Lure Ballast Weights- how I add weight to balance my wooden fishing lures
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Please join me for this step-by-step tutorial on how to DIY your own lead weights for handmade fishing lures. As one of the most critical steps in lure making, I walk through the process of ballasting wooden lures as well as resin lures. It doesn’t matter if you’re making poppers, minnows, plugs, crankbaits, swimbaits, glidebaits, GT lures, walk-the-dog lures, wakebaits, topwater lures, jerkbaits, saltwater lures, muskie lures, bass lures, trout lures, or creature lures; they all need ballast to give them the most realistic action.
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Great technique, particularly for precision and fine-tuning.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed watching this video!
The best system I've seen yet
I've spent 3 months and a few hundred on learning all about resin as I design my glidebait. It seems most lure makers fail to explain how detrimental humidity is to PU resin. Even a little humidity makes a lure way off in weight after a casting. Its been frustrating to learn that, but that fact is hugely important. Makes sense why people make lures in batches, cause those baits in a batch should ballast very similar in respects to each other, vs how a different batch ballasts when casted on a day where it was more or less humid.
Sorry to hear about your resin issues. I actually haven't gotten into mass production or batches yet. I do live in a very dry climate, which can't hurt. I did recently learn to microwave my microbaloons to get the moisture out before mixing. Sounds like the more conditions you can control, the more consistent your casts will be. Thanks for sharing and best of luck to you!
Hey, Mike. I've been following you since the beginning and have already adopted most of your "weighting" methods and equipment. But I appreciated this video because it's so clear, to the point, and IMPORTANT. I watch far too many lure-makers on UA-cam-including one of the best-who are are simply guessing at weight amounts and placement. They then painstakingly finish the lure and try casting and retrieving it in a local waterway-only to find that it doesn't swim worth a damn. Ridiculous.
I also see a LOT of lure-makers who are very careless about safety when handling molten lead. As you point out, the burn risk is truly serious and the poisonous fumes are even more so. I have bypassed the whole issue by buying "lead wire" of various diameters on amazon and cutting it into usable lengths using a vise and hacksaw. That said, I still wash my hands thoroughly after handling the lead. Keep up the great work, Chris (in Maine)
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this! The number of people using molten lead inside without ventilation or PPE is shocking.
Thank you very much, I'm glad you found this useful and interesting! I can't claim that all of my lures have worked out, but I try to learn from my mistakes. I like your lead wire idea and honestly have never heard of that before.
You've got to take care of yourself!
This comment got me I did exactly what you're stating above. Now I'm weighing them individually and it's been such a improvement in Baitmaking
I can't understand why you do not have 100k subs. This is one of the top 5 channels in the lure making category. Thanks
Maybe one day! I appreciate your support!
Great content 👍 could you possibly make a lure mold and cast for example 10 lures and show us how different lead placements affect the swimming action in real time, that would be awesome to see 👍👍
Great suggestion! I will add it to the list!
Yeah thats a perfect suggestion. I would like to see a video about this topic, too
I was actually about to look for a vid on this exact thing as I am doing my first all wood crawlers and wanted some lead for ballasts. Thanks brother!
Glad I could help, thanks for watching!
Great video! Gluing the lead under the lure body has an issue though, if the lure body material is clearly less dense than water: When the same amount of lead is stuffed the in drilled holes, it appears heavier due to having less overall volume in the water, compared to the balance testing situation. In most cases the effect is almost unnoticeable, but might ruin the end result if you want to make a perfectly suspending glide bait etc., where details matter. Pike/Musky lures also benefit from compensating the effect of using possible steel leader, which I have done by just hanging a snap and a few inches of leader wire in the nose of the lure, which seems to work ok.
Very true! I mostly use this to get in the ballpark. I will put it in the tank again after I have ballasted and filled the holes to make any fine adjustments. Great tip on the steel leader!
Great instructional video! Really enjoyed it and definitely a great resource for beginners.
Thank you, glad it was helpful!
Awesome share!!!! This is definitely the way to go for ballast test runs!!!!
Thank you, It has worked well for me.
Love the quick recap you did. Can’t wait to see more videos. And your artisanship
Thank you so much!
@@zimmtex your a huge inspiration, I have come a long way in my sketching after watching you.
Great video I've been using my bathroom tub as a tank definitely helpful with weight places
Glad it was helpful!
I use a thin wire to put weight in my mold and pull the wire out w pliers and it saves time w drilling w my resin baits.
Great idea!
You covered a lot of useful information. Thanks
Thank you for watching and commenting, I really appreciate it!
brilliant
Thanks!
Awesome stuff..really enjoyed the video 🍻🎣
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Great video bro
Thanks!
That's very handy. Stops having too drill lead out if there is too much. Do you just glue the weights you tested with?
Not always, but that is the most accurate way for sure. Thanks for stopping by!
can you pls tell me how is called that drill bit? i love your video very helpful
It's called a Forstner bit. Thanks for watching!
👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks!
Your kid(s) will thank you later for making the effort to be safe when making baits. In this way, you're far likelier to dodge serious health issues after years of working with toxic substances. When I watch vids from certain other bait makers, they're young and probably think they're invincible. Sadly, some of the most horrific health issues are slow movers and the effects can take years to present, and by then, it might be too late to reverse the damage.
I agree it is serious and am working towards even more protection. I have several upgrades in the works including a fume exhaust system, water curtain paint booth, and dust collection system. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Ikut nonton sobatku
Thank you!
How can that method be accurate?I mean,when adding weights externally with s.g.,its the weight of the wood+the weights.When drilling the holes,you take some of the initial wood off,so the total weight when putting the metal keds inside can t be the exact same as before...
So this was kinda meant to be a basic intro to ballasting video but you are correct and make an excellent point! If you're making a sinking bait, it really doesn't make any difference. If you're making a floating bait, you should be leaving more than enough 'float' so you are not cutting it close enough to matter. The real trick is making suspending baits. Here you have to plan ahead and account for things like drilled out wood, foil, paint, clearcoat, eyes, etc. So my advice would be to get it to a very slow float in the test tank at this stage. After you've finished the lure, the weight of all that stuff should negate the slow float. At that point you can fine tune with heavier or lighter hooks and split rings. Thanks for you're comment; maybe I should do a more advanced ballasting video sometime!
It is intended to get you close. So the items that have major contribution are identified. Whereas things that are considered to be insignificant can be ignored. It is a matter of diminishing return of your time.
You can also do a rough calculation base on mass and density. However, you can only go so far as you can't account for everything and run into the same issue.
what is the name of that bit you are using
It is a forstner bit.
Pay the man comment
Thanks for watching!