Franky Mosqueda -How To Make A Lure | Redhead Popper | Episode 1

I really enjoy watching other people create lures and especially when they put some of their own personalty in to them, check out these videos from Franky Mosqueda of Arizona Bass Fishing and don't forget to send him some likes and subscribe to his channel.

The Double Whopper Plopper Rig

Can you have too much of a good thing, when it some to the Whopper Plopper I don't think so and the Bait Man is a little excited about it.

Fishing Journeys Nutterjuck Lures

I am a big fan the guy behind Nutterjuck Lures, Scott Anderson he makes some truly original lures that step away from the everyday things your likely to see on tackle shops racks. So this video was a great find for me and also a great watch.

Links facebook https://www.facebook.com/NutterJuck-Lures-171058632922767/

Links Nutterjuck blog http://nutterjucklures.blogspot.co.uk/

Totally Awesome Lure Making with James Lanfear

This is the latest video from the Totally Awesome Fishing Show featuring James Lanfear,
a great British lure builder, which is not as rare as it used to be. Hopefully with this inspiring video there will be a few more people prepared to turn the spare room or shed into a fully functioning lure workshop and at the same time save their marriage.

The Totally Awesome Fishing Show is one of my favourite youtube fishing channels run by father and son team the Pullens who I often wistfully imagine as a WWE wrestling team (maybe one day). Graeme Pullen, or dad as his son calls him has been a fishing journalist, writer, videographer and youtuber long enough to have probably seen it all. And when he is not fighting sharks or catching monster carp on baked beans he is sharing that wealth of knowledge experience through his channel in an accessible way that doesn't involve trying to sell you a brand of fishing tackle or a fist bumping personality.

For me this is what is great about you-tube getting access to people who give a sh*t about fishing and helping others. Viva La Pullens Please Subscribe to their channel. like, share, and leave them some kind words of support or I promise you the only fishing on you-tube will be some gimp in a buff casting for tarpon with a fly rod while on his day off from being a billionaire bastard banker (yes that is alliteration, but I think it works).

Brendan's Fabulous World of Fishing

I am a bit of a Youtube amateur fishing show junky and there are a fair number made in America that are always worth a watch. Brendan's Fabulous World of Fishing is one that sticks out because it is more about fishing and less about big boats,big engines, high fives and fist bumping. So if your looking help whatever Christmas leftovers you have managed to cram onto a sandwich digest, put your feet up and lets go swamping for bass.

No Tanks No Testing just some fishing, Nuffinbutfishing and Willem Romeijn

If tank test Tuesday is about anything for me it is about not feeling alone. There is a comfort in knowing that around the world other lost souls are throwing things they have made in water in the hopes that what ever has occupied their thoughts and hands for the previous weeks, months or even years makes sense when wet.

But as someone who is also burdened with the desire to makes short films about fishing I need some assurance that there are others equally obsessed with dragging cameras about along with their landing nets and then when it is time to leave the water editing into the early hours. It is fair to say I am not alone, so I get a choice of where to find comfort and some inspiration and so for today's tank test I am visitng a couple of those places, the youtube channels of Nuffinbutfishing from the UK and Willem Romejin from Holland, a couple of young (yes I feel Old) fishing film-makers. As luck would have it both of them have managed to upload their latest videos today. I don't really want to say too much about these videos other than if the future of fishing is going to be carried on anybodies shoulders I rather it was people like these.

I try and keep away from telling other people what to do but if you have enjoyed these films click on the youtube icon and subscribe to their channels, even make the effort to press the like button and then if you haven't worn your fingers to the bone share them on your facebook because other people might also enjoy them and they are probably sick of you posting pictures of your dog or selfies. thanks

Eric Ross Making A crawdad Soft Plastic Lure

Simple quick but very effective

Fish Hunter, Making A popper

A great video showing the process of making a wooden popper lure on the lathe and putting it through its paces on the water.

Yoshihiko Ando, Serious Silly Style

A.H.P.L / Yoshihiko Ando Lure Exhibition 2015 from devilhead on Vimeo.

In Japan they queue for lure makers, but who wouldn't to meet this guy. My own little skull jig head owes a lot to his work. When the fun stuff is over he can carve and paint replicas that have a breathe of life about them.

