Well in the last post I mentioned the lures I had to throw out because of the rust. Well it was the lack of quality in the stuff at the store and the lack of the size of lure I wanted also. Big Northern Pike like a big meal. However they will settle for a snack if it's present and easy to take. I was considering all sorts of variables and what if's, and thinking about what I wanted most in a lure, not anyone else, but what I wanted. At first it was just a desire to get out of the store and build my own stuff to fish with. The In-Line spinner has been around for many, many, years and there are a lot of companies who make in-line spinners. But for me, personally, they did not make what I wanted. So I started with a pen and a paper and drew out to scale what I wanted. Looked at the drawing and started to look for the pieces of the puzzle to put together. The backbone had to be the wire, it had to be top stuff because I did not want rust. So I started with stainless steel, and found that the better the stainless steel the softer it is to work with in wire form. I had to find that balance of quality that would prevent rust but be super strong and found it in the U.S.A. Next the #7 Colorado blade was a perfect fit, a 3/8 oz tapered body was indeed a body that could be cast with a few modifications to the mold. Beads made of glass and brass and all sorts of materials. And as I searched for the paint I wanted I used Fingernail paint to get the first few done.

The 2012 Jackfish Lures BT-1, do you like Pike?

Now the first few I had done for myself were far different than today's Jackfish Lures BT-1 first of all they were bigger, today's BT-1 is about 8 inches, where as the first few I had done were over 10 inches. The first lures I had done worked out good but they were for sure cumbersome however Pike Candy. I was out fishing my friends and Dad was wondering what I did to get so much success out of those spinners. It was the vibration of the blade and the whole package worked, the first hooks I used where Mustad treble hooks which much to my disappointment started to rust. The very thing I hated most, was happening to my own creations. You know a big part of the problem was the fact that the enzymes from the fish mouths were working their own magic. I had caught a lot of pike on those lures, and the bronzed hooks just did not have the protection to last. I sat down with, paper in front of me jotted down the fish enzyme problem, of course there is going to be issues with the water and how certain things work together in the air to create corrosion. So I needed a hook I could count on, and looked at some of the better Mustad trebles and I must say Mustad is one of my go to hook manufactures they have some very very good stuff, like the 32608NR, perhaps the best spinnerbait hook on the market. However I found what I was looking for in Denver Colorado, with a company called Eagle Claw, yeah I think you may have heard of this company, if not we are not living on the same planet. Eagle Claw makes a nickel plated treble hook that can take a beating and stay sharp and just wants to keep looking for fights. This is a hook that is suited to my style of fishing and hey they are made in the U.S.A and that was all the more reason to use them. The 3/0 Nickel plated Eagle Claw treble is still featured on every big game lure we make to this day.

Fresh cast bucktail bodies.

Once I had a chance to make some new stuff with the Eagle claw hooks and get out to the lake wow what a difference. The rust issue was over, I documented 173 fish on one lure with eagle claw hook and there was no hint of rust. In fact that particular lure went on to catch another 120 fish before I retired it to my shop for study. The Mustad hook was only able to get 29 fish before signs of rust appeared. Remember now Jackfish Lures at this time did not exist! This was just me working out the spinner to get exactly what I wanted. I was not thinking about any company or any of that, for me it was all about the fishing and the quality I could get out of what I was making for myself. The size was the issue I now had to work on and the 10 inch bucktail spinner was working great but was just out of proportion to the gear I was using. A 7 foot med/heavy action rod and a 30 size reel, pretty conventional stuff when you think about it. The majority of anglers have a few rigs set up for themselves I was no exception, however most all conventional stuff. Muskie Anglers will set up with big heavy gear to cast and troll big baits and so forth. For me I wanted feel, and precision, I wanted to enjoy the sport and be able to fish for a day. So I began to increase the size of the lures by reducing the size of the lures! Yeah I know your wondering, "what the heck is he talking about increasing while reducing" it's all about the way I wanted to prepare a lure. I did not need 10 inches of lure to get the fish moving, I have a friend who is one of those computer nerd types, I met when I attended Alberta College. He and I were discussing how to get a small package lure to sound like a big lure without giving up on the size to much. I wanted to be in the 8 inch range which would give the weight I wanted, but still wanted the presence of the 10 inch or bigger lure.

The right hook and the right size blade make all the difference.

