Something wicked in the works

[Smoky buck]

I have been working a hybrid lure for this coming open water season. I have been working with a custom mold maker in the US to design a injection mold for the soft plastic section of this lure

Here is a sneak peek into what I am up to. This is half of a 2 piece injection mold for the tail section of the lure. Now I just need too design the hard body section to match up to it

It’s not what you would call light tackle lol




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[AlbertanGP]

Making your own Otus?

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by AlbertanGP

Making your own Otus?

Nope the peto is a good lure the otus is poorly weighted limiting its use for a curly style tail. I will be going for a level slow fall rather than a nose dive that causes hooks to fowl. The tail design should provide a lot of action with minimal effort

I have two different body designs in mind but both would achieve slightly different results

The twin tails will be horizontal helping create drag on the fall

[58thecat]

Flatten the can, put a slight bend in it, good size treble, toss in water behind the yak, adjust bend to get the right action

Next project please


Interesting to see what you come up with.

[WayneChristie]

Now you got my last brain cells squirming, watched a few vids last night and now I have the bug to try something new this ice season. Just need to find the right round tooit to get started
I cant wait to see how your new creations come out!

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

Now you got my last brain cells squirming, watched a few vids last night and now I have the bug to try something new this ice season. Just need to find the right round tooit to get started
I cant wait to see how your new creations come out!

I have not fished southern Alberta in a long time but miss some of the southern reservoirs and keep threatening to pack up the kayak to head south for a few days.

If I end up in your neck of the woods I will throw you an opportunity to raid something from my personal fishing box

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Nope the peto is a good lure the otus is poorly weighted limiting its use for a curly style tail. I will be going for a level slow fall rather than a nose dive that causes hooks to fowl. The tail design should provide a lot of action with minimal effort

I have two different body designs in mind but both would achieve slightly different results

The twin tails will be horizontal helping create drag on the fall

Glad I’m not the only one that much prefers the Peto to the Otus.

SS

[HL_transplant]

At the lodge I was working at it was pretty well known that curly tail baits just do not produce as well as paddle tail style baits, not just isolated to the peto outfishng the otus, it extended to other baits as well.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by HL_transplant

At the lodge I was working at it was pretty well known that curly tail baits just do not produce as well as paddle tail style baits, not just isolated to the peto outfishng the otus, it extended to other baits as well.

They both have their place and I fish both very successfully. I will be working on a paddle tail in the future but I am starting with the curly tail so to it’s versatility for different applications

The paddle tail is much easier to use and definitely out produces on a straight basic retrieve. It is great lure and has its place where it shines. Swimbaits are always in my box but it’s just another tool

With the curly tail it is used in a much larger variety of lures and a larger variety of actions so I would be very curious on what curly tail lures you are comparing to.

What lodge I may need to I may need to go and test your theory this summer

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by SamSteele

Glad I’m not the only one that much prefers the Peto to the Otus.

SS

I would say the otus is an afterthought once they developed the peto. It’s really the same body a weighted the same with a different tail. The weighting style is good for a paddle tail burned on a steady retrieve giving a good shimmy but that doesn’t transfer over to how a curly tail style lure especially one that relies on the tail as primary action

I own both and done well with the Peto the otus is a flop. It’s not the tail as I can think of great alternatives with curly tails

[coyoteman]

Will you market this lure by spring?I would like to try it,I guide in a 3 million acre camp in northern ontario.Although teaming with walleye and pike,some days can be tough,just like to try something new.

[Smoky buck]

A little update

It was warm enough in the shop to shoot a soft plastic tail to start the design process. Drew up a rough concept and laminated some wood together for carving. I think a perch(can double as whitefish)style body is fitting for the first prototype. Ignore the tail color I just used some scrap leftover plastic for prototyping

The hard body is 6inches and the tail section hanging is around 10.5inches.

I can’t wait to fish this one




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[WayneChristie]

nice. how do you attach the tails to the body?

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

nice. how do you attach the tails to the body?

