Shared by Allen Isen
I have enclosed a bait that I made over the pandemic, it was good therapy. After making a dozen (four at a time), I moved on to other projects. I sent two each to grandsons in Florida and Washington state. I haven't heard any results from them yet.
My fishing boat is a block and a half away, so it's easy to fish. I got plenty of bass strikes last summer, but (sadly) no fish in the boat. I cast the first one hard enough to pull out the screw eye. Luckily it epoxied back in just fine. And now all the screw eyes are glued in solid.
The bait is fashioned after a Flatfish and vintage Lazy Ike. It's made from basswood with hardware from Cabela's.
I started with a block approximately 7" x 12" - larger is better. The thickness is the width of the finished bait. All the corners are cut at 30 degrees with enough room to allow for making one lure on each corner.
With a 1" core box bit in the router and an edge guide installed, the groove in the ose can be cut with the piece clamped in a vise. After milling all four angles, I trace a pattern of the lure on the blank and band saw the profile.
Then I carefully form the body on the roller of a 48" belt sander. Careful, a 60-grit belt is tough on both basswood and fingers! Screw eyes are added and spray paint applied. The eyes of the lure are black and red felt marker.
In use, the lure casts just fine. It dives to 12"-18" below the surface and wiggles like a minnow and floats when it stops. THe beauty of the bait is the excitement I get when a fish hits, knowing it's my own creation.
