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Yake Bait

Thru Wire Technique

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Need to get my rear in gear this winter and get a few hard baits done. Had some fun with bucktails in December but been pretty lax in January. Ive got two hard baits in the works using a different through wire technique. While I have not had problem with screw eyes, after making some bucktails this year I have enjoyed working with wire. Here is a photo of a new one that I started on before getting sidetracked with the superbowl yesterday. Hoping to get it painted this coming wekend.

I'm planning to epoxy the base of the wire loop into the nose of the bait to keep the orientation and placement of the line tie in place. After tunneling a hole for the through wire, I countersunk a larger hole in the nose to allow the loop base to be epoxied in flush with the nose. Same goes for the belly hook eyes. Also when I melt the lead into the belly, hoping this will further secure the wire. Once all that is complete, I will bend a tail hook eye.

Main through wire is 0.062". Belly hook eyes are 0.051".

No real advantage over what I have done before, just something new to try. Gotta make more excuses to use that drill press that I bought last winter ;)

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It's a little tricky getting the hole through a longer bait. This bait is 9" long.

I started with a standard bit in my drill press and piloted a hole then follow up with a 6" bit. I finish with a 12" bit in my hand drill. By the time you pilot the hole full stroke with your drill press, you pretty much define the path that the bit will take so you dont end up too far off on the other end when you finish with the 12" bit using a hand drill.

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Yake Bait,

I remember a technique I used years ago when I was making my floats out of cork wood. I pressed a sewing needle at one end of the cork, until the needle was more than half into the length of the cork, then I repeated the operation at the other end of the cork, and in 99% of the cases, the second hole would meet the first one. So at boths ends of the cork, the hole was where I wanted it to be.

I think the same technique could be applied to make the hole from one end to another of a crankbait. If you start the through hole at both ends, the possible deviation of the drill bit would be reduced by half.

I presume you make the hole while the crankbait is in the "square" stage, because it is easier that way.

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Rofish,

I actually tried from both ends on a plug that I screwed up on the router :drool:. I ended up a little off on the pilot hole so I used a longer bit from the nose and ended up pretty good all the way through. Everything has to be perfect to get the holes to meet, has to be clamped parallel along the axis in the vice, drill press table has to be perfectly level. The longer the bait is, the more likely you may not connect. A 4" or 6" bait would not likely be a problem.

You are also correct in that I drill the bait while it is still "square". After cutting the bait out of a flat piece of wood, I draw a line along the bait body representing where I want the pilot hole to run. I chuck a 6" bit in the drill press then use this line to align the plug with the bit. I attached a photo of the stencil I used to trace the bait wiht the desired wire line on it.

Drilling is done with progressively longer bits starting with a standard bit on the press, followed by forstener to recess the loops in the tow eye, finally with a 6" bit on the press keeping the bait clamped in the vice on all three steps. Finally, using the 12" bit in a hand drill, run the hole the rest of the way through.

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I saw this on S.Talk a while back.

Get a block of wood, drill it , cut a head off a nail and insert it in the hole, point up (tight fit). Place block of wood on the drill bed, lower the desired drill size down until it is centered with nail - clamp block of wood at this centre - lower drill press bed. Place lure, bottom center on nail - Centre top through wire mark and drill hole through until it meets nail - should get you perfect centre. Sorry about 'centre' but thats how it is in English. pete

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Another method to thru drill on a drill press is this:

Use a piece of plywood as a flat base on top of your drill press table.

Drive a nail from the bottom so the point just sticks up through the top of the plywood (the point of the nail, or screw, will be pointing up toward the chuck of the drill).

You can do this with a dowel center as well.

Then chuck a long bit in the drill and line up the point of the nail so it is exactly in line with the point of the drill bit.

Clamp the plywood to the drill press table and lock everything down so it does not move. Replace the long bit with a regular jobber.

Place the rear end of your bait on the point of the nail and line the bait vertically so you can drill into the nose of the bait.

Drill into the nose. Use a fast drill speed and press slowly (this helps reduce bit wandering). Back out the bit as needed if the spirals clog with wood chips.

Turn the bait over and place the hole you just drilled over the nail, screw or dowel center. Then drill into the tail end of the bait using the same method described above.

Your two holes, if they have not met already should be perfectly in line. If you have a larger bait, you can replace the bit in the press with a longer bit or finish with a longer bit in a hand drill.

There is no need for a vise to hold the bait. I know guys who use this method just holding the bait in the drill press by hand and have never had a problem. If you are more comfortable using a vise or building a jig to hold the bait vertically, by all means do so.

A couple things to keep in mind: Start out with a shorter bit; longer bits tends to wander more easily, if you start with a short bit then you have a MUCH better chance of getting these holes to line up properly; Use a fast RPM on the drill press but drive the bit SLOWLY into the bait; this will help reduce wandering as well; if you can, get ahold of bradpoint bits with the spurs ground off these help in the wandering aspect as well, also the point is defined and easy to locate.This works for off center drilling as well.

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Excellent work Pete, I'd expect no less from you. Now tell me, with that lure being wire through, doesnt it give you a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing what you just built in? I know if done properly, a glued in screw eye is just fine but , side by side, I'll pick the wire through every time!!!

Nice thread,

Douglas

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Spike,

After assembling the bait and epoxying the line tow, bent a wire loop on the back side. I then mixed up a little 5 minute epoxy and work some epoxy into the hole where the wire comes out the back end, then built up a bit around the wire loops. When applying the final coat of epoxy I gobbed a bunch of epoxy on the tail end while the bait was turning to encapsulate the wire loops and make it look like it was part of the body. You can kind of see the wire loops in the ball of epoxy on the tail of the bait in the attached photo.

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Here is the other bait that I mentioned in the original post which was made the same way. I used through wire and my recent experience with bucktails to make somewhat of a hybrid glide bait with a spinner in the body. Hoping to get a clicking and metal interference noise when this spinner rolls through the cutout in the plug while this bait is jerked. Kind of like an underwater pacemaker noise...

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