BPayne Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 What’s up Underground, I ran into something yesterday that has me perplexed and thought I would put it to the experts here to settle. I threw around my THUT TK yesterday and when I was loading up the truck at the end of the day, I pulled that bait out of a compartment in my kayak and the sunlight must’ve hit it just right and I saw a sort of condensation cloud in the front half of the bait. This spot was about 1/2”x1/2”. If I lightly tapped the bait, I could get the moisture to run down and form a few tiny droplets. I got home and filled my sink with water and held the bait underwater at multiple different angles without the lip in and squeezed it as hard as I could. I couldn’t, for the life of me, get the bait to bubble…not even a bit. For background, this bait hasn’t seen much use AT ALL since I bought it new from THUT (may have thrown it 2-3 times including yesterday) and it has never been dropped or casted into anything (hasn’t even caught a fish yet). As best I can tell, there isn’t a leak and, as stated, there hasn’t been anything that happened to the bait that could’ve caused one anyways. I store the baits inside, so it isn’t a temperature/sunlight thing. Only thing I can figure is the bait may have been made in a humid environment and the water temperature yesterday caused that humidity to condensate. Who knows? Well…hopefully you guys do! Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj1975232 Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 I had something similar with the back end on one of mine. It was a slow leak and eventually took on more water. the pin hole was on on the seam on the top. I drilled out the hole with a 1/32 drill bit by hand. I used compressed air in a can and kept blowing into it and letting it sit for a day until it was totally dry. Filled the hole with marine epoxy and it was as good as new. 168 Rookie, Drew03cmc and BPayne 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPayne Posted March 13 Author Report Share Posted March 13 7 minutes ago, dj1975232 said: I had something similar with the back end on one of mine. It was a slow leak and eventually took on more water. the pin hole was on on the seam on the top. I drilled out the hole with a 1/32 drill bit by hand. I used compressed air in a can and kept blowing into it and letting it sit for a day until it was totally dry. Filled the hole with marine epoxy and it was as good as new. How did you locate it? Like I said, I spent a good amount of time trying to locate a leak yesterday and came up with nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj1975232 Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 It’s sounds stupid but it’s the same method I use to find a small leak in a tire. Mix up some dish soap in water and spray on the bait. If you squeeze the bait gently between your thumb and forefinger a couple bubbles will form at the hole. Wipe it off and mark it with a sharpie before you forget where it is. BPayne 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayAreaAngler Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 Sounds like a leak to me. There should be no condensation or water droplets inside. No other way for moisture to get inside BPayne 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPayne Posted March 13 Author Report Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, dj1975232 said: It’s sounds stupid but it’s the same method I use to find a small leak in a tire. Mix up some dish soap in water and spray on the bait. If you squeeze the bait gently between your thumb and forefinger a couple bubbles will form at the hole. Wipe it off and mark it with a sharpie before you forget where it is. I’ve definitely used that method to find leaks in tires! I guess I just figured that holding the bait underwater would’ve worked, but I suppose I’ll get my spray bottle out and see what I can see. Thanks. I will update once I’ve done this! chevro1et 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crappie25 Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 Put the lure in the freezer for about 10 minutes take out and put in a bowl of warm water the leaks will show 168 Rookie, dj1975232, Jim137a and 2 others 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew03cmc Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 Reminds me that I've got a Sake Bomber that I have to find the leak and fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPayne Posted March 14 Author Report Share Posted March 14 (edited) 13 hours ago, crappie25 said: Put the lure in the freezer for about 10 minutes take out and put in a bowl of warm water the leaks will show Well, this trick worked like a charm! The leak revealed itself IMMEDIATELY. The unfortunate news is the bubbles were emerging from in between the grooves of the metal wire of the front hook hanger. I’m not entirely sure the best course of action for fixing it there since I can’t exactly drill that out or remove the hanger and I don’t want to impede the hook. As stated, the amount of water in the bait is literally the equivalent of about a quarter of a drop, so I’m not sure that opening a hole to dry that out is worth it. I just would like to seal it to prevent any further water incursion. Would filling that small groove with baking soda and super gluing it do the trick? Edited March 14 by BPayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurdaJ Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 Yeah I'd super glue baking soda that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevro1et Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 Kazki Hotta (known as KZ, a DRT field staff in AZ) just posted on his story about using low viscosity acrylic cement to seal cracks etc. in ABS baits. BPayne and dj1975232 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPayne Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 5 hours ago, chevro1et said: Kazki Hotta (known as KZ, a DRT field staff in AZ) just posted on his story about using low viscosity acrylic cement to seal cracks etc. in ABS baits. What perfect timing! I went to do the super glue/baking soda fix last night, but my super glue had thickened up too much over time and I was going to have to go get some more before I did that. Just found this Testors product online with a precision tip applicator. It will be here tomorrow. Thanks for posting this! chevro1et 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1hook Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 Definitely a leak and like was said earlier soap and water sprayed on is the best way to locate it. I custom paint baits and get several every year that leak. I seal all plastic blanks and baits with brush on crazy glue. For some reason the crazy glue seals better than anything of the other super glues that I've tried. Most leaks are around line ties, hook hangers, and the hinged areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPayne Posted March 18 Author Report Share Posted March 18 Well, just checking back in with an update. I received my Testors Liquid Cement for Plastics (ABS) and applied a small amount to the area around the hook hanger and let it set over night. I just did the freezer/warm water trick and I am pleased to report that there were no bubbles! I dried the bait and proceeded to apply a second coat (hopefully that doesn’t hurt my fix) in the hopes of building up another layer of “plastic” to keep from any future issues arising. I hope this info proves useful to other members in the future! Cheers and thanks SU! dj1975232 and chevro1et 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B_larkin3 Posted March 18 Report Share Posted March 18 On 3/14/2024 at 12:45 PM, BPayne said: Well, this trick worked like a charm! The leak revealed itself IMMEDIATELY. The unfortunate news is the bubbles were emerging from in between the grooves of the metal wire of the front hook hanger. I’m not entirely sure the best course of action for fixing it there since I can’t exactly drill that out or remove the hanger and I don’t want to impede the hook. As stated, the amount of water in the bait is literally the equivalent of about a quarter of a drop, so I’m not sure that opening a hole to dry that out is worth it. I just would like to seal it to prevent any further water incursion. Would filling that small groove with baking soda and super gluing it do the trick? Same thing happened to mine. I literally put my lips up to the line tie and sucked the water out. Once it was all out I sealed it with epoxy. No leaks anymore. BPayne 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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