Fishing World

Posts Tagged ‘Lost’

Designing wooden fishing lures is always a compromise. In order to achieve a particular feature in a lure you also have to accept that some other qualities will be lost. Designing wooden lures for fast retrieve/trolling speeds or for fishing where there are strong currents is no exception, so in this article I will go over some of the design features you can use to make wooden fishing lures (other than topwater lures) that work well under these conditions

Fast speeds and strong currents create challenges

So lets have a look at the challenges that face the wooden lure designer when fast trolling/retrieve speeds are required or strong currents hinder our lure fishing.

One of the biggest challenges is that floating/diving style wooden lures tend to ‘blow out’ during fishing under these conditions. That is, they dive and swim well for a few seconds, then they start to roll onto their sides and swim unnaturally, or even come to the surface on their sides, break the surface and then dive back and start the cycle again.

At high speed, many wooden lures create a lot of drag on the rod tip, making it heavy to hold during trolling or very tiring on the arms when casting. In addition, Getting your lures to dive to the required depth is also a challenge, particularly if you are casting across a strong current, such as when you are trout or salmon fishing in a swiftly flowing river.

Smart wooden lure design can overcome many of these challenges

The first step in designing wooden lures specifically for high speed work is to understand that it is the flow of water over the body (and bib) that gives the lure it’s diving and swimming action to start with. The problem comes when you increase the rate at which water flows over the lure, or the direction from which it comes.

Here are some design tips to get you started:

Reduce the size of the bib and make it narrower. Wooden lures intended for faster retrieves or strong currents tend to have fast, tight shimmying actions, rather than strong, wide, pulsing wobbles. Why? Those stronger pulses tend to destabilise the lure at speed, which causes it to ‘blow out’. A tight action gives the lure greater stability at speed. Making the bib long and narrow tightens the action, and reducing its surface area reduces drag on the rod.

Do away with the bib completely, or make it really small. Stickbaits, jerkbaits, swimbaits and some topwater lures don’t have as many challenges as diving lures under these conditions.

Install the bib close to horizontal. This will get the lure to its maximum diving depth faster, which is important when fishing a cross current, as it can be swept past the fish before it gets to the required depth.

Use very buoyant timber and add some weight. I know this seems like a strange thing to say, I mean, why not just use heavier timber? We’ll the trick is in getting the right amount of weight and getting it in the right place – and it’s a very delicate balance. A little weight near about 1/3 back from the head of the lure, near the belly, will act like a mini internal keel that helps keep the lure from blowing out.

Make the lure body slender. When you look down at the lure from above, it should be narrow. The wider the lure the greater the drag it creates and the greater the chances of blow out.

Make the sides of the lure flat. Flat sided wooden lure designs (eg shad style lures) tend to be less prone to blowout because the greater surface area requires greater energy to roll the lure on its side.

Smart fishing techniques improve results, too.

Your fishing results don’t just come down to your ability to make great wooden lures, of course. How effectively you use these lures is of even greater importance. Here are a few additional tips to help you on your way to success:

When fishing across a fast current, cast upstream and past your target, to give your lure a chance to reach maximum diving depth. The lure will have its best action whenit is coming directly across the current, and you’ll need to slow your retrieve once it has been swept downstream.

Use as light a line as possible for cross current casting. Drag on the line will pull your lure out of the zone faster and will reduce its action. Lighter lines minimise drag

Accept that you generally won’t get as deep a dive out of wooden lures made for speed.

When casting upstream in a river you may actually want to use a larger bib and a faster retrieve because the current over the bib is reduced, which reduces diving depth and action.

So there you have it, six tips for making wooden fishing lures that will perform really well on a fast retrieve or in strong currents and four tips for using them to catch fish!