The hole in the body for indexing the tail will have a pin and corkscrew to hold the tail. May get away with just a corkscrew but will test to see what is needed

Started carving a body and already deviated from original drawing lol

Wife is also bugging for me to make a smaller lighter body version for the tail too

[Smoky buck]

Like I mentioned in my last post the body shape took a detour from the original plan but I think I can get more action out of this one. Roughed out the basic shape today now I just need to cut the fat and make the pieces flow together. I also decided I am going to add a screw in weight system like you will find on some suicks




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[WayneChristie]

thats looking good, cant wait to see how it turns out!

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

thats looking good, cant wait to see how it turns out!

Thanks

For me the magic is in the action and I am going for more than 2 tails kicking

This project has a lot of design time in it. This is something that has been in my note book for about 2years. The tail mold was an 8 month project to get made alone.

So far I am really impressed with how the tail has turned out after shooting the first soft plastic one. The action from the tail part of the lure should be bang on. If I can achieve the action I am going for in the body section this should be a very versatile lure. The principles are all there it’s how much tweaking is needed to make them all work together.

The screw in weight system should give the ability to fish this lure with different actions and different depths

If I don’t get what I am looking for I will design a different body till I get what I am going for

I may need to get someone to help me post a video of the action to do it justice once I am happy with everything

[58thecat]

Now that we got the underwater camera we are finding that those twisty tails seem to get and hold the attention of the pike, eyes and perch more than other lures.
Even when the lure is held still the water has a wee bit of flow which moves those tails slightly enticing a strike.

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Now that we got the underwater camera we are finding that those twisty tails seem to get and hold the attention of the pike, eyes and perch more than other lures.
Even when the lure is held still the water has a wee bit of flow which moves those tails slightly enticing a strike.

I was fishing pike one spring, every one was shoulder checking the spoon I was using. I put an orange double tail on the treble and after that they all hit the hook mouth first. even just letting it sink they hit the tail.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

I was fishing pike one spring, every one was shoulder checking the spoon I was using. I put an orange double tail on the treble and after that they all hit the hook mouth first. even just letting it sink they hit the tail.

Agree 100% - Over the years I have noticed many pike will "run the bait" particularly when retrieved or trolled - they swim up fast, bump to with their heads or body then turn back on it once the bait is "stunned" to eat it.

If you don't drop your rod tip (simulating a falling or rising wounded/stunned bait) they swim away - but if you dip the rod and give them a second they will come back mouth first and inhale it.

If the bait keeps swimming like nothing happened - they swim off.

so .... Any time I'm trolling an we are getting the bang bang "bite" then nothing, I know this is what's happening. Then it's time to pick the rod up and the moment you have the bang bang, dip the rod and give it some slack for a second pass hook up. If I don't get a follow up bite in a second or two, and the boat is still moving forward, I give the bait a couple pumps before the slack comes out of the line completely and sometimes that will trigger a big strike.

Pretty neat behavior - I wonder why they do that - maybe they are not sure what it is? want to "test" the bait? very interesting.

Here's one a friend got last year "pumping" the short strikes and got this nice one to turn back around and commit - was his personal best - nice pike.

[Curtsyneil]

Most predators like to wound there prey first before killing it. So if your trolling and the bait gets bumped definitely open bail and let bait free fall or drop rod tip to create slack line and like other said they will hit it again. If you keep on trolling and your bait keeps swimming away it’s not realistic to them after bumping or wounding your bait. Walleye will bump test as well.

[Smoky buck]

The master for the mold of the front of the bait is finished. I will start the silicone mold tonight so I can start pouring bodies out of resin. Then it will creating a recipe out of resin, micro balloons, and bird shot to achieve the correct fall/angle of decent. Create a corkscrew system to make it easy to replace tails

Trying to locate a good supply of screw in weights to create the interchangeable weight system. This will make it so sink rate/depth can be adjusted by simply screwing in a different weight or running no weight at all.