Lemire's Plugworks

Another great one from the USA, striper lures

Jettson Lure Company, hand carved poppers

Take a bit of wood add your bit of magic and you have a fishing lure.

http://www.jettsonlures.com/

Guppy Lure Company, Made by Fishermen for fishermen

I like the description of their early lure making days; secretly producing them at home but only when his girlfriend was away working.

Link to Guppy Lure Co.

Old Red Eyes Is Back

Image Above: Balsa Crankbait Prototype, foiled and waiting for paint and epoxy

Crankbaits are as American as a certain type of pie; so it is with a bit of apprehension that I have begun messing round with my own little version of a trusted classic. Regrettably in the UK we don’t have that other American Classic to accompany the lure, freshwater bass. We do have the humble Perch and then there is always a chance that a pike may be in the market for a snack rather than a full meal. 

Why a crankbait? I was looking for a lure to work at close range on a particular type of water we seem to have a lot of in this country, old industrial canals. As man-made structures I often get the feeling when fishing them I am somehow just testing lures in an overly large bathtub and to certain extent because of that uniformity I find them very hard to read, but water is water and needs to be fished. Depth wise my local stretch is a maximum of  4’3” or 1.3m and anything from 15ft wide to double that, on the plus side it does run for 127 miles and at times it has felt like I have walked or possibly trudged every mile. Structure can be sparse with long sections of aquatic motorway hemmed in by concrete or reinforced banks. But then there can be narrow sections under bridges or turning bays for long boats, sometimes wild sections spring up with reeds and water lilies but still conforming to an engineered geometry.

To date my forays to the ‘cut’ (slang for canal) have not been particularly fruitful but then winter can bunch fish together create whole swathes of canal that are almost devoid of fish, so I make my excuses. Part of the problem has been making lures for open water fishing and expecting them to translate easily into more restricted situations, here working with short casts is the norm but not just short they also have to be a little more accurate.  

Like all bits of water that skirt urban and industrial areas the canal seems to attract  almost surrealist debris, I have found whole desktop computers with screens happily bobbing along still tethered with cables to the keyboard and hub. Supermarket trolleys are almost a staple hazard but a more common and unseen one is the plastic bag, half filled with silt they line the bottom ready to grab stray hooks and hold them until the little sack can be dragged to the bank. All inviting stuff; but then there can be sections so steeped in that Victorian past with cobble stones and brick warehousing that it would not seem out of sorts to bump into Dickens enjoying a constitutional.

I suppose I should know the basics of what makes a crankbait, but no matter how many lines I lay down on paper or re-plot on the computer the test and then the refinement comes only after I have had a good chance to throw it in some water; even then I devote more time than is healthy wondering if I should tweak it a little. So my latest crankbait balsa prototype is waiting for some coats of epoxy, paint and a lip. It’s through wire is reinforced by a brass weight so if I should find a monster or a monster plastic bag the wire will hold up. Rather than make it in two halves I have gone for the simpler slot approach with a hole for the belly weight.  It should end up about 65mm (2 1/2”) long and 10g (1/3oz) just on the light end of what my rod will cast. The shape is standard stuff but rather than taper to the tail or head I have gone for a flat sided approach to make it pump a bit more water and also simplify the design, should anyone else want to have a go at building it.

For finishes, well I have been experimenting again with resin additives and new ways of laying up foil to create some depth in the facial features.

So next comes a little more testing and the start of another How-to video with hopefully some fish catching footage or bag retrieval. 

How to make a Buzzbait

It was a little busier at the lake than I am accustomed to. The warmth of the winter sunshine had brought out a field of competitors, but rather than clog up the central swim they had tucked themselves away into the corners leaving me a sizeable stage to test my lures. I had come to get some film of my latest project the Buzzbait, this was to be a repeat performance after yesterday’s visit when I found once again my camera was battery- less.

The buzzbait is at best a little more than ridiculous, I know it has its roots in the spinnerbait  but there is pushing the design envelope  and then there is farting in it and posting to someone you don’t like. Despite looking like a unfortunate accident involving a teenager with a mouth full of dental work and desk fan this is a lure that truly make sense once you get it into the water. Given a couple of reel handle cranks and a slightly raised rod tip the lure rises to the surface as the blade splashes creating a sound very similar to that of a duckling running on water to make good its escape. Unlike the sloppy casting spinnerbait the buzzbait flies a little longer and little more directly all be it with a purring blade.

