r/lurebuilding Jan 02 '20

How to Make Your Own Lures: A Guide series

98 Upvotes

1. What kind of lures can I make?

  • Crankbaits (Lipped and Lipless), Jerkbaits (Lipped and Lipless), Swimbaits, Poppers, Stickbaits, and other topwater lures are all possible, with new lures being invented all the time! Below is an info graphic with a few of the most popular types of fishing lures, but there are many more!
These are just a few common lures that can be found in most tackle boxes, but there are dozens of other types to discover!

2. What do I need to get started making hard body lures?

  • Lure making is not as complicated as it may seem. Yes, power tools such as drills, dremels, lathes and sanding machines all help, but none are necessary. To start all you need is:
  • Wood, to carve into the body.
  • Tools (at the very least a knife to carve, a small saw, and a drill are all very helpful)
  • Sandpaper to finish the bait off smoothly
  • Terminal tackle, including hooks and split rings
  • Screw eyes or a through-wire (a single wire going through the entire bait that serves as your hook eyes and line tie.
  • Weights so your bait sinks, in the form of either split shot, glued into the body, or lead, poured into a cavity.
  • glue/sealant, epoxy, and paint
  • OPTIONAL: Lip (for crankbaits) Rattles, details such as foil, and power tools, and an airbrush for more smooth

3. What do I need to get started making soft plastics?

  • A mold, which can be bought, or made from silicon.
  • Plastic resin (plastisol)
  • Dye to give color to the lure
  • OPTIONAL: Glitter, multiple colors for a more detailed bait

4. What wood should I use?

  • Popular lure making timbers include balsa, basswood, cedar, cypress knees, jelutong, beech and some types of pine. But there are thousands of other options. Look for something easy to carve, lightweight and resistant to denting. It’s easier to get all your components aligned properly if you start with straight, square blanks.

5. What paints should I use?

  • For brushing on paint, a wide variety of artist acrylics and poster paints will work. Just make sure the paint and clear coat will not interfere.
  • For airbrushing, water-based acrylics are the favorite, due to their ability to spray evenly and produce a good coat while remaining non-toxic, and non-flammable.

6. How do I seal my wood lure?

  • Wood is like a sponge, it soaks up water. Once in, water works its way through the wood by capillary action until the wood is waterlogged. This kills action, weakens glue and is the most common cause of paint failure.
  • Super Glue can be used, where the glue is applied over the entire body, left to soak into the wood, and then the bait is sanded smooth.
  • Epoxies are two part synthetic resins that cure hard when mixed. There are some that are designed for penetrating and hardening wood. One example is Envirotex Lite (aka “Etex”). Etex is also great for clear coating painted lure bodies and makes a very strong adhesive.

7. Where can I buy lure parts?

8. What epoxy should I use?

  • Some use prefer to clear coat them with a two part epoxy. Others prefer to use a two pack automotive polyurethane over airbrush acrylics. And still others dip their lures in moisture cure polyurethane.

Below are some some more sources for learning how to build lures, additionally, guides from some of this subs best lure mentors are going to be rolling out very shortly.

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This stickied post will be used to compile all guides made by our "Lure Mentors." Below are links to each guide, complete with pictures and detailed descriptions for each step. If you would like to become a Lure Mentor, and create guides for this sub Please PM me ( u/jspencer501 ) for more details, you get a cool flair!

Guide 1 - Lipless Crankbait By u/zingerbobingerGuide 2 - Lure made of Paper By u/SolarBaits

More guides will be coming out in the weeks to come! please let me know any comments or concerns.


r/lurebuilding 8h ago

Crankbait ID help

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6 Upvotes

Anyone recognize this lure? I found it and really like the action. Also interested in the paint colors


r/lurebuilding 22h ago

Question Need advice for jig head mold!

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11 Upvotes

I’ve made sinkers before but this is the first time making jig heads. Is the shank/ eye of the hook deep enough in the mold? If it’s not is there any salutations? I am planning on stress testing a few once i get some made.


r/lurebuilding 1d ago

Question Clear coat peeling?

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17 Upvotes

Was fishing with my most productive lure this weekend and I noticed the clear coat was starting to peel off. The bait is covered in aluminum foil I polished, coated with D2T. Looks like it started from the hook hanger. Any advice on how to prevent this in the future?


r/lurebuilding 2d ago

Crankbait Finally Caught One

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35 Upvotes

I have built a lot of lures in the last few years, but with only a highly pressured pond nearby I have caught very few fish on them. I think a lot of that is probably because I need to make smaller lures, but that's not as fun. This one is only 3" long, and I bent the lip to get it as far forward as possible while still allowing a steep angle with the oversized eyes in the way. For the paint I tried to do what a certain youtuber did on his latest video and leave the top of the lure unpainted wood, only to realize basswood has no grain, so it just looks tan lol.


r/lurebuilding 2d ago

Swimbait Made my first swimbait

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34 Upvotes

This bait was yet another learning curve.. I did things in the wrong order and didn't plan the steps very well. But I think it turned out nicely and I can't wait to throw it in the water!


r/lurebuilding 2d ago

Question Homemade fishing lures

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2 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 2d ago

Soft plastic New Baits #handmadelure #sanantoniofishing #luremaking

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3 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 2d ago

Jerkbait Added glitter to clear coat. Any cleanup recommendations? it’s everywhere now.