Some pics of the final profile. The tail is just resting in the index point so it’s not held right in the pics







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[Smoky buck]

First prototype ready for a test swim. Had to order screw in weight system from the US today so I will be waiting for that to arrive as well. Till then it will be perfecting the balance of the lure on the basic shallow setting




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[WayneChristie]

looking good. silly question for ya, does it make any difference if the tails are horizontal or vertical? just curious Ive never used tails that size

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

looking good. silly question for ya, does it make any difference if the tails are horizontal or vertical? just curious Ive never used tails that size

Horizontal slows the fall and they kick more on the fall. There is a few tricks at play with this tail design too. I design it for max length, movement with minimal effort and retaining strength so it doesn’t tear too easily

There is a ton of design time just in that tail alone. It’s a little different than your standard curly tail.

There is a lot at play that goes unseen in this lure and some tricks I won’t give up too easily lol

Still need to tweak the weight placement and buoyancy of the body to get it where I want it. When I am happy with it I will take a clip of the action

[Smoky buck]

Well it’s back to the drawing board on the body design for the twin tail. Once I achieved the correct fall rate it gave the body too much travel on the twitch/jerk causing it to fowl too often. The twin tail just cut through the water too easily for this body design

So I will rethink the body design keeping this in mind

On a positive note my prototype testing has lead to a unplanned development I do like. Realizing I needed to increase the drag to control this body I made a tail switch. I took a large 10inch Kalins grub that is a wide single curly style and cut it down. This tail tamed the prototype body just enough that it now twitches slightly side to side with a light jerk and dives/shoots slightly to the side on a harder jerk. No fowling and a nice slightly nose down slow fall.

I was not planning on it but it appears I did end up with an otus style lure that has the fall angle/rate I prefer and more action on the twitch. It acts more like the savage gear hybrid pike on a straight retrieve

I am going to think it over but I may get another custom CNC mold injection mold similar to the twin tail but with a wide single tail or a wide flame style single tail

I may just test this lure with the cut down grub for the season first.

Pic of the body with the wide single tail



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[Smoky buck]

Oh need to test one more thing I overlooked first

[WayneChristie]

I didnt realize they made tails that big! Fish are going to see/feel that from a long ways off. Looks good, I think it needs a 30 pound pike hanging off the back

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

I didnt realize they made tails that big! Fish are going to see/feel that from a long ways off. Looks good, I think it needs a 30 pound pike hanging off the back

Unfortunately what’s available locally is limited for good size pike gear

I ordered in a few these big kalins grubs from one of the places I by lure parts. They work pretty good rigged with a nail and two trebles even. I will test the large single tail on this body over this open water season and if I like the result I will design my own large vertical single tail similar to the twin tail to fit properly. I know it will work but I want to decide if it’s worth the cost of the custom mold first

Bigger options do exist even but local availability is basically non existent. In North America you basically need to look out east where they are sold for the musky market. The funny thing is in Europe the pike market is bigger baits similar to what is available here for musky.

I don’t know why the North American pike market focuses on smaller baits and many extremely effective lures are overlooked by North American pike fishermen

I did make an adjustment of the tie point location yesterday and it now works with the twin tail. Now I just need the weight system to arrive to see if I am happy or if I need to make some adjustments before making the first finished lure

After the wife tagged along for testing she wants a slightly smaller twin tail so I will be sending an email out to have a mold 2/3’s the size of the twin I am using in this build made

And I still need to get the final tweaks into an 8inch dive & rise jerk bait with an internal rattle. Debating on try to accomplish a new glider design around 7inch before spring too.

2 new hybrid designs, 1 new jerk bait, and 1 new glider are all I am taking on this year. I may tinker a little on a paddle tail for the hybrid baits but not planning on completing that till next year

[Smoky buck]

Hopefully I can get something over 30lbs hanging off this design

Right now I am waiting to see if the wife can get approved for holidays for a musky trip. Unfortunately Covid, work, and deaths in the family have delayed this trip for the past 3 years