Thread: Lure Making

Tried tying the rubber legs inside the skirt and outside the skirt. Funky Bumps, no bumps. I tried making a peacock herl rope thingie thing and utterly failed. Need to watch that video again.






Looking forward to mixing different colors of ostrich herl to see what occurs. I suspect they will look nice. Wait Wait…. they arrive soon.

My ostrich feathers in purple, fushia, yeller and pank arrived yesterday. I selected the 10” variety of cheap cheap feathers because the length of a crappie jig doesn’t require longer herls. Shorts work just fine. I might someday go for some nice flowing herls, but for now the color is more important.



Here are some heads I made up. One dip in white powder paint, followed by a dip in clear with a UV additive. Then I coated the heads with BSI Epoxy and attached the rhinestones and left to cure overnight. No oven curing was done. Many paints will change colors slightly when cured in an oven, but stark white doesn’t. I think the stones pop well against the plain white background. It highlights them some. When struck with the light from a UV flashlight, the whole head glows with an amazing effect. The white glows a lovely light lavendar and the rhinestones glow like light bulbs.







I have a difficult time trying to capture the glow from the heads. The camera just doesn’t like it and the light from the flashlight has to be just so. Hold the camera, hold the flashlight, well just trust me it is tricky. Like a favorite rock band, they are at their best when you see them in person.






Been experimenting with different approaches to attaching the featherings. Different combinations, placement, and tying techniques. I like all of them because I just tied them. After I tie some more I will no longer like them. Fickle I guess. LOL

I know that feathers are no where near as durable as hair or craft fur, but if I am making the stupid things myself, who cares ? I can always just reach into by fly/jig box and extract a new victim. I mean if I ever catch a fish that is. A fish that actually does some thrashing and such. Breaks the little feathers off. If ever that happens, I will have a quick and easy fix for it.

I have decided that for this very reason it will be best if my homemade Beetle Spins had plastic baits riding in the side car. If they get mangled, I can simply slide a new one on and go. If a feather jig gets mangled, I would have to open the wire loop to extract the jig. Opening and closing wire loops is usually not a good idea. They say a big bass will pull so hard that the loop will open already, so making the loop weaker is probably a bad idea.

Besides, the Beetle Spins with plastic baits look fantastic. That blade spins like cray during trolling operations. Lots of flash and lots of vibration, and I suspect noise as well.

My biggest issue so far with these news jig styles is my wanting to apply more material than required. I look at them and think, well some more would look nice. Then they are too heavily burdened and fluffy. It is hard to go sparse. I really need to just make myself go thinner.

I like ostrich tails, ostrich necks, ostrich fingers running alongside. I like mareaboo just about anyways that can be applied. I just need to practice some more and try to fashion up something that looks nice. I get excited and should slow down and be more fiddly with things as I go. Patience is very valuable in crafts where you are making things.

My colors look good. I added a purple to a pink and got one of my favorite combinations. Then I added yellow to green and white to blue. The yellow color is not chartreuse, rather a kind of greenish yellow. I imagine there are fly shops that sell nice chartreuse feathers at a premium price point. One feather boy. You get one feather boy. Now you go make lures with that one feather, and when you are done you come back and I’ll sell you another one. The Amazonian feathers are available in really nice flowing varieties as well, but I am too tight to go for it. Maybe later I will get some fancy stuff. UV treated stuff might be nice.

Have a nice day.

Some more from this morning.




I was mildly successful at limiting the amount of material applied. LOL

Actually do have a few that are sparse-ish. The ostrich is so easy to work with. The hardest part is cutting the herls away from the shaft. LOL. They tie in easily and straightforward with less spin around the shank of the hook than mareaboo.

I think it is time I fished them and see which design the fish prefer.

A few years back, I watched a video of a gentleman in a bait shop somewhere in Louisiana fashioning up jigs to be sold. He was using rubber legs and would take an individual leg and twist it in his fingers. Then he would move both ends towards one another and the rubber would wrap it self up, forming a tail.


Like this here.





This tail has a very nice action to it and I suspect the jigs in that shop fly off the shelf. It took him some time to get one finished. I have made a few up but never really tried them out.

Well this morning I wondered what would happen should I twist a piece of flashaboo in with the rubber. Hmmmmmm…..




