More hand carved crankbaits

The Christmas collection

I don't have any fancy stories or accounts of cutting off my fingers, but I do have a bunch of pictures of lures I've been making.

A few months ago I read some posts on windycityfishing.com about some anglers who were making their own hand-carved wooden crankbaits. I remember thinking "Oh man, that would be awesome but I could never do that. Way too complicated, not to mention I have no idea how to carve wood. Or use tools." A few weeks later I started making some inline spinners, which in some ways are pretty simple to make. And they caught fish!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently got some flannel shirts which somehow directly led to a sudden interest in wood carving and pyrography. I've been carving up a storm! Turns out it's not as difficult as I thought...

I think it looks pretty nice

I think I've figured out how to use which blades (although I still keep breaking them every so often); it seems like each lure I carve is better than the last. My recent coping saw purchase has been incredibly helpful- now I can cut the blocks of wood to a more lure-like size, so I don't have to whittle off a pound of wood to get the size I want. I've been using sharpies and nail polish to "paint" the lures, and I'm pretty happy with how they are turning out.

I sure hope they can catch some fish....

I think the glitter nail polish really pushes this one over the top

My favorite one so far

You can see the music-making equipment in the background
(what a strange man-cave)

This one has metal beads inside that rattle a little bit

A lure in the colors of my alma mater,
Powers Catholic High School - Flint, Michigan