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.

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Bulletproof glide bait part 2

Bulletproof Glide Bait Drawing and templates

Silver Carbon fibre lure

The first fully formed carbon Kevlar object I remember coming in contact with was a kayak. It wasn’t any old kayak it was a specialised wild water racer; a boat designed to plough through raging torrents at speed. Even as a kid I knew this was something different, a seventeen foot piece of sculpture with a look of polished granite weighing little more than a small cloud. Carbon Kevlar is a composite (a combination of two or more materials); a resin which in the case of the kayak was epoxy combined with layers of carbon Kevlar reinforcement.

To cover my fishing lure I wasn’t really looking for strength although anything that can reduce bite rash has to be a bonus, what I wanted was the look, that kind holographic quality. When I discovered a product described as silver carbon fibre, let’s just say I got a little over excited. The fact is there is no proper silver carbon fibre but there is Alufibre which is glass and aluminium fibres woven together that produces a material that looks like carbon fibre with added bling.

Composites can be a bit of a pig to work with as I found out with early experiments trying to wrap it around lures and get some kind of decent finish. In a factory setting moulds and vacuum, bagging equipment are the norm but even for OCD lure maker that looked a little expensive and maybe overkill. Instead I opted for a simple flat sided lure and combined with homemade flat sheets of epoxy and fibre laid up on a piece of plastic box file. Despite the simplicity of this method really stunning sheets can be produced that once incorporated into a finished lure lend me that same feeling of being stood next to that kayak.

To glide or to jerk

Despite the internet making the world seem a little smaller we don’t all share the same views when it comes to naming lures. In America there is the glide bait but in Europe the same lure would be called a jerk bait, were as jerk bait in America would probably be called a wobbler in Europe, confused? Well get over it and let’s move on, I will stick glide bait but if I mention jerk baits I mean the same thing.

What do glide baits do?

Essentially a glide bait glides from side to side in a pattern often called walking the dog, although if I had a dog that walked like this I would be looking for a refund. I once asked someone with a science background if he could give me a quick explanation of how a glide bait does what it does and he said that any short answer would probably be just B.S. so here is some well-crafted B.S. For a glide bait to work in a walk the dog way it needs a bit of input from me the fisherman, a jerk of the rod tip with a fast crank of reel will pull the lure forward, once the rod tip reel are briefly still the moving lure wants to keep moving. The trouble is the lure has no real aim so wanders off to the side. On the next jerk of the rod the lure does the same thing but it first turns back towards the rod before wandering off to the other side. A steady pattern of jerks and pauses will create a steady walk the dog track for the lure. That is a simple explanation but there are obviously a lot more factors that go into determining how the lure and angler perform and as with all lure varying the retrieve will often bring a little more interest from the fish.

Why fish like glide baits?

I have no idea. What glide baits do have in their favour is weight and power, jerking a glide bait moves a lot of water and most fish are sensitive to sudden water movement, some fleeing from it other like predators attracted to it. Another advantage is not just moving forward it can move wildly from side to side and therefore covering more of the water but also all the while not racing out of range of potential predator strike.

Tools and Materials list for Making the Bulletproof Glide(Jerk) Bait Fishing Lure