# Through-Wiring Tutorial...



## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Here's one of the ways to "through-wire"...it isn't the only way and it isn't my idea. I learned this on another website.

Start by clamping a board to the platform of your drill press. Drill a hole in the board and then place a nail in the board so that the point sticks up through the board. 

Carefully place the board with the nail so that it lines up perfectly with the drill bit tip and clamp it down firmly like this:









Take the bait and make small dents as pilot holes in the nose and the tail where you want the wire to run through the bait. Place the nose on the nail and align the drill bit in the pilot hole on the tail:









*Drill just over halfway through the bait. Before you drill, make a mark on the drill bit so that you can tell how far you've drilled through.*









Now repeat the process with the tail on the nail...









Then drill a hole for the belly hook, making sure that it is drill only deep enough to hit the hole you've already drilled. This belly hole will have to be a bit bigger (use a slightly larger drill bit), because you'll have to be able to insert the wire with two twisted loops on it (see below). The twisting and the loops are a bit fatter than just the plain wire. Note the belly hole in the picture above...see how its a bit bigger to accommodate the belly wire?

Here's how the installation is laid out when you're done:









Plunge some Devcon 2 ton epoxy in the holes and install the two pieces of wire. Be careful to keep the Devcon out of the lip slot. Just put a drop or two in the hole where the wire loop will be seated in the nose... put the rest of the epoxy in from the tail hole and the belly hole.

When the epoxy hardens (a minimum of four hours, be patient), you now clamp the nose line tie in a vice and make the twist for the tail hook. I'll post pictures that later... via an edit to this post.

This method works well for a bait that has the line tie on the nose (as opposed to having the line tie attached to the lip on a diving crank bait). By doing it this way you don't have to start by cutting the bait lengthwise to sandwich the wire between the two halves of the bait. I feel that by avoiding cutting the bait in half, you retain a bit more structural integrity. As I say, this works for the baits with a shorter lip and the line tie on the nose.

Note that the wire will actually run through the lip slot&#8230;not a big deal&#8230;just cut a slot in the lip to allow the lip to slide around the wire that is exposed in the lip slot.

As you can see, I have a 6 inch drill bit. These are available through a variety of places on the net. Grizzly carries them too. You can still do this with standard length drill bits as long as your bait isn't too long.


Any questions, just fire away.


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## fugarwi7 (Sep 20, 2006)

Nice tutorial Vince...I will print this and add it to my notes...I need to get a drill press, band saw and table saw so I dont have to do these things with hand tools and can then implement some of the techniques you guys are using to get better precision with each bait!


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Thanks, Brian. That drill press is one of those tools that makes you wonder how you ever got by without it.

By the way, when you make the wire wraps to form the line tie and hook hangers, you can get a nice tight clean wrap, if you simply bend the tag end back end forth after you're done wrapping the wire around itself. Bend the tag end back and forth a few times and the tag will snap off near the main shaft of the wire, giving you a nice tidy package that will fit into the bait will a little coaxing.

I use a small pair of vice grips to hold the tag end as I bend it side to side till it snaps off. Using the vice grips allows you to work with a smaller tag end and waste less stainless wire.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

silly question??? how do you get the wire /loop to drop south thru the belly hole?


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## hazmail (Oct 26, 2007)

Vince - where did you do the photos, looks like the local hardware store, pristine, dust free, thats my dream workshop.
Nice tutorial though, so simple, and you are right about the drill press, for accuracy, you can't beat them .pete


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Thanks, Pete, although the basement workshop is actually a very scary place. Lol, its not neat, its not organized, and its a far cry from dust free, but as long as I know where everything is, I'm okay...at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Freyedknot, excellent question. You put the belly wire up through the hole, then push the long wire through the nose, through the upper loop on the belly wire, and the proceed to push the long wire all the way back through the tail.

In other words, the long wire catches the loop in that short belly wire/hanger as you push it through the bait. If that doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll explain it another way. The deal is that you put the short wire into the bait first, then the long wire goes through it. 

The picture I posted shows them connected as they are inside the bait, when you're done.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

thanx, i thaught they were attached b4 somehow.


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## walleyevision (Aug 4, 2005)

Sweet VC! Thanks for sharing. The guy that makes the Amma Bamma baits explained to me how he did it at the Ohio Musky show and I could not remember everything but this way looks much simpler.


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## TIGGER (Jan 17, 2006)

That is slick Vince! Great tutorial!


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## peple of the perch (Sep 13, 2004)

Very nice.

Edit: Nevermind


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## bassinjody (Aug 25, 2005)

where can u buy a drill bit that long.


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## Rowhunter (Jun 21, 2007)

Nice tutorial Vince, I never remember to take photo's. I have just one question though. Where is the idea of cutting a lure in half comming from?

Douglas


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## rjbass (Aug 1, 2007)

bassinjody,

Try here for the bits...

http://www.specialtytoolsusa.com/store/listCategoryAsOptions.asp?idCategory=652

Rod


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Douglas, I was talking about how the other method requires that you start with two pieces of wood of equal thickness, install dowels, cut the bait shape, etc.


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## vc1111 (Apr 13, 2004)

Here's a shot of how you finish the through-wiring process with the tag end of the wire (which is sticking out of the tail of the bait as shown above).

You simply bend over the wire and make a haywire twist toward the tail of the bait. Clip off the tag end as close as you can with a cutoff wheel on the Dremel rotary tool:


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