DIY Lure Making
DIY lure making: Lipless Doc BRISBANE
Greg Vinall support@makewoodenlures.com
We’re already three months into our beginners lure making adventure, and so far we’ve made a small crankbait and a small stickbait. If you’ve been following the series and have given these projects a crack, I hope they’ve brought you a ton of luck! This month we’re doing something a little different. In fact, it’s something 90% of wooden lure making enthusiasts never attempt: a lipless crankbait. Lipless cranks are really not that difficult to make
once you know how. They’re super effective too, because they can be fished in a variety of different ways that other hardbody lures can’t. Bigger lipless crankbaits are tops for offshore predators of just about every type, while the medium-sized lures are deadly on everything from threadfin salmon to barra, trout and cod. We’re going to make a fairly small lure that will put you in touch with a pile of bread and butter species. In the estuaries you’ll find the Lipless Doc perfect for bream, estuary perch, trevally and smaller mulloway. Freshwater enthusiasts will find they’re great on bass, trout, redfin, yellowbelly and sooty grunter.
Template: 1 Square = 1cm
FISHING WITH THE LIPLESS DOC There are so many ways to fish lipless crankbaits, you could easily fill a book on the subject. Just one of the many things I love about them is that they can handle heavier hooks and rings than other crankbait styles without killing off the action. That makes them great for hauling tough fish out of heavy cover. The Lipless Doc is a sinking lure, so it can be counted down to a particular depth and then ‘yo-yoed’ back. To do this, jerk the rod tip sharply upwards, then drop the tip slowly and let the lure sink back. All the while, crank just fast enough to keep the slack out of the line. This technique can keep your
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lure in close proximity to the bottom structure, or the top of a weedbed or thermocline. Don’t allow too much slack to form in the line on the drop… that’s often when the fish will take the lure! If you’re fishing from a boat, a good strategy is to sink your lure alongside submerged trees, then work it almost vertically in a series of short jerks, or yo-yo it around the base of the tree. The action is much the same as vertical jigging and can be deadly on yellowbelly and bass in particular. MAKING THE LIPLESS DOC For simplicity, the materials and tools we’ll use to make our Lipless Doc are much the same as for our
TOOLS AND MATERIALS Tools Utility knife, battery drill and bits, hacksaw, pliers. Materials • 12.5mm x 75mm balsa plank • 1-1.2mm stainless steel wire • 120 and 240 grit sand paper • 240 grit wet sanding paper • Epoxy adhesive (with syringes and mixing sticks) • Ball sinkers (size 00) • Methylated spirits previous two projects. The main differences are in the design – the classic lipless crank body shape is with tow point located on top of the head with internal weighting. PAINTING AND CLEAR COATING For the painting step, I’ll be turning to my trusty airbrush again, as you’ll see in the tutorial at makewoodenlures.com/ fishing-monthly/. But as I’ve said previously, there is no
problem whatsoever with a hand-brushed or aerosol can finish. Fish don’t mind at all! If you’d like to take your lure painting to the next level, you could sign up for my free airbrushing course at crazylureart.com/free-lurepainting-lessons-register/. My ebook Getting Started In Custom Painted Crankbaits is available on my website at makewoodenlures. com/product/custom-lurepainting-ebook/.
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Cut out the template, and trace the side profile onto your balsa wood. Separate the blanks by slicing between them with a utility knife. Pare away the bulk of the waste, getting to within 1-2mm of the side profile you marked out. Keep the cuts as vertical as possible – the squarer the wood is in cross section, the better. 2
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Using your square and curved sanding blocks on a flat surface, sand the blanks down to the side profile line. The resulting blanks should be perfectly square in cross section.
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Centre the top template on the blank and transfer the shape using a pencil. Then slice away the bulk of the waste with a utility knife, as you did for the side profile. Once again use a sanding block to square the blank and refine the shape. 82
Mark a centre line on the narrow edges, then place your side template on the blank and mark the location of the tow point, hook hangers and weights. Notice the weights are well forward and the towpoint is on top of the lure, not on the nose. Use a pointy object like the tip of a pen to make a small divot where each hardware item will go and drill the holes for the eyelets using a 1.5mm drill bit.
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Mark centre lines on all the long sides of your blank, then mark carving guidelines. The guidelines are basically half way between the edge of the wood and the centre line you just drew. The exception is the area at the top front of the lure, where we want a small flat area to give the lure some action. We won’t be carving away any wood in this area, so you don’t need to draw carving guidelines.
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Then drill 4mm holes for the weights using a brad point bit. Then move then drill bit back and forth to join the holes and make a long channel along the chin of the lure. You’ll find that a lot of wood is removed in this process. This leaves the blank quite weak, so work gently until the weights are glued in and the lure is strengthened by the epoxy. 7
Remove the waste between the guidelines using your knife. It’s easier to get this right if you take lots of light cuts and work with the grain. If you find the blade ‘digging in’ it’s time to turn the blank around and carve the opposite direction. Once you’re done, gently sand with 120 grit paper to refine the shape.