Great Lakes Lure Maker

Keuka Wobblers in Heavy Troll are now being run. (.060 thick, about 1/2 ounce) I am running about 2,000. Once I have some good video and pictures I will post them. They are all logo'd now and ready for piercing. Jason

John, When I click on the link it comes up blank. Is there a place I can find it by searching. Thanks, Jason

Nice going John! Wish I had gone fishing today as well. Had to go to work this am till about 1 then spent the rest of the day getting ready for winter. Stacked wood, raked leaves, etc... should have gone fishing! Owasco is my favorite lake to fish. Always fun to go there. At least you got to get out today. Sure was a beautiful day to be on the water. Limiting out... even better! Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Interesting, how would someone go about doing that? Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Thanks PAP, My mom came down at one point to ask me to do something for her. She walked up behind me and yelled my name, which made me jump out of my seat. I can't hear anything around me with the press running and the radio on, so I asked her from now on to switch the stairway light on and off if i'm running a press. That way hopefully we can avoid a possible accident. Just an example of how easily an accident can happen. I would be glad to have you run some of our lures and thank you for the compliments. Much appreciated!

Yeah Les, I have been running those presses since I was 13. In that time I have seen 2 people stamp their fingers and lose part of them. One was pretty bad. So I have developed a healthy respect for those machines. There is one simple rule, don't stick your finger in the die to clear or move anything. That's why you see me using a wire in the forming process. Setting the lure, I try to keep my fingers just out of the die and drop the lure in a way that it lands on the pins. If not, I use the wire to position it, then to remove it. The saddle die is a different story. It was made so you could hold the lure in position and stamp the saddle in. That one gets a little hairy some times and if you hold it too high or too close it will actually pinch your finger when it punches. Not enough to hurt, but after several times it does begin to hurt. That's why in the end I show that I still have all my digits in place. Always good to end the day with all the body parts you started with. Those presses are old and if not kept serviced and greased, they will double trip on occasion. That's when people get hurt if not respecting rule # 1, which is "protect yourself at all times". Never stick a finger into a form die, unless you've shut it down. I'm glad to hear you did well with the lures I sent, and looking forward to fishing with you again soon. I'm anxious to hear how you do with some of the new lures I sent you. I like the action of the SS with the "old school" bend. It runs up to around 2.6 - 2.8 sog before beginning to spin, so it's not exactly what I would call a High Speed lure, but kind of in the middle. Kind of a snappy, short wobble which looks tempting if I were a fish. I'm hoping it will be a hot lure. We certainly dumped a lot of money in tooling for that lure. I was hoping to get a new from die for the #35 this year, so I could form it for use on Ontario, but that may have to wait a while. Jason

Yesterday I set out to run some #4's. I ran about 1200 lures and it took about 5hrs total. At this point, If I value my time at $25.00 an hr and I already have .13 cents into blanking the lure, that would mean that at this point once I have finished the stamping, I have roughly .23 cents into making the lure blanks. From there I have several more steps to go to produce a finished product. De-burr, paint/polish, assemble, package. I know someone is going to ask " If it only costs .23 cents to make the lure...." By the time I de-burr, polish or paint, assemble, package, ship, pay the electric bill, buy paint, tape, hooks, rings, swivels, packaging, tooling, pay employees (once we have hired) pay for advertising, sport shows, get a website running, and pay an accountant... i'm sure i'm missing some here, but you get the point. Here are 2 videos of the forming process and setting the hook saddle into the lure. This is the forming process. The lure sets into the die and held into position by 2 pins that fit into the holes already blanked into the lure. This ensures that every lure is formed exactly the same, with no variations. This press is foot operated. The second video is setting the hook saddle into the lure. The saddle holds the hook from moving and loosening the hook. It also nests the hook to the lure so that once "stressed" by a fish, it wont snap off. This press is hand operated. (obviously) Here is the end results of 5hrs of stamping lures. Here is what the lure looks like once completed. At this point the lures are ready to be de-burred and either painted or taped. Once they are de-greased, tape removed and a bath in hot water and dawn dish washing soap. (to remove any left over grease and acetone from de-greasing) I hope you find these videos and this post to be informative. Not everyone gets to see how lures are manufactured and I hope you gain something from watching. Thank you, Jason Oakes

Very nice! That's what its all about. Having raised a daughter who is now an adult and mother herself and having several nieces, ranging from 10-25 yrs old, all of which hunt and fish, I have seen the benefits from the quality time spent with them. One of which, probably every father of a daughter worries about, is what type of man will she choose to be with. They tend to make better choices when they have a good father figure as an example for them. Congratulations to your daughter and to you. Jason

