How To Create Custom Lures

While pre-made lures are popular with many fishermen, custom made ones are increasingly being preferred. Crafting your own lure gives you an opportunity to make something that is tailored to fit your needs. You can customize the lure for specific species of fish as well as particular conditions.

What You Need To Make Your Own Lures
To begin making your own lures, you first have to gather the necessary equipment and tools for the task ahead. Some of the things you will require include screw eyes, thread, spinner blades, colored yarn or floss, hackle pliers, wire, wire former and sand paper. In addition, you will also need a hair stacker, spinner bodies, scissors, half-inch tool, barrel swivels, egg sinkers, hooks and split ring pliers.

Apart from the aforementioned, other equipment you will require include spinner shaft locks, fly-tying vise, split rings, feathers, jogs, beads, hackles, connector sleeves, lacquer or vinyl paints, bobbin, buck tails and calf tails, coping saw, snap swivels, pocket knife, crimping tool, clevises, blocks of wood , colored fur, tinsel and falshbou and head cement.

It is good practice to keep the materials that you will use to make the lure in a container or different compartments. Keep similar materials together so that you can easily find them when designing or making the lure.

Steps To Building Your Own Lures
Making your own lures can be a fun activity, especially when it is done with a family member or your fishing buddy. The following simple instructions will guide you in making custom lures:

First, you have to get the tools that you will use. Make sure you have a coping saw, fly-tying vise, hair stacker, pocket knife, assorted sand nails, lacquer or vinyl paints, wire former, a half-inch tool, different colors of thread and bobbin.

Then, purchase an assortment of the following items: colored fur, hackles, buck tails, screw eyes, snap swivels, spinner bodies, colored floss or yarn, beads, spinner shaft locks, blocks of wood, wire, clevises, tinsel and flashabou, egg sinkers and connector sleeves.
When you are finished with the above, it’s time to have some fun. Get a quiet place for you and your fishing buddy to work from.

Have in mind the lure you would like to make. The type of lure you will make will vary depending on the depth at which the fish are running, the species of the fish, weather, water clarity, the color of the fish prey and the action you would like to experience with the lure.

Get a plain paper and sketch out the design of the lure, keeping in mind the intended purpose of the lure as you sketch you design. If you have made good lures in the past, you can try new designs or improve on the ones you have done before.

With your design in hand, you are ready to build your lure. Depending on the design you’ve made, you can easily build effective lures within a short time. It is good practice to always have your notepad or sketch book nearby just in case you need to adjust the design of the lure.

After building the lure, you should test it under different conditions to gauge its performance. Some lures will be great the first time you use them while other will need adjustments. Remember, it is only through trial and error that you can make good lures. Therefore, do not be discouraged if at first your lures do not work great.