Your Opinion On Buzz Bait Wire

[dlaery]

when casting a buzz bait, you hook the end of the buzz bait wire through the eyelet of the hook. Would the buzz bait wire pull out of the lead if it was not hooked through the eyelet? 

I have made stuff with "figure 8's" aka sinker eyes they are not attached to a hooks and not in the lead very far and I have never heard anyone say that they have pulled out. so, what do you think? 

[reeves]

David,  if you still have the 'J' bend in the wire it will probably hold, but I would be afraid it might straighten and pull out with an angry 5lber shaking on the end of it.  I saw a while back where a Chinese manufacturer that was making twin wire buzz baits for a US company, was unable to get both wire 'J' bends into the eye of the hook, so they cut the 'J' bend off one of the wires and laid it along side the one with the 'J' bend and cast it.  Of course once they were distributed all over the US in stores and customers began fishing them they discovered the wire without the 'J' bend was pulling out.  Don't know if this the reasoning behind your question, but my recommendation is to anchor the wire into the eye of the hook - always.

George

[dlaery]

Your too funny.       

So why   would they cut   the j bend off? 

Can't get nothing by you.

Edited June 6, 2014 by dlaery

[reeves]

They cut the 'J' bend off of one of the wires because they couldn't get both in the eye of the hook.  This was on a two wire buzz bait, like the Beater that Hart produces.  There is a trick to doing it and they couldn't figure it out.  

[Kasilofchrisn]

They cut the 'J' bend off of one of the wires because they couldn't get both in the eye of the hook.  This was on a two wire buzz bait, like the Beater that Hart produces.  There is a trick to doing it and they couldn't figure it out.  

Ok so if you use two wires like the Chinesium jig you describe even if the second did not fit the hook eye why cut the second wire off at the bend?

I mean the J part could still lay beside the other one and the J would still help hold it in the leadhead right?

I believe that is what Diaery was getting at. Just because it didn't fit in the hook eye there was no reason to cut the J part off. My guess is their second wire never had a j bend in it.

I make and use slab jigs all the time in my saltwater fishing. I haven't caught anything big lately but fish up to 50# are quite common for us.

My slab jigs have a ss eye on each side but no hook molded in them. The ss eyes hold just fine on the fish I catch. I am guessing they would easily hold up to fish of 200#+.

Granted these eyes have some bend to them and are not straight. My guess is that as long as the end of your buzzbait wires have some bend in them they should hold up fine wether in the hook eye or not. Granted in the hook eye is most likely the best method.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Kasilofchrisn

[dlaery]

thanks George and Kasilofchrisn. I was able to get both wires in the 5/0 hook but now I have to do this in a 4/0 and didn't think what I did on the 5/0 will work on the 4/0. I haven't had a chance to see if that will work or not and was curious what others had done. 

[JBlaze]

This might work. Just an idea, try making the hook eye larger by opening it up with a center punch. 

John

Edited June 9, 2014 by JBlaze

[dlaery]

Thanks John. that's what we do now. If you hit it a little too hard, it breaks the eyelet off and since this is a 4/0 instead of a 5/0 I am afraid I will break off more of them.

[JBlaze]

I just slowly tap my punch with a tack hammer. It takes several taps but most of the time I get my eyes open without them breaking.

[CNC Molds N Stuff]

Depending on the hook they can be a tempered alloy or a work hardened alloy.  In either case you may be able to anneal the eye to allow it to bend easier.  Some experimentation would be in order, but it might be worth it.  I doubt the hook MFG will tell you, but you can play a bit and figure it out.  Something as simple as clamping them in metal blocks to act as heat sinks should prevent the rest of the hook from annealing.  

[dlaery]

I just slowly tap my punch with a tack hammer. It takes several taps but most of the time I get my eyes open without them breaking.

Most of the time we don't break them but I wonder what if when you hit it at the point of breaking but doesn't, then cast the bait and then it will fail on the big fish.

annealing sounds good, 

I am going to cast some not hooked in the eyelet and do some testing and will let  you know.