TackleTour

I got an email from a buddy who asked if I could make a UL version of a spinbait for trout fishing in the mountain streams of North Carolina. It seems that Duo Realis discontinued the spinbait 60 and now only makes an 80 and 90mm version. I couldn't even find a 60 but I remembered that I had one. I am a jig and spinnerbait guy, I've never made a hard bodied bait before. I took on the challenge because I felt if I was successful, I'd have a hell of a bluegill/bass bait for my own pond on my property in NC and the rivers I fish here in Florida.



How I went about it: I'm not ashamed to admit I made a 1pc mold of the 60 and cut it down to the length I wanted and sanded it to the necessary profile I was looking for. I made both a 1 5/8" and a 2" body.






But with that came the issue of properly weighting it so that it would fall flat horizontally with that sexy little shimmy. I needed to add weight to a solid body, not a bait I could assemble from two halves with spots for the weights molded in place.



I molded about a dozen bodies and then had to experiment with weighting the baits. I needed the bait to do two things........swim straight without wobble and fall perfectly horizontal with that sexy shimy like a Senko. I drilled a series of small holes ahead of and behind the belly hook and filled them with tungsten powder. I got really lucky and pretty much nailed it with the first two baits I made. Next I mocked up a bait with the screws and hardware I would use to complete the bait to test it.







I swam some of the baits in the pool and found that they blew out and rolled if fished too fast. I simply bent the paddles of the lead prop the opposite of the tail prop and this was instantly corrected. The bait fell exactly as I wanted it to and it swam great. I would decide to use Decoy single hook's on the 1 5/8" bait and Gammy trebles on the 2".

At about the time I was knee deep in the project, I read on Tackle Tour that Duo made the Tetra Works mini prop which is a ul version of the Spinbait. Despite the bait being rather difficult to acquire, I managed to get one and here is a comparison photo with the 1 5/8" bait I made.






Here a few smaller ones @ 1/8oz ready for clear coat.




2" baits are about 3/16oz. I was going for small in the sense of length and profile. A slightly heavier bait in moving water or deeper water like the quarry pits I fish could be a good thing.







These are essentially the finished baits in both 2" and 1 5/8".



A couple were also specifically made for deep water.





Here is a family tree of the 90mm,80mm, 60mm and 48mm baits from Duo and a couple of mine.

Very interesting and enjoyable read.

Awesome. Would love to try some of those for White River smallmouth and walleye/sauger. For some reason the Sauger absolutely kill spybaits of any kind. If they discontinued the Spybait 60, can you still get that other small one?

The rumor is that they are bringing the 60 back in 2020. The Tetra Works Perakko mini prop is a JDM only bait and you can find them sporadically on eBay.

Well done
If you don't mind my asking, what was the material used on the initial pour ?

it is a standard polyurethane resin for lure making, similar to alumalite.
I'll send a couple in my Fall surprise pack.
BTW did you get my mssg about the Tiny?

earthworm77 wrote:The rumor is that they are bringing the 60 back in 2020. The Tetra Works Perakko mini prop is a JDM only bait and you can find them sporadically on eBay.

2020??? A bear could kill me fishing streams by then. Someone else needs a small spybait. Haven't caught a fish yet on the STORM version even though it doesn't run so bad.

There is the Tetra Works Perakko but you have to source them.

Wow, great post and even better work on making your own Spinbait 60 replacement, thanks for sharing.

I just ordered a few Duo Spinbait 60's online, really expensive and a pretty long expected delivery time but hopefully worth the wait.

earthworm77 wrote:There is the Tetra Works Perakko but you have to source them.

One of the things I like about the Duo Realis 80 is how it shimmies side to side on the fall.
Were you able to get your smaller spybaits to do that, and, if so, how?

mark poulson wrote:

earthworm77 wrote:There is the Tetra Works Perakko but you have to source them.

One of the things I like about the Duo Realis 80 is how it shimmies side to side on the fall.
Were you able to get your smaller spybaits to do that, and, if so, how?

I was able to duplicate that shimmy. I think the proper keel weighting in combo with the flat belly to rounded baitfish like profile helps in determining how the bait falls. In this case it produces that shimmy.

I still have a solid amount of 60s but am starting to run low on the money colors. The little custom Perakko you made are the coolest thing I've seen in awhile! Did you copy their SW sink rate or mirror the 60's sink rate? If you ever sell any let me know lol.

Top notch work. They look great.

earthworm77 wrote:

mark poulson wrote:

earthworm77 wrote:There is the Tetra Works Perakko but you have to source them.

One of the things I like about the Duo Realis 80 is how it shimmies side to side on the fall.
Were you able to get your smaller spybaits to do that, and, if so, how?

I was able to duplicate that shimmy. I think the proper keel weighting in combo with the flat belly to rounded baitfish like profile helps in determining how the bait falls. In this case it produces that shimmy.

Thanks. I think that shimmy is key for attracting bass on the initial fall.

southpaw619 wrote:I still have a solid amount of 60s but am starting to run low on the money colors. The little custom Perakko you made are the coolest thing I've seen in awhile! Did you copy their SW sink rate or mirror the 60's sink rate? If you ever sell any let me know lol.

The 1 5/8" bait can be made to weigh 1/8oz up to 3/16oz. I think it falls similarly to the Tetra Works Perakko. I didn't purposely try to do that because I felt it would be more of a bait to use in current so I didn't mind it being a little heavier. The 2" bait can be made really heavy. I made a couple up to 1/4oz.