Rescued some lures today- accidentally damaged a swimbait. Can it be repaired?

[FishDewd]

So I put in some work this morning with my lure retriever. I'm getting pretty good at it! I primarily went to rescue a 6th sense swim jig I dumbly managed to launch into a tree my last outing. Mission accomplished, got it back! But on the way back I saw more lures that I had missed seeing when going to the spot I lost my lure at. I managed to rescue a spinnerbait, a squarebill crankbait, and a texas rig, while removing about 15 yards of line from a single branch. I basically end up snapping off the entire tree limb and taking it home with lures and lines still attached. Minus some minor bending on the spinnerbait, those came out fine.

 

A bit farther down the bank I saw a thick braid line zig zagging through another tree. I followed it around to the other side when I saw what at first I thought was some sort of shrimp shaped crankbait or swimbait. So I stuck my retriever up there and began to twirl it around the limbs to lock in it. That's when I noticed it was a swimbait! One of the multi-jointed ones, not sure of the brand though. Nice panfish imitation. I managed to free it and proudly brought it to me. The braid was wrapped around my retriever so badly it took a minute to slid up the spiral and get it off. Pocketed it and went on.

 

Later when I got home I was removing the extra lines and all that when I noticed the swimbait suffered damage in the rescue. Somehow the braid had wrapped the bill several times and actually sawed about 3/4 of the way through it. Rest of it was in fine shape though. So I filled the gap with some gorilla glue since the braid had basically melted some of the plastic away and allowed it to set the bill straight as I could get it and fill in the gap. Now waiting for it to fully set overnight so that I can sand it down smooth again. I'm hoping it will be useable once I'm done, but I am not sure. Has anyone ever done this before with a bill on a lure? Will it work or will it run funny?

 

Either way... I got some lures and detangled a lot of lines from trees that may have ended up injuring wildlife. Even got a free gama 3/0 EWG hook and 1/4 weigh that's basically brand new out of the deal from the t-rig. So there's that at least.... I assisted the park by helping to clean up from other angler's mistakes. Almost as fun as actually fishing!

[Munkin]

Were you fishing Black Hills Lake Seneca in Maryland? I find more lures in that lake than I have ever lost. Found not one but two Spro Bbz swimbaits which are like $30 each.

 

Allen

[FishDewd]

Nope just a local park in Friendswood, TX lol. I find quite a bit lures here as well and I've only searched a small portion of it. I need to devote a whole day one of these days. There's another park near to that one that I hear rumors has 4-5 lures stuck in every single tree.

[Bluebasser86]

I'd probably brush a thin coat of epoxy over the gap if it's small enough and just fish it. If it breaks it's not like you're out anything. 

[FishDewd]

Oh it was a pretty large gap. I have it repaired amd sanded already. Not too pretty but it may work. Ill have to test and see. I figured the same thing: doesnt work least it was free lol.

[Falkus]

21 hours ago, Munkin said:

Were you fishing Black Hills Lake Seneca in Maryland? I find more lures in that lake than I have ever lost. Found not one but two Spro Bbz swimbaits which are like $30 each.

 

Allen

I love black Hill ! beautiful lake ...just wish I owned a boat to go there often.