sinking to floating

[Dell]

anyone got any ideas of turning a sinking hardbody into a floating/suspedning one without changing hooks, split rings etc

[Ben]

drill a hole in it and fill it with pressurized helium before quickly plugging it

[bream miagi]

maybee a small strip of thong/foam glued to the belly??????

dont use it

[Shortlite]

Drill a hole to the weight chamber, remove the biggest weight bearing, and replace with a smaller one, or a glass bead small enough to get in the hole. Rough the edges of the hole with sandpaper and plug the hole with 5 minute epoxy. Babysit it until it is tacky, try to keep the ball out of the epoxy (easier said than done). If you use a smaller steel bearing then a magnet is invaluable: tape on to the opposite side of the lure to hold the bearing away from the glue.

On a lure with a big lead strip like the Tiemco stick minnow, carefully drill to the lead cavity (not through it, and then carefully drill away some lead, or cut it out with a pointed blade. Then fill in the divot with epoxy.

After all mods, you'll need to test the lure with hoooks and rings and fine tune it to get the desired attitude and action. One of these days I am going to take on a Stick minnow and make it into a topwater. They sure look better than the floating version.

[IceManDude]

great ideas shortlite,

where could one get some of this epoxy from? Don't suppose it is a shelf item at bunnings or something?

Sorry for the hijack

[Brad Y]

he means 5 minute araldite mate, its available at supermarkets occasionally! Wont have any trouble finding it at bunnings or similar

[Shortlite]

Yup. 5 minute 2 part epoxy adhesive. Selley's, Araldite, Devcon..... Bunnings, Big Dub, any hardware store.

Also, once the mod is done, try and seal off the area with a couple coats of clear nail lacquer like hard as nails. The idea is to keep water away from the glue until it sets rock solid. Or spend a bit more and get a waterproof epoxy. Some of the newer adhesives used for rod building are great. U40 Quickbond, TM/RodDancer Ultimate 5 minute gel.

[IceManDude]

Getting some on the way home, gunna have a tinker

how did it go ice man?

[don]

Probably easier just to buy a floating lure if that is what you want.
Lure manufactures spend a lot of time getting the sinking/suspending angles right with weights.

[Dell]

Thanks for the tips guys like spiros idea so far. where would I be without use lol

cheers

[IceManDude]

got the stuff, hopefully get a chance to hack one this weekend.

Have to agree with Don and will let you know that these lures are finely tuned "the good ones anyway" and by removing weights etc will muck up the action and also balance of the lure

Hope it doesn't end up in disaster and your left with one stuffed lure

Mark

[nabs]

Im guessing that Dell wouldnt be asking the question if there was a lure available on the market that suited what he was after.

Dell cut up some zipbaits and see how you go.

Cheers