oldthunder Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 I have noticed that the final positioning of screw eyes in wooden baits is not always the same. The conventional way of lining up your screw eyes was to position them "vertically" down the centre line of the bait. That is to say that you can look through the screw eye if you held the bait up to look at it. I think that 100% of commerical lure manufacturers position their eyes in this manner. Some guys have given their screw eyes an additional 1/2 twist, so the eye is now "horizontal" with the center line of the bait. My question is....is there any advantage to lure performance or hooking power with the eye positioned horizontally. I'm sure most of you guys would not be doing this if you hadn't experimented with it and found something advantageous. I'd like to hear from both sides of the screw eye issue. Oldthunder EagleLures. Life is too short.....FISH HARD!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjbass Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 The way I look at it is that everything should be aligned in a straight line from the line tie to the rear hook all facing the same way. The lure will perform better with less tweaking. Talking from my experience. Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 If the eye is positioned vertical, it makes any side adjustment (tuning) much easier. On my prototypes I mount the eye horizontal, to enable vertical eye adjustment, you will be amazed at the range of action available by moving the eye up or down. In actual use, the line will always find the centre of the eye when using a split ring or quick release, horizontal or vertical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 It depends on how you want your trebles to ride. I mount the belly hanger "vertically" and the tail hanger horizontally. The horizontal tail hanger lets you choose whether you want the bait to swim with two hook points UP or two hook points DOWN. Two UP may also prevent the tail and belly trebles from tangling if they are too close. Commercial plastic baits are made in halves and are ultrasonically welded so it's more efficient to mount everything "vertically" in the seam. Hooking/holding power should be the same in either case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted August 31, 2007 Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 Another advantage of horizontal tail hangers - you can use a split ring and a single hook on the tail instead of a treble hook if the tail hanger is horizontal. On a small balsa bait, take off both trebles and mount a #1 or #2 Octopus hook, point up, on the tail. This makes a very snag resistant lure for fishing brush and weeds. It hooks fish quite well and you have less worry of getting stuck by a treble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemmy Posted August 31, 2007 Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 Just a thought, If tolerances are close enough, a change one way or another may be enough to prevent the belly and tail hooks from interferring with one another depending on treble orientation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
