Ina Nektar Fly Fishing

Marabou Flies

Tips For Making Saltwater Fishing Lures

Making your own fishing tackle, just as fly tying, can be a very rewarding activity. I actually enjoy making lures and tying flies as much as I do fishing.

If you live up North, it's also a great way to stave off the Cabin Blues of deep winter. You won't really save any money, but you can derive deep satisfaction from catching fish on something you hand-crafted yourself.

I can't describe the feeling of accomplisment, especially when other anglers come over to look at your creations.

If you have it in mind to make lures and sell them on EBay to make money, I hate to disappoint you, but China cranks out millions of inexpensive flies and lures every year, and re-sellers have flooded the internet with them, just like retail stores. You can get 12 French spinners for as little as $9.00 on EBay.

There is no way you can make them that cheap at home. Are they as good as your own hand-crafted ones? Of course not.

A lot of the time they don't even work right, and fall apart after a few fish. But...they got sold! If you're going to get into tacklecraft, do it for your own enjoyment. Your not going to get rich making lures.

I have made lures out of left-over Balsa Wood, old teaspoons, costume jewlery and the like. They worked fine. But you can economically get the correct parts online to make lures as good as anything out there. My favorite places are

Barlow's Tackle Express and Cabelas

These two places carry everything you'll ever need to make any lure or fly you can imagine, as well as sinkers, jigheads, rods and nets.

I won't go in to flies here, because that could cover several books. I will concentrate on conventional lures, going from the simplest, to the most complicated. We'll start with the most low-tech, but one of the most successful lures...the spoon.

A spoon is just what the name suggests. A convex surface, painted or textured, or just plain smooth, and a plain concave surface which is the bottom of the lure. It has a small hole drilled or punched in each end, with a split ring and hook on one end, and a plain hole, or swivel on the other to tie the line on.

That's it. On the retrieve, it wobbles, darts from side to side, flutters and drives fish crazy. They can even be tiiped with live bait ,or skirts, or plastic bodies. A plain version can easily be made by cutting the handle off of a suitable sized culinary spoon and filing the cut smooth.

Then simply drill a small hole in each end and attack a spit ring and hook at the larger end, and tie your line to the other hole. I would recommend attaching a split ring and swivel to the line end, because due to the violent action of the lure, the metal can cut your line.

You can paint the spoon, hammer a texture onto it, dress the hook with bucktail , marabou, or a rubber skirt, or tip it with whatever you want.

About the Author

Dan Eggertsen is a fishing researcher and enthusiast who is committed to providing the best saltwater fishing information possible. Get more information on saltwater fishing lures here: http://www.asksaltwaterfishing.com/

Better Flies, Faster (Paperback) $33.91 Tips for tying dry flies, wet flies and nymphs, and streamer and saltwater flies from the editor of Fly Tyer magazine From simple fixes--using two whip-finishes rather than one to complete a fly so that it holds--to hints for working with tricky materials like marabou feathers Tying advice from experts, including Pat Dorsey, Dick Talleur, Jay "Fishy" Fullum, Gary Borger How to use the latest innovations as well as classic natural materials

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