Anyone make their own fishing baits. I think I could spend some time doing this. I know a guy that makes his own trout spinners and once knew a guy that made his own musky spinners.

Stumbled onto this guy.
Marling Baits

My brother puts together his own spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. He doesn't do the lead pouring but a friend does. So he gets the hook/wire, friend pours the lead around it, then my brother does the paint, skirt, beads, spinners, etc. So more assembly than "making" but still a thousand options and he enjoys it and seeing what he can come up with. I've caught plenty of fish on them and so has he.

Other friends and relatives pour their own jigs and some tie hair on them and paint and such. My uncle ties flies and has for a long time.

I can't say I know anyone doing their own hard baits. A few pour their own plastics

I’ve made hundreds of fly fishing flies, maybe thousands of them. I’ve made hundreds of spinner rigs for minnows, leeches, and night crawlers. I’ve made a dozen cork poppers for panfish. I’ve made about a hundred flies for tarpon and bonefish.

I make my own jigs, spinners and soft plastics. I have dabbled in wood baits and tying, but never focused on those aspects. Be careful, it can be quite addicting and rewarding....tell yourself you are saving money in the long run.......but probably not. Soft plastics in particular has really been expanding in popularity and there are many more mold and tool options available than when I started over 30 years ago.

Lots of good YT channels with info too. In addition to Marling Baits, check out Solar Baits, Worlds Worst Fishing and Lure Up.

Savage Voyageur: "I’ve made hundreds of fly fishing flies, maybe thousands of them. I’ve made hundreds of spinner rigs for minnows, leeches, and night crawlers. I’ve made a dozen cork poppers for panfish. I’ve made about a hundred flies for tarpon and bonefish. "

I also tie my own flies for fly-fishing. My brother is more talented...I'll post a few pics later.

Amazing the variety of soft plastic lure one can discover that most fish species attack - none meant to mimic a real prey animal. This one may look and move like a tadpole, but the body bulk and thin tail five it an action very similar to one:


video example:


Making lures (not jig heads) puts me in touch with 'what' fish strike and 'why' they strike it that puts it apart from other lure shapes and actions. Most important is knowing that any one of them can consistently catch fish no matter the day, month or season.

You don't even have to have molds to pour the lures, just a bunch of old plastics lying around that you can modify or shorten using a knife and candle to fuse parts together. I call these 'hybrids'. For example, I had bags of French Fry stick sitting in a closest for years and decided, 'why not cut a segment and attach it to a curl tail cut from another lure?' This was the result:


It caught a few hundred fish the first year cast such as the above crappie and out-caught round body curl tails. (Mr Twister).

This Fr Fry segment has a flat, thin, straight-tail added and did just as well:


same for cone tail added: