saving money

[joe2384]

Ok, I am fairly new to the forum so don.t hesitate to tell me if i;m out of line. back in my early days of fishing, I with a few of my mates couldn't aford to go and buy fancy lures etc so we used to make our own for relatively little cost.

Jigs (pirks)

Our favourite medium for making heavy deep water jigs was to use chrome handlebars from a bicycle, and very carefuly fill it with molten lead (and I do mean very carefuly)
Cut it to the required length and make the cuts at about 45 degrees then using a 16 inch bit drill a hole about 8th inch up from the bottom of the taper at either end and stick on a split ring, hook size according to what your fishing for.

As well as chrome, copper and brass tube can be used and the tube diameter can determine the weight that you want.

Spoons, quite literaly cut the end off anything from a teaspoon to a tablespoon and rig it as for the jigs a couple of holes and split rings and with a bit of work with a grinder the handles can also be used as minny jigs in their own right.

Believe me these simple things do work because I have caught fish on them under certain conditions and lets face it, apart from a few tried and trusted examples, fancy coloured shop bought lures catch far more anglers than they ever catch fish so why not try making your own

[MartinB]

Mate your not out of line (or wrong!) at all!! A very,very good freind of mine who recently started spin fishing with me & who was only working part time a few times a week (he likes to travel/back-pack ALOT! so he's only here a few months a year!) did pretty much the same thing.Basically he got fed up of hooking 'expensive' lures to the bottom (due to his lack of experience) and made a lure out an old stainless steel tap which he drilled out filled with some lead and i helped him dress it up with a holo sticker etc..i was a little bit skeptical at 1st...anyway he got a very nice dentex on it (3kg)  1st time out!!! result!!    

Then he made a pirk/jig out of an old stainless steel knife (the old heavy kind of cutlery) and same deal..was catching just as much tunnies etc as me with a manafactured lure in fact there is a pic in the gallery of one of his catches.http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=3172

Anyway he has started a 'trend' & few retired guys where i fish have started making their own lures and again the same thing;if the fish are in a biting mood they'll hit them just as well!!

If anyone still doubts,do a google search or on youtube for "beer cap lures"  

So to sum up,apparently the fish in any part of the world,can't tell the difference between a manfactured lure & a homemade one!! If the fish are hungry they'll hit anything..and if they aren't they won't!! No matter what expensive or cheap lure you chuck in front of them  

[joe2384]

Thanks for that Martin, another tip is what I used to call planing leads for use over rocky or snaggy bottoms. basicaly you fill something like a serving spoon (dependant on the weight you want) with lead. before filling use a realy heavy swivel with a twist of wire through the end going into the spoon. these weights will usualy settle with the curved side on the bottom and the beauty of it is that on the retrieve they will plane up through the water a lot faster and easier than a conventional lead. end result about a 50 percent less chance of snagging up

[MartinB]

Np mate! although really my mate dave desrves the credit In fact the lure in the pic is very similar concept to your planing lures.After the sucess with his "tap lure  " he made up a few knife handles,and after a bit of both of us experimenting with a different bend(s) with a couple of pliers he brought with him (btw stainless steel is a pain in the a** to bend with pliers ) we got one dailed in so that it hardly ever snags the bottom and swims very realistically through the water..although as a surface lure it didn't do as well as a manafactured metal jig/pirk i use..which is basically why i prefer to use it..you never know whats milling around the surface 

[ken82]

Martin does your friend make minnows DIY??? it would be a good way of adding another hobby that might get useful for spinning.

specjalmnt bhalissa li gej zmien naqa fjakk

[MartinB]

LOL! I don't know mate..besides he's in the phillipines at the moment! and is no hurry to get back by the look of it..can't say i blame him either  

I can do you a few a beer cap lures if you want (as long as they are cisk lager) call me on monday (afternoon  ) after the weekend ill have loads  

Seriously though clutchkick made a few minnows or rather re-sprayed them.Came out awesome too from the pics i saw..& he's does a nice,neat job of airbrushing! I just wish i had that kind of patience 

[ken82]

yep i saw what clutchkick did on those minnows. And he did a pretty good job. Well i consider that a bit of more than DIY class

Thanks

[blueskip]

I used to take the chrome door handles off scrap cars, drill holes at either end & put split rings through the holes, a treble hook on one ring & a swivel on the other ring & you have a good heavy pirk, I caught many good cod, pollack & ling on them & if I lost them in the wreck/reef all I lost was the cost of 2 split rings, a treble hook, & a swivel!