BIG M

As one of the bait makers let me say thanks to all who view and leave the all too nice comments.

Mr. Nick these are the easiest crank deep runners out there, I was thinking of you and those old elbows ;D Bob, you are correct about the disadvantage of balsa being the amount of needed ballast weight. I feel the bouyancy and lifeliness of balsa wood makes for a better kicking bait once you make bottom contact. I would love to see these baits in a pool, feeling what the bait is doing on the bottom can only give so much info. I hope my nay-saying friend was just trying to make me think a little harder at the time. I've heard that he builds some mean deep divers from certain exotic hardwoods. He's an old school TU guy.

Line tie position is very important in diving depth and action. Lip shape has a play on diving depth, action, and casting distance. I based my lip off a willow leaf blade. Imho my bait will out cast any on the maket due to the narrow lip helping the bait to ride the air. It also helps that the bait weighes over an 1oz.

Bob, I was told that a balsa crank could not get to 20 feet, just would not happen. Well it did happen and basically because I was to darn stubborn to give up on the idea. Shallow running cranks and deep divers are two totally different animals and take a different approach to build altogether. Rob Cochran was a big help with some of my ideas for this bait.

Those look really good to me.

This particular bait is by the hardest bait to build. Everything has to be perfectly balanced for the bait to perform correctly. I invested well over a yr perfecting this bait but the end result was worth every minute.

Balsa Wood, over 7 inches long, weight is approx 1.5oz. These baits will run 20+ and are pretty easy to crank. The colors are simple but down that deep the colors don't stand out.

Mr. Nick, I hope we can get a couple of more days in later this yr. String, dust off that airbrush and get back to work. The honeymoon is over, it's time to put the artist hat back on.

Those are some nice cranks. I love the clean lines of that style of bait. Great work Bob.

Duolock #2 and personally I feel my baits run better with a snap instead of a split ring.

Good to see you String.

That's just nasty

Ben all the baits look great but the last 2 stand out to me.

I like the top color best, looks like a good golden shinner pattern

I'm surprised ya'll like the rotten pumpkin bait. I was thinking of hitting that one with the torch and starting over.

Take a look at this pic, this is what I would use as a guide to build a jitter bug style of bait. I would not use that style of hook hangers and would have the tail hanger mounted in the tail of the bait. The ballast weight would need to be located in the back 1/2 of the bait inmo so the bait would have a slight tail down attitude in the water. This is the trial error part of the build for me. I would try 3/4 thick pine first and build a semi round bait. Now I will have to order some bibs and give this one a try, thanks I hope there is a little info here to help you get started.

I've never made one but from the looks of the bait it should be too difficult. May take a couple of baits to get the weight position correct so it sits right in the water. Yellow pine would be a good wood for that bait, at least in my mind.

Here are a few more cranks that I just finished. Trying a few new different color patterns this spring.

Jim, that's a cool looking pattern.

Here are a few more baits from my snow days.

Nice work there Cliff

Jim, that's a good looking bait. Looks like you are having fun with the airbrush.

Getting a few baits finished during these snow days.

Marc, both baits look great but no need to do anything else to the bluegill. It's a very clean pattern as is.

Looks good Jim, hope that baits brings some big fish to the boat.