Ok, I will be around. I also own a heating and a/c business, so you will get a message on my voicemail for that, if I am unable to answer.Jason Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Les, Funny you mention Ace lures. That was the first company we looked to buy. Second was Pine valley, third was kausch, which we eventually purchased. I got a whipping for looking thu the window of " the David" which was a bar next door. We spent a lot of time at Ace lures. We even assembled many hundreds, if not thousands from our home. Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

No web site as of yet. If your interested in placing an order you can call me at: 607-426-five zero94. Otherwise, If you are in the area of Elmira, I could meet you at the shop. Website, brochures, order forms, are all still on the "to do" list at this point. Thank you, Jason Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Great Lakes #4 (and other sizes) are now available for order. We offer it in taped and painted color schemes. Here are some examples. Left to right, Red Devil, Blue Mullet, O2, G2, Dark blue tape, light blue tape, Dark green tape, Yellow herring bone over yellow vinyl (can be done with all herring bone tapes), Green vinyl, Orange vinyl. These are just a few examples of color schemes. This was our standard color selection. In addition to this we also make the colors listed above, and can do custom work as well. Starting at "noon" the colors are as follows; Green over green, Blue over blue, Silver herring bone, O2, G2, Fire dot (can also do wonderbread, and other colors), Black and silver, Black and purple over pink, Copper w/ silver over silver (not available in the #4), Red Back with silver tape, Red over red, Yellow over yellow. The price for the GL#4 is $4.25 ea. Thank you. Jason

I haven't had the time to keep this updated on a timely basis, so this is a "catch up" post on the progression so far. I have been trying to purchase hooks from Mustad, but their customer service is poor. Several un answered calls and emails and when I did get someone to call it was a regional sales person who suggested I purchase their hooks through Triple S. Not really what I was looking for. I'm looking to purchase at least 5,000 to 10,000 hooks and the price is .24 each! That isn't much better than the 100 hook price. So I call Triple S, talked to 2 people who had no knowledge of the hooks and the guy I needed to speak to was off. So I leave a message on his voice mail, 2 weeks ago and no return call. This was my last attempt to do business with Mustad. Next up, Eagle Claw and VMC. I got the same customer service from Eagle Claw, but VMC responded to my email within seconds. Jackie Kiklas, vp of finance and marketing for VMC has responded to every email almost right away. Now this is the type of service I am looking for. Samples have been mailed to me, i'm just waiting to see how their hooks compare to what I am looking for. VMC 9171ps is the main hook we are looking at, were also looking at 9626 in the #4 and #6 sizes. Painting process was a real obstacle to overcome and I believe I have it under control now. I had to go back to the lengthy process of de greasing with acetone, wire wheeling the surface, was down with Dawn dish soap, bake, then primer. They set for 2 full days to cure, then can be painted and clear coated. This is exactly how we did it years ago, and it produced a lure I could bend all day and not peal. I used to do this when I was cold calling new stores. I would take their favorite lure (purchase it of course) and bend it and the paint usually cracks and falls off. Then I would take our lure I have been bending all day, and bend it some more. Never did I have our paint fail. That's the quality were looking for in our painted products and I believe we have finally got it nailed down. The shop was a wreck. It has become my family's storage area for the last 10 years or more. It took me days to clean and organize the shop and get it back in a condition to begin manufacturing product. She is now ready to begin production once again. Re wiring the entire shop is on the "to do " list, soon. Yesterday I filed my DBA in Schuyler County. My girlfriend is the Deputy County Clerk, so I was able to have her do the paper work for me. That was a satisfying experience we were able to share together! So we are now officially open for business. There are still obstacles to overcome, but we will deal with them as come. Here are some pics I have taken along the way. Silver Soldier die #1 broke. If you look above the dorsal fin, you can see the first repair. This time the other fins chipped, and it was producing a pretty heavy burr from the first repair. Silver Soldier die #2 broke. This one is currently being repaired while we have another one made. Some pics of the shop. Paint failures. Successful paint attempt. Making the Great Lakes #4 Some finished products. Great Lakes #35, fire tiger w/ eye Silver Soldier, Blue Mullet test paint Keuka Wobbler, Fire Tiger. Painting Fire Tiger w/ glo cup Random Paint scheme trials. Officially open for business! I will be ending this post and moving the topic to Tackle and Techniques forum when I post about this topic in the future. Thank you, Jason Oakes

I was wishing I was fishing all day! Nice job and real nice laker.

Nice report Les. The scenery sure is beautiful! Glad to here your getting some fish for your son. Always sucks to lose a freezer, especially when its full. Happened to me once before. Wish I was fishing as well, but a little 4 letter word keeps getting in the way! (work)

Due to the number of requests I got regarding Field Testing, I will try to get to everyone as quickly as I can. Thank you for your interest and I will get the information to you as soon as I can. Thank you, Jason

We still make all the colors we did before. Those were just paint practice for me and possibly colors we will add in the future.

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