It is interesting in that it shimmers and sparkles. Not easy to do and I imagine different materials would wrap better or worse, depending.

I also made up some more plastic bait lures. Found the Loctite Super Glue Gel Control on Amazonian for $2.50 a bottle. Got six of them. Any old ways I use that for securing the bait to the head. Most of the baits get a little trim off the head so they stick better. The plan is to make up a half dozen or so of several kinds for a tackle box. My problem is selecting which bait to use. I have way too many on hand and every time I scratch through the containers, I see old familiars that I want to add to the mix. Bought way too many of these baits. A man could start out with just a few designs in the various colors and do just fine. Provided that he selected the designs that would work best with his technique.

I been watching videos on catching SkipJack Herring. These are used for catfish bait because they are so oily. I wouldn’t imagine folks would want to prepare such for a meal. Maybe dare I say pickled. Anyways, they were using rigs they casted out below damns, that had three jigs attached. Dropper loops, and some had a spoon on the end. These jigs were mostly curly tail grubs, but some were hand ties. They were interesting to me because they were so sparse. Some used Sabiki rigs.

I was thinking that I could tie on a jig, then come up and add a dropper loop. Then if I wanted to try a different jig, cut away the line from the bottom jig and the dropper loop, and use the dropper looped jig for the bottom, and add a dropper loop above for the new jig I want to add. I also considered creating heavy line leaders and such if I experience serious wrapping issues.

So I got to wondering why I don’t finally try trolling lines with multiple jigs on them. Most use two jigs and that sounds reasonable. I picture them tangling up and wrapping around and being a major pain. I shall see of course. Nobody can wrap up a jig like I can. One quick touch and I have created a masterpiece of macrame.

I also watched videos on Bird Teasers. These are plastic things that are shaped like birds with wings. When trolled off shore, they create a ballyhoo upon the water’s surface, and that attracts predators thinking there is a school of baitfish being hammered. They come up, then the old bait and switch, and they grab the lure following behind. Important that the bird lead the way. LOL

So I wondered if crappie could be similarly fooled into striking. A provocation. I could add a bird to the line of an extra rod and pitch it behind the boat and see what happens. I worry that the speed will be insufficient to generate a real commotion. They sort of rock back and forth to the sides. Maybe I will get a mild action. My lakes are really only about five or six feet deep so a mild action might be perfect. Not drawing them up from the fathomed depths you know. Just getting noticed.

Fishermen dial in these sorts of things to target a particular species. That is the trick you see, adjusting and adapting until the best result is obtained.

I could grab hold of the pole with the bird tied on……and rear back like Billy Bass Master and get the bird to go pitter pat. Add speed. Crappie are still a big mystery you know.

Nice work

About three times a year my lower back begins to spasm and tighten up. Usually a two or three day affair. I apply a TENS unit to it and try to take things easy. Today and yesterday are take it easy days. Comes from my earliest days being a carpenter and lifting/carrying way too much material. My lumbars are compressed. So I thought it might be nice to organize my tackle into different containers. Sort through and see what has been hiding way down in the box.



These are attached to 1/10th ounce heads. They dive slightly deeper than 1/16th and track a little straighter. I made these prior to getting that new mold.




These are 1/16th ounce heads, made with the new mold. I also attached various rhinestones.




My under-spins in the 1/10th ounce size. I would claim that a few are Roadrunners but will refrain. They are Do-It Pony Heads. I really do not care for them much. I also have a few that have a Screw lure retainer and I looped my blade swivel combination on it to make an underspin.




Beetle Spins





I really cannot remember ever catching a fish on a Beetle Spin before. I ordered up some wire frames and began fashioning them up.








I read where Beetle Spins are popular with some folk. The search feature on this site goes way back and I can read many old posts where members discuss such things. Apparently they are popular for trolling. I didn’t want to just buy Beetle Spin wires ready to go, as I wanted to shorten the length of the arms to push everything tighter and more compact. Felt this would provide me with a slight advantage. I suppose fish see this thing and figure their neighbors are getting all the good tasting baitfish, and they charge in and make a grab.

The underspins make me think they are just seeing some movement and that that interests them. The way back feature allowed me to read where the fish either really want them or not at all. Depends on the day. So having a few in the spread out back makes sense to me. I troll.

