12 inch plus, "BIG KANAKA!" Headed for Maui! By Gaji Lures

[Gaji Lures]

Aloha Everyone!

Wanted to show the 12 inch "BIG KAHUNA" that will be heading to a BD member on Maui. A member PM'd me soon after seeing the 7 inch "Block Heads" that I posted several weeks ago. He wanted one as his Corner Nugget but, wanted a large 12 inch plus sized guy there.

This guy is dressed in the paper that I recieved from a friend in Japan, to experiment with. The glitter is really coarse and rough, giving glitter sparkles at every angle. The belly is a "Bubble Gum" swirly pearl and it has an all red, prism design eye. The midline is a blue that is two turns deeper than an ice blue with multi colored auto flakes. This one also has 4 jet holes and sports a black hat. The length of the head alone is 4 inches and another 2 inches for the skirt stem, cut at 4 levels. The weight in this guy is 1 1/2 lbs.

Hope you like it!

[BahamaLure]

In my experience slant face lures will naturally run with the slant the other way than in your picture, turning the blue 'top' you have over to become the bottom. This is a natural dynamic caused by the water flow and drag on the lure that creates lift and tends to make objects towed behind a boat to come to the surface. I would venture to say that all your lures with the dark cap like the one in the photo will turn over when trolled and so the dark side will become the belly.

Running lures 'upside down' is an often desired way to go as it presents a good dark lure when viewed from below against the bright sky in a silhouette. I am curious if this is what you are doing here or wether you think the lures will pull dark side up, which, in my opinion, they will not.

PS, are you really going to put 4 skirts on that head????

[Patudo]

This is the style that has material cut away along the sides and up to the face hence the name block head. The face thus resembles a square or a rectangle instead of a circle like normal lures. I've seen baits in this style made by Futa and some other Hawaiian makers such as Kekela (spelling?) but never fished with one myself. I do find it hard to visualize how a complex shape like that will work in the water, maybe Gaji could put up a video? That sort of style seems to be an Oahu more than a Kona thing, can anyone tell me if that is true and if so why?

[Gaji Lures]

In my experience slant face lures will naturally run with the slant the other way than in your picture, turning the blue 'top' you have over to become the bottom. This is a natural dynamic caused by the water flow and drag on the lure that creates lift and tends to make objects towed behind a boat to come to the surface. I would venture to say that all your lures with the dark cap like the one in the photo will turn over when trolled and so the dark side will become the belly.

Running lures 'upside down' is an often desired way to go as it presents a good dark lure when viewed from below against the bright sky in a silhouette. I am curious if this is what you are doing here or wether you think the lures will pull dark side up, which, in my opinion, they will not.

PS, are you really going to put 4 skirts on that head????

Aloha Bahamalure!

Thanks for your response!

When venturing out into this whole lure thing 13 years ago, several people interviewed some old time fisherman on their take of all types of lure heads. The "Slant Face" or "Cut Face" as some refer to them was a major topic of discussion. Many of the old timers felt that although the Parkers, the Chee's and Yee's started this lure head running with the long forehead instead of the long jaw, stated that other less notable lure makers in that time were also making these "Slants" with the long jaw. We went with the long jaw and found that the head actually pulls true with what many may refer to as a reverse slant face. I won't get into a debate about which way is the "right" way but, know that through my experience with these long jaws, that they have proven to surface (in this case) black hat up. I would really like to have someone do underwater tracking of these lures but, from our experience and those that have used our lure heads, the effectiveness and customer satisfaction, and what a customer desires in a head in style and size to me, is what counts.

I also do understand your theory of the slants and would like to see someone do underwater footage of both styles being tracked underwater. We are however, not in a financial situation at this time to do this but, it would be very interesting to see if what we are creating by way of the slant face right now, makes that much difference, compared to the success of our customers.

Thanks again!

[Gaji Lures]

This is the style that has material cut away along the sides and up to the face hence the name block head. The face thus resembles a square or a rectangle instead of a circle like normal lures. I've seen baits in this style made by Futa and some other Hawaiian makers such as Kekela (spelling?) but never fished with one myself. I do find it hard to visualize how a complex shape like that will work in the water, maybe Gaji could put up a video? That sort of style seems to be an Oahu more than a Kona thing, can anyone tell me if that is true and if so why?

Patudo, actually the face is not square or round. It is both, as only the top and sides are flat and the bottom still round to provide stabilization to this head.

Not trying to target one specific island, Oahu or Kona. As for Futa and Kekela lures, they are some of the best not only in the Hawaiian Islands but, worldwide too! Getting back to Kona however, you have one of the worlds best lure makers over there. Bomboy Llanes is in my opinion, "The" best lure maker, bar none! His lures have proven effective for not only the weekend warriors but, in tournaments as well!

