How did you get started?

[Markell]

I am in my early 30's and started making lures last year. I started by accident and am hooked! I was given a box of old molds, spinnerbait blades, and skirt material. I assembled a few spinnerbaits and buzzbaits and this past March I started catching fish with them. I have been hooked ever since. There is something special about catching a bass on a lure that you spent time creating. I have caught several large fish in my life but none of them can equal the feeling I had bringing in that first 2 1/2 pounder on my own bait. I was literally shaking from the excitement. There is no way I could have stayed with it without the help from you guys on this forum. For those of you who have been doing this for a while, how did you get started? Where did you go for advice?

[Celticav]

I started by melting plastic worms together when I was real young, I couldn't afford much tackle at that age and had to make mine last as long as possible, when I was a teenager I started taking apart the spinnerbaits I owned and altering them after some older guy I ran into on the lake was tearing them up on his homemade spinnerbait, been hooked ever since.... man I wish I could go back to those days... JIM

[Mercury]

in the EARLY days for me I was always tinkering with things and learned how to make my own spoons while in the boyscouts.

Then I left it alone for a long time and jumped into plastics.

Funny thing my mom and dad found a bunch of the spoons I made when I was a early teen. Cool things to have many years after the fact.

Jeff

[Skeeter]

I was lucky enough to get introduced to a man that had been making his own crankbaits for about 15 yrs. He ran his own business selling them for over 10 yrs. He was nice enough to point me in the general direction and give me advice as I went along. If you aren't lucky enough to have a mentor like him, then this is the best place in the world for information and support. But the bottom line for being successfull at this: You just plain have to love it.

Skeeter

[Coley]

I started making baits when I was about 12. My dad and I

used to do a lot of trout fishing when we lived in WV and I

learned how to tie flies.

When I was 16 we moved to TN. I finished high school here and

started to work for Monsanto Chenical Co. I got into Sauger

fishing and started pouring and tying my own Sauger jigs at the

age of 20. That was when Herter's was in business and they had

a catalog about an 1 1/4" thick. I tied jigs using Polar bear hair.

It was the best material I ever used. We used a lot of graphite

at the plant and I made molds for jigs and sonars out of it. I still

have some of those today.

We had a lot of fresh water tailing ponds around the plant that

were stocked with bass. Thats when I got into bass fishing.

So, I started pouring plastic worms at that time, only for myself.

I fished mostly for Sauger all the way up until 1987 and Sauger

fishing got so bad, I quit fishing all together. And started building

radio controlled model airplanes, again.

In 1994 I started Sauger and bass fishing again. I also got into

tournament fishing. I started pouring Sauger jigs and plastic worms

again. I poured what now is known as the zipper worm.

And I started selling them, only to pay for my equipment.

They sold great and it soon became a job instead of a hobby.

I poured my own craws and chunks for jig trailers. I also

poured my own bass jigs.

I quit bass fishing in 2000 and just stayed with Sauger.

One night while surfing the web I came across Tacklemaking, I read

the post and was fascinated by what I read. I visited the site

12 to 15 times a day, looking for new stuff. I really got interested.

The first thing I did was build a dryer. Next, I ordered a lathe and

started making poppers and bombers. I asked so many questions

on the site, I became ashamed.

Then I started making flatsided crankbaits from TN cedar and

pine 2x4's. Then I started making cedar/balsa crankbaits.

I also make spinner and buzzbaits.

I have had many failures, baits that skimmed across the top

of the water. Baits that had good action but, would sink

when they were supposed to float. Baits that would spin

the whole time on retrive.

Thanks to the people on this slte I hung in there. It would of

been very easy to give it up. And believe me, I know how

to cuss and throw things. I have done plenty.

A big thanks goes to Jerry ( Red-g8r ) for opening this site.

And another big thanks to the guys that post and answer questions

they are the ones that keep it interesting. Without the posters

there would be no site.

Coley

[Big Splash]

I too started tying flies for trout at the age of 10. We lived on a farm with a small stream running through the valley, and it contained Rainbow Trout. These fish were small, but would reward even a self-taught fly fisher with a rise to the dry fly. Our general store was over six miles away, and I soon used up all the .49 cent flies they had anyway. I had to repair flies that came unwound, and fly tying was the next natural step. No bird or animal on our farm was likely to escape having its pellage tested for it's aptitude as fly material!

I also have a box of flies I tied as a pre-teen.

[Legendary Lures]

I've been fishing all of my life, mostly with my Grandpap. I tied some of my first flies in 1974 after answering an ad about how to "fill your mail box with cash." So much for that! I was on my own and just barely making it, at least on good days. Getting an Original Floating Rapala was a special treat and required saving up for a few weeks. After marveling at one of them, I thought, "I can make these." After several attempts and only producing the world's best non-wiggling lures and a few excellent lures that would spin, I quit for a while. My dad got me a Dremel lathe as a gift around 1980. Poppers and jointed lures were better than my earlier attempts. Been at it ever since and still learning.

