Trolling lure design from Peter Bristow, who made his name on the Great Barrier Reef before Micronesia and Madeira. He checks lures on a live center, shows why a top heavy or lopsided lure rolls, and explains the sloped face and lead keel that keep a single hook upright.
Design Thoughts on Trolling Lures with Peter Bristow
Design Thoughts on Trolling Lures with Peter Bristow
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Peter Bristow
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Why does a trolling lure roll or run off true?
Good trolling lure design comes down to symmetry and weight. Peter Bristow, who made his name fishing the Great Barrier Reef before moving on to Micronesia and Madeira, puts a lure in a lathe on a live center to check it. A lure carrying extra material on top is top heavy, and one heavy on a side rolls over.
"There's no chance of this lure running properly, being top-heavy," he says of a molded lure with bumps you can feel. And the fish notice: "A fish does not like a lure that doesn't run true."
Why do the best lure makers turn their lures on a lathe?
Resin shrinks unevenly in a mold, so a lure straight out of one is rarely round. "The best lure makers in the world always put their lures in a lathe and cut them," Bristow says. His early 1990s lathe turned lure with a lead keel runs dead true. Production lures "work quite well," but he lathes them first.
Why does a single hook need a sloped face and a lead keel?
Bristow likes a single hook, and to run one upright, the lure needs a sloped face so it travels exactly in the direction of the hook. A lure with no lead is top heavy with the hook up and will roll, so he adds a lead keel low in the head. The keel sizes are in the video.
Inside the video
- Filmed in Madeira
- Checking a lure on a live center, and feeling for bumps by hand
- How much material comes off a molded lure before it runs round
- Fitting a slanted face and his own rig to a flat faced lure
Questions About Trolling Lure Design
How can you tell if a trolling lure will run true?
Roll it in your hands. A lathe turned lure feels evenly round, and Bristow says you can feel that it has been in a lathe. A molded lure with excess material on one side or on top has bumps you can feel, and it will be heavy where the material is.
Do production marlin lures need a lead keel?
Bristow says production lures "work quite well," but run a hand around one and you feel how out of shape it is. Before he runs one, he turns it round in a lathe and adds a lead keel low in the head so it sits upright and runs true behind the boat.
Why does Peter Bristow prefer a single hook?
He likes to run a single hook upright, and that shapes his whole design: a sloped face so the lure travels in the direction of the hook, and a lead keel so the lure doesn't roll with the hook on top. A flat faced lure gets a new slanted face and his own rig.
Ballast in a Production Lure
Bristow lathes and weights lures by hand. For a lure maker who pours a lead keel into the insert of every lure he makes, watch Moyes lures for blue marlin with Andy Moyes.
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Captain Peter Bristow is an Australian big game legend who has caught more thousand-pound marlin, black and blue, than any captain on earth. He spent decades on the Great Barrier Reef out of Cairns, landing 52 grander black marlin and a record 192 blacks in one 1973 season, then moved to Madeira in 1996 to chase giant blue marlin aboard his Katherine B. In his In The Spread video, Bristow explains how to choose a marlin lure that runs true, from head shape to build quality.
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