Making cockney perch bobbers

I do love a bit float making and float fishing and watching people makes floats and watching people float fish and having ice cream floats in my coffee  and floating down the river and float.......... you get the picture. So these are a couple of videos from Barrie the London Predator Angler making perch bobbers. I have skipped my weekly visit to the psychiatrist for the cheaper and more rewarding therapy that comes from watching a grown man make fishing floats. 

Making Dancer handmade fishing lures

There are some really good tips and tricks in the video from Dancer Lures, especially lure cutting template.

Handcrafting a Wooden Popper Fishing Lure from MG Lures

A start to finish lure making video, showing the basics of turning and creating wooden lures.

MAKEa penny lure

Good old Make Magazine finding a use for all those pennies

Longin Japan

Another view behind the scenes, this time at Longin Lures of Japan. As much as I love these videos I always come away feeling like a very lazy lure maker.

Behind the scenes at the Handmade Fisherman and a knife style lure

The new year is upon us and I have been a little busy making plans and videos. This is a look behind the scenes and I did not brush up first.

Hopefully this is going to be another big year for the Handmade Fisherman Youtube channel. Some people say you should set goals, but I say bollocks to them sitting in offices setting goals all day when they should get out fishing instead of hiding behind desks laughing about some shit they watched on last night’s tv. (viva la revolution)

Anyway back to them goals, I think my school teacher said it best when he wrote on my report, “Paul, must try harder.” So that is what I will be doing, trying harder and more importantly trying new things. I want to get out and go fishing with some new people, go to some new places and meet some new fish and make some new things and get it all on camera so you can come along.

I need help, watch the video it will explain.Thanks

This the other video I made before Christmas as a bonus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAg89monyZY

Tank Test Tuesday Love Bait Spoons

I have to be honest, I have a bit of thing for spoons they are one of those baits that kind of drive pike a little mad. These little pike look-alike spoons from Love Baits of Poland not only look great they have a twisting jerky motion in the water that almost begs to be bitten.

Check out their cranks baits as well, they have some great designs and a definite
style of their own. Website Love Bait

The holiday is over

It has been a few months since I posted a blog, but the break has given me a chance to think about and try other things. In August I took a trip back up to Scotland and Mull where I used to live and made a short fundraising film with some friends who have a croft there. I stayed in the off grid camping hut they were hoping to be able to complete with funds from the film. When the film was complete It took a little over a day for their campaign to raise the money needed and a little over what they expected as a bonus. The hut itself is just a short walk from a phenomenal fishing spot where previously I had filmed the end of the “Making a Coffee Packet Mackerel Rig”, so let's just say I spent some time when not filming fishing.

I always seem to be going backwards and forwards between the future and the past, and although Mull is largely the past for me it was great to be part of something and also to be inspired again by a landscape and the people like my friends who are making a life there. Seeing Celia’s nervousness about appearing in front of the camera for the film really made me face up to actually dealing with my own unease at being in front of the camera for my lure making films.

So for my next project the ‘Five Minute Epoxy Trout Glider’ I stuck my ugly mug up front and also as a first decided to work with my wife for the film. I think when we had finished the video it almost felt like the first complete film I had been involved in; it had a real sense of story not just ‘look at this pretty lure’. After getting featured on Field and Stream’s website in the USA it quickly picked up some viewing figures.

For the future the blog is back and I will posting every few days again about lure making, fishing, and filming and just other shit that makes me feel happy. Well at least until something comes along to give me another break. Film wise I am working on a knife inspired lure which should be out in a week or so and then I think I want to finally make a swimbait.

If you have any content you would like included Paulpadam@aol.com

Test Tank Tuesday

From the UK Barry Robinson with a new tench bait, and already it has got the fish interested. This is a polyurethane casting from a hand carved original. Barry not only makes for himself he also sells and makes other stunning lures (RobisonLures.co.uk) as well as finding time to write articles which you can find on his website.

Is that one pissed looking pike or what?