With all that said this is really a summer lure for use when little critters like ducklings, rats,mice, and voles are about on the snaggy margins where wobblers fear to tread. Until then I can just make the excuse that I am testing it rather than fishing with it.

When I had what I thought was enough video to edit together I put the camera away and clipped on a Montana John and went for walk along the bank. A group of young lads decided to join me casting jellied lures across my line while telling me about the pike they had caught last week, whose weight seemed to be yo-yoing with every detailed addition to the story. I tried to get a little distance on them and attracted the attention of another passer-by who asked how it was going as I struck into a fish.

It felt a healthy size and drawn by the commotion the lads ran over brandishing landing nets and asking if I wanted them to net it. I jumped down into the shallow water and brought the fish in; with crowd safely on the bank I slipped the hook out and let pike away before it became a thing to prod at.

The lads, who couldn’t have been much more than ten, asked what I caught the pike with and I showed them the lure. The oldest of the group took off the jelly shad he had been using and began tying a different lure on his line, one which I recognised and  I told him the lure he was holding was one I had made; I think he thought I was asking for it back. His mate said he had gone into the lake to get it out and the water had come up to his underpants. I had given it away to fisherman a few weeks earlier who must have lost it only for it to change hands again.  To show I was not trying to reclaim lost property I gave him another lure, a plastic swim bait I had retrieved myself and thought I better throw in some traces for safety. I had my fish, my film and smile from hearing about a kid who wadded in after one of my lures so I packed and headed home.

  How to make A Buzzbait  Drawing by  

  Tools and materials list for making as Buzzbait by  

How To Make A Spinnerbait

The latest little project, a spinnerbait.

Spinnerbait Drawing by Paul Adams

Making a Spinnerbait Materials and Tools by Paul Adams

Gill Netting Sea Bass

Image Above: Sea Bass Caught With a Gill Net on a Welsh Beach.

The net stretched out from its anchor point at the seaward end of the jetty into shallows at the bottom of the tide. I wondered if it was sea trout they were after or bass. The net’s owner was up to his waste in water lifting the line and floats as he moved towards the ball that marked the end of its reach.  When I brought my gaze down to the sand I found almost at my feet four sea bass lying stiffly in the weak sunlight. I took some photographs and moved on.

I don’t know whether gill netting sea bass is wrong. I know I ate fish and chips for lunch and the fish tasted like cod but I didn’t ask the question so I couldn't say where it came from or if it was as endangered as the few cod who now make it into British waters are.

Image Below: The Net

There is a man in the garden with a gun

Image Above: A little silver thing.
Image Below Right: Filming in the garden.

I dropped my mother in law at the airport at about 5am and then cruised home to collect my tackle and head for the lake. At five thirty I was at my favourite peg with a float poking at the surface tension of a still lake. It was a slow start but eventually a shoal of small bream cruised past and I took half a dozen before they moved off trailing bubbles down the lake. The roach came a little later fat and greedy for breakfast. In the small bay where the lake widens a father and son were dealing with an eel the lad had caught and the excitement drew some spectators from the other anglers who had arrived while I was busy with the roach.

I left a little before nine with the feeling that I had lived almost a whole day and had yet to enjoy breakfast. Turning into the avenue I found a film crew setting up for a day’s shoot with cables and light gantries strung down the pavement only to converge on our neighbours house. I spent most of the morning packaging lures between visits to the bedroom window to keep ahead of the action. They were filming a new drama thriller for channel four about conspiracy theory called ‘Utopia’ and Liverpool was doubling up for London which was probably all down to cost.

I watched the stars (none of whom I could recognise) climb the garden walls with one of them brandished an automatic pistol. At one point they ran a small rail line down our back garden to carry the camera while the cast re-enacted what looked like a scene from the great escape. Two things struck me about the filming, you have to be so thin to work in front of the camera that some of the cast would only be a little heavier than my balsa lures. The other thing was that the crew employ a man whose sole job was to hold the replica gun while it was not being used in filming; a gun minder like a baby minder only with a gun.

In the afternoon I went off in search of welding rods along the dock road, the family came along for quick trip to Crosby beach and some bass scouting.



