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Yake Bait

New Twist To "Lead Lock Thru Wire" Technique

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I've been optimizing this technique on the past few baits that I have built this winter. This time I twisted the two ends of the wire together before locking them in with lead. Not that it was really necessary, but in case I fall off a cliff, I will use this bait to hook onto the edge and save myself... :lol:

The main wire is 0.062" with 0.051" double ended loops that drop off the main wire. The main tunnel is 1/8". The belly hooks eyes go through 1/4" tunnels that tie in to the main wire. The nose and tail get countersunk with the same 1/4" bit which allows me to draw the wire loops inside the lure. Five minute epoxy keeps everything sealed up and in the proper positoin.

The 0.062" wire is a little tricky to fish through the lead hole and is extremely difficult to cut off once it is twisted into a pair. Need to find a little easier way to do this, but overall I like the way this technique comes together.

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Very nice! Never a worry when your baits are built tough.

Do yourself a huge favor and get a pair of cable cutters like these: http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/119...le-Cutters.htm

Cable cutters will cut wire much easier than any other standard wire cutters or dykes. Cuts hard wire, soft wire no problem. A lot easier on your hands, and the tag end that gets snipped off doesn't go shooting off like a bullet-- it just drops into your hand. Cuts thick wire very easily. 1/8" stainless welding rod? Clip, done! I've been using a small pair of Shimano cable cutters for the past few years, and they make easy work of hard chores. Plus, the wire ends get cut square, with no sharp ends.

Get a pair, and then tell me if if they don't make all of your wire-cutting chores about 1000 times easier.

Good luck, and good fishing!

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Kevin,

Drilling is done on a press. I draw a line on the bait that represents where I want to run the wire and use this to line it up perfectly in the vice. I start with a short 1/8" bit, then switch a 6" bit and run it in as far as it can go. I then flip the bait and realine and run through the other side. Usually you can get both sides to line up but the "lead lock" allows you to be a little off since you are fishign the wire up though the lead hole. The 1/4" holes are done with forstener bits. Last year I did some work with a hand drill and did not have good results so the drill press was my solution.

Sagatious,

I have a few cable cutters but could not get them to cut flush wiht the belly of the bait. Had to use side cutter and grab the other end with pliers and bend off at the nip. Wondering if I need to get a cutting disk for my dremel tool and saw off...

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Yake Bait,

If I can understand you correctly, sometimes you may have problems with the drill bit going off a little bit when it goes through the lead hole. If so, why don't you make the hole for the lead after you drill the head to tail hole? You could make the hole for the lead shorter than needed, then drill the long hole, then continue to drill the lead hole as needed.

On the other hand, I do not understand why you need to have a wire going through the lead. If you epoxy the lead in place, it will stay there for eternity.

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...

Sagatious,

I have a few cable cutters but could not get them to cut flush wiht the belly of the bait. Had to use side cutter and grab the other end with pliers and bend off at the nip. Wondering if I need to get a cutting disk for my dremel tool and saw off...

OK, gotcha now.

If I were to use your thru-wiring technique, I think I'd line up the wires and cut them approx flush before twisting. Then grab both wire ends with needle-nose pliers or small locking pliers and twist. The twisting will, of course, draw the wires down below flush.

I applaud your innovation. Hope this helps, good luck!

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You might be able get a safety wire pliers in the lead hole to get a grip and twist the wire a little easier. They are in heavy use in the aircraft world were you use .030 wire to prevent fasteners from getting loose. Hope this makes the process a little easier.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_13244_13244?cm_ven=Aggregates&cm_cat=Froogle&cm_pla=Froogle&cm_ite=Froogle&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=15646safety

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pete - very sharp work and excellent result. can't help with the wire twist, but some of these pliers look interesting. Just thinking , can you twist the wire first and slide a large 'split shot' down along the wire - do you fill with molten lead or just bogg? pete

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Haz & Sagatious,

The pre cut and dril idea sounds like a good one. Twisting the wire will draw it dowin into the hole making it a non issue.

