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Make Your Own Fishing Lures - A Time Honored Craft For the Serious Angler
By Sam Bass

I love crafting, especially woodworking. I am equally, if not more, passionate about fishing. One truly rewarding experience is the combination of two things I love, which is creating homemade wooden fishing plugs. You, too, can enhance your fishing experience: make your own fishing lures!

The incredible experience of creating your own handmade wooden fishing lures is hard to beat. If you love fishing, you'll find that landing a catch using a lure you made yourself is an event that is hard to beat.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating your own wooden fishing lures.

1. Homemade Lure Wood Choices

You have the option of using a softwood or a hardwood. Softwoods, such as balsa and basswood, create a buoyant lure so that it will float. The softwoods are easier to work with, and the resulting lure offers more action in the water. Other popular lure softwoods are red and white cedar.

Hardwoods are usually harder to work with as far as shaping and cutting, but they have many of their own benefits as well. Hardwoods can be used to make suspending lures. Typical lure hardwoods include oak, birch, walnut, and maple.

2. Handmade Fishing Lure Equipment and Supplies

You'll find that the hobby of making your own fishing lures requires little in the way of supplies and equipment. The largest investment is your time, and if you enjoy crafting, it is time well spent. Here's a general supply list:

* Scroll saw, drill, carving or whittling knife
* Wood
* Lure Hardware (screw eyes, split rings, treble hooks, acrylic if creating a lip)
* Sandpaper, masking tape
* Permanent marker and paper
* Wood sealer, paint, marine varnish, and wood filler
* Miscellaneous supplies such as pliers, paint brushes, etc.

3. Endless Lure Possibilities

You can vary every lure you make so that no two are alike. Keep in mind, though, if you create only one copy of a truly hot and successful lure and it gets lost, you may find yourself wishing you had a digital photo image of that specific lure or some specific notes on how you made it.

You can vary the lure by wood choice. You can choose whether to place a weight inside the plug body. You can change the action of the lure based on its shape and the hardware used. You can change up the lure appearance by the detailing and paint used.

4. Budget Minded Fishing Tackle

You can easily "assembly line" your lure making, making several at one time, which is very practical since all the materials are out and available.

If you make your own fishing lures, you can have several on hand in case one gets lost, or dare I say it, hung in the trees. Nothing is worse for an angler than losing his last lure just when the fish start biting, but buying up several extra "have on hand" commercial lures gets expensive.

5. The Rewards of Lure Testing

If you make your own fishing lures, by all means, you must test them. That is where the big fun and reward comes in.

So hit the hobby room, spend a weekend cranking out several homemade fishing plugs, and get to the lake. Analyze which lures work well, making notes on types of fish caught, time of day, the weather, and so forth.

You'll be an expert lure maker in no time, and oh, the sweet rewards of catching fish using your own lure creations. Happy angling!

About the Author:
Get more info on how to make your own fishing lures. Make them for yourself, as gifts for friends, and you might even consider making homemade lures to sell! Check out more great tips and tricks for anglers and crafters at Handcraft Market.