Tackle Workshop

Home-Made Lures

Nick Bennett contacted the Tackle Workshop asking if we could help him in making some lures for pike fishing. Despite being both a very keen predator and lure angler this is one area of tackle manufacture that I do not have much expertise in.

When you look at some of the homemade plugs made by the likes of Derek Gibson they are veritable works of art! I can not compete with craftsmen like that but I can certainly help you make a few simple lures from pre-formed components.

They may not be as good looking as the plugs but still fun to make and they will catch you fish too. All of the components I have shown here came from Cabelas, an American outfitters who specialise in mail order. At the bottom of this article I will give all of the relevant addresses to contact various suppliers to order catalogues or purchase on line.

Spinnerbaits are a great lure from the States. Their strange design keeps them relatively snag free as well as being great fish-catchers.

They come in a wide range of colour, size and blade shapes. Make yours to the classic patterns or try your own combinations. Below I show you the basic components for assembling your own.

To assemble your spinnerbaits you will also need some clevises, metal beads and ball-bearing swivels. The clevises are used to attach the lower blade and the swivels to attach the top or main blade. You can try any combination you want although it is best to keep the top/main blade as the largest. Different sizes and shapes of blade affect the depth that the bait will run at.

To assemble your spinnerbait first of all slide a bead on to the upper arm of the lure. Then attach your first blade to a clevis and slide on to the arm as well. Follow this with another bead. Fix the Sampo swivel to the end of the arm by bending the wire through the swivel’s eye, making a neat loop. Put a split ring on to your chosen top/main blade and clip it to the swivel. Take a rubber skirt of your choice and thread it (upside down) on the hook. Work it round the bend of the hook and push it onto the stem at the base of the body. Your spinnerbait is now complete. The cost? About 50p!

The other lure that is easy to make from these easily available components is that good old faithful pike-catcher, the spoon. Once again the sizes and colours are up to you. A good way to get cheap 5″-plus spoons for those trout reservoir fish-ins. You can get a wide range of self-adhesive decals to put on your finished spoons. I like the stick-on eyes. I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining how to assemble these! You can dress up the hooks with skirts as well.

A tool you can also purchase from the States is a wire-bending jig. With this you can form perfect eyes in wire. With the various blades, some wire, barrel leads, split-rings, hooks and a little imagination you can produce your own in-line spinners.

Useful Addresses:
Cabelas – An American mail order specialist.
www.cabelas.com

Bass Pro Shops – a similar company.
www.basspro-shops.com

Roly and Helen’s Musky shop – More exiting than PlayBoy!
www.muskyshop.com

For the more creative take a look at this site.
www.luresonline.com.au/timberlures.htm

Send your tackle making requests and repair advice to Tackle Workshop. And if you have a good tip for making tackle we’ll be very pleased to hear about that too.

Send them to graham@fishingmagic.com