Homemade Ice Fishing Lure

After going through the steps in my instructions you will have created your own ice fishing lure. You can use this lure during open water season too, but I primarily use it during the ice fishing season. You don’t need to be an experienced fisherman to attempt to make this lure, but you will need to be able to use pliers, a hammer and nail. If you don’t have any of the tools required to make the lure you can ask someone and borrow their tools, this lure will only take you about 15 minutes to complete. I will have a picture or two with every instruction for you to use and as a guide.

Step 1: Part 1-Preparing to Make the Ice Fishing Lure - Tools and Materials

Tools:

Pliers

Hammer

Small nail

Piece of wood

Materials:

Bottle Cap (From Killebrew Old Fashioned Cream Soda $1.50)

4 Split Rings (SouthBend SR-6 / Price of 5 pack $0.99)

1 Hook (Eagle Claw Octopus TK400-2 / Price of 10 pack $4.49)

Barrel Swivel (Scheels Outfitters SBS10 / Price of 12 pack $1.19)

1 Plastic Bait (EuroTackle Micro Finesse Eurogrub 1.4” Orange / Price of 8 pack $3.99)

Everything I put in parenthesis is what I used to make this lure, but you can use whatever brand of fishing tackle you want. I include the cost of each item in the parenthesis as well, and I bought everything from the Fargo, ND Scheels. All together this lure should only cost you around $13.00 with tax, and you will have extra fishing tackle to use as well.

Step 2: Fold Bottle Cap Creased End In

Use the pliers to pinch the creased end in on itself. Keep going around the bottle cap until it is as flat as you can get it.

Step 3: Fold a 1/5 of the Bottle Cap Down to 90-degrees

This step might sound a little confusing, but just take your pliers and grab a side of your bottle cap and bend it to about 90-degrees. The part you just bent over will now be the top of your lure.

Step 4: Fold Bottle Cap Into a V-Shape

Take your pliers and bend the side of the bottle cap in just like you did with the top. Try to make the crease when you fold it over, start at the top corner and come down to the middle of the bottle cap.

Step 5: Repeat Step 4

Just repeat the same process in step 4 but do it on the other side of the bottle cap that isn’t bent yet.

Step 6: Put Hole in the Bottom-back of Bottle Cap

Put the bottle cap on top of the wood so that the back part is facing upwards. The wood is just used to protect your counter if you aren’t using a work bench. Then use the hammer and nail to put a hole in the bottom part right on the creased edge the you have folded over.

*Be careful not to hit your finger with the hammer like I did.

Step 7: Put Hole in the Top-back of Bottle Cap

Keep the bottle top on the wood and stand the bottle cap up on the top. Put the nail on the back creased part of the bottle cap (opposite of the hole you just made) and use the hammer to drive it through and make a hole in the middle of the top part.

Step 8: Threading on Split Rings

Now take your split rings and thread one through the top hole and one through the bottom hole in the bottle cap. Then take one split ring and thread it onto the split ring in the top hole, and thread the remaining split ring onto the split ring in the bottom hole. If you can’t spread the split rings apart, try using a knife or something to help you.

Step 9: Put the Hook On

Take your hook and thread it onto the bottom split ring.

Step 10: Put Barrel Swivel On

Take the barrel swivel and thread it onto the split ring on the top part of the bottle cap.

I use the barrel swivel because when you directly tie your line to a split ring it can “unthread” itself when you are trying to reel in a fish. This way you can tie your line directly to the barrel swivel.

Step 11: Put Fake Bait on the Hook

Take the fake bait and thread it onto the hook.

You don’t have to do this step now. You can wait til you go fishing with it, and you don’t even need to use the fake bait that I recommended you can use whatever bait you prefer.

Step 12: Go Catch Some Fish!