I helped a friend remove his old fence. He was putting in a new one. I got many pieces of 1.5 X 1.5 Cedar and popular pickets for lure making. Now I just need to get that borrowed lathe working. I'm starting a little late for the season, but I am starting.

Looks like I'll have lots of practice stock.

Fish...make bait...fish...make bait..fish...

Well I've finally got some time to turn some lures. I've made a few, but haven't finished the complete process. Still need to work out the complete start to finish build lifecycle.

I hope to do some trolling in the upcoming weeks with the Rock fish migrate through the Ches Bay. I have attached a pic of my first 8" troller.

The Cedar fence is soft, but seems to work well.

Got all my ideas from this site! Thanks.

nice shape

SCORE! I got all my clear red cedar from an old deck. The top of the deck was 2x6 clear cedar! Still have a ton of it.

Thanks for the comments. I've got the local kids breaking down the fence now! ;-)

I can get 2 or 3 large lures out of one picket.

I am having some trouble thru drilling the longer lures. I can successfully make the 5-6 inch lures, but the 8" plus lures I can't make ends meet. I am close, because I can put air through the lure, but the holes don't match up enough to get the wire thru. I am using a 6 inch bit from both ends with a drill press. Maybe I need to try a full 9-10” aircraft bit and see where it pops out?

Drill in from both ends as you are doing. Then use a cordless drill (by hand) with a longer drill to connect the holes.

This is just a compilation of what I learned on this and other boards.

1. Mark where you want your nose and tail holes with an awl or punch. Make a small dent.

2. Put a nail through a piece of wood. Nice and straight. (use your drill press to make a pilot hole) I use a nail that is about 1/8 in diameter. This will make it more accurate when you are repeating step 6 later.

3. Put nail/wood on drill press table (nail point pointing up) and place your lure on the nail (either end of the lure) and adjust the table height so you can fit your work just under a 1/8" drill bit installed in the chuck.

4. Remove lure. Put a 1/4" metal rod in the chuck. Needs to be long enough when mounted in the chuck that it almost touches the tip of the nail. I have several of different lengths. You can probably use threaded rod if you can not find plain metal rods. Extend the rod down to the nail. Center the nail to the end of the metal rod and clamp the nail/wood in place.

5. Remove the rod and put your drill bit in. I use 1/8".

6. Place lure on the nail on the nose or tail dent you made.

7. Drill slowly and back the bit out after every advance of 1/4" to 1/2" to clear sawdust. This will keep the bit tracking true.

8. When you drilled as far as you can from one side, flip the lure and repeat steps 6 & 7.

9. Connect the two holes using a long bit (12" telephone installers or airplane bit). Before you start this step use a piece of tape to mark on the bit how far you have to go (plus 1/2") to be in the middle of the lure. I like to start with the tail side, then do the nose side. FOLLOW THE ADVICE IN STEP 7 plus use light pressure and let the drill do the work. When coming from the nose side - remove the tape and let the drill come all the way through.

10. Ream it out several times once you have made it through.

Thanks Charleston and VTBasser.

I'll give this technique a try. I like the idea of drilling with a shorter stronger bit first and then finishing with an aircraft bit. I also like the idea of a jig to position the lure and ensure alignment.

I split the last lure I drilled and noticed that the holes were close, but one side drifted right and one side drifted left. I guess I should double check the press alignment too.

I drill from the back with a 3/16 bit to the front hook hole and then drill from the lip hole to meet it with a 1/8 bit, I eyeball the front one so they meet. The 3/16 bit wanders a lot less.

I use a 6 inch 5/32 (nose grommet size) bit and use slow light pressure to drill for almost all my drilling. also make sure the bit is clean as you drill. A SLIGHTLY plugged up bit will cause it to wander.

If you set it up on the drill press as stated above you will do well and have a much better success rate. The set up is KEY.