish you could use your imagination on making all kinds of stuff that will work you don't have to have fancy glass eyeballs or even eyeballs at all on them most of my stuff was painted pure black is black was a good color especially in the evening after dark so if you guys are wanting to get into this just let your imagination run wild and course there are a lot of component parts to use in the catalogues out there we will try to make up something one these days and post it I do not have a airbrush anymore to do fancy airbrush jobs most likely these would be black looking stuff but I would deftly like to see some you guys make some stuff up and post it I think this is a good thing to be done and I think it would be very interesting.

[jackie53]

I use to set by a guy in church" MR Presley" when I was a boy he whittled fishing plugs from cedar not in church at his house he would envite me over and showed me his work he was a master whittler. Have sense switched to basswood or balasa.We use to buy the old" CHUGGER REBEL" not the POP R had a different chug or really a spit" not a pop.Still a great bait.Have been making my own or trying to make my own baits ever sense!!!!

[macon123]

For your front and middle hooks, drill a pilot hole in the basswood at an angle slanting back toward the tail end and the eyes crew won't pull out. A thirty degree angle is about right. For a screweye directly in the tail end, use a thin wire to put some epoxy in the pilot hole before putting in the screweye. Basswood works well, balsa often requires an internal wire harness for the nose eye and hooks.... A white cedar has much fewer knots and works exceptionally well for plugs. Making smaller plugs will do well with the crappie.

[quikcarl61]

A very dear friend who has since passed away made his own crankbaits, he use basswood, he would rough them out on the scroll saw, find the middle and saw them in half. After this he installed a wire harness from the front eye to the middle hook all the way to the back hook, then he would epoxy the halves together with a marine grade epoxy, clamp them up to dry, after they were set, he would finish them by hand carving the sanding til he got what he was looking for. Mostly made flat sided but they looked and worked great. Oh after they were carved he would cut the groove and install the lip with the same epoxy. Then he painted them, caught a lot of fish on his baits, miss him dearly.