Wire Question??

[justinhill]

I have been building plugs for a while now. I usually use wood screw eyes. so the whole thru wire construction im a noob at. here are some pics of what i have come up with. is there any tips to getting the wire tucked into the body more so there isnt such big gaps between the body?

[Slipknot]

Yes there are tricks to get the loops closer.
You may be able to find a better explanation on the forum but I'll try to give you my short version. Mike Fixter taught me this.
Drill your thru hole a bit larger than usual, 5/32" might be enough but I use 3/16" sometime on large jointed pikies. Form your front loop, slide in front half of plug and mark the wire where you want the loop. Next bend it all the way over 180 degrees as tight as you can, then when you send it thru the plug again the wire will go thru the large swivel and out the end. Once this is done I take an awl and begin to open up the loop. So with the tag ends inside the plug, you now have a tighter loop at the back of the front half of the plug, then you slip your already bent loop for the front of the other part into that loop and proceed.

easy, see?

[jkswimmer]

You are twisting the wire at both ends, only one end needs to be twisted the other needs just a open loop. You can counter sink the hole to get the loop to receed in further.

[justinhill]

Originally Posted by jkswimmer

You are twisting the wire at both ends, only one end needs to be twisted the other needs just a open loop. You can counter sink the hole to get the loop to receed in further.

so you arent twisting the other end just bend it over and slide it in? do you have any pics of this? i think i understand...but what holds the wire from bending back open when you get a fish?

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by justinhill

so you arent twisting the other end just bend it over and slide it in? do you have any pics of this? i think i understand...but what holds the wire from bending back open when you get a fish?

yes bend it over, slide it it, that is why you need a large barrel swivel.

you end up with the normal loop at the front with a tag end doubling into the plug, a fish cannot straighten that out, and you end up with a similar thing at the other end once it is in place and you open up the loop bigger with a tool like an awl. the tag end is in the plug body and a fish can't pull that out.

there are pictures of this someplace on the forum

[justinhill]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

yes bend it over, slide it it, that is why you need a large barrel swivel.

you end up with the normal loop at the front with a tag end doubling into the plug, a fish cannot straighten that out, and you end up with a similar thing at the other end once it is in place and you open up the loop bigger with a tool like an awl. the tag end is in the plug body and a fish can't pull that out.

there are pictures of this someplace on the forum

so do i even need to twist any of it, or could i just 180 bend both ends? do you epoxy the wire in at all?

im using 14ga galvanized wire and some birch wood dowels from home depot its the lightest wood i could find. or is there somthing better?

sorry for so many questions. im off work this week and dont have much time to do this stuff.

[Slipknot]

you don't want to twist it
that way it will open up with a tool

once you do it and relize what we are talking about, you'll get it.

the tag ends go back into the plug atleast an inch, that will take a lot of pressure.

[Slipknot]

I can't quite make out what you have there in the picture. Are you wrapping a loop at the front also?
don't do that
when you buy prebent wire, you get that front loop already there. Look at some and you'll see what I mean

like here
Cape Cod Tackle: Pre-Bent Stainless Wire

[justinhill]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

I can't quite make out what you have there in the picture. Are you wrapping a loop at the front also?
don't do that
when you buy prebent wire, you get that front loop already there. Look at some and you'll see what I mean

like here
Cape Cod Tackle: Pre-Bent Stainless Wire

thats what i thought you were talking about. and i thought of that but i didnt think it would be strong enough. i just bought a 200ft spool of 14guage at home depot. its just galvanized. but im fishing freshwater.

[justinhill]

well i did it. and its stronger than i thought. i put the rear hook on my table and pulled on it. the hook straitened and no damage to the plug.

[justinhill]

took me forever. and only got one thru wired. i think im just going to used wood screws on the rest with those new swivel hooks.

[Slipknot]

looks good

it goes faster now that you are familiar with the process

the tail can be wrapped like normal