Making wooden fishing lures.

[Lennie]

I make my own fishing lures and would be interested to talk to others who do the same. I make them because I lose a few, I will throw a home made lure, where no one else will. I love to design and experiment and I find this side of lure fishing exciting. I designed a lure that has a chamber in it to hold tuna oil and it would berley as you retrieved it. Worked well. So if you are interested in sharing ideas, leave a message.( I don't make lures for sale I leave that to the professionals.) Regads Lennie

[Lennie]

Sorry, I forgot my Email if you wish to contact me my address is Len@ausfish.com.au
Regards Lennie

[MikeC]

Hi Lennie. That scented lure sounds good! Ive made a few bass wobblers out of balsa . I use galvabond for the bibs. Fold over flattheleading edge of the bib better casting moreinclined to dive with the extra weight concentrated there. I run wire right through the body, linking the bib and the sole treble at the rear. A bit tricky to do in a one-piece body but they never break.
Interestingly a lure I made this way was showing signs of fatigue after about 30 bass, a couple of small goldens and a four-foot eel so to save its appearance I Araldited all over it. It looks a LOT better to me, but since then it's caught one bass. The wood was a bit porous before I did it and I reckon it gave the lure something close to neutral buoyancy, without noticeably deadening the action. It used to cast better too once it was wet. The lead stick-on "Suspendots" haven't helped recaptureits old form either.
Email me if you want to discuss it more.
Mike

[bassmansrc]

Guys,
I made a few lures & most work very well. I too use Balsa. I use old tape or cd covers to file bibs out of. I then paint 'em. Let them dry. Glue in the bib & cover the entire lure (with exception of the bib) in fibre glass resin. This protects the paint work & lure. I've caught heaps & heaps of fish using these lures & best of all you can make them to the size & shape which suits you best. You can make the bid angle & size to suit your fishing eg- shallow , medium or deep.

Oh I almost forgot- If you need additional weight in the lure- because balsa is very light, drill in to the lure pop in some split shot or small leads, cover back with balsa. This should be done before you paint & seal with resin. This works a treat


regards
Steve

[fishy_phil]

gday
i make a few lures and the best wood ive found is either red cedar or king william pine.ive made alot of lures out of balsa but have found them to be too easy to break, casting into rocks and pulling out the insert, one piece stainless wire. no problems with the other woods. also found it too expensive when ive got a near endless supply of the others. also i make the bibs out of aluminium sheet.
i have made lures to catch things from bream and trout through to jew and mackerel. but the most ive made were for bass and cod. ive caught many fish on them and the lure i put on when im not catching fish is a lure i made myself and id usually get two or three quick fish. also i found that the balsa lures were harder to tune, harder to get to handle speed.
just a few thoughts
phil

[scott_b]

Gday
I've made a few as well, I reckon white beach is a good wood but its bloody hard to find so I use cedar now .For bibs I use lexon ,its exspensive but you get a lot of bibs out of a small peace.
Lots more satisfaction catching fish on your own lures.
wamjam

[bassmansrc]

Phil- Wrote-

"i found that the balsa lures were harder to tune, harder to get to handle speed."

The reason is the high bouancy of this wood. Do as I do & add some lead as mentioned to reduce bouancy & give the lure casting weight & they tend to tune a lot easier 7 dive a lot better

Regards
Steve

[fishy_phil]

gday steve
thanks for the tip ill try it with the left over balsa that ive still got.
phil

[chrisjon65]

geat to see some others making
lures . i fish the nepean river west of sydney, where big lunker bass are rare and water depth and weed are a problem so making and tuning my own lures helped over come problems
have about 60 now becomes a off season hobby .
made a few surface wobblers using
shaped bibs go right of dusk and dawn . look forward to swapping ideas
ps just started turning own floats
going after 1.2m carp this summer
might need a few .

[Lennie]

Great to here that there so much manufacturing going on out in the world. I am making my summer supply of lures for fresh and saltwater fishing. Does anyone have any idea where I may get Jelatung wood from, this is great wood for carving lures. Keep carving lads.
Regards Lennie

[chrisjon65]

been a joiner ,cabinetmaker for 20 years
and never heard of that jelatung wood
get more info like origin or properties
and i may be able to help
i use kalantis a type of cedar from malasia easy to work any timber yard
should have it . just rember the tighter the grain the better make
sure the lines in the timber are really
close together . it sands up baby
smooth with 400 grit paper
ps a topic some fisho mags should cover sometime what do you reckon .

[sooty_mad]

Lennie

I don't know where you live but Jelatung is readily available at most "specialist" timber merchants. On the Gold Coast it is available through Teak and Fancy Timbers.

In the past it has been used for pattern making and is sometimes referred to as soapwood as it is that easy to work.

It is a great timber and can be readily carved and then sanded to a perfectly smooth finish.

As a point of interest, many years ago as a struggling uni student in Townsville who couldn't afford to buy lures, I used to make all of my lures out of meranti skirting boards "stolen" from builders sites.

Regards... David

[Parko]

Hi Everyone,

New to the site and like the forum functionality here. Hope to hang around for a while.

I too experimented with Balsa wood a few years ago using perspex as the bib. These lures have a better action then any other in my tackle box and I love the quick rise rate and sharp dive that the balsa allows especially around weeds. About 3 weeks ago I picked up a crocodile of a flathead (95-98cm-roughly measured to get it back in the water) in the mooloolaba river. The level of satisfaction of catching a fish on something I created was far greater then on a purchased lure.

Unfortunately I will have to make another now as the damage the fish did to it is near unrepairable. I have now given it an honourable retirement. I hope I can replicate it.

[BlitzBaga]

Hi Lennie
I have made a couple of lures over the last 14 years, and from experience I have found red cedar to be the best, but it is getting more difficult to find. Over the last few years I have been using serian cedar (dunno if that's how it's spelt) which is lower in density to red cedar so it is a bit softer and has more bouyancy. Both of these timbers are very resistant to rot and swelling when dragged around in the water all day. for the hook posts you really don't have to go to the trouble of making it one piece, I use .9mm stainless steel just twisted and inserted into the lure body through a firm fitting drilled hole and using a good isocyonate glue. As for keeping the luremaking as a hobby I tried to do it years ago but when people find out that you are making a very productive lure they all want one. Then your hobby soon becomes a task and soon you become snowed under. Oh yeah, I really don't think you need the scent on the lures, the vibration from the action of the lure though the water is very loud (have a go in a pool one day) the fish don't get time to worry about scent. Anyway, good luck with the lure making.

Regards
Murray

[fishy_phil]

gday murray
what ive found with both myself and my mates is that if you want to fish light just drilling a hole is fine but when you get into the heavier gear 6-8kg+ if you dont have a single piece wire the eye mount WILL pull out, especially on a big fish on an extended fight like you would with a GT or the like. i have personally had the misfortune of hooking a large fish on a lure with the twisted eyelets and on 8lb line it came straight out! well anyway from that moment i never made and tried not to use lures that are made this way as ive had many problems with them pulling out.
but hell if you want to do it that way continue doin so but im just sayin that i wouldnt if i were you.
just one final point why would you do it that way as its just as quick to use a single piece wire frame?????????
phil