Spring Clean-up for Lures
Every spring I review the condition of my lures and get them ready for another season of battle. The primary maintenance item is replacing hooks. In my experience, with little exception, dressed tail hooks produce better than undressed hooks. The secondary maintenance item is replacing eyes or adding eyes where none had been. I have come to believe that eyes add great appeal to a lure and so now I not only replace missing eyes, I experiment with adding eyes to old lures that never had them. Here are the methods for dressing hooks and adding eyes that have worked well for me.
Dressing hooks:
I add dressed tail hooks to most of my lures. I am aware that adding a dressed hook can alter the performance of a lure, both in-flight and more importantly in the water. Nevertheless, I find that dressed hooks often produce better than their undressed counter-parts.
With dressed hooks running about $4 a piece, I find it economically rewarding to tie my own. I can tie about 24 in a couple of hours and my material cost is less than a $1 (most of which is the hook). At a savings of $3 per hook, a couple hours of effort is worth over $50. Plus, I like doing it.
Dressing a hook is akin to tying a fly, but I have found that fly-tying techniques don’t stand-up to the rigors of certain toothy fish that shall remain unnamed. I have had a lot of success using two-part epoxy in the dressing of my hooks and the dressing never slips or unties. The hairs may get worn-off or chewed-off, but I accept that in my preferred use of buck-tail.
I use 2-ton epoxy, not because of its strength, but because of its working time. 5-minute epoxy requires mixing for every hook. 2-ton epoxy provides enough working time for three hooks per mix.
I use high-quality hooks – no sense wasting valuable time with dull hooks that will rust or bend. I recommend that you experiment – there are a number of very good hooks available from several manufacturers and I am sure that they will only get better over time.
I use tough thread so that I don’t accidentally break it during construction. The thread weight doesn’t matter much after the hook is finished because the epoxy glue does the majority of the work holding the buck-tail in-place and providing abrasion resistance from teeth, rocks and sand. Use any color you like, red is traditional, but I like to experiment and encourage you to as well.
Prepare several tufts of hair for each hook. I typically use three tufts around the circumference of each hook; three works well for treble hooks and also works well for single hooks. Handling the hair can be difficult; I like to use Scotch tape to hold the tufts together. Working from the tail, I separate a tuft and pull it at a right angle to the skin then fold the tape top over bottom. Keeping the tuft somewhat flat helps to hold all the strands and works well for cutting and later gluing. Use scissors or a razor to cut the base of the tufts away from the tail.
It is important to scuff the shank of the hook just below the eye where you will be gluing so that the buck-tail does not slide down the hook after several uses. I use an emery board – nothing else seems to work quite as well.
Tie about a 20” length of thread to the eye of the hook and cut the spare end so that it does not get in your way. The knot doesn’t really matter, it is only to secure the thread during tying.
Once you have prepared a number of hooks and the corresponding tufts, you are ready to begin tying. In spite of all your preparation, you are likely to find during construction that you need three hands. The fly-tying industry has assorted clamps and vices to hold work in-process. I may buy one some day, but for the time being I use a cheap clamp from Radio Shack that I got for soldering and it works just fine.
Start by mixing a small amount of epoxy and put an initial dab of epoxy on the shank then wrap the thread several times to establish a base.
Apply the first tuft of hair to the base and continue with a couple of wraps. Don’t worry that the tuft covers the eye a little; you will trim it later with a razor.
The second tuft of hair will need a little more epoxy, you can apply it to the shank, but I prefer to apply it to the tuft, about the top ¼”. Lay the tuft on the shank, epoxy down, and wrap a couple more times. You will begin to notice that the epoxy oozes through the hairs as you wrap the thread around – this is good.
Treat the third tuft as the second and wrap in-place.
Now, I appraise the amount of epoxy present on the tufts, as I wrap the thread around, I am looking for the epoxy to work its way up through the wraps as I bring them around. If there isn’t enough, I add a little more.
You can add the epoxy to the construction, but I find it easier to add the epoxy to the thread – about an inch of thread close to the construction. As I take my next wraps, the epoxy should lay down uniformly. If it does not, don’t be afraid to unwrap and re-wrap – just don’t back-up too far.