So I am in the shop looking over lures I had been using and trying to figure out how to get more out of them. I took one apart down to the wire even melted off the bismuth body to inspect the wire frame when I got an idea to try something. I took my crimping pliers and crimped the wire then cast a tin body over the crimp. Now this was a bit of a problem because I could not slide the body to position it where I wanted it. So I cut a brand new piece of stainless wire crimped it cast a tin body over the crimp and then formed the back loop of my spinner after the body had been cast. I got it painted and then assembled it and got it on the water. Well you want to talk about a slam smash hit of a lure wow, this was now the turning point. The first BT-1 was done, at the time it was just another spinner, to me it was the best lure I had ever fished with ever any brand did not matter none did what this lure did first time out. Buddy and I tested this lure in the tank compared to my other spinners and other brands this crimp cast one was off the charts for vibration in the water, I got the presence of the big bait I wanted in the 8 inch lure size. Dad and I were at Long Lake having a competition that day, he was using a popular brand spinnerbait. I was using this new spinner with the crimp cast body, I ended up with 50 more fish than Dad that day. I ran it up to 50 deliberate just to make a point, and make a point I did. He was so impressed with my spinner he asked that I make him some of them, I said yeah sure then you can kick my butt like you got today, laughing I agreed to get him set up. Like I said he proceeded to kick my but every time out after that with the lures I was making him. Now Mom is big into the sport of fishing, my family was always pretty big into fishing and it's one of those blessings I got to have growing up. Mom wanted spinners, so I got her set up and then they are beating the heck out of their friends at the lake. Next thing I know the phone is ringing, and it's Mom and Dad's friends asking for me to make them some of these spinners.

This looks like success.

I am out in my boat one day, just lighting up the fish one after another, I was having so much fun, I am laughing at the success I was having with the lures I had made. I get this boat pulling up beside me, two big dudes in it asking "Hey what are you using"? I told them I was using bucktail spinners and let them have a look at my spinner. One of the guy's says that they had been out all morning and only caught 5 fish between them. He goes on and says you come out here and your just one after another, so we had to come over and see what your doing. He says where did you buy that spinner? I said I made it myself, this is one of my own creations. I get a big "No Way" from one of the guy's, laughing I just rolled my eyes and told them they were lures I had made myself. I had 9 more of them with me and the guy's would not leave until I sold them one each. They move off a little ways hook up their spinner they had just purchased from me and started to fish. I heard one of them say this, he says this has to be the best lure I have ever seen. I could hear whooping and hollering once in a while. Later that day sometime in the evening I had gone back out on the water, and ran into the same two guy's. They told me how they had been catching fish like crazy and how much they liked the way my spinner worked in the water. I would not see the two guy's until two years latter at my first sportsman's show. They come up to my display, the one grabs my hand and says man am I glad to see you here, and they picked up 10 lures each, and went on to sell many more to bystanders who were listing to their story. These spinners were of such quality that the folks coming by could not believe it, I had to sit and make lures on site at that show because we sold out early.

It hangs in the air over the very place the first lures were tested, took me a while to see it.

Once Jackfish Lures got rolling, it was the BT-1 Chartreuse bucktail spinner that got the whole thing going. It was the very lure I was looking for when I started to make my own stuff, and I had now got it down to the perfect size for conventional gear. A solid stainless frame, A nickel plated treble from Eagle Claw, and now the indestructible powder paint we use is out of this world. This way the average angler could go out and catch big pike with out having to go purchase bigger gear. A simple increase in line size and a wire leader and folks are catching quality fish. By the second show I was getting to see photos of 20 pound pike that folks had caught using my product. And it's been an ongoing thing for many years now, I will get a photo and a story to go with, it always makes me feel great to know people are having success out there with Jackfish Lures. Now we make all sorts of lures spinnerbaits, buzzbaits etc, but it all comes back to the BT-1 the original. Now the original was set up as a chartreuse pattern because it was and still is one of my primary go to color patterns for Northern Pike. I like a big chartreuse blade on a cloudy or overcast day even a drizzle day with light rain the chartreuse will hammer norhterns. On a sunny day, or in a shady spot, trolled or cast, the chartreuse combo of the blade with the tail just perform and provide the contrast with vibration to provide the illusion of bigger size prey we want, to get fish to strike. No you don't need to go buy new gear to fish with our products because we made the product to be fished with conventional gear. So gather up a BT-1 and go have some fun, you will get tired before your BT-1 does so pack a lunch because your gonna be busy catching fish.

Gary Love, Jackfish Lures, WFN Ambassador, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada.