ROD W Posted January 1, 2018 Report Share Posted January 1, 2018 Hey how about a new idea for a best home made lure contest. The 2 main things is that it will need to be hand made (no blanks) the other is that the photo is of the lure hanging from some fishes mouth. How about it gang? Might be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted January 1, 2018 Report Share Posted January 1, 2018 Well, I know where you’re coming from and agree that the most essential practical quality of a crankbait is that it catches fish. But craft in a crankbait goes beyond that one quality and it would be impossible to judge all the aspects of a crank from a pic of it hanging out of a fish’s mouth (or better yet stuck deep in its gullet!). The practicalities just don’t make it possible since the judges have to evaluate a range of qualities set out by the contest sponsor that just can’t be captured in a boat pic. But I applaud the sentiment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROD W Posted January 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 This could be a friendly contest where there is no winner. Just have fun. Kind of like a sandlot ball game that you played as a kid. The judges would be anyone who viewed the photo. They could say nice catch or wait till you see what I'm going to catch. My opinion only, lures are made to catch fish.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish_N_Fool Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 (edited) I like this idea and although I have never made a hard bait from scratch, I plan to here soon and love to see how other people make baits. I would suggest doing a photo montage of building the lure with at least 3 pictures plus a brief summery on the basic process of how they made the bait. The first pix would be on making the lure body, another of the finished lure before painting, and one after painting. Plus one more of a fish caught with that bait. The pixs should to show the bait in the fishes mouth so you can tell it was the same bait. I think this could be a fun contest. So whoever wants to join in send in 4 pictures and put all qualified entries up for a vote. I will put the prize up for this and send the winner 4 packs of my world famous Sink-N-Fool baits. They are a extra heavy salt stickbait that out fishes all the other stickbait hands down Here is a few samples of what they are. I have a new metallic bait line the Red Shad, Silver Shad, Fool's gold, Alabama Craw, and Midnite blue Shad that is really cool. The winner will get to pick out of these what they want. The metallic colors will be one of the 4 in the picture per pack not mixed like the photo. Edited January 2, 2018 by Fish_N_Fool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly voodoo Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 I would be up for this style of contest just make sure the timing makes it possible for all to go out and catch a fish on the lure they enter Right now lakes in my area are covered in a foot plus of ice. This makes for really tough trolling lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish_N_Fool Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 6 hours ago, Hillbilly voodoo said: Right now lakes in my area are covered in a foot plus of ice. This makes for really tough trolling lol You just have to make a topwater bait so you can drag it on top of the ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROD W Posted January 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 Fool I like your baits. And I'm glad you agree it would be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly voodoo Posted January 4, 2018 Report Share Posted January 4, 2018 On 2018-01-02 at 10:50 AM, Fish_N_Fool said: You just have to make a topwater bait so you can drag it on top of the ice. If you have created a top water that drives fish crazy enough to bust through a foot + of ice you sir are a lure making god lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretcher66 Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 i always had an idea of the winners of the "best homemade hard baits" should have to supply a video of the bait actually working. so that nobody is using taxidermy molds and just painting them. The lure should have to actually work as it is intended for it to be the "best homemade bait" not just the best painted bait. and if its a flop then no prize collected........ Because there is more to the bait than just the paint job on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbites Posted January 13, 2018 Report Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) Lots of good ideas, but for me January and February are my main lure making and designing months. It would be hard for me to catch and bass say on a topwater lure I made in January in Ohio! Like hillbilly said, our water is solid in the winter months. Edited January 13, 2018 by foxbites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly voodoo Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 3 hours ago, foxbites said: Lots of good ideas, but for me January and February are my main lure making and designing months. It would be hard for me to catch and bass say on a topwater lure I made in January in Ohio! Like hillbilly said, our water is solid in the winter months. I am in northern BC be sometime before I see open water usually around May for our big lakes Hope if this goes through as a contest the timing works for people like us who get winter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 You could use a chainsaw to cut a troth in the ice. Then you could troll. But as cold as it has been here, you would have to cut every 15 min. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROD W Posted January 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 I'm on a Face Book page for a guy who makes hand made baits in his shop. Every month folks send in photos of the fish they caught with his lures. Most of the photos the lure is in the fishes mouth. For you guys in the north country put a 1 ounce weight on the back set of hooks and jig it up and down in the ice hole. Just crazy enough to work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROD W Posted July 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 This is kind of what I had in mind 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 I could send you a picture of a broken 18lb test super-braid. That is all that was left after a LMB hit my mini mouse. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 The TU community contains different craftsmen, concentrating on different aspects of making baits. Building baits from raw materials (e.g. wood) is one and that’s where my interest lies. But there are other avenues to making baits that catch fish. Painting or repainting factory plastic lures, be they originals or knockoffs is also a popular avenue. Is one more valid than the other? No, and I try not to let my own bias color my view about what bait making activity might be “valid”. I make wood baits to catch fish. I see them as fishing tools and if the don’t catch, they are bad tools. If they do, I get special satisfaction from them. But I don’t have the skill or the inclination to make every variety of hard bait, particularly ones with an internal design that makes a bait do things that wood baits usually can’t do. So I buy those and happily fish them. Almost exclusively they are original factory or commercial custom baits, but occasionally a knockoff too. As long as they catch fish I really don’t care. A bait-in-mouth contest might be fun but loaded with practical problems re the photography, validation of bait construction, obvious opportunities for cheating, etc. And it would exclude a large number of TU members. For myself, I never stop fishing to take pics to show later. You gotta have priorities. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 Insert photoshopped picture of one of my lures stuck in the grill of a 3500 poud Barracuda..... A Plymouth Barracuda. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROD W Posted July 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2018 Sorry for this post. I was wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KateCoach Posted July 23, 2018 Report Share Posted July 23, 2018 On 15.07.2018 at 05:03, ROD W said: Sorry for this post. I was wrong. Everything is fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted July 26, 2018 Report Share Posted July 26, 2018 I think this would make a nice informal contest. Everybody who has the equipment can post a pic like this. Then we can vote at the end of the year. No prizes, just fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
