The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

I'm still working on dialing in my jointed wakebait mouse lure, but also started a project to make a walking type mouse lure.

My question is about weighting the lure properly. I want the lure to sit in the water similar to a pencil (think cape cod style canal poppers) weights on the back end makes it sit verticle in the water and slaps on the walk. I don't want the mouse to sit perfectly verticle when it's still, i'd prefer that it sits on a 45 degree angle with the head out of the water. Should i drill my hole on the angle i want the bait to sit (the hole i plan on adding the weight to)? Can anyone give me some tips?

A litle more on the lure. I used a combination of alumiwhite with 50% microballoons to make a shell then filled the inside of the lure with alumifoam. the lure weighs just shy of half ounce and is pretty buoyant.

did the smart thing and just taped on some weights after fully dressing out the lure to make sure it floats right. Got the action down beautifully so it sits with its head pointed up on a 45 degree angle, kind of slaps the water with its chin on the walk. Anyway. Here's the lure, let me know what you guys think?

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj23 ... 538e8a.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj23 ... 5b6cc0.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj23 ... 88b111.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj23 ... 1e6769.jpg

Hopefully can get some testing in this week

Looks like a mouse!
What did you use for his little nose? Is that a weight?

I'm interested to see video and read how the testing went! Nice work again, Rhett!

warpsyrhead

I used a flag pin for maps for the nose just pushed it in (was not easy lol). I just spray painted over it for painting and super glued it in place. the pin is like over an 1" long so it should hold really well (especially with the glue holding it in place and i epoxied over it)

Action on the lure is great. I took some video of it yesterday, but want to redo it. I need to give my lady a little coaching on filming with my camera to get it just right. Top water bite in my neck of the woods has slowed considerably. i'm hoping for a little rain and a few hot days in a row to crank all the bass up and get them shallow for some serious testing.

I have 2 versions of the lure with different weights. One of them has a little extra weight in the butt making it slightly more "Pencil" in action. both versions have a nice slap when it walks. The second version also has a small, but strong magnet so the hook will stays really close to the body and will prevent it from picking up any unwanted submerged veg.

Sounds awesome!! I'm excited to see it in action! Awesome that your lady is willing to help out too!
Is the map pin for form, rather than function? What part of the country is your neck of woods?

My wife's interest in anything to do with fishing went the way of my hair line. I've got a 5 year old son who will do anything to help...except hold the camera - he wants to be the one to catch the fish and/or show off.

Thanks for sharing!
-Brian

The map pin is just for form. I wanted him to have a little nose that i eventually plan on tying some whiskers on to. I figured it would be a pain in the butt to try to get that small sphere to come out in the mold perfectly every time.

I'm from the southside of chicago.

Thanks Brian!

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj23 ... e02efc.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj23 ... c0e7d6.jpg

Well managed a couple fish on the mouse. No monsters yet, but still fun!