Making Balsa Lures the saga continues

Will it ever end, is it 'Gone with Wind' for lures?

On a lighter note autumn is with us and I find myself staring into golden pools instead of watching my line. This morning a juvenile crested grebe followed my lure beneath the surface to my feet and then exploded when it realised its mistake. 

How to make a balsa lure part 4

Image Right: what you could have won............

Link To Pdf   Materials and tool list for lip        

Link to Pdf    Jig and lip templates

Some days are just a bit crappy and the fish don’t bite. I have a whole list of excuses for these days , a change in the weather, too much rain, too much mud in the water, the wrong lure, the right lure the wrong colour……. It goes on. I tried everything today I had the whole arsenal out and even managed to create a new lure (new to me) by combining a spinner with a wooden plug. I fished deep, mid water and surface. I changed colours from bright reds to softer blues; I picked up the pace, dropped it back, twitched, walloped and cranked the baits. It was not a good morning.  

Balsa Jubilee

Image Above: Hand Carved Balsa Lure Bodies

Summer has missed beat and a little bit of early spring has once again reared its head. The lake water at least looked to have benefited from the cold snap and the rain; it had gone from its normal Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup to a light broth with a hint of ginger. I spent a little longer there this morning than I should of float fishing and catching my fair share of roach, skimmers and golden bream all candidates for a new look alike lure.

Son Of....

Image Above: Pine Devil Minnows

Despite all the things I have piled on my plate I actually got back to making some new lures based on my prototype devil minnow. I redrew the drawings and made some router templates from them and then cut out ten blanks, from these only five were worth using as it has been a while since I have used a router. I got hold of some ‘redwood’ which in this country is Scots Pine. Although not a hardwood it is no bad to work with but it really doesn’t like being cut across the grain.  The shape came out a little boxier than the original but the dimensions matched pretty well. 

Rather than use lead I opted for nontoxic fishing weights, something I have wanted to do for a while. Having yet to decide colour schemes I went a bit mad with this lot and sprayed whatever was in the can adding halved plastic beads for eyes. I still have a lot to learn about making these in volume and a long way to go with finishes and colour schemes.  So I am off to the lake to test them out.