Lure Making

[Jmcfarland]

   I was curious to see how many of the people on here have tried making there own lures. I know some guys on the forum pour their own jigheads and plastics, but I was thinking more of hardbaits like jerk and crankbaits. I attempted this a couple years ago and had a couple decent lures when i completed but the problem I had was the lure was too light (to cast well) and the paint I used didn't seal the lure.
  Maybe we can get a discussion going and find out what the best materials are and what the easier lures to start with are. I would imagine that lures that have the line tie in the body and not on the diving lip would be easier to start with.
   The idea is to get something I can do to keep me from going crazy with cabin fever this winter. I have already sorted my tackle all out and am already wanting to get back in the boat. Only a little over 3months til open water!!!
   

[MBell]

I haven't made any hardbaits in awhile, but had the same problems.  For weight you can drill holes and pour lead in or just pack them with split shot.  And for sealing the baits, I would dip them in polyeurithane.  It gave them a slight yellow tint, but they could handle the pike.  I made about 20 baits out of basswood blocks.  A lot of work and I ended up with 1 really good bait, 4 or 5 good baits and the rest were very hard to tune and never really used them.  I don't build cranks anymore, but I do pour lead and plastics and build rods.  Pouring jig heads is the only thing that reallys saves me any money, the rest is just for fun.
-Matt

[djkimmel]

I've mostly poured jigs and sinkers, and made some bass jigs, spinners and spinnerbaits. I used to build rods a looonnnggg time ago.

No hard baits though. I've always like the hard baits like Bomber with one heavy clacker weight. If you're doing wood, that would require more patience than I have. probably have to drill and put in some lead shot, then coat the hole like some of the pro bait tinkerers do.

[Jmcfarland]

   I have been working on jerkbaits for the past couple days just to pass time. I tried drilling and putting weight in them this time to see if that will help with casting issues. I have the lips on them also. I also used bass wood for the bodies. I used 1/8 inch plexi-glass for the lips and 5 minute epoxy for gluing them in and sealing the holes from weighting. For painting I am thinking of using the spray can model paint you can find at wal-mart. I also have an airbrush, but changing colors and cleaning the gun is a pain when spraying more than one color. Maybe after I complete them I can post some pics.

[dhuff]

I have made a few dozen crankbaits so far this winter for next summer.  The key is to drill holes directly in the center of the bait to where the weith needs to be use a barrell sinker for weight and put your screw in eye or whateve type of hook hanger you prefer some use cotter pins for this and epoxy them in with devcon 2 ton epoxy you can get that at walmart paint section for a few bucks.  Paint your baits and then cover the baits in the same epoxy it dries clear and protects the baits very well.  However, you will need some sort of drying rack that will spin the bait at about 3rpm to keep the epoxy from sagging until it is all dry. 

Tip:  Drill all holes for weights, diving lip slots, and hook hangers before you shape the baits at all you need the flat stock so that you can find the center point when drilling the holes so that the weight is as close to the center as possible or else the bait will be so out of tune that you will never get it to tune in and run right.  It takes practice thats for sure.  I use a five gallon bucket of water and before I paint my baits i coat them in polyurethane and add my weigts and lip withouth epoxying them in so that I can see if the bait will sit right in the water once it hits.  Once all of that is correct then you shape the baits then epoxy the weights and hook hangers in paint the bait and the coat and add diving lip with the epoxy at same time.  Next put in to the drying wheel and let sit for about 8-10 hrs. 

Hope this helps.

[Jmcfarland]

   Thanks for the tips dhuff. The drilling and weighting before shaping makes a lot of sense compared to guessing at the center like I was doing.