Homemade Fishing Lures

I love to go fishing. Keeping a collection of tackle and lures, getting that feel of a fish on the line, then reeling it in and getting to see what it is. But I thought of one more thing that could make fishing even more fun. Lures can get expensive and making something yourself just makes you feel even better when you get to see what you can accomplish with it. This is why I have decided to give homemade lures a try. In this project you will learn a very easy way to make a homemade lure that works as well as store bought ones. Once you learn how to do this this is something that could be made in minutes while fishing, at home, on the go, or even in a survival situation.

Step 1: Types of Lures

There are many types of lures and even many more types of homemade ones that have worked for people. Picking the right type of lure where you are fishing can be an important thing. In this instructable it will be showing you my version of an instructable that I have seen used on the internet and on instructables using paracord. Combining fishing and paracord could also be applied with survival situations, which is why these life skills can come in handy.

Step 2: Improvements

I decided to give this online version a try. After doing so, I realized it could use some improvements. It was much too light and still was missing a kind of body. This is where jigs come in. They are a kind of weighted head with paint, attached to a hook that various soft baits can be attached to. There are many types of attachments for jigs. A jig combined with the paracord lure is just what it needed. Now let's get to the making!

Step 3: Materials

For this project you will need:
-A couple of jig heads
-Paracord
-Scissors
-Lighter
-Exacto Knife(optional)

Step 4: Inserting Paracord Onto Hook

Take a small length of paracord and compare it to the hook on the jig, judging about how much you might need on the hook. Then carefully push the paracord onto the hook until it's about in the right spot. Then poke the hook through the paracord, and push the end all the up to the head.

Step 5: Burn One End and Cut the Other

Next take the lighter and burn the end that should be right up against the head. Then, decide how long you want the tail to extend from the hook, and using the scissors cut it there.

Step 6: Straightening the Tail

Now, the end of the tail is still curving around with the hook, so take the exacto knife and carefully cut a slit in one side of the paracord so that the hook can slip through the paracord and the tail is straight. Make sure to only cut the outer layer of the paracord.

Step 7: Remove the Outside of the Paracord

Next, using the exacto knife, or slim object, carefully pull the inner strands through the slit cut in the outside of the paracord next to the hook. After that cut off the outer layer that is hanging off the hook. Now you should only only have the inner strands exposed forming the tail.

Step 8: Unravel the Tail

Now all that's left to do is form the tail. There's really no wrong way to do it, you just have to get the inner strands unraveled and thin as possible, so it looks kind of fluffy. To unravel the strands I untwisted the top and stuck the exacto knife into the hole and pulled it down to untwist it. I even thought of using a comb to kind of untangle it and make them thinner.

Step 9: Enjoy!

Now you have made your own homemade fishing lures, and you have learned how so you can do it anywhere and catch them fish! So load the tackle box and head to the river! I've done some experimenting with different hooks and techniques, such as trying it with a treble hook and attaching it to a spinnerbait clip. This is a fun, efficient project that can be applied and expanded on in many ways, so I hope you enjoyed and catch some fish! (I will add an update with pictures and results next time I go fishing. I'm expecting great results!)