30 acre bomb hits lure buildoff!

[Watchhiller]

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[aka anglinarcher]

Watchhiller,

He did a great job didn't he. I know that if Larry and Mike do put on a tutorial, it will take quite a bit of work. Lures like this take a lot of time to make, let alone design. For those of us that have tried this, we know why similar lures are so expensive in the retail market. See below:

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/JSJ_Snac ... SJSSB.html ---- same number of joints
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Mattlure ... MLHBS.html --- one less joint

There are other sites dealing with lure making that that have been up running a lot longer, they might give you some inspiration as well. For example, the following site is a translation, and I don't think it is active anymore, but the old data and design information is still in place. This is what the European makers have been doing for some time.

http://www.lurebuilding.nl/indexeng.html

Another site that has been linked to before on this site is the following:

http://www.tacklemaking.com/

There is one additonal site that can help you with design, and I am linking you to an actual experiment thread that may help you out:

http://www.tackleunderground.com/commun ... xperiment/

For general inspiration, the next link can point you to what is commercially available now.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Hard_Bod ... BTHRD.html

Personally, I don't fish much Salt anymore. Perhaps in the near future, but I am land locked at this time. Still, you would be supprised how strong stainless steel cotter pin joints can be. I choose these because I broke, by accident, a River2Sea swimbait, a buddy broke a Storm, and in both cases the connection was so close to the cotter pin on one side and a through pin on the other that it was a no brainer. Still, I have seen that some have tried micro sized piano hinges like used in remote control airplanes, etc. I previously used a screw eye instead of the cotter pin, but still used the through pin. Because I mold the cotter pin inside and because I bend the cotter pins, they are not going to pull out of the plastic, and Alumilite White is not going to break easily. Perhaps the following photo, posted on this site before, will give you a guide to how I do it. This was a copy of the River2Sea S-Waver. I have also tried molding so that the actual plastic forms the joint, and I have seen commercial lures that tried that, but they break if torqued.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o62 ... etails.jpg -- you might want to enlarge th picture to see it better.

I hope that this gets you started and I hope it answers some of your questions. As you can see, 30 acre bluegill was not actually all that original, but it is exceptionally well done and shows just how good homemade lures can be.

WELL DONE!

[Watchhiller]

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[aka anglinarcher]

Watchchiller,

It would be easier if we could communicate via e-mail, but I won't post it in the open and we don't have private message options on this site. I understand why, but I offer an alternate. You can visit and register on Washingtonlakes.com. (fishing reports site) You then can either e-mail me or send me a private message from there. My username is, can you guess, "anglinarcher".

OK, first things first. Is fish 30acre and Watchchiller the same guy? You seem a little over enamored here. OK, jokes aside, let's get serious for a minute.

The sites I gave you have a lot more information then what you saw. They are not well organized so it takes a lot of searching to find what you want, and even then, no one site has it all. The takleunderground site has a lot more than just the experiment I showed you, but you need to search for it.

On the euro site, you need to right click on the picture and save it to your computer. You can then open it with your own jpeg editor and enlarge and clarify the pictures. Still, it is not user friendly for sure.

I think we have a different opinion of what original means. The link to the JSJ shows a lure I have used before. I gave it back to the friend when I found out how much it cost. OUCH! The action is identical to the 30acre gill. I remember looking at the joints, and you can see them somewhat in the link, and I believe it the same that I see on the 30acre. The only way to know for sure is to cut both lures apart, and I won't do that. The size is 6.5" on the JSJ and 7" on the 30acre. 30acre does use an open mouth for the line tie. That is far more then I wanted to get into and was never my point. The judges will need to determine this, not me. I still think the lure swims very well and were it cheaper then the JSJ, I would consider buying it. IF the joints are indeed the same, then I do not see current being a problem for the 30acre.

OK, now for fish versus snake action. The more joints you have, the more snake action you get. The longer the sections you have, the more snake action you get. Still, the converse is also correct, to a point. By adding more joints, but shorter sections, you can get a more fish like action. But, adding too many, or too long................. well let's just say that there is a sweet spot and no two agree on where that is for sure. I agree that the JSJ and 30acre do more fish and less snake then a lot of the multijoint swim bait lures.

OK, can freshwater fish destroy a lure? Yes. Will big blue water destroy bigger lures even faster? Oh Yes. In my humble opinion, for the ultimate blue water multijointed swim bait, you don't want wire, through or not, but at least two pieces of Stainless going from front to back. To make my point, let's go to a fresh water lure again. The Live Pointer swims great, but it uses two stainless wires as a through joint from head to tail. Torque strength sucks and I break so many of them I won't even use the dozen I have in my box. Will sell live pointers cheap! Call me at ......

I have a couple of ideas for the joint, and I don't mind sharing them, but again, we do not have the tools on this site to do it. If you desire to contact me on the Washingtonlakes site, then I can send jpegs and sketches to you. The catch is simple; you need to balance weight, strength, and size, to get what you want. With the quality of lure makers I have seen in the contest, I'll bet several of us could combine and make some super lures. Perhaps you want to take the lead????? Note, my joint would and does handle all fresh water fish in the US, but it is not designed for Blue Water. But then again, I don't expect you would fish for Blue Water giants with a 4" or a 6" swim bait.

OK, back to a lighter side. I too am confused about how some of the lures are doing. How my mermaid can do as well as it is doing really confuses me. That was a joke to satisfy my wife. I thought the write up made that clear. Sure, there is a novelty lure market, especially in Japan, but ...... Careful about the knock off thing, most of what I see, including the 30acre gill, could be considered knock offs. Mr. Ogawa will be the one with the job of determining that. I do not envy his job. I am not sure how accurate the voting thing is when we have contestants voting against each other. LOL

I hope I have clear up a few things here. I do wish we had the tools to share sketches, etc., so we could work on designs together. Lure companies make money, but I just don't see the winner of this contest, no matter how great the lure is, becoming rich. For me, making lures is a hobby, a way of making lures that fit my specific needs, not a way to gain glory or fame or money.

[Watchhiller]

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[hooks40]

The bluegill is the best working lure here and a very nice job on all accounts. The video I watched showed a very detailed product that had great action. As far as innovation, I like the weedless muskie topwater. It's tough to make a "new" lure these days, but a couple of new wrinkles are pretty significant. Well done.