Once there is sufficient epoxy in-place, wrap, wrap, wrap. I lay the thread down as uniformly as possible – this is mostly for aesthetics. However, it is important to ensure that the hair is secure over about ¼” of the shank. The epoxy should have found its way up and leveled out on top of the wraps, creating a smooth surface. If not, you may want to add a bit more. Finish the wraps with a half-hitch or two. Don’t worry about the extra thread; let it hang, you will cut off in the next step. Hang the hooks so the epoxy can cure for about 90 minutes.
Once the epoxy is no longer tacky to the touch, but soft enough to give under your finger nail, use a strait razor to trim the excess epoxy and top of the hairs away from the eye. Cut away the extra, unwrapped thread. I don’t worry much if I trim away some of the thread wrappings near the eye, again, it is the epoxy that is doing most of the work.
Trimming the excess away often leaves a blunt, rough surface that could catch seaweed or provides a purchase for a tooth to pull at the buck-tail. After trimming all the hooks in the batch, I will mix another small batch of epoxy and dab it around the top of the buck-tail, this seals any gaps, it rounds the bundle and I bring the epoxy into the gap of the eye to further secure the bundle against slippage. Hang the hooks to cure for another 90 minutes.
When you return to your hooks, you may find that the second application of epoxy dripped into the eye or left a bulge or something. Trim any mistakes then let the hooks cure overnight.
The last thing I do is remove the tape from the tufts and trim the length of the buck-tail. I have tested many lengths of buck-tail and find that longer is not always better. I have a theory that the buck-tail acts as a final confirmation/stimulus in the strike. As the predatory fish makes his final appraisal, either bumping the lure or mouthing it, he feels the tickle of the buck-tail which feels like the tail flurry of a bait fish and seals the deal. If the tail is too long, it doesn’t feel natural. I think lure manufacturers lengths are about right and I use their original dressed hooks as a guide for length.
Fish Eyes
Replacing eyes is trivial. I keep an inventory of eyes and select the right size to match the hole. Don’t sweat differences between the replacement eye and the new eye – the fish can’t see both at the same time anyway. The self-stick adhesive on the back of some eyes does not seem to hold the eye for very long. I have had great success with the same 2-Ton epoxy used above and it is handy because I am typically doing both eyes and hooks at the same time.
I have tried two types of eyes, doll eyes from craft stores and holographic eyes from fishing supply centers. Both seem to improve the lure. However, the doll eyes were hollow and did not hold-up well through the season.
Adding eyes is almost as simple as replacing them. I have added eyes to all sorts of plugs and most produce better than their eyeless originals. The only trick is creating a flat, un-painted surface to receive the eye. I use a Forstner drill bit for this (pictured below); it leaves a flat bottom as a gluing surface.
The first step is to decide where to put the eyes and mark the location with a marker. In my experience, precision is not important to the fish. However, if you find yourself showing-off your modifications to other fishermen, they are likely to notice when one eye is higher or lower than the other.
Secure the lure. Put it in a vice and lock it down, especially if you did not remove the hooks. The last thing you want is you hands on a lure with hooks when a drill bit binds and takes the lure around with it.
Next, use a small, standard twist bit to drill a pilot hole. The Forstner bit will travel laterally without a pilot hole to follow. This is especially true in PVC and other plastics.
Next, decide what size eye you want to use (I like big eyes) and select a Forstner bit that is a little bigger than the eye. Hold the drill and bit at 90deg to the lure so that the hole is uniform. After clearing some of the material away, I lift the bit and check the progress. If the material is not clearing uniformly then the bit is on an angle. Make the proper adjustment in angle when you continue. Keep drilling until the hole is a complete circle (as pictured below).
Now you have a flat surface against which you can glue the eye. Drop the eye into the hole to confirm the fit. Take the eye back out and put a small amount of epoxy around the inner edge of the hole. Put the eye back in the hole and press down so that the epoxy squishes-out a little and wraps up the edge of the eye. This is important because you don’t want water (or teeth) getting under the edge of the eye and pulling it away.
If you are modifying a wood lure, be sure that the epoxy seals the wood as well as secures the eye.
On some lures, you can simply stick the self-adhesive eye onto the flat, clear surface. This is the case with the Acme Kastmaster. Unfortunately, the eye doesn’t hold long, but the eyes are cheap and the Kastmaster is still a great producer after the eyes have fallen off.
Experiment and have a great season.