Question with regards to filling the hole with lead, it is molten to lock the wire in place. The balance is epoxied to get a clean finish.

Rofish - the first hole I drill is the main tunnel, followed by the hook eyes and recessed areas on the nose and tail. Because the baits are longer than the quill travel on my drill press, the drilling operation has to be done in a couple of steps. The key is to do a good job with alignment relative to the bit and once you have it, keep it clamped in the vice until you are ready to flip over and to the other side. I have to do the lead hole last because until the bait is assembled, I'm not sure where it needs to be to make the bait sit level in the water. In hindsight, I haven't done myself any favors making a different shape every time I build a glider because the lead placement cannot be pre-determined. After I test this one in progress as well as my Carp II lure, I have a good blueprints documented so that I can repeat without as much fooling around. Got the idea of documentation from my buddy who homebrews and takes extremely detailed notes about the process.

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If i may ask a question? Yake bait how do you get the eye hooks attached to the main wire that runs from one end of the bait to the other?

I have started to draw this up in my cad software. I'm going to get it CNC cut hear at work. I plan on using your idea here. If you don't mind that is. I can also drill it at work on a Bridgeport. we have up to 12 inch drills here. so i would have the depth without having to drill from both sides.

That is an option for you also. By a longer drill!

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Please feel free to use the idea, that is why I shared it. After drilling the through tunnel from nose to tail using a 1/8" bit, I switch to a 1/4" forstener bit then drill from the belly to the tunnel.

If I had a lathe or a drill press with longer quill travel that is the way I would do it. Longer bits do not help since I have a 12" drill press and they become impossible to get into the work piece and chucked.

On a different thread a great suggestion was offered by Hazmail where a nail is used to reference where your drill bit goes and then you place the pice on the nail and go right through it. I tried it but with an 8" lure I need the stability of a vice and have to get through it from both sides due to 3 1/4" quill travel.

The next step is bending the drop loops shown in the photo. Thread the main wire through and the belly hooks hang off of it. You need to be able to make a tight loop on the internal side to get it to fit in the hole. If there is some interest, I will get some photos the next time I do this and put it up on a tutorial.

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This lure is the fifth one that I built with wire this winter, the first two were built with the loops exposed at the tail which I just gobbed some epoxy around while finishign the lure with D2T. The reason that I started playing with wire this year was after making a series of bucktails, I really enjoy making the loops. The "lead lock" idea was based on hiding the wire wraps on the tail of the lure as you mentioned. Your suggestion of pulling the wire back through is a good one if it weren't for the fact that the wire that I am using is for bucktails and extremely stiff to work with. I think that I might be able to do that with 0.051" if I can get my hands on some longer lengths. Also like the idea of using a longer drill bit.

Appreciate the comments on the hook hangers. Not sure if you remember, the round nosed pliers wire bending photos that you sent me last year helped immensely in getting the hang of working with wire.

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Yes, that stiff wire is probably 316. I would not try to bend it and reopen the loop, because it is so stiff it is more "brittle" (though that is not the right word). If you can locate 308l or 304l that will work better. If you can locate a welding shop, it is highly likley they will have it in either 36" lengths in .035, .051 and .062 in all three types. They may even have 5 lb rolls of the .035. The last time I bought some .051 308l, I paid less than $7/lb in the 36" lengths.

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I have the wire at my house already i ordered it from a company called Master car. It was dirt cheap.

Yake bait i would love to see some pictures on how you do it! Everyone likes pictures!!!!!!! I like the threw wire idea because then you have no worries of the eye screw every coming out! I think it look clean to!

Worst case you could always put the drill inside the bait. Then put it in the drill chuck, so you start with the drill half way inside the bait from the beginning. Then you would have the quill length that your looking for maybe!!! Just and idea! We do that at my shop from time to time.

Thanks

Kyle

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