Mattlures

Just because you cant think of anything new doesnt mean there arent any new ideas. I have 1 single bait in the works with 4 pattentable ideas on it. Very original. I will get my pattents and my attourny will defend them with little cost to me. Saying that everything is a copy and there are no ideas is an excuse to be lazy. An excuse to copy sombody elses work. Yes there are a lot or grey areas when it comes to copies. Nobody with average intellegence will pick up one of my baits and mistake it for sombody elses unless they copied me. Saying its Ok to copy a bait because it is not pattented is like saying its ok to steal your car because you left it parked out on the street and not locked up in your garage. Just becuase you can get away with it doesnt make it ok. Lure snobs, not me. I encouage all you guys to take a shot at making a living doing this. Just make your own baits. Its not hard. I dont sell worms but If I was going to I would carve out my own masters and make my own molds and I would try not to copy anybosy elses. Obviously it would be much harder to make an original worm though. The Rokies baits are a great example of how to do it. In design they similar to other baits and use the same princaples as other baits, hoever they look like nothing else out there. They are his and nobody would accuse him of being a knock off. Instead of you guys making money off of other guys baits why not have some pride. Use the brains that God gave you and the skills you have learned here and creat something. I say this not to brag but to make a point. I litteraly have at least 12 new bait designes in line that will keep me busy for a couple years and I will have plenty more after those. Its not that I am better then anybody else. Its that I choose to think and design my own, and teach myself and learn for the hundred of failed experiments. Thats how you lean, thats how you get new ideas. Rookie I have to get my pattents on this bait. I belive its that good and many of my piers would want to copy it.

You would not have asked the question if deep down you didnt already know its wrong. Why copy another bait? If you have enough skills to copy a bait then you should also have enough skills to make your own. You can use the basic designs that are out there but change it. Make it yours. Make it so when somebody sees it, they dont think its a copy of somebody elses work. All the swimbait makers I know are small operation and we make our living off of it. we also have bills to pay. Making baits puts food on our table. Its not a hobby for us. Making a copy for proffit is steeling, and its lazy. You are most likley tallented enough to make your own. Making your own does not mean taking a current bait and carving a few details in it and putting a different paint scheme on it. You say its gratifying to you when somebody buys one of your copies? imagine how much better it will feel when somebody buys a bait that you designed. Guys say everythings a copy and there are no new ideas. That is an excuse to be lazy. There are new ideas every day. Some are subtle and others are very inovative. I am in the process of several patents. Its a shame that I have to spen a bunch of money just to keep guys from steeling my ideas and make money off of my hard work. Guys will say "look at all the crankbaits" as justification for steeling. Just because others do wrong doesnt make it ok. Plus I am sure the original guys who made cranks made their money. Its very disturbing when a product gets hot and the owner starts to make some of his money back and all the theives rush in to get their piece. They will come up with a bunch of reasons as to why its ok and justify it to mask their guilt but they all know deep down that what they are doing is wrong. Imagine if you were the guy that came up with something that took off. What you dont see is all the time and money that went in to getting it there. Imagine you designed a good bait and created a market for it. How then would you feel about a bunch of guys saying its ok to copy it. I am sure I will get dogpiled because I am the minority here but that doesnt make it ok.

I dont think the first posters clicked on the link.

Sorry if its already been posted. http://makelure.com/BuildOff.cfm

I think it looks good!

the latex is to be painted on in coats. Wait for the first coat to dry then paint on the next. Do this about 5 times and then reinforce it with netting or something. It still if not very good but it can be used. A good use for it is to use it as a paint mask. You can paint it over the bills and then pull it off when finished painting. Or use it as reverse stencils.

[i think it was pad printed over a silver base.

I like that alot. I want to buy one from you to use in saltwater. Will you sell me one with extra heavy rings?

placon.com

Thanks George! I am calling them tommorow. That sound like exactly what I was looking for. I apreciate the help!

Thanks Fred, Yeah I saw those on Ebay. The price is rediculous. The last ones I bought on ebay were about .025 each. Thoses there are 9 cents each. WAY too hgh

Hi guys. I cant find stainless sinker eyes in #1 long. Regular #1's will work also but I am trying to find a cheaper source. The #1 long's is what I realy want. I bought some on ebay a couple years ago but I have run out. If any of you guys have any you want to sell or know of a good source, I would apreciate the help. This is what I am talking about http://www.barlowstackle.com/Stainless-Steel-Wire-Eyes--P1195C220.aspx I am looking for 1000-10000 pcs Thanks

Thanks for the kind words fellas. I do have some advise for beginners. Be careful what you wish for. Running a buisiness and depending on it to pay the bills is not fun. I rarley have fun making lures anymore and I dont fish nearly as much as I used to. Yes there are benifits like I am the boss and I can work my own hours but its still a job and everything depends upon my ability to design, sell, manufacture, and compete. It very stressfull and it is work. Fishing and building lures used to be my favorite things to do. Now its work. Fishing is still fun when I can do it but then I ususaly feel guilty that I am not slaving away in my shop.Lure making as a hobby is fun and rewarding. It stimulates the mind and gives you a great sense of acomplishment when one of your original creations produces for you. When you make it a buisiness it becomes about the money. The entire fishing industry revolves around it and it can get real ugly. If you have a good job with a future then the best thing you can do is keep lure making a hobby and you will love it for as long as you want to. If you got nothing to loose they go for it! Just know that most of the guys that I know who do this for a living arent getting rich. They are making a living doing a job they used to love.

