Painting Fishing Lures

Accomplished fishing-lure maker returns to craft after 'burnout'

ASHTON - The moment Chris Morrison lowered the skew chisel to the chunk of basswood spinning in his lathe, goose bumps started rising on his arms.

"It was like riding a bike. It had been five years, but I hadn't forgotten the moves," said Morrison, 33, who spent 19 of his first 28 years making handcrafted fishing lures until burnout forced him to stop.

"About three months ago, I decided to get back into it. Since then, I've received orders for $3,000 to $4,000 worth of lures. It's gratifying to know that the folks in the business haven't forgotten me."

In the 1990s and early 2000s, many people in the fishing-tackle industry knew Morrison's name. Through his company, Eatum-Up Baits, he produced $30,000 to $40,000 worth of lathe-carved, hand-painted basswood lures a year. Professional bass fishermen sent their commercially produced lures to Morrison for custom-airbrushed paint jobs. Guides in South America clamored for his deadly effective peacock bass lures.

Morrison said he carved his first lure at age 9. He started selling his works at age 13, and had a thriving business going by the time he turned 15. The fact that he carved and painted so well - even with a right arm shriveled by a birth defect - attracted considerable local media attention. Morrison's reputation spread quickly.

"We started exhibiting at outdoors shows, and that's when things really took off," he said. "It wasn't unusual to go to a major show and sell $4,000 to $5,000 worth of lures in a single weekend."

A jury selected his lures to be sold at Tamarack, West Virginia's showplace for items crafted within the state. In 1999, West Virginia officials named Morrison the state's Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

In 2006, though, he hit the wall.

"The economy in the fishing industry was starting to go bad. I was tired, too," he recalled. "I would sometimes spend days on end churning out lures, with little or no sleep. One day I just couldn't do it any more. I quit."

Seeking a complete break, he moved out of his parents' Barboursville home, found a job, got married and fathered a young daughter.

ASHTON - The moment Chris Morrison lowered the skew chisel to the chunk of basswood spinning in his lathe, goose bumps started rising on his arms.

"It was like riding a bike. It had been five years, but I hadn't forgotten the moves," said Morrison, 33, who spent 19 of his first 28 years making handcrafted fishing lures until burnout forced him to stop.

Fishing Lure Painting

Fishing Lure Painting

Here's a subject I often discussed with the fishermen on the water that I have rarely seen in professional journals. There among the plethora of lures called "hard" market, decoys made from 3 different materials. Wood, resin and plastic. Of course by. material used, the manufacture and are therefore differs cost. But this is not the only aspect that differentiates them, because even if the wooden decoys are more expensive, they have. What is certain is that the search for long distances, you need a fishing lure painting aerodynamic whose ass is egg-shaped ideal profile for the wind tunnel is that of the egg! Just. It will also consider arming. Decoys are designed to be fitted. A decoy will be ill equipped to behave differently during the launch phase but also during. the animation phase. Simply equip a fishing lure painting with hooks over-sized or even without hooks and you will realize very quickly the difference with his arms. This is especially true with exotic fish, because we use hooks to larger and larger, finished the 5 / 0, we have moved to 7 / 0 see 8 / 0 . . and believe me, with a ring. 300 400 lb. breaking see, this represents the volume and weight! I would strongly recommend to test your fishing lure painting on 2 or 3 shots before wanting to fish with. In this photo, the first decoy from the left, Billy is wooden and comes from Japan. The middle one, a popper Roosta Australia is hard plastic and the last one. Lures resin most famous in the world of exotic fish are French. They are the work of a fisherman admirable Leguyader Eric, who was able to design lures Orion. The resin, still light, provides excellent flotation, thereby ballasting decoy to gain distance. The material is so soft and the teeth of predators. We have as examples the size of Yo-Zuri Bull or the Roosta Halco popper. These lures are very strong in general, they are molded and allow great. productivity, generating a relatively low cost. For cons, the paintings never take long, just look at the Surface Bull . . the teeth of predators "slide" on the lures. So their advantage in strength turns into a disadvantage here, and some resins are hollow drill by canine caranassiers making unusable after luring a fish, the. Again there are two categories, hardwoods like plastic lures and soft woods such as balsa Rapala which uses and making it a reputable brand. International. The balsa is easier to work with, easier to shape but it is also more fragile. It floats better than hardwood, which will tend to flow and cling to the teeth. wonder in the lure. The problem is that you need a wood hard enough not to blow themselves up after a blow to jaw like a Rapala Super Shad Rap, but soft enough. that teeth are planted in and rot whose qualities do not go running after being munched wet or long hours. That said, a wooden decoy. will lose its buoyancy after several attacks and some will see their swimming hampered if too much material is missing. These lures are often very expensive because of the raw material used. and work to be done to complete a decoy. However, there are differences, since some of my big baits for pike, Pike Attack is a simple wooden frame with steel. in a prone position, do not cost more than 10 euros room while the poppers Hammer Head average cost 70euros . . and some wooden decoys reach room 90euros! (See photo below. You will certainly have understood the importance of raw material used to make the fishing lure painting will depend on the fish sought. If you catch barbel, a decoy. Hard plastic is not an obstacle by the cons if you fish baracuda, its sharp teeth will be planted in a soft wood gladly while a hard plastic fishing lure painting will be expelled. My preferences are for wooden decoys priority for beautiful dentition predator then lures resin brand Orion. For cost reasons, lures produced by Eric Leguyader are unbeatable and are the best alternative for a quality fishing at a reasonable price. . .

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