EricF

Rich Rousseau has a book called something like "making wooden lures". What he does is cover the lure with glue, then roll it in wood shavings - he then airbrushes over that. Almost has a flocked appearance.

Well, really why do any of this? If we were hungry, we'd go to the grocery store. If the goal was just to catch fish, we'd use a net or a stick of dynamite. Do we need to develop what are really works of art (for most of you, not mine!) to catch fish? Of course not - plenty of folks catch plenty of fish with 2 dollar lures from walmart. While skinning a bass and sticking it on a lure sounds like an infuriating job to me, I think the idea is to try something new and check it out. Well, that's my take on it, I guess.

I don't know of any books. But anything big and flashy will work for these guys. I know www.hatches.com has a category for pike and musky flies. To be honest, get a book on saltwater flies - like farrow and allen - and use some of those - that is pretty much what I use. Lefty's deceivers, dahlberg divers, I also like surf candy as it doesn't get chewed up.

Hatches magazine - www.hatchesmagazine.com has a very nice forum with nice guys who help out beginners. They also have a whole section for beginners showing simpler patterns and techniques. If you are working with your own skins you might try to get a copy of Eric Leiser's book - Fly tying materials, I think it is called. Tells you how to skin and treat a critter. enjoy

Wow - first of all you guys are way over my head. But my first reaction when I saw this thread was that there are some flies out there that do exactly what you want to do. How you translate that into a lure I'm not sure, but here you go: http://books.google.com/books?id=85jo5CPwn9UC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=%22crippled+perch%22+pattern&source=bl&ots=52asLy-IdK&sig=oETAFzzVpbbLoTgQqF8-Vd69MdU&hl=en&ei=umM_TeXuBsH2gAf4__G5Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22crippled%20perch%22%20pattern&f=false This one is the crippled perch - it has a diver type shape, but when stripped dives and twists a bit. Not sure how or why it works, but it does. Another is Debbie's Sunfish - (roll down in the same book) - it has a curve to the hook that, when stripped again, causes it to dive, right itself and then float back up. They are both killer flies on bass. Finally, while not exactly the same, I once carved a fly rod slider (like a popper but with an angled face sloping back from top to bottom rather than the other way around). I did a sloppy job and it was also angled left to right. It had little rubber leg material for a tail. Anyway, when I would false cast the thing would spin wicked. When it would land the leader would slowly unwind and the fly would spin in the water. The fish would go nuts over that one. Again - don't think you could replicate that with a lure, but damn that sure was a great fly. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Hey Guys, I don't make a huge number of lures, but I do some - mostly for pike. Somewhere I heard a trick of using bike spokes for the wires for the spinners. The idea being they are much less likely to get bent and trashed by the pike. So, I found myself some bike spokes. Now my problem is clevises. Can't find any with a hole large enough for the bike spokes. Anyone come up with a work around for this problem? Know of a source for extra large clevises or make their own? Thanks

They have stencils here - under techniques, I think. Plus, it is in Dutch... http://www.lurebuilding.nl

Hey Guys, New here - great forum, don't make a lot of baits - but I'm posting because I'm a toxicologist by training and just happen to run a state childhood lead poisoning prevention program. There have been some very good posts about what to worry about for lead poisoning here already. The only thing I have to add is that it take very little lead dust to poison a child. We've had cases of dust being brought in from work sites or hobby sites and contaminating a house and poisoning a kid. Having coveralls you use when working with lead and leaving them in your workshop is a good practice. Secondly, depending on what state you live in, you may have access to lead dust tests. You can call your state lab and see if they have them. They are cheap (<$20 up here) - it is basically a like an alcohol wipe that you rub on your workbench (or whatever other site you want to test). That can act as a validation of your practices - are you REALLY doing all the stuff that you say you are doing? Finally, if you work with lead, you should do a blood lead test every so often. Don't remember what the recommendations are - yearly or so - but the upshot is that the effects of the lead depend on dose. Like booze - a little makes you drunk, more makes you very drunk, more makes you vomit, enough will kill you. Catching lead when the levels are low in your blood will allow you to modify your techniques to reduce your exposure. You don't want your family discovering you had lead poisoning when they are burying you. Not particularly fair to your family or useful to you at that point. It is cheap, docs do it all the time, and it is a simple test.