homemade lures

[spare link]

Just wondering how many of you make your own steelhead lures? Do they work? What do they look like?
:whazzup:

[spinner53]

Just spinners, i ussually take about 30 or so, size 1 to 3 in summer, up to 4 and 5's in winter, since I used a noodle rod for the fisrt few years, i do better with # 2's. It does limit my depth though.
90 % have siwash hook, have never had a steelhead throw a siwash ...
Made a bunch of rags this year ( & 3 years ago ), yet to fish them this year.

[Bait O' Eggs]

I made this today from the same block of cedar. I hope to put them in the water tomorrow to see if they will swim.

The red tipped ones have a different shape than a standard quickfish/flatfish, the ones on the right are pretty standard shaped. I added about a 1/2 ounce of lead to the one on the far left to see if it will wiggle on a different axis due to the center of gravity that I created in a non standard spot.

I would have had more than 4 today if I didnt have to go to a wedding :depressed:

Its all fun. :grin:

[A-Boss]

Growing up my dad made spin-n-glos out of balsa wood. We either used the home made spin-n-glos or straight eggs and that was it. We caught a lot of fish just using those two things.

For some reason I've gotten away from using spin-n-glos except for on bait divers, so I don't lose enough to go to the trouble of making my own.

I do tie my own jigs and make my own rags though. I also have a spinner set up I make out of snap swiveles, spinner blades, hootchies, and hooks.

[Mikeymoto]

There is real feeling of accomplishment when you catch a fish on a lure that you made. I've made spinners, flys, jigs, rags and done well with them. Recently I picked up an old book on fishing for steelhead in the Great Lakes region and there was a recipe for vaseline balls in there that I tried and the day after made them I caught a steely on the zipperlip river. Wow! was I impressed. Some of the ingredients are no longer available without a whole bunch of luck, but I must have played my cards right as they fell into my lap within 2 weeks of my search. I did modify the recipe a bit as I have my own feelings of what else needed to be in there.
Try it and when you get 1 on your special offering it will be all the better.
MM

[Mark Mc]

Hi Roy! The two of those that are "facing" us look like they should be cartoon characters saying something. If my kid had them, she'd be doing voice-overs for sure! Now, what would they be saying?


BTW, check your mail Roy....

Thanks, MArk

[spare link]

Bait O' Eggs,
what did you use for the eyelets?

[crfsteelheader]

I have done a lot of custom painting to hotshots with an airbrush, kind of give the fish a look at something 100% original, they seem to work okay. Other than that just typical foam "rag" type lures, or to a flyfisherman a tube style fly, I have also done really well tying spey style flies on single point hooks and fishing them as you would a jig. Sometimes the slow decent towards the bottom in low water conditions pays off with savage takes!!

[spinner53]

Bait o Eggs, Them guys are lookin' at me funny

[Thumper]

Many, many moons ago we fished a few times with Gary Krum for summer steelhead and upriver brights just below Bonneville (Oregon side, some creek). He was using June Bug spinners, and felt that they were the only spinner that would stay down in the super-fast current. He did very well.

I became enchanted with the June Bug design and set out to manufacture them. Bought the name "June Bug" from Worth Manufacturing, registered it, etc.

My kids and one of their wives then became master June Bug spinner manufacturers. We made them in weighted (casting) and unweighted styles and sold them to van jobbers, Joe's and Fisherman's, and also a bunch to a wholesaler in Canada (for walleye I guess). Our peak production year was nearly 24,000 units. Each spinner VMC hook was hand-sharpened. Nice product.

Our production cost was $0.83 and we sold them wholesale for $1.60. After a couple of years of that venture I got bored and shut the whole thing down.

I've still got the fixin's to make a few thousand more, including quantities of #2 VMC round bend trebles, custom-painted rainbow blades, etc.

Love to give this stuff away at the upcoming tackle fest.

[B.J. Lilly Hunter]

I just started making my own spinners this year. There is no better feeling than catching that first steelhead on a homemade lure. My first came on the Deschutes, on a #3 black body with a real silver blade.

[freespool]

There is no better feeling than to sit there on anchor and twist up a spinner,stick it back out and whamo,fish on. The flood of self accomplishment is hard to discribe,kinda warm fuzzy I guess you would say. And the best part is it gives you something to do.

salmon hugger

[Paddlefish]

Spare link:

When I was making bass and steelhead plugs in western red cedar, I mail-ordered my screw eyes from Herter's -- of course, that was quite a few years ago and they don't exist any more. [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

A quick check, just a few minutes ago on the 'net, shows that Cabela's carries them for fishing lure purposes.

The big advantage over hardware store screw eyes is that you get a much longer shank (therefore a much stronger attachment) for the same eye diameter. (Also, they're stainless -- which most hardware screw eyes probably aren't.)

[Bait O' Eggs]

I ordered the screw eyes from a big tackle supplier from the east coast so I could get the longer shanks.

Mocked up a new idea yesterday that if, .... uh more of a when I catch a springer with it, I might have to either patent it or sell to Luhr Jenson