One of the things that has haunted me is attaching a plastic bait to the jig hook in a straight and consistent fashion. After many attempts I am getting better at it. It is all about knowing how much bait to catch with the hook, and trying to keep the two of them aligned properly. I still have issue every so often, but for the most part I think I got it.

I strat dead center, and then with the bait between the thumb and index finger of my left hand, I use my right hand to penetrate with the hook. I can feel the hook going through the bait and that helps me stay aligned. I also make sure the jig head and the bait stay in their matching positions as I go. Straight up and down. Then when I am far enough in, I twist the jig head to finish and pop out the hook tip. This last part is very important for me in getting a good alignment. Then I push the bait all the way into position, take a peak see to make certain, then back the bait off away from the head a ways. Then a small drop of Loctite Super Glue Gel onto the hook shank, and slide the bait forward to engage the head and push hard and hold. Once released the head will remain secured tight to the head. This prevents the bait from slipping down the hook shank while being trolled.

If a bait does slip down, the entire thing rolls until it ruins the line, even if you have a swivel attached up the line a bit. Amazing, but some fish like a spinning mess.


I poured up quite a few heads yesterday and painted them up and added eyes.





Here you can see it up close to spot my obvious errors in assembly. That eye is a purple rhinestone size 6mm. The head is 1/10th ounce, with an Eagle Claw 571 in size 1/0. I placed a special swivel in the mold.





These are not used anywhere that stress would be applied. As in a fish pulling. Rather they are just to secure the blade to the lure without having to fiddle with split rings. Which I hate little split rings. I ease the blade into the open eye and pinch it shut with pliers. I added that same swivel to the mold and poured the head with the open eye available. Two small swivels. It doesn’t matter if paint gets stuck to the first swivel as it really only serves as a connection. The mold is a Jacob’s CNC mold in 1/8th ounce size. You get 1/10th ounce heads if you skip the barbed collar. He doesn’t change the size of the head from one to the other for some reason.

Now Fat Guys Fishing makes the very finest mold. When they leave off that decrepit collar with barb, they resize the head so you end up with a perfectly sized head that weighs exactly what it should. I plan to buy another mold from them and them I am done. I no longer want any of my other molds and will probably stash them away somewhere. I fear if I sell them off that I will one day get an idea and wish I had them back.

If you are going to start making your own jig heads, and you are pretty sure you will get along fine, order from Fat Guys Fishing and never look back. The mold pours, releases, and leaves a clean head. Insertion of the hooks is very nice and easiest of them all to manage. I just cannot brag on them enough. The design is perfect. I am considering getting their Free Style with swivel mold in 1/16th.

I chose the Big Eye Minnow Head mold and probably should have gotten their Free Style instead. By the time I attach my rhinestones, I end up with a round head shape as the stones protrude outwards. Easier to attach the rhinestones to a flat surface.



I have been envious of Dr Nips jigs ever since I first saw them. He is a very nice guy as well. Anyways I try to emulate his work and fail to do so every trip of the train. Fall short. I guess he must be a meticulous man that frets over his works and is very patient and careful. He built himself a jig rack for attaching eyes and applying his overcoats. Well I finally made mine.




The length was determined by how many heads I can overcoat with my BSI 30 minute epoxy, and apply eyes correctly, all before the goo gets too difficult to manage. LOL. Well seems I got that length just right. LOL.

It makes life so much more enjoyable, and I seem to get better results. The rhinestones will slide on the head if held any other way than on the horizontal. One side up, the other down. So I can over coat, attach eyes, and leave everything to harden and cure up.

I dip the heads in white, then clear powder paints, no curing. The epoxy works just fine to secure the paint in place. I did add a few odd colors to the mix.






You really cannot get a sense of just how bright these rhinestones are based on my pictures. The colors easily best whatever colors just can achieve with powder paints. They catch your attention immediately and so I imagine will the fish. Some also illuminate brightly in the UV spectrum, which I really like.


Well I have to go to the grocery store. I hope my back doesn’t just lock up on aisle 5 or something. “CLEAN UP ON AISLE 5 GEORGE”. I imagine they would just drag me outside and drop me. My TENS unit is steady zapping away at the muscles so tight and sore. I wanted to go fishing today. Oh well.