By Carrie Zylka
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May 15, 2012
Wisconsin -
When John Eversoll of Elizabeth was growing up, he liked to fish but he needed a lure. So he made his own.
“That goes back to being a kid without any money in a small town,” he explained. “If you wanted something, you made it. When I first started musky fishing, I looked at some of the baits that you’re buying and they’re expensive. ‘Why, I can do that,’ and that’s where it all started. I find it a lot of fun.”
“Once we started fishing, he started making baits,” added his wife, Sue. “At first, they were used to catch fish. Now they’ve grown into these works of art.”
Eversoll entered his bait in the Musky Lure Building World Championship in February held during the Muskie Expo in Milwaukee. He said there were three divisions: amateur, professional/basement, and manufacturing. His Betsy Bait won first place in the professional/basement crankbait division.
He said it was really fitting because his work shop is in the basement of their home and he has sold some baits.
The winning lures were auctioned off and the proceeds went to the youth fishing organization in Wisconsin.
“It’s probably in Pennsylvania,” John said. “The guy that owns Legend Lures, which is a manufacturer, bought most of the baits. He bought this one for his dad, who is a cabinet maker.”
He said it takes about a week to make a large lure like the Betsy Bait, but it is not constant work.
“You have to cut it out, glue it together, let the glue dry, and put the lead in it,” he explained. “The lead goes in four different places and then plugs over that. These big ones have four coats of epoxy. You can only put on one coat a day.”
Eversoll said it took him about a year to figure out where to put the lead.
“You have to make the crankbait to set level in the water,” he said. “It has to be finished (to test it) because of the weight of the epoxy, the weight of the hooks. You try it. If it doesn’t work, you go back and make another one and reposition.”
“My hooks are such that they won’t hook together,” he added. “(With) a lot of baits, you can get the hooks tangled up.”
Eversoll uses different kinds of woods. He says his baits are one-of-a-kind and American made. He still has the first bait he ever made.
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