Northern Wisconsin Musky Show
I do not normally support any of the Musky Shows. They have
become "Good-Old-Boy" events that have frozen out
the more innovative Musky products.
This year, however, there is a new Musky
Show on the schedule for early March. The
Wisconsin Musky Expo is in Wausau, WI... If memory
serves, I believe that this is the only Musky Show for
Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula.
I cannot give you any assurance that
this show will be any better than the "Good-Old-Boy"
shows but it has the potential to be...You
will have to be the judge.
We Are All In This Together !
Over
the past couple years, I received quite a few Emails
from musky anglers who had the shaft on their LeLure
globes break for no apparent reason.
In this article, I
will show you how to re-shaft your LeLure globe.
A
Little History
For
years, Frenchy LeMay custom made his own brand of lures.
In the mid-90s, Frenchy and a few of his fishing friends
began to market production runs of his lure designs
under the brand name LeLure.
After
Frenchy's death, the production of the lures was
outsourced to China. Because the LeLure company did not
have the manpower or production resources to oversee the
production of their lures in China, it was forced to
rely upon the Chinese quality control and assurance. In
addition, in order to be cost-effective, single lot
quantities of the lure models were ordered.
Once
the lures made in China began to hit the American
market, complaints from the field began to surface.
There were complaints about the eyes falling out and the
paint peeling off as well as the shaft of their globes
breaking for no apparent reason.
After a
little investigation of the globe problem, it became
apparent that there were likely two reasons why the
globe shafts were failing. The first reason was the
application of excessive heat on the shaft during the
production process.
The
second was the inferior quality of the metal used for
the shaft. Either of these two conditions will result in
shaft fracturing for no apparent reason. Since all the
globes were made in a single lot, all of the globes
(about 5,000) have the potential for this type of
failure.
If this
has happened to you, your LeLure globe sits in pieces in
a drawer somewhere. The step-by-step instructions in
this article should help you add your LeLure globe back
into your arsenal of lures.
Tools
and materials that you will need:
Split Rings
Globe
shaft is .063 diameter.
Before You Begin
Caution:
Read through this entire article before you begin !
Take
the time to snap a photo of the globe so that you have a
record of how the globe was constructed...this may be
important as you re-assemble the globe.
Note: Your globe may have a metal clip or swivel
attached to the shaft, as shown below, to which the body
hook is attached. Make sure that you take a picture when
you remove the old shaft from the LeLure globe.
Remove
any hooks from the old globe to be sure that you do not
puncture yourself. Now that you you have the hardware
and shaft removed from the old globe, you are ready to
begin.
Re-assembly Activities
Using
the pre-bent globe shaft, slip a cup washer on to the
shaft and then slide the shaft through the globe head.
Now place a cup washer onto the shaft between the globe
head and the globe body...this will allow the globe head
to spin freely.
If your
globe has a metal clip or swivel that should be attached
to the globe shaft, now is the time to position it into
the globe body as you insert the shaft into the globe
body.
Now
that the shaft is inserted into the globe body, you need
to make a circle bend in the shaft protruding from the
rear of the globe...there should be about 1½ inches of
shaft protruding from the rear of the globe. Before
closing the rear loop, slide a split ring onto the shaft
as shown above.
It is
now time to close the rear loop and trim any excess
wire:
Step 1
Take your vice grip pliers and
clamp it of the loop as shown. This is done so that you
will be able to exert
leverage on the through wire as you close the loop.
Step 2
Using your channel lock pliers,
grasp the tag end of the through wire and wrap it around
the shaft of the through wire as shown here.
Step 3
You can now use your wire
cutters to trim off any excess wire.
Completed Globe
Your globe is now assembled and
should look similar to the globe pictured.
