North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

I hooked to a big barra today and during the fight I thought that I just lost it for whatever reason.
Once I reeled in the lure, the 2nd set of trebles had straightened out but the lure snapped off at the last set of trebles
I've never had that happen before (it was a pretty old lure though)

That barra will get a bit bigger every time the story is retold.

Plastic fishing lures have a set lifetime that is directly related to the amount of ultraviolet light to which they are exposed over that lifetime.

They're made of thermo-setting (hard acrylic) resin. That one looks faded and has obviously been exposed to UV a lot so became brittle over time

However, it took a belting which accelerated its destruction. Monduran dam?

Is that a big B52?

Might be time to do a stocktake and toss out anything that looks faded. U can afford it.

Yes I'm pretty sure its a Riedys judge. Its probably 10 plus years old and died of natural causes.
You can see how faded it is but hasn't seen much use.
Probably the cr.p raw materials used .
They were made here way back by 2 halves being welded together ultrasonically
I've given away over 100 lures in the past 3 years to save space while travelling.
This one would normally be thrown out but slipped through the net.

Flick, do you think the mass production process is better here than in China? Still mass produced

I feel sorry that there is a barra swimming around with the remains in its gob.

Matt, I didn't get to see it so I can embellish as much as I want but you can tell when its a big one

Yes still at monduran, now with 500 of my new mates who arrived on Xmas eve. So much for serenity

flicken4em
I've had plenty of hooks straighten but never a broken lure. Is that common in your experience?

Degradation of the material looks pretty obvious by the fading indicating exposure to UV over time.

UV degradation is a problem with ALL lures made of thermosetting material. Not so with timber lures.

The better barra lures have a body wire connecting the treble attachment points to the tow point because of the extra stresses on lures that barra bring to the struggle-table. There are still some on the market (and they're easy to pick out). Tilsan is one of them.

I now do regular stock takes of all of my plastic hardbody lures that I think are 5 years or more older and showing any signs of fading since I had that happen about 10 years ago.

The last set of trebles (lure tail attachment point) is the weakest point of structural integrity with ANY h/bodied lure. Throw in some material degradation from the aging process and the ingredients for failure are there.

All we can do is not use thermosetting plastic lures (bit hard not to considering the proliferation) or try to minimise the risk.

To me its the material used combined with struggle stress that are the major factors and not the production process.

Yes still at monduran, now with 500 of my new mates who arrived on Xmas eve. So much for serenity

At least there's a shop there and a pub nearby at Gin Gin. Bit different to a lot of fishing places in the NT, eh?

Although the recent turnaround by the NLC back to permits (again putting pressure on the NT govt for more money) will put paid to a lot of them.