Patudo, I would love to video this guy underwater!!!! Could you help me fund it?

[BahamaLure]

In order to get a lure to dig instead of surface you need a long lower lip as you put it, some of the early Hawaiian lures had this feature and they swam well at slow bait trolling speeds but had 2 major problems. The lip would easily break off if the lure was not handled carefully or it would break when a fish was caught, also the lures would not preform well at higher trolling speeds due to the downforce created by the extended lip. Todays version of this is the common Rapalla style trolling plugs that dive, like the Braid Marauder too. These modern plugs are towed from the top of the head as well to accentuate the diving action.

A center holed lure such as the one in your photo will not dive, it will roll over and troll 180 degrees from how it is in your hand. You do not need to do video this, just drag it close to the boat and watch. I have made lures that DO troll 'upside down' by heavily keel weighting them and reducing the face angle to lessen their tendency to roll over and come to the surface. Even then, it is not 100%, the lures can still be observed to be trying to roll over upright again. I do not offer the reverse keeled lures for general sale for this reason.

One lure that has overcome this is Tom's magnificent MarlinStar lure range, his lures feature a wider lower lip with sharp edges as opposed to the narrower top of the lure which has a smooth bevel. This allows water to flow smoothly over the top, but delaminates it underneath causing a low pressure area that will keep the lure from rolling back 'up'. His lures are not center holed either, the leader comes in at an angle like the Yap lure of old and as mentioned, like the diving plugs that tow from the top of their heads.

[Gaji Lures]

In order to get a lure to dig instead of surface you need a long lower lip as you put it, some of the early Hawaiian lures had this feature and they swam well at slow bait trolling speeds but had 2 major problems. The lip would easily break off if the lure was not handled carefully or it would break when a fish was caught, also the lures would not preform well at higher trolling speeds due to the downforce created by the extended lip. Todays version of this is the common Rapalla style trolling plugs that dive, like the Braid Marauder too. These modern plugs are towed from the top of the head as well to accentuate the diving action.

A center holed lure such as the one in your photo will not dive, it will roll over and troll 180 degrees from how it is in your hand. You do not need to do video this, just drag it close to the boat and watch. I have made lures that DO troll 'upside down' by heavily keel weighting them and reducing the face angle to lessen their tendency to roll over and come to the surface. Even then, it is not 100%, the lures can still be observed to be trying to roll over upright again. I do not offer the reverse keeled lures for general sale for this reason.

One lure that has overcome this is Tom's magnificent MarlinStar lure range, his lures feature a wider lower lip with sharp edges as opposed to the narrower top of the lure which has a smooth bevel. This allows water to flow smoothly over the top, but delaminates it underneath causing a low pressure area that will keep the lure from rolling back 'up'. His lures are not center holed either, the leader comes in at an angle like the Yap lure of old and as mentioned, like the diving plugs that tow from the top of their heads.

Thanks Bahamalure! But, this one is working well for us and for many that are currently running them at the moment. Thanks for sharing your insight!

[BahamaLure]

My line of questioning does not cast doubt on wether the lures perform or catch fish, in fact I pointed out that dark side down lures are sometimes desired by knowledgeable lure fishermen. I am curious as to wether your photos depict the lure heads as they will be in the water, I was expecting you to either say you agreed with me that they would turn the other way up, or refute my claim and say they stay they way they are in your photos. To my surprise you instead asked Patudo for a research grant apparently to find out, and this would imply that you yourself do not know the answer.....

[Gaji Lures]

My line of questioning does not cast doubt on wether the lures perform or catch fish, in fact I pointed out that dark side down lures are sometimes desired by knowledgeable lure fishermen. I am curious as to wether your photos depict the lure heads as they will be in the water, I was expecting you to either say you agreed with me that they would turn the other way up, or refute my claim and say they stay they way they are in your photos. To my surprise you instead asked Patudo for a research grant apparently to find out, and this would imply that you yourself do not know the answer.....

Thank you BahamaLure once again! But once again, I will stand by our products whole heartedly. We have nothing more to prove with any of our heads and enjoying our great success with not only the Slant Face but, with all of our other products! Mahalo Bruddah for keeping the post alive.

[El Capo]

I do not own this lure, I own a smaller one just like it. It has a dark back as well. I can testify that this lure runs dark side up and surfaces dark side up. It will kick to the side when it hits the surface but does not seem to be rolling over to me. I am just one man and you may not give a **** about my opinion but I am pretty damn sure that this lure does exactly as Allan intended it to.

Bahama lure, I love the look of your lures and can understand why you would question the laws of physics but sometimes you just got to say what the ****.

Patudo, post some photos of what you make please.

Allan you are a true gentleman and a class act as well.

Go ahead give me ****, I am an *******.