How to Make Fishing Lures

It doesn't take long for avid anglers to get hooked on making their own lures. We're creative people and like to experiment. After all, all lures share a similar history ... an angler noticed how fish prey on other living creatures and came up with a way to imitate it.

But in addition to the desire to create something new, there are other advantages to making your own lures - or at least knowing how.

Some trout fisheries have restrictions on artificial lures. In most cases, these restrictions limit the number of hooks on lure or the use of barbed hooks. When you buy a lure, it may not be "legal" out of the box. But the problem can be easily solved by removing or replacing hooks. In some cases, you can get away filing or pinching down barbs.

Lures can also get pretty expensive - especially if you lose a lot due to snags. Yet some of the best trout holding places are full of rocks, logs and weeds which are famous for snagging your lures. Anglers tend to adopt a "spare the lure" attitude and will avoid fishing in those areas. The downside to this attitude is that you may be losing out on catching that trophy trout!

Making your own lures costs a lot less money than buying them. Not only that, but the savings will help eliminate the "save the lure" attitude. So you'll become less concerned about snagging your lures when fishing in difficult trout holding lies.

My great-grandpa used to hand carve his own lures. While I'm not that skilled, I do enjoy buying and kits to make my own lures from scratch. And now, I'm enjoying teaching my nephew to do the same. We share a sense of accomplishment by making our own lures.

If you'd like to start making your own fishing lures, here's some resources you might helpful.

Wooden Lure Making - This eBook will show you step by step how to make your own wooden topwater lures. This eBook will also show you how to paint your wooden lures as well as paint a scale pattern on them. You'll learn how to make poppers, prop baits, and other topwater plugs. If you're a woodworker, you'll enjoy this book.

How to Make Fishing Lures - This 103-page eBook shows you how to make spoons, spinners, jigs, plugs, and more. It does a nice job of outlining the tools you'll need and some nice illustrations showing exact dimensions of the various lures you'll be making. This book is very clear and easy to understand.

If you like to know how to silver-plate your own lures, you'll definitely want to pick up a copy of the book, Spinner Fishing for Steelhead, Salmon and Trout by Jed Davis. Even if you have no interest in steelhead fishing, you won't find a better book with detailed instructions for silver plating your own lures. Few anglers realize the difference between silver and nickel plated lures. Yet it's a proven fact that silver is much more visible underwater than nickel is - and silver-plated lures are hard to find. This book shows you step by step how to make your own silver-plated lures.

With these resources, you'll be able to make your own fishing lures for all types of fishing.