Here's a now and then picture. The red one is a balsa lure that I made in 1975. The silver one was completed just last week.

[deadlystreamer]

I have been reading these as they are posted and it?s nice to see how you all got started Most of us have a Grandparent or Parent to thank or to blame!!

I guess it?s time to stick my nickels worth in.

My Father started this fly tying thing as a kid fishing the Detroit River. He lived in Detroit at the time and that is where he started his family. I really don?t need to go back that far but I?ve sent Jerry (g8r) some of his early drawings and how and where this particular fly got started and how I got started tying them.

Let?s skip about 20 some years and two older sisters ad pick it up when I was around 15 years old. My Family had moved to Fenton Mi. in the late 50?s?s and Dad had a Sporting Goods & Taxidermy store. I used to tie the bodies on some flies and he would finish them off. I guess being the perfectionist that he was, a kid just couldn?t do it and do it right. It took me some time to show him I could tie, and then I was tying the whole thing.

I went into the Army right out of high school and did a 6-year hitch. My last year I was in Viet Nam and my Dad had a couple heart attacks and my younger Brother who had helped him in the business ended up closing the store and it was then that the Deadly Streamer went into retirement.

By the time I came home it had all changed. Aged parents no business left, I had married, Little Bro was getting married and no Deadly Streamer. I got a job driving a semi and joined the Teamster Union for a 30-year jaunt. Also at that time I was trying to go fishing up in Northern Mi on the North Branch of the AuSable River where I had gone as a kid.

On those trips I used my Deadly Streamer from years ago and was confronted many times for using my illegal legal weighted fly in that fly?s only stretch of what is known as ?The Holy Waters? near Grayling Mi. It was during one of those week-end trips that after being asked ?where can I get them? I decided I would try to start that aspect of my Dad?s dream up again and see if I could do it and still work, raise two boys and do all the other things that is expected from a husband, father and a 80 hour a week employee.

With my now badly ailing Fathers help, I located the plaster molds that were really in bad shape and started molding my bodies and buying feathers, thread, all the stuff I needed and becoming a traveling salesmen in my semi during the week, It was a short time later that my Brother had located a man in Alabama to re-make the molds, I had single cavity mold made for each size that I still use today.

I built a clientele of buyers and stores that my Dad had supplied and it wasn?t long and I was busy. Glens Deadly Streamer was back in business. It was hard and there were a couple years that I just didn?t tie and told myself I couldn?t do it. Then a year later my old customers leaned on me and I?d get it going again.

I kept promising myself that once I retired it would be easier. Retirement came 5 years ago I still tie my butt off and do enjoy it. It?s a busy business and I do get behind now and then, I even have a customer that can?t pay his bill. He?s one that has been around for years, because of this once trusted customer who owns a big business in Grayling Mi, I?ve learned to say, ?Pay first then I ship?. (Even the big ones go under)

There is a lot I?ve left out of this but now you see ?How I got Started?

I owe a lot to Jerry for the help with the re-make of my web site. The man is a gem when it comes to web sites. Thanks g8r.

[just_plugging_away]

In a condensed version of how I got started (the second time around)...............I REALLY, REALLY,REALLY,REALLY hated the job I was in. I turned once again to the only thing I was interested in and knew anything about....yep...FISHING!!!!!

After 12 months of nights and weekends to start and grow my business , (while I still kept my day job),I was able to quit my day job.I have been in the fishing lure business full time now for 15 years and there is no better way of life on earth .

The only thing I dont like is a lot of times I feel like a "non-profit" orginization!!!

Scott

[Gr8flyz]

I've always loved to fish. When I was a kid I became fascinated with fly tying and at about age 11 I started tying flies with whatever hooks & materials I could get. I held the hooks in my right hand & wrapped the thread with my left. The only tools I owned then was an old pair of scissors that my mother gave me. I didn't own a fly rod until about a year later.

In 1989, I got fired from a job that I also hated, (my former boss & I just didn't agree) and was tired of working for someone else so I borrowed some money & started my business. I wanted it to be something I could do with my family. At first I only tied flies, and sold tying materials, but over the years I got into making jigs, spinnerbaits & buzzbaits, and some other lures. My kids were all young when I started, so except for the first few years in business I've also worked a full time job to keep my household bills paid, but my business has become a fulltime job too. I enjoy making tackle, but also don't enjoy the times when it seems to be a non-profit activity or when it takes up so much of my time I don't have time for anything else, including fishing. This winter I'm going to take a break, and do some other things, then start again in the early spring.

[Guest Anonymous]

My Grandfather started teaching me when I was 4 or 5....tieing flies and bucktails.

Used to make spinners and blades out of old beer and pop can pulls...they would get dingy after a fishing trip or two.

We mostly carved lures from basswood...The years go by...

Chip