Image Below: Sculpture at Crosby Beach.

A Leak In The Lake

Image Above: Some new hybrid spoon lure colours

I left the lake shortly after the workmen arrived. They had come to fix a hole; a hole that had opened up twenty years earlier and dropped the water level by four feet. Only last week I spoke to a fellow angler about the leak in the lake and he said, “They (the council) would never get round to fixing it, especially in a recession.”  

It hadn’t been a great a morning. Only yesterday on a day tip to Wales I had been stood on an almost perfect beach staring out over the breakers and thinking about bass. This morning it was back to the puddle at least I had hooked a pike although I lost it. By way of compensation I snagged a lure I had lost a few weeks back. Pedro (see prev. posts) a small spoon lure was returned to me all be it missing and eye and the varnish I had hastily applied. 

 I trudged home wondering whether the lake would miraculously refill before my next visit and if the island would return to being a true island instead a patch of raised ground surrounded by mud.  

At home it was back to coating lures and more photography for my website which seems to have been under construction for far too long.

Image Below: Nefyn Beach, North Wales

Balsa Baits

Image Above: Pike taken on a Balsa Lure

I had an idea; this is not a rare occurrence, the trouble is that often I have too many ideas and not enough time to make anything out of them. The idea was to build a Bass fishing lure for the summer if I ever get the chance to get down to the Welsh coast again. Ordinarily I would sculpt a bit of wood add some weights and hooks and hope for the best. This method is not very repeatable and while I have made some great lures this way I have had my fair share of duds. So the day before yesterday I sat down with a drawing board and a sketch of a Mackerel I had made in December and set about designing and building a prototype. What I wanted for the lure was that it bore some resemblance to a Mackerel and wasn’t just a minnow lure sprayed to look like the aforementioned. It needed to float and dive but not deep and when retrieved it should wobble. On the cast it should be able to punch out in a straight line in a bit of wind. To some extent all these competing needs call for a bit of sacrifice somewhere, long lures don’t wobble as much as short but then short lures don’t always cast as far or as accurately.

From the drawing to the final shaping it took me a couple of hours, having a drawing to work from was great, it meant I could actually work to dimensions, better still I had a record of what I had done. I messed up the lower jaw and shaved a bit too much off but as a rough start it looked good. I gave it a sap coat of epoxy and left it overnight to harden up. The next morning primer and then paint, I wasn’t looking for a final finish quality more an impression and believe me I cut corners. Another flood coat of epoxy and a night on the turning rack. This morning the coat of epoxy was almost dry but not fully cured.

Outside it was a great day for testing lures, the rain had stopped but a north wind was blowing on the edge of gale force. So I grabbed my rod, net and bag and almost ran to the park lake. It took me a few minutes to find enough shelter to thread my bait caster and rod. I tied a small trace and clipped on my lure and adjusted the brake and the magnets. The first cast was to be the first test, having been used to testing the more compact resin spoons I wasn’t expecting this lure to give that kind of distance or accuracy but I was wrong it ate up the distance cutting straight through the side wind leaving the line to parachute out behind. On about the tenth cast it went too far as the clip on the trace failed and my new lure was free, shit. I have a bit of a habit of doing this, I put on a new trace and spoon lure and hook up with it after a few minutes. I put the spoon back in the bag and began bashing the lure every which way trying to find a weakness up against the gusts but it was all good.

A long cast into the shallows on the opposite bank brought me my first Pike, I was a little shocked sometimes it can be a while before lures lose their virginity. The Pike a jack was in the 2-3 pound range and a good start. I moved down into the main basin of the lake and twenty minutes later I was into something a little solid. It cut across the lake almost ignoring the fact we were connected by a length of line, I steered it into the shore where it erupted as I scrambled for the net. Even giving away a couple of pounds for exaggeration it was over ten pounds. I fumbled for forceps as my landing mat was taken by the wind for a swim. So I unhooked the Pike in the net and then reached into the rucksack for the camera as the Pike rolled out of the net and was gone. The next job was to cast for the landing mat which when hooked put up a brave fight.

I packed up, unclipping the lure with its slightly tacky coat of epoxy and found a snug corner of the rucksack for it to enjoy a well dissevered rest. The next story should be prototype to production, this I suspect will take a lot longer.