Great Lakes Lure Maker

Some lures are ready for sale, but limited colors and quantity. I called today about the status of the lures being stamped, had to leave a msg, no reply back yet. I was hoping to have at least the 4's by now. Well will hopefully know something tomorrow. What lures were you interested in? I may already have them. Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Recently it was brought to my attention that a comment I made, regarding our decision to hand make all of our lures (blank, pierce, form and logo) as opposed to purchasing blanks for MFG, could be taken as an insult to others. In all the years we made lures we have always maintained an open and cordial relationship with other MFG'S we have come to know. This is something we have always done and will continue to do. With that said, I was simply making a statement that was intended to set us apart from others, and was only intended to show my pride in our product, and by no means was intended to insult anyone. If my comment was taken as an insult, I can assure you that wasn't the intent behind the remark. Marketing a product, no mater what it is, almost always involves "setting yourself apart" from your competition. That was all I was trying to do. Jason

You too Nick, Thanks, Jason

No offense meant by it. I was just using it as a reference to make a point.

Nick, My comment to you wasn't meant to be a "cheap shot". I felt comfortable enough with you to make a joke with you, that was all. Sorry if you took it the wrong way, and I apologize if you took it as anything other than what it was intended to be. I am assuming that your reference to fish on the rock's or gilling was directed at pictures iv'e posted, since they are probably the only pic's I have posted. Those fish were obviously not released and the only reason the pictures were taken. Most of our fish get released, and aside from measuring them and checking for clipped fins, they don't spend enough time on our boat for pictures. I prefer to get them back into the water as quickly as possible. That's why you won't see me post many pic's. If there gonna be eaten, my finger in its gill isn't gonna hurt it at that point, neither will the rock's. (and no, I'm not insulted by the comment) As far as my comments regarding other companies painting blanks, and we blank, pierce logo and form all our own lures, Well I won't apologize for that. I was stating a fact, that wasn't intended to be an insult, just explaining how much effort we put into producing what we consider to be a fine product. Bobby Fuller has one of the nicest finishes going. It takes a hammer to ruin his paint job, and painting is a process a lot of companies have trouble with recently, due to the regulations passed (especially in NY) and the lean towards low VOC paints. In the last 30 yrs, I have met almost all of the major MFG'S, (with the exception of Bobby Fuller and that is on my "to do" list) and have a good relationship with them all. I intend to keep it that way. Making lures doesn't mean that some how we should be enemies, or that we should engage in bad mouthing one another. My comments regarding our process were just simply to explain that we take every effort to make lures for fisherman, by fisherman. Right down to every aspect of the process, including the MFG of the lure, from a roll of metal, to a completed product. If those comments were taken as an insult, they certainly were not intended to be! I would say they were simply a matter of pride, rather than an insult. As far as coming on the site with "no history", I'm not sure what you mean by that. I was selling lure's to Dick's, Bass Pro shop's and every other bait and tackle store from the Adirondack's, to the Finger Lakes, and Great Lakes since 1987. Who do you think sold all the lure's we made? In addition to that, I fished over 60 tournaments a year, from 1987 till I moved to Philly. Now that I live here again, and wasn't in the fishing business for some years doesn't exactly qualify me as having "no History" around here. I'm simply just getting back to something I was always passionate about, and due to my last marriage, lost my direction for. I was fishing tournaments with Joe's dad when Joe JR was born. Iv'e been fishing for quite some time now, and "history" is one thing I can say I have. I probably could have been a little more tactful about my opinion, and not come off as if I was insulting the fella, but at the time I didn't think my opinion was insulting. It was just my opinion, and that's all it was meant to be. That I will apologize for. Jason

You call that a "shot gun" pose! GEESH I can still see the fish, better try again!

I agree about the report being the meat and potatoes of the site, (pretty cool he fishes with his girlfriend) and some of my decisions about launch sites for tourny's is based on what I see and read here, and pre fishing. However, if your going to display a catch, a nice fish at that, then display a pose that enhances the fish, not a "selfie".... I can see that on facebook all day. When I was standing at the Oak Orchard Open, waiting to weigh in, a group of guy's from another boat was taking pics of their catch. When one of them picked up a king and did the "shot gun" pose, the crowd burst out in laughter. When I looked over at them I said "what are they laughing at", the fella next to me said "just take a look". Personally, I don't think it shows much class, and if it put a group of others into laughter, well...... enough said! I don't agree that my comment's will some how deter others from reporting, This site is full of "opinions" one way or the other, and isn't that what were here for? Maybe i'm a little "old fashioned" and certainly, Iv'e been known to be "opinionated", but those are just my thoughts. Take it for what it's worth and definitely, don't be offended by it. So in closing.....BANG.... BANG ,BANG, BANG! My gun is now un-loaded! Feel free to shoot back at me! I'm big enough to take it. Nice report though, and congrats on fishing with your girlfriend! That to me was "class" . (just my opinion)

