So why do you Do-it?

[Brent]

I just had surgery on my ankle and am kind of limited to what I can do, so I started to read some post and started to question "why do you Do-it" Making lures and baits that is? Some guys got into it to sell baits, so for the hobby? I would guess some like the hobby and help pay for it by selling some baits on the side. Looking at some of your baits it looks like artwork.

It wouldn't be fair for me to ask and not answer, so I really got into using plastics for ice fishing, so much easier than trying to keep bait in the fridge, the wife doesn't like the crawly things. In my fishing trips I found that sometime the fish wanted this color or that color but no one in  the area had anymore, to order via mail was a waste of time as by the time they arrived the color or bait has changed. I don't sell any of the baits I make but will give them away. Letting other learn fishing with plastics can be a lot of fun and successful.

 I enjoy making different colors and  who doesn't enjoy catching fish on  something they made? The biggest downside to making baits as a hobby is the cost, especially with pan fish size baits. I tend to line up 3-4 molds of different baits and shoot them all at once.

 I also have casted lead for many years, I catfish during the summer months and the price of larger sinker gets very expensive, so it made sense to make my own. I have the 1,2,3,4, egg and no roll sinker molds from Do-it.   

[MO QWACK]

Well..... I started because I really like the big YUM beaver tail but the colors were limited and they were expensive/ hard to find. I bought some clear cast resin made a mold , a quart of plastic   and a few colors. That was about 6 years ago now I buy plastic by the 5 gallon buckets, glitter by the pound and have more molds than anyone could ever need. 
 I sale enough baits to help recoup some cost but the reason I do it now is to share my baits with friends and the accomplishment of catching fish on something I made. This hobby has lead me to use my brain more than any school class I've ever taken lol. I've met some great people I never would have without this passion. Fishing is what makes me who I am and I eat, sleep, breath fish but it never came full circle till I start making and designing my on baits.
   Thanks to this site for allowing us bait nuts to have a place to hang out and talk about things 99% of the world would fall asleep listening to.

[kipbass]

walsnart is seasonal where I live, and its a small store, so they dont stock much for fishing year round. and if its in season, its sold out or they didnt have the color I wanted. thats what started it for me. I too sell a little bit just to recoup some cost. maybe when I retire ill think about a small time business.

[pjmcla]

I started in the early 1960's tying jigs for crappie and white bass at the tender age of 8 or nine.  We had a few marabou jigs and a bait called a Do Jig.  1/8th head with nylon fiber body.  Any color you wanted as long as it was white or red head, red or white wrapping thread and white or yellow feathers / nylon.  Yellow came with black wrap & white head only.  My uncle is to blame.  He had a Herter's vice and a jig head mold.  It has been down hill since then.  Met Tom Mann in 1970 in Eufaula and he gave me some plastic and a couple of colors.  Then it was really down hill with a slippery slope.   Quit plastics in the early 1990's,  concentrating on hybrids, catfish & crappie & bream in the winter.  Back piddling with plastics now. 

[CrabbyBass]

I started by tying hair jigs as something to do during the winter.  Wilks19 and I bought a soft plastics starter kit. It went on from there. We are both really addicted and enjoy coming up with new colors and combos. I think our wives both hated the fact that we spent so much time in our workshops, but they have learned to deal with it. 

[Mic]

My cousin planted the seed, and let my son and I inject a few molds and bring them home.  From there I started making plastics and had some of the guys want a few baits.  I gave them away, and then found out how expensive it is to give plastic a way.  Told them I needed some plastic and it would be a few weeks to get some, they gave me the money for plastics and I supplied them with lures.  We did that for 3 gallons and they said I should sale the lures.  Now, I am getting a following locally and at work.  I spend 10-12 hrs at work and now 3-6hrs  in the garage most days.  This went from the coolest hobby ever, to a job really fast.  I love it though.  Even have my wife on board when it comes to packaging.    

[wilks19]

As Crabbybass mentioned, we started off with a plastics kit and were just trying to make it through the sometimes rough winters in IL.  To me, it is like crack.  I can't get enough of it and I love the way I smell after hours in the shop, just kidding.  The smell you get used to after a while and don't notice it until you walk back in the house and your wife says you stink...lol.  As you mentioned Brent, there is nothing better than making something yourself and then going out and catching fish on it.  It is a great feeling and don't get sick of that either.  Thanks for starting this topic. 

[Lamar]

My first thing was jigs. The only reason I started making them was because the bait stores didn't have what I wanted. If I went to a custom make guy the next thing I knew was I saw it in the bait stores. So I started making my own and then it grew from there. Seriously can you not make a good spinner bait ? War Eagle was close but they wanted 9 bucks each. Then it grew to plastics. When you make an opening order for 20 bags of trailers at five to six bucks a bag, It makes you wonder how much it cost to make them. Ok I have an investment here but I now have what I want when I want it. Not the bait store was out of this so lets try this. I pretty much am if I fish it I made it. And I'm loving it.

