# new to group and first crankbaits



## pizza (Apr 4, 2008)

I've been lurking for a few months and figured it was time to join since I finally finished my first crankbaits. I've really enjoyed reading this forum -there are a lot of extremely knowledgeable folks and the artistry and craftmenship is amazing. Like many of you, the bug has bitten me hard and have included pics of my first handmade cranks. I used super glue to install hook hangers, lips, and also seal the wood. Then I rattle canned and sealed with Devcon 2 ton epoxy and glitter. For the belly weights I used small split shots or ball bearings. I started with flatside blanks I ordered and the other lure was made from cedar. Its a cross bw a thornwood hawgnose and a poes(both shown for reference). I just sanded and put the first coat of paint on it. For the 3 others, my paint job is a kind of "Bandit Mistake" color. It is purplish/lavender on one side and more grey/silver on the other. The three flatsides have been curing for 4 days now, I'll probably try them out this weekend, can't wait!


----------



## Bester (Dec 29, 2007)

welcome and nice job on your baits.


----------



## TIGGER (Jan 17, 2006)

Pizza welcome to the madness!!!!!!!!! LOL

Those look fantastic! Those are going to get hammered! I love the glitter on those babies. Good luck this weekend. I think the weather is going to be great! Let us know how they worked
John


----------



## pizza (Apr 4, 2008)

Thanks for the welcome. I just tested them at the park of roses casting pond. For the most part I am quite pleased. The one that has the shape most like a shiner is a very very slower sinker (could even fish like a jerkbait)- it swims straight and has good action. The other two both swim straight and are slow rising floaters but they want to tend to "corkscrew counterclockwise" and thus their right side tends to point upwards more than the left side. I may still be able to get in complete cast and retrieves without it completely doing a 360 spin, not sure as I was only testing for small distances since the pond was full of weeds. They both swam straight though. What impressed me most was despite their fairly small size and lips, all three had produced a good thump and had a good wobble. Just need to see what can be done with the two to fine tune them to prevent them from wanting to slightly twist. I'll start by filing a little bit off the lower left corner of the lip off. Any ideas? Problem doesn't appear to be major but I was only testing over about a 15 foot distance.


----------



## bassinjody (Aug 25, 2005)

welcome to our addiction. your cranks looks great,it could be a number of things about your cranks it could be a weight, lip angle or line tie ,ill let all these pro builders give u the right advice.


----------



## pizza (Apr 4, 2008)

I originally used smaller and lighter split rings for the hooks. For the 2 that I'm trying to tune I've added larger and heavier gauge split rings to the hook hangers. I also upsized the front hook on the bigger of the two from a size 6 to a size 4. Hopefully the added weight of the larger split rings and hook will solve the problem. Otherwise I think I need to file off part of the upper left region of the lip, near where it meets the body, to solve my problem. Before I file the lip I'll test to see if these changes solved the problem


----------



## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Pizza, welcome to the motley crew.

I think the two that are giving you problems are the ones with the longer lips. Is that correct? 

(Don't file the lips till we hash this out a bit).


----------



## fugarwi7 (Sep 20, 2006)

Hey pizza...welcome to the site and the madness...you can expect a lot of help from the pros on here...they seem to have an answer for just about any question you can think of, so ask away...it appears as if your research paid you well...the first round of cranks look good!


----------



## pizza (Apr 4, 2008)

got out and fished a couple ponds yesterday. Caught my first (and only) fish of the day on one of my handmades! A 14" largemouth. I saw it hit it about 8' from the bank (the third time it hit it). The larger split rings and larger hook on the one helped the problem. I can cast as far as I want and retrieve as fast as I ever would while fishing with the 2 lures that needed tuning without them twisting in circles. Both run straight but they run what appears to be about 10-15 degrees off axis (ie off of vertical when looking head on to the lure)so that their right side points up more. I've filed a little from the left side of the lip of both and will be testing them out later today. This is kinda addictive....

7/11/08
I sanded off the paint and foiled one of the first three. My first attemt at gills was not too successful. I used a marks a lot red permanent marker on the foil and coated with etex. The etex caused the red to bleed all over the place.


----------

