In those days when hunting was the only available way to catch food, many lakes and rivers became fishing spots. Obviously, the more fish you catch, the better. As humans continually evolved, fishing for food fell into second place and fishing became a sport instead. But one thing still remains true - the bait that catches more fish is truly superior.
Adjusting buoyancy and wobbler play
We hang winding rings and tees on the body of the wobbler. Cut a strip of insulating tape 5 mm wide and 4 mm long. Glue the blade and an approximate weight to it (photo 10).
Glue the tape to the middle tee of the wobbler and lower the wobbler into the water. We watch the behavior of the wobbler and, by changing the weight of the load on the tape, we achieve the desired degree of buoyancy of the wobbler. Don’t forget, subsequent painting of the wobbler will give additional weight and this point must be taken into account.
The load is selected, we install it in the drilled holes, after drying the wobbler, and we perform the final filling of the reinforcement and loading with epoxy glue. Do not seal the slot under the blade. We select the blade and insert it into the body of the wobbler; it should fit tightly into the slot and not fall out.
We lower the wobbler into a bath of water, having previously attached a thin fishing line to it, and drive it; if the game or stability of the move is not satisfactory, we replace the blade or, bending it, change the angle of attack. We got the desired result. We dried the wobbler, glued the blade with epoxy glue, and sanded off the glue deposits on the belly side. Now the wobbler is almost ready for painting.
Material selection
Most often, wood is used for spinners and wobblers. This material is easy to repair, process and has proper buoyancy. For independent production you will need a minimum of tools that are available in any home workshop. Other materials can be used.
Styrofoam
A foam wobbler is used for fishing at the very surface of the water. This is true for places with abundant vegetation. Polystyrene foam has good buoyancy. The factory model requires a minimum depth of up to 20 cm, which can affect the quality of fishing.
Manufacturing recommendations:
- choose foam with the maximum density;
- for external processing use fine-grained sandpaper;
- When installing cutters and blades, special glue is used;
- A small piece of lead is mounted in the middle part for shipping - slight deepening.
The advantages of these baits are that they can be quickly made, repairs are done while fishing. It is enough to pour glue on the damaged part of the structure and wait for final hardening. This is the best pike wobbler for summer fishing.
Tree
The classic bait was originally made of wood, until it was replaced by plastic models. The blank is made from any available piece of wood. For accuracy, you need to use patterns. It is better not to make unhooks for wobblers with your own hands. It is recommended to purchase factory ones to avoid twisting of the fishing line.
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Tips for choosing material and manufacturing:
- The easiest way to make a wobbler is from cork or other soft wood - cedar or pine.
- A complex bait with sound chambers is made from two parts. First, one part is made and a mirror one is made based on its sample.
- An engraver is used for fine work.
Particular attention is paid to glue. It should not dissolve in water, while at the same time giving the connection the required reliability. To repair, you will need to disassemble the bait, which often leads to its breakdown. The solution is to make several similar models for quick replacement when fishing.
The video provides detailed instructions for making wobblers with your own hands:
wobbler blade
Since a large percentage of readers are beginner anglers, it is necessary to say a few words about what the size, shape and direction of the blade affects. The main factor influencing depth, oddly enough, is the direction of the blade relative to the longitudinal axis of the wobbler. The smaller the angle between the longitudinal axis of the blade and the longitudinal axis of the bait, the deeper the wobbler will be. A blade of any size, standing at a right angle to the body of the bait, will not bury the wobbler at all, and even a small blade with a small angle will cause the wobbler to bury itself. The larger the blade, the deeper the wobbler.
Wobbler blade shape
Wide blades make the game more powerful and wide-amplitude. In addition, the width adds depth. A narrow blade is low-amplitude, sometimes it is just a half-rotation around the longitudinal axis of the wobbler, with virtually no “tail play”.
If the attachment is made by the blade, then it is a deep-water wobbler, if the attachment is made by the body of the wobbler, it is a shallow-water bait. That's all the main points. Now let's talk about the important little things.
Let's start again with the materials from which those same blades are made. Either metal (from duralumin to titanium) or plastic, which also has different characteristics. In terms of strength characteristics, metal blades are preferable, but plates made of high-quality plastic are almost as good as them. Metal blades perform best when fishing on rocky, rapids rivers with constant swishing of the bait along the bottom.
Weak plastic easily breaks when fishing on rocky ground, and sometimes it doesn’t hold up on fish either. Deep wobblers, whose blade is made of thin plastic without stiffeners, are especially susceptible to this. These same “ribs” significantly save the blades from breakage.
When in Russia they were just starting to copy branded wobblers, the blades were made, let’s say, “from whatever.” So, in one day of intensive fishing on the path, those baits were worn down by a third on the rocky bottom.
