rattle spoons

[jkwildhunting]

Wasn't quite sure where to put this post so since I'll be targeting walleyes I'll drop it here!

I recently had purchased a casting spoon mold.  Poured up a handful for a buddy but got sidetracked and never painted any up. Story of my life Lol!

The poured spoons had been laying around and remembered I had some rattles so I decided to glue the rattles on to the spoon may be a cool feature.  We use rattle spoons on hardwater so why not soft water too!

Curious what y'all think about them I glued a few on "flat surface" and a few on the side. Gothard water there  idea of trying the side as I was at lake of the woods 2 weeks ago and our spoons had the rattles on the side. Talked to a friend about ideas with rattle I mentioned using a dremel tool to cut out some lead in the middle and he mentioned using a drill press.  Course if I went this route I could only go I'm 1/4 of width as there is an wire form in the middle

Any ideas?

 








Thanks
Joe

[Lamar]

  That's interesting.  I do not ice fish. But I do use rattles when the water is muddy to help attract active fish. But never seems to work well with inactive fish like one would think under the ice fish would be.

[ctom]

The next time you cast lead, put some in a tablespoon and drop a rattle in it to see how long it takes to wreck it. You might be able to super glue the rattles right to the wire forms and pour your lead so the rattle is semi-enclosed. The lead in a mold will lose its radical heat fairly fast and the rattles may tolerate it. Never know, eh?

Adding the rattles after casting is probably better done on the back or front, on the side I think offers too much surface to allow them to be knocked off. I'd put them on with epoxy so you can puddle the glue around the rattle a little for more protection. If you are going to powder coat and cure these, add the rattles after the paint has been baked.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

I've used clams rattle blade spoon and the rattle  came off after three day of fishing. I used uv cured epoxy and there has been no problem with rattle coming off. Great idea for the one eye. Only suggestion is to epoxy it on.

[jkwildhunting]

Tom- that is an good idea I may experiment next time I am pouring and see what kind of disaster I can come up!

WW- I should have rephrased "glue" I meant epoxy.  I just used some superglue to get the rattles on then used some BS epoxy and let it sit over night goin to paint some up this week with the airbrush then epoxy them again should be on strong enough but time will tell

Thanks again for the help guys

Joe

[ctom]

That post should read...Put some melted lead in a tablespoon......lol

Some of the glass rattles will stand up to cast temperatures and then the rattle is "in" the casting not on it.

[2XL]

I like Toms idea of gluing a rattle to the wire form before pouring the spoon. I think I would use a metal rattle chamber instead of a glass one just to make sure it didn't melt or crack or pop. I found this video on how to make your own brass rattles on the web. Seems easy enough and a lot less tedious than the dremel or drill press idea. If nothing else, the video has a some good music. I'd bet BKJ has heard it before. Good stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMV2U3ZiVsE

[ctom]

I read somewhere that rattles made using different tube materials had differing sonic tones that mattered to the fish or whether fish heard them better ....glass/plastic vs metal tubes.I don't have any experience with rattles so I can't say but there may be something to the idea.

[Lamar]

  I buy rattles that are in a tin like suitcase. I mold them in my chunks and stick the hook through the hole. I guess you could cut the hole part off and pour it in this bait but I'm thinking the lead would muffle the sound some. I'm not sure who makes them but it's a yellow package with red lettering and they also sell the glass rattles. In plastic it's very loud. I just put a little worm oil on it so I can reuse it later.

[2XL]

Interesting about the fish reaction to different tones. I don't have a ton of experience with rattle jigging spoons save they never lived up to the hype when I used them icefishing. I'm not saying they don't work as some guys swear by them but they never really produced for me. Actually, the best rattling lure I have used through the ice was a rattle trap. LOL Talk about an aggressive rattle sound. I could hear the rattle from a bait I was jigging 15-20 feet below the ice.

Anyways, My thinking  is to come up with a way to end up with a rattle spoon that isn't so bulky. I was thinking there has to be an efficient way to mount a rattle chamber on those spoons that doesn't involve drilling or using a dremel both of which would be tedious , time consuming and wouldn't draw blood if you slipped up. I really like Toms idea of molding a chamber in the spoon right from the get go. The only potential hitch I could see is that you may not be able to fully close the mold before pouring ? Maybe a guy could come up with some sort of insert that you could place in the mold that would leave a depression for a rattle ? There again, I would think that route would become a tedious/time consuming endeavor ? Dunno

I have used three different brands of commercial rattling jigging spoons over the years. One was a stamped sheet metal lure. One had a semi exposed rattle chamber  that looked to be counter sunk then glued or poured into the bait. The other bait had the chamber glued on the back of the lure the same way Joe did his.

[ctom]

Hobby shops sell brass and copper tubing of various sizes for very reasonable prices. Take apart a shotgun shell with shot the size you want and make your own rattles. Make some with conventional lead shot and others with steel or bismuth. A guy can make a lot of rattles for about a $4.00 investment.

I'd cut the ends of the brass tubing to make a semi-pointed end that can be pinched down with pliers to keep the shot in and then give each end a shot of solder to seal it up. A rattle chamber an inch long with three pieces of shot inside will make a lot of noise in the water.