Making Fishing Lures

[Bobby Bass]

With all of us fishermen here on the board I am sure that a few of you make or tie your own lures. I like to fish top water for bass and for many years now I have made my own top water lures. I broke my foot about 15 years ago and while I was laid up my friend Chuck got me a big chunk of Balsa wood and told me to carve him up some lures. I spent an hour or so making the first one and then got an idea. This is how I make them now.

Take a block of balsa and cut in to blocks 1x1 by 2 or 3 or 4 or even 6 inches long.
On a drill press insert a 16 pd finishing nail or smaller depending on the length of your block.
With the drill press running you can now force the block of wood on to the spinning nail. ( marking of course the center of the block ) This will hold the block and now it will be spinning at what ever rate you have the drill press set for.

Now the easy part using 80 grit sandpaper to start and holding it spread between your hands you can shape the lure by letting the sand paper remove the excess wood. A lure will appear in a matter of seconds. Using 120 then 220 paper you can shape your top water lure. I like making tiny torpedo and devil horse knock offs this way.

Painting can be done by airbrush or hand painting or even dipping. Hardware such as eyelet's and props and retainers can be bought or ordered from catalogs. 

It is always said that most lures are painted the way they are to catch the fishermen's eyes not so much the fish. With that in mind you can paint some pretty ugly lures and they will still catch fish.

Takes a little practice shaping but the wood body of the lure can be made for mere pennies, The hardware can always be reused on another lure if it does not turn out just right. Play with length and hook placement and also I have had some good luck making thicker bodies. You will get great satisfaction when you get your first hit on a homemade lure. Thinking about Mr. Big to bite your homemade lure is just the ticket to get you through the dead of winter.    Note: remember to wear your glasses to protect your eyes.

[Mayfly]

Any Pictures?

[Tami]

HAH me and you were just talking about this last night.. Good post

[Grute Man]

COOL!  I really need to whittle my Honey Do list down so I can start doing things like this.

And I agree with Tim - we'd love to see some you've made. 

[Bobby Bass]

Going to make a batch of some here soon will take pictures and post as I go.

[Bobby Bass]

nail in drill press and blank showing center X

 
wood blank on nail

    
using 80 grit paper, starting to shape rotating blank


This will be an over size Hulla Popper the top will be the mouth of the popper. This is a big size lure using a 2x2x4" blank. Shaping first with 80 the 120 and the 220 grit paper. On a big blank like this a sheet rock (3") screw was used. Screw head cut off so it can be centered in drill. A little super glue helps keep the blank on the screw when rotating. Good idea to have a vaccum close by to suck in the fine dust as you are working and shaping.  More to come




This is the blank after sanding to shape and adding a skirt just to give you an idea of size. This is a test blank. Will post some spook and prop bait blanks. The above body cost about 60 cents to make. This is a little harder then just a long round blank but you can't even find a lure this size..

[rchaze60]

see nothing but a red X

[Lee Borgersen]

I may have posted this a while back, but here's some funny home made lures.

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=KL5F-k64Nr4&feature=related

[String Twister]

I have made bucktail muskey lures.  Not too hard to make if you have a little patience.

[tripnchip]

Thanks BB, you just gave me another reson to spend time in the hobby room. I'll be sure and blame you when the little lady asks what the H i am doing now. lol
 Did you use a demrill or a round bit on the drill press to make the indentation on the hulapoper?

[Bobby Bass]

With the blank still on the drill press I just used the end of a nail to remove the material and then sandpaper to smooth it out. This gives you the indentation. After you remove the blank from the drill press you can then chip off the small plug that is left. Using a round sanding drum for a dermal you can cut away and shape the POP face of the popper. The tail needs to be reduce to where you can slide a skirt over it. Just keep sanding or use  a small rasp to remove material. You can make it small enough to slip pre made skirts over this nub or you can peel the skirts apart and just supper glue them on after you are done painting the lure.  Bobby

[Bobby Bass]

     

Here are a couple of more knock offs that can be made with the drill press. The small one is of a tiny torpedo and the larger one is of an even larger spook. Using a long blank 7" you an make two or three of the tiny torpedoes all on the same blank and then using the sand paper trim material away till they separate. These are practice blanks but you see what you can do with just some sand paper and a small file. Painting is next after applying some sanding sealer.

Another tip  is using a 3" sheet rock screw in the drill. Push the blank on and after a few turns you will see that the blank is loose. Simple fix. Pull blank off and put some sawdust and super glue in the hole, add some super glue to the screw and push blank back on. give it a moment to set up and now there will be no more slippage. Make sure you cut the head off the screw so it is straight and does not wobble. When you are done you can clean the screw or just replace it with another in the chuck.. Before painting you might have a 1.25 invested in your lure. Try finding a wood lure for that price in the bait shop, and if you are like me making oversized wood  lures not only can't you find them but if you do the price is more then you want to pay.!  From the basement wood shop at Lake Iwanttobethere

[Randy Kaar]

those look real nice bobby, you paint them
with a air brush?

randy aka bh

[Tami]

Are the 2 painted store bought? they don't look air brushed....they looked factory dipped????

[Bobby Bass]

The two painted ones are orginals. Just there to show what the copies look like in size next to them. I wish I could  paint that good free hand.. After I have made my entire batch which will number around thirty or so painting will begin

[Bobby Bass]

Here are 15 primed lures with no hardware, next step is a light sanding and then we will start Painting them.