Hand Carved Fishing Lures - Interview with Ben

Here's a Birthday interview with Ben about his hand carved lures and wall mounts. Happy Birthday Ben!

Why on earth would you want to invest so much time to make one fishing lure?

I love to make them. Every time I make one, it gets a little easier. My friends like them and I enjoy making them, it’s a passion.

Do you like making lures or fish carving more, which is more rewarding?

Carving fish is more rewarding, cause I wont loose them when I’m fishing!

The surface paint jobs are incredible, where do you get the ideas?

I try to envision the lure and make it come to life. The lures just come together as I go, each has its own personality and is one of a kind.

Fish Creek Spinners gets a lot of web traffic searching on hand carved lures. Once I got an email somebody wanted 200 of a specific one. I kind of laughed, because he was clueless. How long does it take to carve and paint a lure? A fish carving?

About 3 hrs, for the lures, not including paint drying time. The fish are harder, depending on size, 8 to 20 hours. Again, not including dry time.

So you fish these, are you nuts? What kind of fish go after them?

I catch trout and bass. I made one that a lot of trout actually chased on to the bank “out of the water”! I caught the biggest bass I have caught in years on one of my lures.

Now that’s an incentive to keep improving skills.

Does the water damage the paint?

Not really, I’ve learned to seal the screw-eyes to keep water from penetrating the paint. I cover each lure with  waterproof epoxy to protect the paint, add shine, and harden the wood to protect it from fish teeth.

Has your carving influenced your job at Fish Creek Spinners?

Definitely, I’m always trying to come up with new improvements to the carvings. Carving fuels my creative energy, which carries over into spinner design.

I love my job! 

 Check out more of Ben's carved lures

In addition to his carvings, Ben made around 24,000  Armadillo’s, Spinnerbaits and Trolling Cowbells in 2010.