My first venture into lure making came while I was in the latter years of grade school, around fifth or sixth grade, when the thinking of our relative mentors was to run an “attractor” in front of a long-leadered baited hook. The attractor was nothing more than a torpedo-shaped plug with eye screws on the front and rear, the front being connected to the main line and the rear eye being used to attach to the hook carrying leader.
Built upon the theory that the attractor would get the attention of the fish which would upon approach switch its interest to the bait trailing behind. My brother and I took out all of our father’s tools and proceeded to shape our “plugs” out of square redwood trim lumber, painted them white and headed to the beach.
After a round of casting and fast retrieves that was about an average attention span for a pre-teen and early teenager, we concluded the theory didn’t work and eventually attached a treble hook to the rear eye and in the same manner added treble hook to the “belly” of the plug. We also went further, this time painting eyes and some “scale” pattern on the plugs, in the hopes that the increased authenticity would really attract the fish into biting.
Our trial with the new homemade lures was no more successful than our first attempt and we reasoned that homemade lures were not at all feasible as the professional lure makers had access to knowledge and techniques that were required for successful lures. What we failed to incorporate in that line of thinking was the fact that we had never caught a fish on a store bought lure for that matter either!
To date, my fishing successes had only come with dunking, casting out a baited line then sitting back and waiting for a fish to wander by. And my mild disdain for the idea of dealing with odorous baits or the hassle of catching the highly effective live baits was enough to keep my interest in fishing at a lukewarm level for most of my formative years.
After graduating from college, some colleagues I knew through student teaching, upon learning I had a small outboard dinghy got to discussing the likelihood of catching some jacks off the shallow water flats near the airport. The date was set and the following Saturday we were heading across the lagoon to a small coral island the perimeter which we had planned to walk and cast using these weighted flies that one of the guys had made himself.
With the knowledge that these homemade flies really worked, I casted and quickly retrieved my line more times in those few hours than I had done so in my entire life prior to that day. The result was five jacks, easily a monumental day in my fishing career. The idea of such success using these rather ugly homemade flies created by crimping lead onto a single hook then tying on feathers before coating the lead and the thread with yellow paint and nail polish for detailing.
The four lures he gave me were like treasure and I decided to try making a batch of my own to see if I could repeat the success. I look back at those evenings I stayed home crafting my own lures and, in retrospect, realize I enjoyed those evenings making lures as much as I enjoyed getting out on the water and using them. At some point I also began to realize that my success was tied in large to the long periods of time I’d walk and cast covering both a lot of ground and a lot of time.
After years of staying away from fishing due to limited time and other activities, I returned to fishing by way of kayak fishing using nothing but a simple lure and getting results which I never imagined. And the beauty of fishing with lures was actually as much in the simplicity of quickly tying the lure to the end of my line as it was in the fish’s ability to fight unfettered by a clumsy lead weight and heavy-lined leader!
For awhile, the beauty of trolling lures behind my kayak was a blissful existence until we got started pursuing larger game and ended up losing my largest lure which cost around $30… ouch! As is often the case with my sudden passions, my kayak fishing gradually gave way to other activities and fishing again fell along the wayside.
Just recently, I came across some e-books about lure making. They got me looking back to those days of the ugly feathers and remembering the excitement and heartbreak when what was probably a very large jack took my expensive lure. I think I’ll try some lure making again… this time with the knowledge that my own handcrafted lures can be as effective as those slick store bought pieces and saving a fistful of dollars is, well, saving a fistful of dollars!
* * * *
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
