Line Ties

[bassinhomer]

Can someone please direct me to a thread explaining how to assemble the line tie through the bill of a flatside crank that has a lexan lip? I noticed today while tuning some of my cranks that the devcon clear coat will crack and basicallty be destroyed if the line tie is into the wood on the crankbai and not through the lip, thanx!

[BobP]

Homer, there are a couple of considerations. If you are breaking the epoxy seal around the line tie on a wood bait's nose, you might try using soft temper stainless steel wire for your line tie to avoid that. I use soft temper .040" dia. ss "safety wire" for this and it works great.. Get it from mcmaster.com Similar size soft temper brass wire also works. Both make the crankbait easier to tune. I use the same wire for in-the-lip Lexan lips because it's easier to shape manually than hard stainless wire. There are various styles for in-the-lip line ties and this is just mine:

Use a piece of soft stainless wire 2.5 times as long as the distance from your line tie hole to the back end of the lip. Bend the wire in half over a drill bit clamped in a vise. The bit should be the size you want for the inside diameter of the line tie eye. Clamp the loose ends of the wire in Vise Grip pliers and twist the wire until you get something that looks like a screw eye (hey, it IS a screw eye!). Bend the screw eye just below the eye at a right angle (leave 1/16" of the shank below the eye to pass through 1/16" thick Lexan). Drill a single hole in the lip, just large enough for a friction fit. I drill them a little small and use the screw eye itself to auger out the hole until I can push it through. Pull the right angle wire through the hold with needle nose pliers. The shank of the screw eye should now lay flat along the bottom of the lip with minimal gap. You can glue the assembly "as is" into the bait but I like one more step to make the lip into a stiffer integrated "package" - cut a little slot at the center rear of the Lexan lip and, maintaining tension on the wire, bend it up over the top of the lip, then crimp it down and trim the wire so about 1/8" is left. When cutting the lip slot, remember you have to drill out cavities at the top and bottom center of the slot to accommodate the wire. It's better to make the center cavities a little too large and too wide so you can adjust the lip position in the slot to "perfect". With 1/16" Lexan, I find that a 1/8" drill bit in a Dremel is just the right size to drill the upper and lower cavity in one shot. If you try this lip method with hard stainless steel wire, it will be difficult to do do the bends accurately with hand tools.

Edited March 8, 2010 by BobP

[diemai]

@ bassinhomer

There is an old thread of mine named "new banana lures" , as from post #15 and #41 there are some pictures on a thru-wired deep diving lure with it's line tie located on the lip .

Sorry , that I am unable to paste the link in here straight , .......if I'd try , my computer would break down for some reason and I need to re-start it !

To find that threat , click on my profile and there go to "find topics" underneath my avatar , you'll find that threat listed on page 2 quite a bit down at bottom , ..........or try putting just the term"banana" into the search function .

good luck , diemai