Question For February 22

[jflures]

Some of you may wonder why is he asking these questions? The answer is I may write an article on the art of custom crankbait making or something along these lines. I am trying to gather as much info as possible. So please answer and be as detailed as you would like.

Throughwire vs. Screweyes which do you prefer? And Why?

[Orion]

It depends on what type of fish you're going for IMHO. It also depends on what type of wood you're using. I perfer throughwire, because its always a garunteed strong connection to the wood. Screweyes have a possible chance to be pulled out by a bigun. Just my opinion.

[Spike-A-Pike]

As a fishermen, I prefer a through-wire lure because of the strength it adds to the connection of the lure to the line. I like to fish primarily for Northern Pike and Musky. These fish are very hard hitting fish and can break a lure if it's not constructed to handle the abuse. I would hate to have the next world record Musky on the line and have an screw eye pull loose at a critical moment. A through-wire design is much less likely to be pulled apart even if damaged.

[BobP]

Thru-wire on soft balsa bass baits. Screw eyes just aren't durable for that IMO. Anything else, screw eyes - but only hand wound ss wire screws. They offer more glue surface, are less obtrusive, and make it easy to install split rings without bending them.

[rjbass]

I have to give mho on through wire....unless you are using balsa wood like Bob said, there is no need for through wire baits....I have never in all the Musky we have caught have had one pull a screw eye out or break the bait....and I am talking many muskies and several over 45 lbs. All of our baits are built from cedar or pine with .092 screw eyes epoxied in....so I think it is a matter of preferance...If it makes you feel better or you just like building them that way than do it, but it is really unnecessary.

Rod

[mark poulson]

I use twist wires in epoxy for my wood baits. I use douglas fir, pine, or poplar, which are all strong woods.

For jointed baits, the same.

I think that if I put enough stress on the bait for either the joints, hook hangers, or the eye tie to fail, I don't have the right tackle.

I use 8' heavy action rods, but with a soft enough tip to make casting easier.

Even with 25lb mono, there's enough stretch in my setup to act as a shock absorber.

I horse big bass on swim baits, getting them to the boat and net before they have a chance to use the lure's weight as leverage to throw it. But I've never fished for muskie, so I don't know if that would work for them, or if my baits would hold up to that kind of stress.

I've yet to hook a really big striper on one of my lures, which will, I've been told by all my fishing buddies, be the ultimate test of my lures' strength.