Thru Wire

[bbf]

I know everyone has their own preference in how they buid baits. I know some like screw eyes and some thru wire. I would like to know is it worth the extra steps to make a thru wire harness or not and is it just personal preference? Is epoxy strong enough to hold a made up screw eye in for the long haul? Just trying to pick yalls brains and see what yalls opinions and thoughts are on the subject.

Lee

[BIG M]

I twist my own hangers and line ties from SS wire and never had a failure. I did a test some yrs ago and it took all of my 270lbs to break the bait in half at the tail section. Now I will say that a thru wire system is by far the strongest way to build a bait but imho it's over kill.

[J Francho]

I'm thinking thru wire on a potentially rotted, well used bait will hold better than screw eyes.

[bbf]

Thanks for your expertise and feed back big m. As well thanks to you j for your input. Anyone else care to chime in???

[jbass]

Like Marty, I make my own screw and tie eyes. Mine are atleast 1 1/4 inches long and epoxied in as well. I have yet to have a failure. I've mounted a bait on an overhead board at the tie eye and held on to the screw eye with a pair of vice grips and neither pulled from the bait.

[BobP]

Thru-wire can't hurt but it's certainly not needed except in some balsa baits. When I use it, it's as much because I want the added rigidity of an epoxy "backbone" throughout the length of a soft balsa bait as it is because I need a better anchor for the hardware and ballast. I also use hand-twisted screw eyes and have never had one pulled out of a balsa bait. Now, would I make a bait out of soft balsa and use 1" store-bought tapered shank screw eyes (glued or not)? Nope. I think you have to consider all the build elements on a crankbait before you decide whether thru-wiring is needed. I've fished non-wired balsa baits that fell apart after 2 hours of fishing. I've fished others for years that are still going strong. In my experience, durability depends more on the type of wire used for the hangers/line tie and the durability of the lure's finish. I favor soft temper stainless wire and epoxy undercoating and topcoating on my balsa baits for that reason.

[jbass]

Poe has made balsa baits with epoxied screw eyes for years, I've never had an eye pull out of those either, but I have broken many diving bills on them. For some reason they just don't hold up.

[BIG M]

jbass, it was my understanding that Poe's cranks are made from white cedar not balsa wood. WEC puts a screw eye in the tail of their baits but they insert a piece of hardwood dowel rod to screw into. I know of other builders that use the same method as

WEC.

[bbf]

Thanks bobp for the insite and expertise. Question for you. You stated if you build a soft balsa w/out thru wire you use epoxy to seal and top coat(correct the statement if I misinterpretted). Would epoxy as seal then DN not be sufficient? Or you prefer epoxy to seal and topcoat for rigidity? Thanks.

[BIG M]

I'm not Bob but can help. If you have soft balsa wood, give the bait a couple of coats of super glue this will make the wood hard as a rock. The seal with epoxy

for a smooth finish to paint on. DN will work just fine for your top coat but you might want to do 2-3 coats of clear. Good question.

[jbass]

jbass, it was my understanding that Poe's cranks are made from white cedar not balsa wood. WEC puts a screw eye in the tail of their baits but they insert a piece of hardwood dowel rod to screw into. I know of other builders that use the same method as

WEC.

my mistake Marty, the one I repaired sure looked like balsa.

[bbf]

Thanks bigm for the reply. Ill give that method a try.

Thanks

Lee

[BobP]

Thanks bobp for the insite and expertise. Question for you. You stated if you build a soft balsa w/out thru wire you use epoxy to seal and top coat(correct the statement if I misinterpretted). Would epoxy as seal then DN not be sufficient? Or you prefer epoxy to seal and topcoat for rigidity? Thanks.

I like DN as well as I like epoxy but I'm not wedded to either and choose depending on the situation. If I was lazy in sanding or undercoating and end up with any rough spots on the painted bait, I'll choose epoxy for a thicker topcoat that will hide the fault. If the bait is as smooth as a boiled egg when painted, I'm likely to dip it in DN instead. Another variable - I can guarantee a faultless topcoat (in terms of the aesthetics) with epoxy. DN is less reliable in that regard. So if in situations where presentation to the fisherman is important (not often for a hobbiest like me), I'm more likely to use epoxy.