Because of my exposure on Facebook and YouTube, I have had a lot of folks calling and asking here lately how to make their own baits and lures. I nicely tell them. I will not tell them how or what to do, but I will give hints sometimes if they are listening and thinking what I mean, LOL. They then say I will not sell them; I want to make my own, LOL.

Way back in 1982, when I started to try to make baits and lures, nothing was out there was written. And unless you had a close relationship with one of the boys making the magic secret potions, they would clam up. I learned to stand by the boys when they were talking to each other, keep my mouth shut, and just listen. They knew I was there and would throw a bone or two to get me thinking. I remember someone saying, " I can't remember who said it, but I remember what they said. Bait and lure making is like making perfumes; if a person knows how to make perfumes, then they can make lures.

I then set my sights on the perfume trade to figure out how to put that information to use with the information I was able to get on rotting stuff down and blowing up buckets and jars!!!!LOL

It took me 5 years to develop my first products, which worked and did not change over time. It is easy to get something to work; it is not so easy to keep it working without changing and not working. LOL. Those first products were not to be sold but used by my employees and myself in my ADC wildlife control Business and fur trapping. No one got those products until the mid-1990s, and at first, they were sold in bulk to be labeled under other names. My sights were set on the wildlife control field when I started marketing my line.

I still try to gather bones from the boys that I consider to be the greats in the bait and lure-making world. And I would pay for instructions to be honed by a few. I have been lucky to get bones from Paul, Bob, and Joe, among others, and Asa was so helpful to me, giving me more than just bones.

I have said all that to say this to the folks just getting into the world of bait and lure making for yourself. I am sure my story is pretty close to the story of the others, the more experienced commercial boys who are on here reading this and giving more information here than they gave 30 years ago. LOL. The books and videos out there that you can get today I wish I had back in the early days as they give so much information. It saves on many blown-up buckets and jars LOL and, most importantly, saves on the money lost with each blow-up or failed batch.

Take these posts and learn to read them, noticing not only what they say but also what is not being said. They are alluding to the little things. You have to think about it and look for it, but it is there. Nothing worthwhile is given for free, but thinking can make a bone worthwhile.

Last, do not get upset when the commercial folks do not freely tell you how to make what they make to make their living. Yes, your intent at this point may be for yourself, but just like me, I was only making for my business and self turned it into a commercial business later. The cost to make baits and lures are high not only in dollars and cents but also thinking and digging Jump feet first into the bait-making and lure-making, getting the bones you can and thinking out of the box to put the bones together, and most importantly, when you shake the jar and see it bubbling RUN !!!!!!

Bacon bait is incredibly affordable and has withstood the test of time . . . several years at least. :-)

Same with Mel Hershberger's Jack Mack bait. But in all seriousness, I think there is a big difference in a bait and a lure, when it comes to cost, testing, quality ingredients, aging, etc. One year I had a free supply of chicken eggs. I boiled a bunch of them and then let them sit out in the sun until they were ripe. That fall I put them in the bottom of dirt holes, cracking them slightly when I dropped them in the hole, and caught a lot of coyotes. No other lure needed. They worked awesome. But a real good call lure, I think, is a work of art.