James RickardMaking a case for wooden lures
June 9th 2007 00:12
If you go through your tacklebox you'll probably be like most people and notice that you have few, if any, wooden lures. I don't have any numbers, if there is a scientific survey on the subject, but, from looking in my friends' tackle boxes, I'd say the number is less than 20%. My own isn't much higher and I make lures! Why all the plastic?
Consistency is one of the main reasons. It's much easier to make a production run of say, 10,000 plastic lures than is is to do a run of 10,000 wooden lures and expect the same quality end to end despite modern machinery. That is not to say that consistency is impossible when it comes to machined wooden lures. However, you're going to pay for that consistency.
This brings up another point. One of the reasons you find so many plastic lures is that they are so darned cheap! How many of us have shelled out a couple of dollars of even just a buck for a lure you knew would probably never catch a fish?
Back in the day, wood was all they had. If you ever check out an antique lure collection, chances are that most, if not all, of the lures will be wood.
If you make your own lures, you know how much easier it is to work with wood. Who among us wants to foot the bill for injection molds or endure the heat required to form a plastic lure body? Also, if you go this route, you have to consider how many lures you'll need to make in order to recoup your costs. Further, if you've finished one lure, you may feel like making another but, you probably want a different design and this would require a different mold which would result in more costs.
Some people like the fact that wood floats. This can be especially advantageous when making crankbaits. It takes a LOT of work to make a wooden lure that's too heavy to float!
One of the biggest advantages of using wooden lures is that a wooden body holds heat longer than a plastic lure. Granted, fish are cold-blooded animals but, it's their natural curiosity that draws them to the warmth radiating from a wooden lure.
Before anyone reading this gets fired up, let me point out something. ALL lures, regardless of their composition, are going to adopt the temperature of their surroundings sooner or later. However, it is the cellular quality of wood that delays this process in wooden lures.
Until next time, watch yourself and watch your line!
Consistency is one of the main reasons. It's much easier to make a production run of say, 10,000 plastic lures than is is to do a run of 10,000 wooden lures and expect the same quality end to end despite modern machinery. That is not to say that consistency is impossible when it comes to machined wooden lures. However, you're going to pay for that consistency.
This brings up another point. One of the reasons you find so many plastic lures is that they are so darned cheap! How many of us have shelled out a couple of dollars of even just a buck for a lure you knew would probably never catch a fish?
Back in the day, wood was all they had. If you ever check out an antique lure collection, chances are that most, if not all, of the lures will be wood.
If you make your own lures, you know how much easier it is to work with wood. Who among us wants to foot the bill for injection molds or endure the heat required to form a plastic lure body? Also, if you go this route, you have to consider how many lures you'll need to make in order to recoup your costs. Further, if you've finished one lure, you may feel like making another but, you probably want a different design and this would require a different mold which would result in more costs.
Some people like the fact that wood floats. This can be especially advantageous when making crankbaits. It takes a LOT of work to make a wooden lure that's too heavy to float!
One of the biggest advantages of using wooden lures is that a wooden body holds heat longer than a plastic lure. Granted, fish are cold-blooded animals but, it's their natural curiosity that draws them to the warmth radiating from a wooden lure.
Before anyone reading this gets fired up, let me point out something. ALL lures, regardless of their composition, are going to adopt the temperature of their surroundings sooner or later. However, it is the cellular quality of wood that delays this process in wooden lures.
Until next time, watch yourself and watch your line!
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