Leaky Kwik-fish

I recently had 3 brand new, Luhr-Jensen  K-15's leak.....conditions...I was at 3100 ft elevation and down rigged to 40 feet.

All 3 lures have a pin hole leak some where in the body and I returned them to Rapala USA......they are replacing the defective lures for me.

Today, I discovered my favorite color pattern,  Flatfish-M2 had water inside the body.....I drilled two .060" dia. holes in opposite ends and blew out about 1/2 ounce of water.
I then covered the holes with "stick on reflective tape"........does anyone have a good solution to coating the inside of the lure so it won't leak or am I stuck with blowing out the water?

A month ago I was downrigger trolling with a T-50 Flatfish lure, and caught a beefy lake trout which put up a pretty good fight.  A good enough fight to make invisible hairline cracks in the lure which allowed water into the lure.  When I got the fish to the surface, the remaining air inside the lure expanded and forced tiny jets of water out of the holes or cracks, particularly at the back end of the lure.  Enough water remained in the lure so it sinks, rather than floating.  The lure is sitting on my workbench while I figure out how to fix it.  I could follow Dr. Steelheadcatcher's suggestion and drill holes in it and blow out the water, but I haven't figured out how to locate and seal the cracks.  If I don't seal all the cracks, I'm afraid that the next time I get the lure down very deep, the water pressure fill force more water into the lure.  I may end up marking it as a sinking lure, and see if I can figure out a way to use it when it's full of water.

pmmpete.....thanks for your feedback.......my first defective lure squirted out a pin hole sized, water jet about 10" long......I had not caught a fish to cause any damage.....was trolling at 40 feet for about 45 minutes.

As a possible fix, I was thinking of filling the inside of the lure with a clear lacquer, then using air to force the lacquer into any hidden holes or cracks, hopefully sealing the hole(s) and then blow out the remaining lacquer inside the lure......allow it to cure and then use a round tooth pick with super glue to plug the two holes.....any ideas are welcomed.

What if you dunk it in a bucket of water and look for air bubbles?
If it'a a hairline crack or leaking from around the eyelets, that may not do the trick, but thought I'd mention it.

What if you dunk it in a bucket of water and look for air bubbles?

The cracks are so fine that water only goes in and out under pressure.  But Skidplate's suggestion gives me an idea - I could drill two holes in the lure, blow and drain out the water as Dr. Steelheadcatcher suggests, seal up one of the holes, and glue a small diameter air hose into the other hole.  Then I could put air pressure into the hose, look for bubbles, mark the spots where air is escaping, and seal the leaks with Superglue. 

Actually I should just throw away the lure and buy another one.  Lures aren't that expensive.  But figuring out how to fix the lure has some entertainment value.

What if you dunk it in a bucket of water and look for air bubbles?

The cracks are so fine that water only goes in and out under pressure.  But Skidplate's suggestion gives me an idea - I could drill two holes in the lure, blow and drain out the water as Dr. Steelheadcatcher suggests, seal up one of the holes, and glue a small diameter air hose into the other hole.  Then I could put air pressure into the hose, look for bubbles, mark the spots where air is escaping, and seal the leaks with Superglue. 

Actually I should just throw away the lure and buy another one.  Lures aren't that expensive.  But figuring out how to fix the lure has some entertainment value.

Not sure what the lure actualy looks like or how there made but could you coat it in clear epoxy?

Not sure what the lure actualy looks like or how there made but could you coat it in clear epoxy?

A couple of Flatfish lures are shown below.  I like Dr. Steelheadfisher's idea of coating the inside of the lure with some sealant better than coating the outside.

As long as you have it open. Throw in a few BB's. The rattling ones seem effective....

Or possibly fill with expanding foam?

-Allen

Or possibly fill with expanding foam?

-Allen

How the heck are the BB's going to frickin rattle if you put expanding foam inside?!?! Sheesh... Lol.

That's a pretty good idea! How cheap is the stuff? I suppose you could do up a few dozen even with the small can...

I was considering them to troll up some 'butts next season. Rubber band or kwikthread herring cut bait gulp strips on them. Desperately trying to gain confidence in an artificial technique.... Trolling vs jigging, in our area, I am betting on trolling.

Or possibly fill with expanding foam?

-Allen

How the heck are the BB's going to frickin rattle if you put expanding foam inside?!?! Sheesh... Lol.

That's a pretty good idea! How cheap is the stuff? I suppose you could do up a few dozen even with the small can...

I was considering them to troll up some 'butts next season. Rubber band or kwikthread herring cut bait gulp strips on them. Desperately trying to gain confidence in an artificial technique.... Trolling vs jigging, in our area, I am betting on trolling.

I'd just pin a 2-3" strip bait on the rear hook and let it flap.  You'd be amazed at the extra action that supplies.  I rig this way when trolling for lake trout with kwikfish.

-Allen

Are these newly bought models or older?I have not experienced this problem but haven't run them deeper than 20'.

Are these newly bought models or older?I have not experienced this problem but haven't run them deeper than 20'.

I've fished with Wordens Flatfish and Luhr-Jensen Kwikfish lures for quite a few years, and often troll them below 100 feet, but have never had one leak until the recent incident, when a Flatfish was damaged and leaked during a hard fight with a big lake trout.  It sounds like Dr. Steeheadcatcher ran into a batch of Kwikfish lures with manufacturing defects.

The 3 defective  K-15, trout pattern  lures, were all new inventory I ordered from Cabelas on line....their customer service replacing the first one was "stellar"...I can't say enough about Cabelas  excellent service....since Cabelas did not want the first lure returned to them, I contacted Rapala USA to see if they wanted to evaluate it...they did, so I sent it off to them........after using the other two lures, I found they leaked as well....those went back to Rapala too.

Today, I used my 1 year old, Flatfish M2, that I drained the water out yesterday and the holes covered with "sticky reflective tape....about 3/8" square.
After trolling at 40' for 1.5 hours, the lure did not leak....wonder of wonders!

Like pmmpete, while fishing for lake trout at Lake Odell (5000 ft. elevation) I have down rigged to 125' deep and never encountered a leaky lure until the last couple of weeks........I know when Rapala bought Luhr-Jensen, they moved the production from Hood River, OR to China 

Speaking of expanding materials, Gorilla Glue makes a very good expanding, hardening adhesive. A very little goes a long long way... and it's tough! I used some about 8 years ago to stick the shifter knob back on my truck and it hasn't moved since. Not paying attention at first, I was surprised when I tipped the bottle into the cavity to add some and it foamed up and started coming back out at me. Am wondering if you could use that to seal the holes?

Of curse, am also wondering how you are gaining access to the insides of these things. Last one I remember seeing seemed like it was sealed up pretty good.