# Making wood lures - anyone do it?



## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I've been tying flies since I was a kid. Love it. Also made my share of in-line spinners. Again, great fun.

I'm interested in making my own wooden lures - rapala style, plugs, crank baits, divers, stick baits, flat fish, etc.... Taking a chunk of wood and with a carving knife, sand paper, paint and hooks, can end up with something I can cast and catch some fish.

This is a new thing I am hoping to get into in the coming months. I'd love to hear from anyone that has done it.

I just ordered this book from Amazon as a stepping off point. 









Anyone else done this? Have any tips? Suggestions? Favorite books? Suppliers for materials? Examples you'd like to share?

Gary


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Try Jann's Netcraft for wooden lure stuff, if you haven't already.

Do you have an airbrush?


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I made a lot of surf casting lures out of Alaskan yellow cedar several years ago. Never caught anything with them.

Then I made some wooden squids that I've caught a ton of Kokanee on. Stripers Online has some pretty great resources.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I'll try Jann's Netcraft. I used to get spinner making supplies from them. 

I don't have an airbrush. I'll have to get one I guess.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm assuming Goob, that you've done this in the past?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> I'm assuming Goob, that you've done this in the past?


Just a little, back when I was running custom fishing rods. I wasn't very good at plug making, and boy, it eats up a lot of time.

I tied worm harnesses for walleyes and did some custom paint jobs on certain plugs, targeting smallmouth and browns at the Gorge. Did some color schemes you couldn't get over-the-counter.

Back in the 70s I made some muskie and northern plugs for our annual trips to Canada. There wasn't the selection of plugs back in those days like there is now.....uh...we had more time. The days were longer...days were like 26 hours long back then, I'm sure of it.

.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I did all of mine with rattle cans. Nothing spectacular compared to the pros but it was fun.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

More from a different computer.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

What kind of plugs do you want to make? Cape Cod tackle has some good stuff. Jann's has great eyes. 

I think my biggest suggestion is to make sure your wood is sealed really really really well. I traded for some plugs once that weren't sealed worth crap. They split after 20 minutes in the water. I used 50/50 boiled linseed oil/mineral spirits. I let the plugs soak for a good long time in the mix. They took a week to dry but they never split.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Dodger said:


> I did all of mine with rattle cans. Nothing spectacular compared to the pros but it was fun.
> 
> View attachment 26745
> 
> ...


wow!!


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Waddayaknow - top of page! Boo Yah!

Cool stuff Dodger. I like it.

For the next few months, I'm on the road 3 weeks/month, and with football season about over, TV just gets plain old boring. Last time I was in this situation, I tied flies and made jigs. I figure if I could spend an hour or four each night "pluggin' away," it might be kind of fun. I figure I can keep a few chunks of wood, some hardware kind of stuff, and a knife or two in my desk in Arizona and get along just fine when I'm down here.

I'm thinking of making trout kind of stuff - rapala types. I know this is no money saving adventure - I do tie my own flies after all. But it seems like it might be a decent way to pass the time and be something fun to make.

I just downloaded a book to my Kindle -










I'll see what it says and see what I can find out.

Goob - if your lures were anything like your rods, I'd love to see some pictures of them.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

No pictures, my lures were junk. 

I have one hanging on my toolbox in the basement. I'll take a picture of it. I think it's the last lure I made and it's ugly.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

The big thing you want to decide is whether you want to through wire your plugs or if you just want to use screw in eyes. Through wired are a lot stronger but difficult to maneuver the wire through. Screw eyes are easy to install but not as strong. 

If you want to put lips on, thin sheets of lexan work or you can buy pre-made metal lips. 

Split rings or do you want to attach the hook directly to the wire loop (if through wired) or the screw eye. 

It's hard to make a good wood lure. If the balance is off it won't swim and it is firewood. 

One little tip - aluminum duct tape makes a great flashy silver side. Put a little ghost pearl on the belly and you have a pretty good looking lure.

Oh and check mudhole for lure building stuff. Their selection is always getting better. And pinewood derby car bodies are good blocks to turn into lures.


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

I've made a few, just completely from scratch. I'll post up some pics maybe tomorrow.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Here's two I painted. They are not home-made, just refinished. The Quikfish got new hooks, red gill slashes, stick-on eyeballs, and a coat of rod finish with glow-in-the-dark dust in it. The other lure I found in Ontario and it got new hooks and was repainted to match a pattern that was popular at the time for muskies.



I kept a boat on the Gorge for 18 years. Mrs Goob and I boat-camped on the lake all the time and every outing we would walk the bank of the lake picking up trash. I found a jillion plugs floating back in the little bays. Most of them were salvaged, new hooks, and maybe a new paint job. The scales are easy to do really. It's just a matter of taping on some mesh. Running an air brush is an art though, and I was never very good at it. I used an air brush for painting rod blanks mostly.

There were no glow-in-the-dark plugs back in the day. It was the 70s; I was fishing Lake Michigan, deep water for salmon and trout and ice-fishing Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. A few glow plastics were out and were catching fish like crazy, especially in deep water or ice-fishing. I had found glow powder, and glitter powder, and was adding it to epoxy rod finishes. At the same time I was fooling around with lure-making so I coated some of the hard lures with the experimental finishes.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

Pretty cool lures Goob! 

I participated in a lure swap one time - everyone made 10 of the same lure and sent them to one of the 10 guys with 5 bucks for shipping. The one guy divided all the lures up - 1 from everyone for each man, and mailed them back. It was a lot of fun.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Dodger said:


> Pretty cool lures Goob!
> 
> I participated in a lure swap one time - everyone made 10 of the same lure and sent them to one of the 10 guys with 5 bucks for shipping. The one guy divided all the lures up - 1 from everyone for each man, and mailed them back. It was a lot of fun.


That sounds like fun. When I retire I might get back into it.

My finacial advisor ran my retirement numbers at the end of 2013. Looks like I can retire 11 months after I die.

.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

That's depressing. But there is always more to do than time to do it.

A guy in Canada made these on the forum where I learned how to build plugs and stuff. I always thought these were the neatest plugs ever.


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## troller (Jun 27, 2013)

How To Make A Wooden Fishing Lure From A Paint Brush Handle 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeDDCk6zZYw#t=166


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Cool little video there troller. That turned out pretty nifty. Thanks for sharing it.


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