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Building the World’s Most Fish-catchingest, Weed-freeest, and Cheapest Lure Ever (Guest Article)
by Michael E. Little

Don’t you just hate the title? I do, too. It sounds pretentious, boastful, overblown, and too good to be true. It just couldn’t be possible, could it? Could someone have discovered the ultimate lure? A lure that catches more fish than any other, a lure that can be fished through the heaviest cover and a lure that is CHEAP to make? The answer is YES; I’m the guy that done it. In this article, I’m going to explain how you can build this miracle of fishology. This is the only lure you will ever need for Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye, Sauger, Crappie, and Blue Gills. I’ve even caught muskie, trout, and catfish on it! So, throw everything else in your tackle box in the river ‘cause the circus is comin’ to town and you’re gonna love it!

Bona Fides
I’ve been fishing for smallies for the past 25 years. I’ve fished big waters like Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, Quetico, and the Boundary Waters on down to small lakes only accessible by portage or fly-in. I’ve fished every size of river and stream from the Missouri and Yellowstone on down to “rivers” I could almost jump across. To say I love smallie fishing would be criminal understatement.

Over the years, I’ve tried every kind of lure imaginable, from traditional minnow imitators such as Rapala and Shad Rap, to inline spinners such as Mepps and Blue Fox, to surface baits like Tiny Torpedos, Spooks, and Devils Horse. And I’ve tried many more, crank baits, bent-wire spinners, micro baits, baits that flash, rattle and click, spray-on and paste attractants, everything. While other people were out buying new clothes for spring, new outfits for their wardrobe, I shopped for new lures and equipment. Each year I was determined to make it not only better than the previous year, but truly record setting! And the only way to do that is spend money on the latest lures in new colors, right?

Genesis
Jig fishing produces fish. Jigs are the only lure in the Air Force survival kit and I always keep an assortment with me. When all my fancy lures failed, I could always go back to jigs and have a successful outing. The problem with jigs is they are BORING. Twitch crank, twitch crank, pause, twitch crank. I consider myself a good jig fisherman and I’ve caught tons of fish with them, but they’re dull, they lack excitement. Two years ago, I began looking for a lure that would be as productive as a jig, but would be fun to use.

I started fiddling around with Beetle Spins, those tiny bent-wire spinners with weird little split-tail grub-like plastic bodies. They caught fish, but the plastic bodies were relatively stiff and lifeless. I started replacing the forked-tail with 2 inch twister tails. They had better action and I soon began catching more fish than a standard Beetle Spin. Next, I changed the size of the jig head on the Beetle Spin to 1/8th ounce, going heavier so I could cast farther. Using the heavier jig head and larger 3 inch twister tail, I got still better results. At that point, I thought I was onto something, so I began buying the components to make my own Beetle Spin type lures. By using bent-wire clips with attached spinners ($21.50/100), plain lead-head jigs and twister tails, I could change every element of the lure. More importantly, I started catching lots more smallies.

The only problem was the bent-wire clip spinner picked up lots of weeds and trash. And because of the geometry of the lure, with the jig head hanging loose below the wire, I picked up a lot of debris there, too. What to do? I’d developed a lure that was simply killing the fish, but was anything but weed-free. After most retrieves, I’d have to clean the lure before casting again, and this was a pain in the fanny.

Ultimate
By cleaning up the design and molding the jig head on the bent-wire spinner, I could eliminate two weed collecting points. There would be nothing for the weeds and debris to attach to. So, what I wound up with was a common bent-wire spinner. Seems like a lot of work to invent what already exists, right?

Well, there is an important difference between what I developed and what is being sold in tackle shops. Namely, the jig head I found to work best was 1/8th ounce size. The only ready-made bent-wire spinners I could find at the time were ¼ ounce and heavier, too heavy for my style of light line, finesse fishing. And, all the ready-made bent-wire spinners had hula skirts, not twister tails, a feature I felt was important to the success of the lure and one I considered critical.

As a rod maker, I buy a lot of my rod components from a company called Barlows (www.barlowstackle.com), who also carry an extensive line of tackle components, so I started nosing around in their catalog. Sure enough, I found a mold for a bent-wire spinner in 1/16th and 1/8th size that they call a Crappie Spinner ($24). Next to the mold, they also had the wire pre-forms and hooks needed for each size of spinners. So, I ordered the mold, the wires ($5/100), the hooks ($3.20/100), split-rings ($2.60/100), swivels ($9.85/100) and blades ($3.20/100) to make my own small 1/8th ounce spinners.

