My rapalas are breaking?!?!

[chevtow]

I'm a Taildancer fan and I've had probably 5 do this, always figured it was from the non-stop pounding they take from sheeps. I have hundreds of them and use them all the time, I'm not returning them and just hope for the best. Let me know how Rapala responds to you.

[Ned]

I guess i always assumed that the eyelet was somehow attached to each hook. Maybe by a piece of 30lb leader wire hidden inside each bait.


Shows what i know bout cranks!

[S.Larson]

Originally Posted by Ned

I guess i always assumed that the eyelet was somehow attached to each hook. Maybe by a piece of 30lb leader wire hidden inside each bait.


Shows what i know bout cranks!

In the latest issue of FLW Walley they had an article where they x-rayed many popular lures to see what was inside them,....

I was a bit shocked that most didn't have through wire construction,...

[eriksat1]

If you are afraid of losing fish, do what I did on some of my musky baits. Tie on a small dia. single strand wire leader material from the front line eyelet to the first treble hook hanger. If the lip breaks you are still connected.

[Ned]

Originally Posted by eriksat1

If you are afraid of losing fish, do what I did on some of my musky baits. Tie on a small dia. single strand wire leader material from the front line eyelet to the first treble hook hanger. If the lip breaks you are still connected.

What has been your experience with the wire leader affecting the action of the lure?

[Pezman38]

I called rapala to complain about DT cranks with broken lips and some that pulled out. They didn't care but did apologise. I buy others brands now.

[eriksat1]

Originally Posted by Ned

What has been your experience with the wire leader affecting the action of the lure?

On my musky cranks it had no affect on the action. A 27 lb single strand for small cranks should work it is really thin and easy to bend. I drilled a very small hole through the lip and feed the wire down then run along the belly to the first treble eye. You could epoxy the wire also to the belly so it doesn't move and effect the running of the bait after you tune it with the wire on.

[AllenW]

Maybe we're gonna need a DIY section on making lures stay together?

Maybe eriksat1 has the right idea, we're going to need to add a bit of tieable wire leader to the lip and first hook.

I wonder if that stuff can be soldered?
Just hope it doesn't effect the action too much.

Does seem the bigger a company gets, the worse the product though.

Al

[eriksat1]

There was a magazine article about it by Spence Petros years and years ago in a Fishing Facts magazine, that is where I got the idea. It takes time but it does work, if you have some favorite baits and don't want to lose a big fish.

Originally Posted by Mpower

this is the only forum i post to!

rew- im doing exactly that. my reef runners are seeing a lot more action these days anyway. it just blows because i have $150 worth of taildancers i no longer trust. plus, theyve boated a lot of fish!

I've had a bunch of Reef Runners do the same thing. Had a customer with a huge fish on last year. As I was ready to net it, something shot over my head. When I checked it out, the lip of the RR was attached to the snap, but no bait. Also was done for the day one time, and hooked the back hook of a RR to the eyelet, then gently reeled up the slck. The RR literally broke in half. Couldn'ta been more than a half pound of oressure applied, if that.

I've used thousands of Rapala products of all models. This has been the year of the Husky Jerk on Erie. Many 10+ pound fish boated, and not a problem with a bait.