In all the years I have been fishing, I have only met two anglers that exclusively fish for trout. Both of these people are fly fishermen and tie their own flies. I asked one of them wouldn’t it be easier to buy the flies instead of going through the trouble of making them. He said it is not as hard as some would think and it’s more satisfying when you land a fish on a fly you made yourself. In a way I can understand that, but I never asked if tying his own flies was cost effective.

I remember many years ago, a friend of mine and his farther used to make their own lead sinkers. At one point I even helped pour the lead into molds and kind of enjoyed it. As funny as this may sound, there was a sense of pride that was like, hey I just made a sinker. Then I started thinking in the past few years, the times I have modified a few lures I had purchased myself. Those modifications were on the small scale like changing the size and/or type hooks on lures. I have also added glow paint to jigs and a few lures when night fishing for Walleyes. Did these additions help? I caught fish so maybe.

If you look in tackle stores or some bait shops, you will find different size and color blades you can add to spinner baits, so that’s modifying a lure, right? This is when I started to look at different ways a person could customize the lures already in their tackle boxes, but that changed immediately. A long with all the different blades, I found a whole new world for making homemade lures.

You might be thinking, why would I go through the trouble of making a lure when I could just buy a new one? Continue reading and you can be the judge of that. I will not give the names of the companies where a person can purchase items to make lures, but here are a few things I looked at. There are simple kits with unpainted blanks where you choose the color and whatever paint design you would like. Then add the hook size you prefer and you just kind of made a homemade lure.

There are molds for hard plastic using ABS material for crankbaits, molds for soft plastic baits like silicone skirts and even casting molds for making your own jig heads. There are accessory kits with beads, clevises, blades, treble hooks, short and long shank hooks, wire shafts, glitter, selection of paint colors and even 3D plastic fisheyes. Think of all the different lures you could create from scratch.

If that isn’t enough, there are starter kits of balsa wood blocks with templets, or you could carve out your own design. I plan on doing this, and if you decide to make your own lures, use your imagination and be creative. Then think about the first fish you catch using a lure that YOU designed and hand crafted, YOU added the blades, YOU attached the hooks, and YOU decided on the color of paint and pattern.

Are you the type that loves fishing but don’t care for these winter months, and are not the ice fishing type? Well, you are not alone. I cannot tell you the amount of people that feel spring is taking too long to get here, and they can’t wait to get back on open water. If you are one of those people, maybe making homemade lures is the hobby for you. Maybe some might think it is too expensive of a hobby.  I’m here to tell you, if a person is willing to try making their own lures, you can start with a small kit for $15. Or for under $20 you can buy unpainted blank lures that you can design (paint) your own patterns. Hey, it’s a start, lol.

Lure making could become a family project or it’s possible it can be relaxing and take your mind off of everyday stress. Plus, this could get you even more excited for the May 5th opener. Maybe that first lure we produce won’t come out the way we would like, but it’s all about trial and error and we will learn from that.

Cost effective? Who cares, we’re just not modifying lures in our tackle boxes, we are designing and making our own lures.