homemade swimbaits

so a few months ago I decided I wanted to try to make a swimbait.well after starting that first one I found it to be extremely addictive! I have a few questions for anyone who May have experience making them or even just lures in general. What do people use to clear coat theirs? I've come to the conclusion that anything in a can is junk, none of them seem to be worm proof. I've been using epoxy, is there anything else that's just as effective or better? Has anyone tried using polyurethane? I've posted a couple of pictures. The first 1 pictured was my first swim bait, I made it completely out of materials from the dollar store.

Those look great! Imagine how deadly that trout swimbait would be at somewhere like Spot Pond...

Hey thanks man, i appreciate the compliment. yeah I'm really happy with how it came out. I'd love to learn how to airbrush so I can give them some sick paint jobs. it's funny you say that, I love fishing spot too. it's actually where that picture was taken. I had some really nice bass follow it in before it was painted, while I testing it out at spot one day. It was my fourth or fifth one that I made, so it wasn't finished until recently. I haven't been fishing it for very long and have not had any follows or hits since then.

Sweet- Spot Pond is great and I've had success there with BIG trout swimbaits. You'll definitely get a monster there in the spring on that.

BTW, not trying to sidetrack this thread, but I saw a thread you started years ago about a 10 pounder you got in Spot! Thats amazing! Do you happen to still have the picture? I cant view it on the old thread.

And also, I'd be interested to know how you made the first one only out of materials from the dollar store. It looks like something I'd buy at my local Bass Pro!

I am always coming up with little gadgets and contraptions with stuff I find at the dollar store as small tackle solutions . Ie) those little zip-up cd booklets I use as albums to store my spinnerbaits or a rod tip cover that I made from a thin scarf and a few of those sticky felt pads that you put on the bottom of furniture legs. so I thought it might be cool to go with that theme when I made my first swim bait. I found these little children's models of a pirate ship and each one came with a thin rectangular piece of pine wood, so I bought two and used them to make the body of the swim bait. I also bought a stainless steel whisk end bent the wire on arms into the hinges and pin for my joints. I used some super glue to seal the wood. I also had no tools when I started the first one, so I grabbed and knife there to do the carving, a package of cheap sandpaper, a cheap-ass saw and some pliers. the paint did not come from the dollar store, however I got a bunch of cans of Testors spray paint on clearance for a dollar each at the hardware store near my house. the only thing that I didn't get for a dollar was the epoxy.

Yea I just started fishing with the swimbaits this year myself. It was sort of like starting over! it's really an awesome technique to fish. Very exciting and suspenseful. I pulled a bunch of nice bass out of spot on swimbaits this year. my favorite one to fish is a two piece perch glide bait that I made. it was my second one and is the one in the picture on top of the blue tackle box. I landed two nice large mouth on it and lost one beast of a largie. about halfway in, it jumped for a second time and came un-buttoned. it was the first fish that I had take one of my own swimbaits! It was heart braking to see my first 1 jump off, but also pretty awesome because it verified that my baits did work.

they look great hooks look kinda small?

Thanks. yeah some of them definitely were too small, I didn't have enough big hooks on hand. I swapped the smaller ones out since then.

They look awesome! That must be a great feeling to make a lure and catch some pigs with it!

oh absolutely, it's a wicked cool feeling. and it is certainly at the top of the list of one of the most rewarding ways I've experienced to catch a fish. even that very first lunker to hit one of my swimbaits only to come off, was still just as rewarding and exciting because I was able to prove to myself that the baits I made were legit!






this was the first bass that I landed on one of my swim baits. I'm not sure why a lot of the pictures that I upload are coming out sideways, anybody no why

Go into your pics and rotate them.Those baits look great but a lot of big swim baits I've seen only have 1 treble hook.Can I ask what they're made of?

most of them are made out of wood. So far I've used pine, poplar and bass wood. this bluegill is made from pvc,and if you look at the picture of the group of swimbaits that I posted at the beginning of this thread, the 2 piece perch (the one with the lip) and the 3 piece largemouth are also pvc.

I tried to make some a while ago, but they were not nearly as nice as yours. I used bass wood. Do you use a lot of fancy tools? I was using almost all handheld stuff (pliers, hacksaw, scissors, etc.)

You should do a step-by-step on one of those!

You really don't need anything fancy to make them. The first one I made I literally used all tools and materials that I got at the dollar store with the exception of my drill, epoxy and round nose pliers ( which I used to bend the stainless steel into the baits' hardware). You could also go out and spend a lot of money on an endless array of power tools that will definitely make faster work of the various steps, although it's certainly not necessary. Like most any other project, the sky is the limit and it's up to you as to how nuts u want to go. To get started, I definitely recommend a drill and a dremel (or equivalent of) as far as power tools. you'll find both really useful. I'll try and get some pictures up soon of some of the ones I'm working on now so I can give you a rundown of how I go about making them.