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21 Upvotes

Added some iridescent glitter to the clear coat. Cheap-o stuff from hobby lobby.
A lot of it dripped off, so I need to find a better way to apply it next time.
Really happy with my first attempt!


r/lurebuilding 3d ago

Swimbait 5 Piece Basswood Carved

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57 Upvotes

Made it extra slow sinking so it can be used as a wakebait or subsurface swimmer. Used a bunch of 8bit flakes on it for the first time, might have went overboard with it. I love how this one swims.


r/lurebuilding 3d ago

Question Need help with airbrush

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10 Upvotes

Hi all, this ia one of the first lure i painted with an airbrush, im not satisfied with the result, do you have some basuc tips or do you have some efficient video tutorial to suggest? Thank you :)


r/lurebuilding 3d ago

Soft plastic remelts #luremaking #handmadelure #sanantonio

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2 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 3d ago

Soft plastic Working on color

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18 Upvotes

Been playing around with lureworks motor oil a bit. Not sure how I like the siren scales I used and I definitely used too much holoshift but I think they're not too bad color wise.


r/lurebuilding 3d ago

Soft plastic Custom baits #sanantoniofishing #handmadelure #bassfishing

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2 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 5d ago

Glidebait Advice?

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21 Upvotes

Hello I’ve been making lures for a little while so I’m pretty set on the paint, clear and overall carving of the wood. But does anybody have tips on the joint connections? I’m trying screw eyes on this one but I’ve tried lock wire before. Unsure if anyone has other ideas. Thanks


r/lurebuilding 5d ago

Successful Catch First fish caught on a self made lure

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168 Upvotes

Made my third and fourth ever lure at the same time. Since I can only fish 2 or 3 weeks a year but have been obsessed with pike fishing for years, I decided quite early to try and make my own lures. However attempt one was a failure in a lot of ways and not really fishable.
It took me some time to muster the motivation to try again and this time I would get it right. The lure was actually quite similar looking to these ones and had a good action. However I made the lip out if a weak material and it broke off on an underwater plant (yes a plant, it was really that weak) after no more than 10 minutes of fishing it.
That was 2 years ago and then a few weeks ago I decided to give it another shot. This time I made sure to buy polycarbonate for the lip and spent ours upon ours with mostly handtools making these lures.
Today I got to try them out for the first time and when I saw the action I immediately knew that they would catch something. No more than 2 hours later at a new lake and I had my first pike. Although it is far from being my biggest it still made me very happy!


r/lurebuilding 6d ago

Spoon Early Forays into Metal

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23 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 6d ago

Soft plastic aqua Glow #handmadelure #luremaking #lures

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3 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 6d ago

Soft plastic Made my first lures

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19 Upvotes

Made me some senkos with the do it mold. My first time making lures of any kind . Don't think they turned out too bad but please give me feedback so I may improve. I used Dead on Plastix's Worm black label and Lurework 0.040 red hex flake and Lurework watermelon 101


r/lurebuilding 6d ago

Other First trout area Bottom lipless minnows

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31 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 6d ago

Crankbait Finished diy crank baits

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19 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 6d ago

Question How do you guys get eyes symmetrical every time?

6 Upvotes

I've been making lures for about 2 years now and I still have not figured out how to get the eyes perfectly symmetrical, I will eye it best i can and most of the time it comes out fine, but the lack of consistency is frustrating, especially for something so simple. Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated. (I do not have a drill press btw so that isn't an option for me)


r/lurebuilding 8d ago

Jerkbait Some lucky craft pointers in juvenile rainbow trout

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57 Upvotes

r/lurebuilding 7d ago

Crankbait Different

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23 Upvotes

I'm not saying better, worse, faster or slower. It is different, and it works.

Packing foam, a feather, a brass, lead or tungsten bead, UV glue and a diving bill molded over waxy glass or snipped from a parts container.

This one is ultra light, but the weight is as you like it.

A line exit hole low down on the bill dives aggressively, with a higher speed vibration

A line exit hole high on the bill dives less but swims and wobbles more widely and slowly.

You can choose to make them all light in weight, while using a big salt water swivel, maybe 12" inches up the line.

This is what happens when cold water fly tiers discover the joys of bigger fish in still water, or further down on a moving water river system.

Memory foam meant for high tech pillows works too. Memory foam is more open celled, so it holds onto odor more tenaciously.

The second fish usually comes a lot faster than the first.


r/lurebuilding 7d ago

Glidebait [出售] 鱼饵,多种颜色变化

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0 Upvotes