Mikelindo Lures a well framed lure builder

I have been told that I spend a little too much time on the internet but I think it is all worth it when I find things that inspire me. These little collections of frames from Mikelindo of Northern Italy seem to sum up that process of making lures both in terms of process and aesthetics. So I am going back down to the cellar with some inspiration and maybe carve something myself. Thanks

Check out his facebook page Mikelindo Lures and once again share the love or at least the post

Eric Ross Making A crawdad Soft Plastic Lure

Simple quick but very effective

Making a Minion Fishing Float or Bobber

Sometimes I get the feeling when I explain to people what or how I am making something that they switch off because it does not make sense in their world or they view me as a person in need of mental health services. "I am making a fishing float from a gas bottle and some babybel cheese skins." To me this sounds like a great idea, why wouldn't it? Just don't ask me where I got the idea from that is a little more complicated and includes giant dogs and legal highs.

Chuggers from Germany

This is a slide show of building chuggers from my German lure making friend Dieter. Although we have never met I feel I know his bathtub a little better than my own as it regularly features in his videos as a test tank for some of his more wild creations.

Salmo Lures a little look behind the scenes

I would love to visit and have a factory tour here or even make a video

Making a Musky Creeper Lure with Sam Larsen

One day I hope to meet a musky and introduce him to a lure like this

Maciej Dukacz Making Lure Eyes

Not only does he catch far too many pike (more than me by far), he makes dam fine videos, it is just not fair

Making A Weight Shift Balsa Fishing Lure Part 3 of 3

Christmas has past and while Santa may have brought some presents I am not sure he did not help himself to a chunk of cash before breaking some roof tiles and disappearing for another year. My dreams of a go-pro will just have to remain dreams. So as a stop gap I have an old-ish compact camera and after visiting the supermarket I find a sandwich box just a little larger than the camera. Despite saying that it is art tight on the label, looking at the seal I am not sure it would hold a fart, I take the seal out and use some of the dregs out of a tub of silicone to make a new one which works a lot better. For the front where the lens should look out I drill a hole and cut some Perspex to cover it and then stick it into place with some bathroom sealant, before adding some tiny screws for repairing glasses; just in case it wants to move. I mount it on a ball head with some tape and more Perspex and then mount the ball head from a tripod on a 4ft piece of 4” skirting and with a little bit of fishing rod and some string I have a lure filming rig. It works ok but I need to make some adjustments.

I am pulling my rig with a lure attached in a park pond, when a drunk emerges from the bushes and asks me what I think I am doing, for a moment I realize neither of us are on firm ground to go criticizing the others activities. 

  Magnetic Weight Shift Balsa Lure templates and drawing

  Phox Minnow Magnetic Weight Shift Tools and Materials

Making A Weight Shift Balsa Fishing Lure Part 2 of 3

It is Boxing Day and it is cold enough to snow, even the weather reports are predicting a drop of the white stuff but as usual they have overdone things and are calling it the start of the next ice age. I am testing my weight shift lure while my wife complains about the loss of feeling in her extremities. There are no pike in this lake and no perch of any size; a winter fish kill a few seasons ago took its toll so I am casting for leaves, pleasure and the camera.

  Phox Minnow Weight Shift Balsa Fishing Lure Drawing

  Phox Minnow Weight Shift Tools and Materials

Making a balsa weight shift lure part 1 of 2

The warehouse is actually colder inside than outside where the wind blows clean off the river and the docks. I am trying to finish a project I am working on, a giant dog puppet that has dragged on far too long. Next to us they are filming a rock video. The band tell us they have flown in from Brussels to work with the director and drop a name which being an old git I am not sure if it is the band or the director, either way I nod.    

When they return to their green room I get a few minutes to marvel at the camera cranes, huge tripods that carry very expensive digital cinema cameras and the bits of track they have laid out. I am left feeling a bit amateur. Apart from my camera, a pair of cheap lights and some tripods that have seen better days my kit consists of inline skate wheels attached to a plank of wood for a slider, a swivel chair and some gaffer tape for doing circular panning shots. They have a swarm of go-pros and I am still sticking my camera in a plastic lunch box to use in bath.  Jealousy is never a pretty thing and it is far too close to Christmas to be thinking of buying myself presents or kit. 

Making Lead Squid Jigs

My favorite part of this video is the power wrapping of the jigs using an electric drill, like many things in life it is over briefly but none the less satisfying.