Wow you might have some self esteem issues? I never called anybody stupid, nor was it implied. I was simply stating that as far as the guesses go, his molds are more complex then that. BTW I did call Jerry to tell him guys were talking about how he made his bait. I was wrong, he didn't think it was funny. Look why not create and design your own. Then its yours. You get all the satisfaction in knowing that you created something that works. When you recreate sombody elses, its not yours. You may have been the one who poured it, or maybe you thought of a different color but its still sombody elses bait. If you get satisfaction out of catching a fish from a lure that you recreated from sombody elses design, Just imagine how great it feels when you designed the bait.

You are SOOOO right, there is no need to be a douchebag. A douchebag would be the guy who tells everybody how somebody else makes his living.

The molds Jerry uses are soo much more complex then you guys even know. I think I will call him so he can get a laugh at this thread.

pros soft bait glue is the same as any superglue. I recomend it for gluing soft plastic to hard plastic or to metal. I do not recomend it for gluing polastic to plastic. It leaves the repair hard and it is difficult to work with. It will glue your fingers to the bait RIGHT NOW

Mend-it is easier and makes a perfect repair. A mend-it repair is much cleaner then a melted repair. Super glues are the worst as far as clean repairs, plus it leaves your repair hard. Super glue is great for gluing plastic to metal though. For prototyping and making nice clean repairs Mend-it is the way to go

Mike I am sorry to hear this. I also doubt Lonie had anything to do with it. From what I hear he doesnt run things. I think a patent would be a huge waist of time in this instance. Here is why. There is nothing new or inovative about a ring worm. I HIGHLY doubt that any of those types would have been granted a patent and even if they were, it would be extremly easy to get around it. You can protect the name, the slogan,and the exact original design. But with a bait as simple as that it would be incredibly easy to defeat any patent that the designer was lucky(or unlucky) enough to be gratned. How hard would it be to change the rings or the rattle pocket or the tail. A design patent would only protect how the bait looks. I could carve out a knockoff in a day that would defeat any patent on that design. So could all the Big boys. Ken Chamont(Stanley) is no dummy. I am sure he changed the design enough just incase there was a patent. They lost a large case not too long ago where they held the patent and sombody else infringed. However the defendant made just enough changes to get around the Patent. I am sure they learned some things after that. Patents are good when they can not easily be defeated of you can afford to defend them. If you have a stong enough patent then you can find a lawyer to defend it for a large percentage of the winnings. However in most cases the patent is weak. there are other forms of protection like trademarks and copywrites but those are easy to beat to. The system is flawed. Knockoff artist should be held accountable but they arent unless the infringment is exactly the same. Sorry man I feel for you. I get knocked off all the time but they are always just different enough to avoid any trouble. You just have to beat them in the market place.

Dont fret over it John. River is right. It wasnt your baits or the size of them, it was your customer base. If you want a a good gauge of how your baits will sell then you need to show them to guys who fish for big fish. If you bring your baits to a fishing show where where most guys around that area are trout fisherman your still not going to have great results. Bring them to a big show where bass or musky are the theme.

I disagree kind of. A fancy finish on a bait might be to catch fisherman but a realistic paint job on a realistic bait is made to catch big old smart fish. Notice I didnt say just a realistic paint job. Cause you can have the most beautiful realistic finish on a crank bait and its still just a crankbait. It dosnt look realistic and it doesnt swim realistic. It might catch fish(they all do) but it is mainly to attract fisherman. Now take a bait that looks like a real fish, swims like a real fish and has the correct finish of the real fish its supossed to be and now you have a bait that catches smart big old fish. here are a few fish I caught on my baits http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/Mattlures/wolf11.jpg?t=1249895223 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/Mattlures/DSC00799.jpg?t=1249895296 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/Mattlures/Copy2ofDSC00822.jpg?t=1249895355

thank you verry much fellas

I make saltwater swimbaits. No need to add anything to the plastic but i do sometimes apply scent to a bait while I am using it. as far as colors go you should first decide what species you are targeting and then do your homework on google. You should be able to get an idea on productive colors.

Do any of you guys who inject make these? or know sombody that does?