RiverSmallieGuy

I actually posted a discussion on here recently, titled Cotter Pins vs Screw Eyes, vs Twist Wires vs Through Wire, and there is a ton of information on that discussion about wire diameter and through wiring.

I am not 100% sure if they sell their wire pre straightened, but there are some good ways to straighten it that I use. If you watch some of the lure making YouTube channels such as Marling Baits, you may have seen him straighten out stainless .041" wire by pulling a 1-2ft long piece, (depends on how big of a lure you're through wiring) bends a loop in one side, and chucks that end in his drill and then he clamps the other end in his vise, or just clamps it to a table or something where it wont slip out. Then he twists it with the drill, and it straightens it out. Let me know your thoughts on this. Braden

I would guess that using stainless snare wire would work, although not ideal, but it would work. What I like to use for through wire and for twisting is WCS .041" stainless wire. Also, are pike or musky present in the waters you fish for bass? That could help you determine what diameter wire you want to use. If pike, musky, or tiger musky are present, you may want to scale up to .041 or .051 rather than .032. The WCS stuff that you can purchase on Amazon come on 1/4 lb rolls and 1 lb rolls, so you can decide how much you want if you just want to try it. I don't know a ton about stainless snare wire, but thats my 2 cents on that topic. JD_mudbug is going to be here pretty quick (I would assume so, he replies to most everything), he knows a lot more than I do haha.. Braden

Makes sense. I have used .041" WCS lock wire and its really good stuff. When you twist it together it's really rigid, but if you don't it's really flexible and user friendly and is great for through wire. I am making a 6" bluegill profile 3-piece out of balsa, so thats why I was asking about through-wire jointed baits, because I was thinking about making it a through wire. Tight lines! Braden

Thank you all! I really appreciate all of the help and the welcomeness that I received when I joined! Braden

Does anybody have a method for through-wiring a 2+ piece swimbait, because I am interested in making balsa wood swimbaits for stability and ease of workability. I have tried thinking about a good way to do this, but I can't figure a maker-friendly way to do this. Any thoughts?

Is there a product number for the product(s) that you are recommending? If not, I'm sure I can still find it, thank you though! Braden

Absolutely! I am going to order 2 or 3 different diameters of stainless wire for some simple lures I am going to make some batches of; 4 inch walking topwaters 2.5 inch poppers small balsa jerkbaits, just stuff that 15 inch river smallmouth can easily and eagerly eat, and I am going to try through wiring them! Cheers! Braden

So other words, I should definitely use epoxy if I decide to use cotter pins, or really any hardware if I want the utmost structural integrity. I was saying 20lbs as though it is a lot because all I fish are bass (and hopefully some tiger musky in the near future!) and that seemed like a lot for a cotter pin super glued in balsa haha. I do not have any 5 minute at the moment, so I guess I'm off to get some tomorrow then, if the icy, snowy roads aren't too terrible. Thank you for all of the great advice! Tight lines! Braden

Alright. I was racking my mind after watching the two videos that you recommended, and I found that an efficient way to increase the structural integrity of my cotter pins would be to use the same technique that you use for your screw eyes, except do it to where I have a cavity around the back of the eyelet, and fill the cavity with super glue and baking soda which also bonds the back of the cotter pin to the pre-drilled cavity. I have pulled and pulled and pulled on them and even in balsa, they wouldn't rip out. I was probably putting upwards of 20lbs of force on them, and they held inside balsa. I will definitely use your guidelines on wire diameter on future builds. Couple more questions, does the tallness of a lure change your decision on wire diameter? Like if your making a 6" minnow profile swimbait what diameter would you use, would you change the diameter if you made a 6" bluegill profile? Last one, does wood density also play into what diameter you use? Thank you! Braden

Thanks man! Yeah, I kinda had that thought about the screw eyes, like if I snagged a big carp on accident, or hooked into a giant river musky or even a big river smallie, that the screw eye could open up and could thus lose the fish. Thats why I have been using cotter pins over screw eyes, I will definitely have to try the epoxying the gap technique. I also really think that the idea of putting a twist wire in at an angle to where you are not just pulling it straight out of the bait, phenomenal advice! What diameter stainless wire are you talking about with your twist wires? Is is .032, .041, .051, or .062? Braden

I am fairly new to lure making, specifically wooden lures, and I am curious as to what is the best option for line ties and hook hangers for wooden lures, be that crankbaits, swimbaits, topwaters etc. Any thoughts on this? I have been using cotter pins a lot and I just wanted to know how they compare to things like twist wires, screw eyes, and through wires. If it helps, I just use standard liquid super glue to adhere the hardware into the body. Braden

I'm new here, but heres what I know about that. I have a question first. How large do you need your stock wood (basswood, balsa, pine) to be? If you need like 1x3x12, 2x2x12, or 3x3x12 inch balsa, which I like using for smaller crankbaits or swimbaits, you can buy that on Hobby Lobby's website, just search "balsa wood" and you'll be good. If you need large stock basswood (like sizes up to 1 1/4"x6"x36"), you can get that on gregdorrance.com. You just gotta search through the menus and find it. You can also get large, very clean pieces of tupelo wood as well. Braden