I don't know about offending people. Do what you please! Bang to you as well! Laker taker85. Can't even see your fish. I personally don't care how you display your fish, but just show some class, if you give a ****! Don't be a follower! Be a leader! If you can..... Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Cant see much of the fish with the "shot gun" pose. No idea how big, or healthy. Strikes me as an ego pose, rather than a display of your catch. Nice looking fish though. Maybe try a different display of your catch. This ego thing is getting old! We all have good days, and we all have bad days. Have a little class! Almost feels like your shoving it down my throat.... just my opinion! Find more tasteful ways to display your catch. Nice fish, and glad to see you have a woman on your boat! Don't get any better than that! Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Silver has the greatest "reflective" quality of all metals. That being said, if you put a chrome plated lure, a stainless lure and a silver plated lure next to one another, you would see that chrome almost "reflects" a "black" shine. Silver is very "white" and stainless is somewhere in between them. Add to that a superior hand polishing, and I would say there is little difference between them, as far as reflective quality is concerned. As far as jewelry plating, vs lures, we were selling 3-5,000 lures a week. Turn around times were very un predictable and quality was never constant, which is why we changed to stainless. I had a friend who was a diver that got into treasure hunting in the ocean. He said that about 30 ft in the finger lakes, sunlight was dramatically reduced. at 50 ft, almost gone and at 100 ft, no light at all but artificial. At this point, 50 ft and deeper reflective quality is almost null, and now were dealing with color, for example, ROYGBIV rule. I have no doubt silver produces the greatest reflective value of the metals described, but at what cost does it become "priced out". Today especially, plating seems to be getting harder and harder to do, due to EPA regulations, both state and federal. Were now facing the same obstacles in the painting process. Unfortunately, I think it will become a thing of the past, like so many other "good things" we have grown to know. This is the reason Sutton has come to pass. They can not get the plating done at a reasonable turn around, and cost has priced it out of range. Electronics plating is driving demand and cost has risen due to demand and loss of smaller companies. We used to use a company from syracuse, but they got more and more costly every time and slower as well. .60-.70 a lure for plating is getting pretty pricey if you ask me. So I think you will see very little, if any plating being done with lure's in the near future. It just isn't worth the trouble any more. If your talking collectible markets, then I can see that, but for today's practical use, probably not worth the cost and effort anymore. My thoughts.... Thank you for wishing us luck and for the topic. It, as well as painting has been a hotly debated conversation among MFG'S lately. Interesting to hear what others think about this trend. Thank you, Jason

Thank you fshnwmn!

I got married in 1990. (my first marriage) We checked into the Elmira holiday inn, had dinner, then I left to fish a tourny on Lake Ontario. That's a true story, and her and I are still good friends, just not married any more. We did stay married for 10yrs though. So my advise, go fishing!

Nice report Joe! Belated happy birthday to Nick! We were on the water Sat as well. We didn't fish, just scouted the "bowl". There were lots of fish everywhere we went. We enjoyed sleeping on the boat and listening to fish chase the bait into the shore line. It was a beautiful night, but in the morning we woke to see the lake chop was building, and the beautiful, calm water became rough. We had just the opposite situation. We couldn't find lakers! We boated 2, but hammered the silvers. Good job to all who fished, as you said. It wasn't an easy day on the water, that's for sure. I hope the weather is a little better for Cayuga.

Yeah we have made holders for polishing, but they can bend the thinner ones, so they have limited use. We have hand carved holders for the thinner ones. Each one was hand carved to the lure it's for. That seems to work well, but you still have to hand finish the marks from the board off. Here are some pic's of the lures we make. All plain in the picture, however, I believe we have 13 colors at this point. Possibly a couple new colors to come out soon. One were testing now has been very productive lately. White has been a hot color as well, but I have a hard time believing it would sell very well. We have always kept an assortment of all white lures on the boat, and they have been good producers fishing, but would you buy an all white lure, with all the colors there are today? Sorry about the focus on the first one. I did these in a rush. Maybe better pics to put up soon.

I'm really not sure what others do. The companies we looked to buy years ago have long since closed. Ace Tackle, Pine Valley spoons, and a couple others I can't remember. We used to do custom finishes like Pine Valleys plating, silver, chrome, and smoked chrome, but the turn around was never very consistent and expensive. Since then, we switched to using a highly reflective 430 stainless steel that we finish by hand polishing with high speed polishing wheels. It's the job least liked and its rough on your fingers and nails. The lures become very hot to handle. The stainless isn't cheap by any means, but neither is plating or other types of finishes and it's less handling of the product. We still do lures with brass, copper and aluminum. All having a different "wobble", especially the light weight aluminum. Our "rattling lures" come with either a steel, brass or copper "top" lure on a steel "bottom lure". Each produces a different sound, or ring. We have had a lot of success with the rattling versions. I don't think we will get into plating anymore. We are experimenting with "dips" for base coat, but not really happy with it. Paints have changed a lot in the past few years, and from what I hear on "tackle underground" were not the only Mfg's having a learning curve with paint processes. Probably going to switch to air brushing with low VOC paints. It will open more paint scheme possibilities as well.

Some of our dies are progressive, to a point. None of them form, we do that separate. The #4 die and the SS die I dropped off are progressive dies. They logo, and pierce during the blanking. All that's left to do is form them. Most of the other die's just blank. As far as plating, from what I understand that's the reason Sutton is not making lures. You can't get them plated any more around here. We used to ship to Syracuse for our plating, but we gave that up over 20 years ago. Plating silver adds about another .60-.75 to the cost of production for each lure. I still have blanks that were made for plating, but they are too thin to use without plating them. In fact, I just put them away with the rest of the stuff that will probably sit for years. It will make for interesting conversation some day when someone else is making these lures. When we purchased Kausch Lures, there were more boxes of "stuff" than there were equipment and it was neat to go thru all of it. We found some collectibles, and a lot of antique stuff. Learned a lot from it too.