If you have never made wooden lures and would like to give it a go, here are 5 tips that will slash the learning curve and put you on the road to immediate success.
Tip # 1 - Understand wooden lure design
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out how to design and make your own fishing lures, but it does pay to spend some time studying the different kinds of wooden lures that you can buy or make and what makes them work. Even if you never get started making your own lures, taking the time to do this will improve your lure fishing success, because you will get to know how to pick the best lure for any set of circumstances.
For example, knowing the combination of body shape, bib size and angle, bib shape, tow point location, internal weighting and hook selection that's required to make a deep diving lure (for example) will save you hours of wasted time and frustration making lures that just won't do the job. Likewise, if you need a shallow diver, jerk bait, casting lure or bibless minnow. You need to know how and why they work so that you can custom make wooden lures to meet your exact needs.
Tip # 2 - Pick a style of wooden lure to perfect
There are so many different types of wooden lure you can make. Minnows (floating, suspending or sinking), bibless lures, jointed minnows, topwater lures (fizzers, buzz baits, prop baits, chuggers and skipping poppers), stickbaits, jerkbaits, sliders, swimbaits......need I go on?
Learning to design or make each of these different lure styles can be like starting your hobby all over again, from scratch. They all require similar wood working skills, but there is a world of difference in the way they are designed and built.
My advice? Pick one or two styles of wooden lure initially, and persevere until you work out how to consistently make that style of lure over and over again. When you can consistently make a wooden lure that not only swims, but has exactly the action you require AND consistently catches fish, then it's time to get tricky and start making another style. Eventually you'll be making them all.
Most new lure makers seem to start with either bibbed (floating/diving) lures or topwater lures like chuggers and prop baits. Both of these styles are relatively easy to make, so they are good starting points. I normally suggest bibbed minnows, because they are one of the most versatile and consistent fish catchers around.
Tip # 3 - Have a design in mind before you start
If there is a quick way to get frustrated and eventually give up on wooden lure making, it is to start carving a piece of wood without a firm plan in mind. You need to be able to visualise what your finished lure will look like before you start, or the result will almost certainly be a useless lure and wasted time.
Search around for some lure templates, or try to shape something similar to your favourite fish catching lure from the tackle shop. If you are new to lure making you will waste less time if you start by making a lure design that is proven to work. Once you have it perfected, you can start modifying your lure template, or creating your own designs without suffering too many failures.
I'm a great fan of making templates, because doing so means that when you design your own wooden lure and it is a cracker that nails fish every cast, you can use the templates to make more and more of the same lures over and over again, and they'll all be just as effective.
Tip # 4 - Pick the right kind of wood
I've written a fair bit in the past about wood selection for making lures. If you are a beginner, beware! Nothing will dampen your enthusiasm faster than making a beautiful lure, but using the wrong wood and finding it doesn't work properly, is too hard to shape, is unbalanced or paint doesn't stick to it.
There are thousands of timbers that can be used to make wooden lures successfully. But there are just as many that don't work so well. Stick with timbers that are light in weight, even if you are going to make sinking lures. Soft enough to easily shape, and yet strong enough to take the punishment of fishing for trophy fish, easy to finish and paint are also important attributes.
Balsa wood is great for many freshwater applications, but can be a little too soft for some saltwater ones. Cedars, basswood and pine are generally pretty reliable.
Tip # 5 - Don't stress over the paintjob
The truth is, when a lure wobbles by a snag pile it isn't going to be refused by a big mother of a bass because it isn't as pretty as a bought lure. Don't get me wrong, you can get your homemade wooden lures to look every bit as good as any bought one, but it won't happen overnight. Probably more effort, time and tears go into working out a system for painting wooden lures than any other aspect of lure making.
The good news is, while you're learning to turn your plain wooden lure bodies into works of art, the fish will be just as happy to eat the practice ones that you learn with. What I'm saying is, don't be discouraged if it takes a long time to get the painting process as good as you want it to be. Just keep making and painting lures, and don't be worried about throwing some of your reject paintjobs in front of fish, because if the size and action are right the paintjob really isn't that important!
So there you have it, 5 tips to get you started on the road to wooden lure making success! I hope you found it useful and are heading out to your workshop to make some lures as I type!
Dr Greg Vinall is a professional aquatic scientist and an avid maker of wooden fishing lures for three decades.
Greg teaches other fishermen and lure makers the art of making custom wooden fishing lures through his website and ebooks.
If you enjoyed the information provided in this article you can join Gregs free email service to receive similar articles every week, or surf his website and blog for a ton of free lure making information.
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