Stiffening ribs are used on both cheap and expensive plastic. The blade in this case is not so heavy compared to a similar blade made simply from thick plastic, but quite durable. The reinforcement of this ring can be either directly on the blade or, passing through it, in the body of the bait.
There are no strength problems with metal blades. Oddly enough, a metal blade is lighter than a plastic one. This creates an additional opportunity for balancing the bait. This especially applies to titanium blades. Steel blades are approximately equal in weight to plastic ones.
Metal blades have one drawback - they increase the apparent size of the bait. Sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's good. It should be noted that some manufacturers specially paint transparent plastic blades to make the wobbler more visible.
Now about the form. The general rule is that the wider the blade, the more powerful and wide-amplitude the bait works. As a rule, narrow blades are used on jerk baits, that is, on wobblers that need to set the game, but they themselves do not play evenly. But there is no clear boundary between “jerk” and “self-playing” wobblers.
A gradual increase in the size (length and width) of the blade adds its own game to the bait. At the same time, any wobbler, even the deepest one with a large blade, can, and sometimes even needs to be driven by jerking.
The general rule for placing wobblers of varying degrees of “own game” is this: the less the bait has its own game, the more frequent and shorter jerks are necessary; jerking wobblers with active play should be done with longer stretches and pauses.
In general, there are quite a few features of blade shapes. Deep baits often have a blade with “wings”, that is, extensions on the sides, which further increases the depth of immersion and the verticality of the bait when retrieved. The latter is quite important when fishing in catchy areas. A wobbler running almost vertically first hits an obstacle with its blade (the hooks are higher), jumps over the obstacle and does not get caught.
There are blades with a spherical notch - this makes the bait work more “elastic”. But this is a controversial point. The spherical depression in the blade gives it additional rigidity and works like a rib.
“Broken” blades are intended mainly for “jet” models. In general, it is quite difficult to understand the physics (hydrodynamics) of the bait’s operation process depending on its shape and the shape of the blade. I do this intuitively and empirically. All the wobblers I met with a broken blade held the stream quite well - hence this conclusion.
The broken blade has one more feature - the bait can work at different horizons depending on the speed of the retrieve. While we are moving slowly, the horizontal part practically does not work and the wobbler goes high. As soon as we start working faster, the wobbler stands up more vertically and the blade starts working, “burying” the bait deeper. This dependence of depth on speed is present on any blade model, but with a broken blade, the change in depth occurs more abruptly. This is good when casting (bypassing obstacles, passing through small pits).
When trolling, problems may arise when turning (a decrease in speed on internal spinning rods and an increase on external ones) and fishing in the current (with and against the current). Although there is a plus here: I reduced the speed a little - the bait began to rise above the unexpected shallows, I increased the speed - I fished the hole.
Sometimes the blade is loaded, which increases the stability of the bait during operation. To do this, shift the overall center of gravity to the mounting ring. In turn, this displacement makes the bait work more “alive”, that is, active. Typically, the load is made in the form of a steel or lead ball mounted in one or another part of the blade.
Very wide, short and vertical blades are used on wobblers that go to the very surface horizons. The wider the shovel in this case (and its width often exceeds the thickness of the bait), the more sweeping the game will be.
This solution is often used on two and three-piece baits. On the other hand, such wobblers become very sensitive to the speed of the retrieve - if you move the bait a little faster than necessary, it begins to turn over. But at an acceptable speed, the work turns out to be active and “persistent”.
Bladeless wobblers stand in a separate group. There are two types. The first group, the most common, is the three-dimensional cicadas (some call them “ratlin”, after the name of such a model from the company Rapala). For them, the role of a blade is played by a platform on the back of the bait. The second group are those wobblers in which the role of the blade is played by the front part of the bait, which has an angular cut. Usually these are near-surface baits with a depth of no more than 1-2 meters.
Another “trick” of the blade is the presence of two fastening rings (loops). This allows you to have “two baits in one”. And I would not say that this is purely a publicity stunt. The wobbler really not only goes deeper to different horizons, but its game also changes significantly. Most often, bladeless wobblers have two attachment points, which are deepened due to an angular cut. We hook such a bait into one loop - the wobbler has a depth of about a meter and has a relatively high-frequency and low-amplitude action. We hook onto another ring - the bait goes deep quite a bit (10-20 centimeters) and plays widely and powerfully. Of these baits, I mainly used Japanese ones. They worked on pike and trout. And quite successfully.
Some companies, of which the Australian Halco is a prominent representative, make replacement blades. That is, the wobbler package contains an additional blade. Replacement is done using a plastic pin. Basically, it's effective. But more than once I have heard about cases of this system breaking down, moreover, in the process of fishing. It can be used for non-trophy fishing, but I wouldn’t risk catching good pike with such a system.