For melting the lead, I started with a small hand-held electric ladle ($30-$35) I‘d used for jig making. But this proved to be too unsteady, giving inconsistent results in molding process with short fills. The electric ladle get very hot in use and forced me to use clumsy oven mitts to protect myself. This further added to the inconsistent results. But, I felt I was on to something though and it wasn’t long before I bought a small table-top melter ($50). This gave much more consistent results and was safer and easier to use.

I found I had to buy a few more tools to make my venture a success. First, I needed a good pair of gate cutters ($10) for cutting the fill gate off my molded spinner bodies. I also needed a pair of split-ring pliers ($17) for attaching the spinner blades to the swivels with a split ring. Finally, I needed a good pair of round nose pliers ($20) for bending the wire form loop to hold the swivel.

So, for approximately $120, I bought all the equipment necessary to make 1/16th and 1/8th ounce bent-wire spinners. Sound like a lot of money? When you compare the cost of the finished product to other lures, it’s an absolute bargain. The cost of the components for one lure, which includes the molded spinner body you make, the cost of the wire-form, the hook, the lead, the swivel, the split ring and the blade is about $.26 each, depending on the quality of components. If you bought a comparable spinner in a tackle shop (assuming they were available) you would pay about $3 each.

Let’s discuss do’s and don’ts briefly. I cut the gates off as close as possible to the lure body. I don’t do any subsequent clean-up. I don’t paint my lure bodies, but instead leave them natural lead color. The fish don’t seem to care how clean or pretty my lures are. I use good quality split-rings, swivels and blades because quality DOES make a difference, as seen in lure performance. When you make lures, make a batch. I never make fewer than 50 molded bodies at one time. Lures that I don’t complete with a swivel/ring/blade assembly, I keep on hand so I can quickly custom build lures for specific conditions.

One thing I found particularly appealing about making my own spinners is the ability to build lures for a specific body of water. I frequently fish a small local river that is relatively fast flowing. If I use a spinner blade the is too big, the lure will ride up on the surface of the water on retrieve, instead of below the surface where I want it. So, by downsizing the blade, I can fish aggressively in fast current and still keep the lure where it needs to be. For still water fishing on a lake or pond, I switch to a larger blade if I want to maintain the same lure depth, about 12” under the surface. Blade size and color is something you’ll have to experiment with until you find a setup that suits your specific style of fishing, water conditions and color preferences. This may sound complicated, but it’s not, it’s fun.

So, you’ve made your own bent-wire spinners, you’ve bought some white, black, purple, red and chartreuse 2, 3 and 4 inch twister tails, and it’s time to try them out. There are several presentations you can try, but the simplest is simply to cast and retrieve near cover. By varying your retrieve speed you can control the running depth to some extent. I’ve had smallies hit when I retrieved with just the blade breaking the surface, but the majority of my hits have been below the surface. By periodically pausing the retrieve, you can make the lure flutter down. You’ll be surprised at the way this lure crawls over and around rocks and logs. Worked slow, you can fish in cover few anglers would even attempt. And if you lose one or two, so what? Remember the cost of each lure? Use a Palomar knot for a fast tie-on and it couldn’t be easier.

So, now you know how to make a cheap lure, but how well does the lure work? I’ve been fishing this lure for two years, and in that time, this lure has an astounding 98% success rate! It’s put more fish on the table than any lure I own, and unfortunately, I own quite a lot. In mid to late summer, I fish it through the heaviest weed, rock and timber cover I can find, places no other angler would dare go, and absolutely KILL ’EM. I look for the worst possible places, because that’s where the fish are and this is the most forgiving lure made. It‘s like having four wheel drive.

Last year, I caught 30 walleye in 60 minutes with this lure. On another day, I caught 22 smallies in one hour with it. I fish a lot, probably on the order of between 100 and 150 days each year. Last year, there were only two days I came home with no fish to show for my efforts. Sure, I still carry a few other lures in my vest when I go out, just in case. But so far, they haven‘t worked where one of these beauties didn‘t.

So there you have it. This lure takes a small investment and a little bit of time to make. It’s easy to use. It’s versatile. It’s adaptable. It’s amazing. I call the lure the “Heart Breaker” because I developed it on the Heart River. Compared to any other lure, it’s phenomenal, it‘s magic, it should be outlawed. Remember the day you read this article. Remember the day you made and tried your first Heart Breaker. Nothing is 100% certain, but would you accept 98%? Go forth, fish and have fun.