[ctom]

I've always liked to work with my hands and I have always loved fishing. I saved enough money from a paper route and mowing lawns to order a fly tying kit from Herters around 1962. What started out as a way to make flies to fish sunfish turned into a pretty decent way to make money selling flies to teachers at school. Only a few years later a teacher got me into jig fishing and I began to cast my own using a block mold I made from oak with his help. Jigs have pretty much been a part of my life. After having staffed for several major tackle companies I found myself continually frustrated with everyone not having the colors I liked or by having limitations put on what I could get and have on hand. By shooting my own plastics I address every issue I have ever had with them first hand and basically think that what can be made in my shop are of way superior quality over anything that can be bought in stores.

I'm making plastics for myself and a few friends order some. I keep this stuff at a hobby level and that allows me to spend more time playing with colors and color combinations that I have no problem in sharing here. Ultimately the biggest reason I do any of this is because there is nothing more satisfying in the world than catching fish with tackle you have made...colors you have created. This is especially true when I am catching fish and the guys who are next to me are not and are using store-bought baits. That's when I like to share a piece or two.

[Jeff Little]

Bagley's used to make a topwater popper back in the 80's called a Pop'n B 3.  It caught many farm pond largemouth for me as a kid, and it was my first "Confidence Bait".  I would swim to retrieve it from a snag in mid March if I needed to.  On a week long float trip with a buddy, he lost the entire tackle box, including that lure.  I was deeply saddened, and searched for another.  I did find one, but not before purchasing some bass wood to carve and the hardware to make my own Pop'n B 3.  That's where it started, but the enjoyment of having an idea, bringing it to something I can tie a line to and catching a fish on is what expanded my tackle crafting into lead and plastisol.

[Brent]

I'm really enjoying reading every ones responses, thank you for sharing and keep them coming

[Denny Welch]

I've been fishing for about as long as I can remember.  Started with worms and grubs and finally hit the big time with salmon eggs.  Somewhere along the way someone introduced me to fly fishing and a passion was in the making.  Started catching fish on store bought flies and finally bought a book, used, aptly titled "How To Tie Flies".  It took me 1 1/2 years to catch a fish on a fly I tied.  Honest, it was a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear and I caught it on the Little Truckee River a lot of years ago.  Unlike Mo, I took it home and ate it.  I started "catch and release" several years later and have only kept a few fish since. 

I continued with tying flies and got pretty good at it.  I taught tying at a local shop, did some minor demonstration tying at shows, got into tying not only trout flies, but also bass bugs, striper flies, salmon flies, Dee and Spey flies, pretty much everything from a size 26 to a 7/0.  I live in a modest  3 bedroom, 2 bath house.  (If it wasn't for the 2 elevators, 15 seat theater, butler quarters and 6 car garage, you'd never know I was a lawyer.)  One of the bedrooms is designated as my "fly tying room" and is filled with dead animal parts, hooks, vises, shiny stuff to attract fish, books, videos,...you get the picture.  The only problem with all this is that I hardly use any of this stuff anymore.

Since I started fishing primarily for bass my focus has changed from fur and feathers to lead and plastic.  My fly fishing buddies call this a move to the "dark side".  They are missing the point, however, because that same passion to take an inanimate object like a piece of lead and melt it and cast it around a fish hook and to then take baling wire and tie it and some colored rubber around the leaded hook you made and then take some white liquid and make a multi-color plastic fish out of it that you put on the hook in such a way that it all wiggles and vibrates in the water so that a real fish eats it... WOW.  You do all that so you can take the fish off the hook and put it back into the water from whence it came so someone else can catch it tomorrow.
 
To me, it's still all about the tug.  The tug is all the more sweeter, however, when it's on something you made.

Thanks for this thread, Brent.  Get well soon.

[Lamar]

   Just one more thought here. Yesterday as I was sitting on a table waiting for the rest of the guys to weigh in. My buddy and I fish a local bass tournament trail and a few opens here and there. So far this year we have a 4th a 3rd and yesterdays second place plus won a big open a few weeks back. Every fish came from something I made. We are by far no pros or anything special. Or even close to the two guys that win every time. But we are the two guys that will take the game of fishing and put our own little twist on and try to always look outside the box. Making your own lures will do that for you.
   I drive by the lake we fished yesterday everyday to work. There is only the one ramp and almost everyday the parking lot is half full. This week Friday ( doesn't anybody work anymore ? ) and Saturday it was over full and they were parking out by the main road. Then we come in on Sunday to fish a tournament. In Ohio most lakes are like this and you better learn to do something different. Again making your lures will help you.

[ctom]

"...we are the two guys that will take the game of fishing and put our own little twist on and try to always look outside the box. Making your own lures will do that for you."
'...In Ohio most lakes are like this and you better learn to do something different."

This is especially true in color and /or color combinations. A huge bonus to making your own tackle is being able to craft specific colors to specific water conditions and not have to spend next year's salary to have colors that work.

[Partycrasher]

I love the hobby and I love being able to make EXACTLY what I know I need to be successful. 

It's also very relaxing and adds to the fun of the next trip or next weekend of fishing.  When the kids are in bed and I'm down in the workshop with a little Steely Dan or Bill Withers playing, making lures..... there is no massage therapy, yoga class, or meditation group that is as good as that for me!

Marc