American Handcrafted Lure Art

Well, those Japanese lures were something to behold, but do not fear, patriotic American fisherman. You CAN get amazing handcrafted pieces of lure art right here in your back yard. The company is Carolina Chips Custom Lures, out of Auburn Hills, Michigan. These lures are of a wholy different style than the Japanese lures, but show no less quality. Comparing them is like comparing Szechuan rice with Jambalaya. Both are made with rice, and spicy as all hell, but are two wholy different entities. I first encountered Carolina Chip's Lures when I won one in that now legendary contest, the Crazyfish Rods/FishinFanatics Multispecies Contest. I was given the opportunity to have the lure of my choice made from Carolina Chip's wide selection. Trying to pick one was impossible, as they were all so enticingly beautiful. So instead of picking one, I left it up to the luremaker himself to give me a "Joel St. Germaine Special", one that is that bass fishing professional's goto smallmouth bass crankbait when the chips are down and the money is on the table. I had no idea what I was going to receive, but I knew it would be cool. And, it was. I received a 3/4 oz medium fat diver in this killer color he called Copperback Shad. Let me say that I have ALOT of crankbaits. at last count, the total was over 125. All shapes, sizes, brands. This lure was above and beyond all of them in terms of quality.
Anyways, let me stop talking, and start showing you what an artist this luremaker is.

This is the lure I won in my contest. notice the signature on the lure, the artist signing off on this unique piece of art.

This next lure is his Deep Bass Raptor in his Tilapia pattern. Notice the diving lip, it's made out of micarta circuit board. It's extremely hard to come by, and to work with from what I've heard, but a perfect material to make the diving lips out of due to its light weight, and stiffness.
This is his Kuba crankbait, painted an amazing bluegill pattern, again using micarta for the lip. Most of his baits are made from ultra high grade balsa wood.
He also does custom lure refinishing. Here, he has refinished a 25 year old Bagley B lure for bass professional Ish Monroe. Looks better than new! Being a small company not only allows for excellent customer service, of which I am a happy recipient, but also to think outside the box without any corporate interference and explore creative avenues or exercise personal design ideas. I've never seen a lure in this specific shape, and I'm positive the fish haven't either. Killer looking.

And finally to my favorite lure creation by Carolina Chip, simply named Unlucky Larry.
As you can see, Carolina Chip does some amazing work, and just goes to show that luremaking creativity and artistry isnt restricted to Japanese design houses, or large faceless corporate comglomerates. And it definitely shows that that if you look off the well trodden path of Walmarts and BassProShops, you can definitely find lures of pure art and genuine handcrafted genious. You can find a link to his site in my links section.