% of custom baits vs store bought?

[muskiemarc]

Fairly new to the hobby and have learned a great deal recently thanks to the guys that post here. Really appreciate the info sharing.

I was just wondering what percentage of baits in your tackle box are your own creation and what % are store bought. Do you strive to get to the point where you are using your own baits 100%?

I fish for pike and muskie. 100% of my bucktails and spinnerbaits , 70% of my jerkbaits and top waters, 20% of my cranks are homemade.

Marc

[BassNator 1]

IMHO A lure is a tool designed to help you catch fish. I dont think personally I could ever go 100% into my own Lures. Its not out of my lack of confidence in my luremaking ability, ( I am a beginner at Tacklemaking and only cranked out 15 baits this past winter!) its just that each lure designed by manufacturers has a useage factor to be thought about. Certain lures work better under certain siutations or certain water clarity.. etc. I mean really, I dont think I could ever just limit myself to one brand, one lure, or one company or just my own homemade creations. Unless they sponsored me and put food on my table. But even guys who have sponsors also have different lures to use. Now on the other hand there are those that I believe will only use their own lures strictly. I had a local guy who is in the business of lure making give me a couple of pointers, but he mentioned that his tackle box consists of nothing but his creations. ( I would ALMOST take his comment literally and have him prove it to me cause I find it hard to be true!) From myself as a Budding Local Tourney Fisherman, I just believe that hinders your fish catchlng ability. I need lures for different situations I might encounter on a lake and by not having an arsenal of lures for different situations i feel it hurts me. Im fishing to try and catch some fish, hopefully get some money to offset my hobby that I love and enjoy! Why limit yourself with your speciffic tools. With that being said you need to keep it simple in your approach when on the water. It could leave you to second guess and also to doubt yourself about your choices and decisions. But Im also one who has 2 Plano Guide Boxes filled with lures. Something in around 10 of the Plano Stowaways! I have more crankbaits than most small tackle shops. SO Im not one who will ever put 100% into a tackle box with all my own stuff. I cant see me personally going over the 20% mark, but if one of my lures catches fish consistently, you know I'll be beefing up my favorite homemade lure in my box! Cody

[Mr B]

I have been making my own Blades, Buzzbaits and jigs for going on 14 yrs now. I do not own an Store bought Spinnerbait , Buzzbait or Jig. The main reason I got into lure making was not only to save money but to be able to create baits and color patterns that are not available to Joe Public. I use 3 different Spinnerbait head styles, 4 Different Jig head styles and just 1 Buzzbait head so far. With these molds I can create pretty much any wire bait that I need.

With the help of the folks on this board I am attempting to make a Water Putty mold this week for a new Spinnerbait head.

I would love to get into pouring plastics but between this and Rodbuilding it is hard to find the time.

Good Luck.

Brent

[musky1]

Marc

I now use nothing but my own baits 99.9% of the time. I was tired of buying lures and them running like crap. Every once in a blue moon I'll throw a Bull dog only because I don't make plastics. I catch a lot more muskies now than ever before, using my own lures. Jim

[u63405]

I completely agree with Mr. B and Musky1! I too was at the point where I could not find the colors that I wanted and the lures that I did buy ran like crap. This was especially true of the rebel tiny-wee craws. I bought about sixteen of them and everyone of them ran either to the left or right. I tried to correct them by fine tuning the line tie but it would loosen to the point where they didn't run at all. I could probably have had them replaced but at this point I was totally fed up and decided to make my own!

Now I make my own lures and I use them 100% of the time and I've caught a hell of alot more fish! Not to mention that it's a hell of alot of fun

[mgodliman]

I use my home mades whenever possible almost all my wire baits spinnerbaits and in-lines also most spoons.

Jerkbaits and surface lures almost 100%, nowerdays I even make a dawg rip-off using a plaster mould and my old melted down bits.

A lot of my deeper cranks are home made, one area I still use store bought is any time I need something like a squirrely burt or shallow invader or any of those light hollow plastic lures that are so hard to replicate in wood.

[Brett]

Trolling I run my own baits. Designed them for the technique and conditions I fish. Fished one bought bait on a whim last season just under the surface as I don't make a shallow runner yet. What's on the market to run as deep in good quality is expensive. Had a beauty lure I won in a 50/50 draw. Fell in love with it, lost it to the bottom, since then built my own. Much more satisfying. Have begun jointing my baits, have had great sucess in testing in my pool. Can't wait for the real test when the season opens.

[RiverMan]

Interesting thread you started Marc. I would say that 99% of my plugs...maybe 150 of them, are store bought. I do have two or three that I throw for bass...all of the other good baits I have come up with have been sold! lol.

Jed

[Skeeter]

all of the crankbaits in my box are ones that i make except for two... a norman deep tiny n and a bomber 6a.

Skeeter

[Art Brush]

Same here Skeeter,

I got 2 "go-to" baits I won't give up lol. The rapala J-7 in black/silver and Bill Dance's topwater Spit'n Image in bluegill holofoil.

[siebler_custom_baits]

i cant give up my spittn image or my shallow fingerlings by excalibur. even though i dont make hardbaits i would never desert these 2. as for baits i make, i love the style of the strike king bitsy bugs and use there heads with my skirts when the bass are spawning otherwise it is all my lures.

[spookman]

I use my baits 100% of the time. I make my hard baits, jigs, spinners and bucktails and flies. Only time I use store bought baits is the soft rubber baits. Not worth the time to make in my opinion.

[out2llunge]

Hey Marc,

I use my own baits almost exclusively and the baits that aren't mine are also mostly ohter basement baits. I do have a few from the big mfg, but the absolute majority are my own. If I don't have confidence in them then who will? The other thing that is inportant to me is being able to come with new designs that don't exist or modifying existing designs to make them better.

The only baits I haven't got into making are wire baits. I let musky_man take care of those for me.

[geneo]

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