markw Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 I want to try to make a few musky jerk baits and top water baits this winter. From what I've read, you should use a through wire contruction for musky and pike baits. Is that correct, or will epoxy hold the screw eyes? If wire is the ticket, I have 2 questions that someone here may have the answer for. 1) what size wire do you use for the through wire? Is it the same as a bucktail - .051? And question 2) what is easiest (and will hold) for the hook hanger on the belly of the bait? I've seen swivels on a small piece of looped wire, a big wire loop, and other goofy contraptions. What works best? Most examples I find in books and internet articles are for bass baits and are either too weak or too small. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickJames Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Well alot of the questions you asked seem to come down to personal preference.IMO. I like to make my lures with .062 thru wire and 100lb+ swivels for the belly. If you making jerkbaits I would use .092 screw eyes they will hold up just fine. I epoxy them into the bait to add strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishThanks Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 We are fortunate to have a lot of local bait makers around lake Saint Clair. Many of them are pros and a quite a few hobby bait makers. I have and fish baits from almost all of them. Some have through wire all the way, some screw eyes only and even one maker uses screw eyes at the line tie and body side of the joint with a hook hanger on the belly and a through wired tail. I have not had a failure on ony of them. I have had screw eyes turn with fish but we turn them back straight and keep on fishing them. I build mine with srew eyes using .072 on the baits under six inches and the eight inch and over I use .092. I use Cedar and Mahogany. Through wired is great but usually requires a two piece bait being split in half. These are usually not a lathe turned bait bait, they are usually made in shapers and custom duplicators. There is a lot of information for through wiring lathe turned baits on a Striper site called surftalk under lure building, much of it is geared towards a different style of bait however a lot of the information crosses over depending on your design. good luck and have fun. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR KNOW IT ALL KIND OF Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 EPOXY WILL HOLD THE SCREW EYES! I caught Grouper with my swimbaits in the OCEAN and they hold up.. 60 feet down on a down riggers.. 25 pound plus grouper.. You freakin line will break before the screw eye will come out.. if you dont believe me tie it up to the bumper of your pickup truck with 50 pound line and then tie other end to your screw eye... have your wife drive off while you hold on for your life and see if your line will break or the screw eye will come out.. if your up for a new extreme sport.. wear a pair of roller skates.. and have her do figure 8's in the driveway... WOOHOO!!!! Most guys do the OVER KILL POST and SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF YOU ON THIS SUBJECT! ITS ALL OVER KILL!!! AND ANYBODY THAT SAYS ANY DIFFERENT CAN ASK MY WIFE HOW LONG I HELD ON TO THAT LURE LAST YEAR BEFORE THE LINE BROKE! ITS A HOMEMADE BAIT SPARKY... now glue your screw eyes in and GO FISH! Dont let it keep you up all night. The Rookie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 You don't even need to glue in the screw eyes if you are putting epoxy over them. Use .092 screw eyes and you won't have any problems. RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwags Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Mark, The Rookie is right. Most guys are building stuff that is way overkill. (LOL Matt, I'm still picturing you doing figure 8's in roller skates holding on for dear life to a fishing rod!!!!) I use .092" by 1.5" stainless eye screws. I mainly fish rivers and I can tell you that when I get snagged, I can drag the 14' flatbottom around the river to whereever I'm snagged- gear, coolers, and fishing buddy included. My lures are made of poplar and maple. If those eye screws were going to pull out, they would have done it by now! jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 I screw eye my musky jerks also, just remeber to predrill first. Some woods will crack or split when you dont predrill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Twisted wire eyes are OK too. After testing, I found that 0.031SS wire starts to distort at around 8 - 10Lbs, but still holds. I found that a plain twist pulled out at around 20Lbs, leaving the glue behind in the body. A barrel twist held 40Lbs for 48 hours before I stopped the test. Pete (Hazmail) put me onto the barrel twist. See post ten of this link http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/hard-baits/16723-balsa-filler-wire-assembly-questions.html for a pic. Keep in mind, fish never load the baits up that much. The only time you test the eyes is when trying to retrieve the lure from a snag. The object is to make the wood the weakest link, it is all about surface area of contact with the wood. In theory the screw eye of the same length will be stronger than a twisted eye, because it has more surface area (in the threads). This is a mute point when you are talking such high loads, as the hooks or line will fail first, as mentioned above. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlander Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 I thought that thru wire was the way to go when I first started building about 5 years ago. Unless you are after the world record, screw eyes will suffice. I am sure that a big ski will give up before the screw eye gives. That 'toxin' (?) that appears in their system during a long struggle will take them down first, and then you try to revive them. So what is better for the fish? Michigan has a new record for the Great Lakes strain, a 50 lber, The fisherman talked of trying to revive it for over an hour, but was unsuccessful. I do not know how long he fought the fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodieb8 Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 as stated. screw eyes do hold well.. damage to lures mainly occurs during netting fish. . do the old pull test with a rod and reel. see how much pull you can achieve. you will be floored on how little Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Ive only seen screw eyes fail fail once with a friend of mines bait. He was lazy when it came to building baits and always took short cuts. First he would only use bass wood then he would never seal his baits. Then he wouldnt predrill for the screw eyes and would have stess fractures down the grain from the screw eyes. Then he dipped his bait for his clear ( one time)and then water would eventually soak in the bait.Bass wood and water really dont mix well ( wood tends to crack) and ole yea he didnt glue his screw eyes either. He was really the worst baitmaker that I know and I tried to help him but he was a know it all type of guy and I was over killing things he said.The screw eyes he used was from the hardware store and the were huge( even for musky baits) This bait that I seen fail wasnt a new bait it was one he used for a while and he broke throwing it up on some rocks( he couldnt cast worth a damn either).Then he had the nerve to say he must of had a bad batch of wood.......Man this guy was an idiot but he was funnier than hell, It always non stop laughing on the water with this guy and made a good time on long days on the water.I miss my ole buddy when he moved to ohio, but he sure redefined the word baitmaker.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diemai Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 @ jamie Just had a good laugh on that story of yours:lol: , reminds me to a certain workmate of mine , .......always talking like a class A engineer , but yet has two left hands ! Years ago he has caused his shift partner to look after psychiatric treatment , as he was constantly messing up the settings of their grinding machines due to his know-better attitude . I really can imagine , that any fishing trip with that buddy of yours never turned out boring:lol: ! greetz , diemai:yay: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markw Posted October 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Thanks for all the great advice! I really appreciate it. I would much rather use screw eyes so I can spend my time learning to design and paint vs. spending it drilling holes (with fingers crossed) hoping that all my wire holes line up! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
