Joe Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 I have used cedar and other woods for my baits and they all hold screw eyes tight. I am begining to make a few balsa cranks and topwater baits. The belly hook is set in place with epoxy in the weight. How do others address the line tie and rear hook? I went so far as putting a dowl inside the length of the bait to use as attachment points, but is this really necessary? Can the screw eyes just be epoxied in place and will this be strong enough to hold a fish? Thanks, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lure--Prof Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Joe, with Balsa I like either the dowel or thru wire. I personally favor the dowel because I mostlly do one-off stuff: If I was running alot of duplicates, I might set up a thru-wire jig, plenty of info on that on this site. With the dowel, you can run it in far enough to catch both screw-eyes, and also the line-tie if you're running that style of shallow bait. After all, the only fish you'll ever lose if a screw-eye pulls out will be biggest ones. I know this from experience with early commercial balsa cranks. It is almost a TU credo to overbuild when in doubt. The peace of mind alone is worth it. Epoxy the dowel into the balsa and epoxy the screw-eye into the dowel and have no fear. :!: Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtrs5kprs Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Balsa is soft enough and easy enough to work with that thru wire is the only way to fly. Pulling out is not that much of a problem with screw eyes and balsa (if epoxied well), but one wrong whack on some rip rap or chunk rock and "snap", off goes your hook eye. Not cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coley Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 In my balsa baits (and I just started using all balsa) I use a lip that I install a line tie or a lip that has one in it. I use a cotter pin through an egg or bullet sinker epoxied in for the belly hook. And a 1/4" dowel, 1/2" - 3/4" long, epoxied in the tail for a screweye. Coley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted May 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Thanks Guy's, Coley, I have been doing just what you said for the rear hook hanger and I tried your cotter key and I like the way it works. I am using the lips with line ties attached, so I guess I'm doing it right. What threw me on this, was the D Bait and the use of screw eyes in some applications and no mention was made of putting a dowl in place to attach the screw eye. For the topwater, I'll continue to use the through dowl method to give something to attach to front and back. Thanks, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeeter Posted May 22, 2004 Report Share Posted May 22, 2004 If Craig puts a schematic of a bait on the board then I am completely comfortable that the thing is totally accurate. The reason there was no mention of a dowel rod was because they aren't used. Which also stresses the point that pros and magazines don't always know what they are talking about. Allot of so called great baitmakers don't have it all together either. If you are using the dowel rod then you are making a better constructed bait than the original. This is why most of us started making baits to begin with. We were tired of paying for garbage. There is no big commercial bait maker out there that can build baits as we do because it is too time consuming meaning they cannot maximize their profit making potential. Same with some custom baitmakers also. As with anything you need to do your homework. Skeeter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
