Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Captive care and husbandry.

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Martti Niskanen
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Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Martti Niskanen »

This is probably the most suitable place for this post as it has a bit to do with captive keeping.

A friend of mine lost most of his extensive and very expensive snake collection (all CB of course, but some rare species) to a virus some time ago. After the huge disappointment and the following loss of enthusiasm in captive keeping, he took up his old hobby of making fishing lures. I met up with him some weeks ago and got these. He had had an idea to make the most of the dead snakes in his freezer and use the snakeskin in lure-making.

Image

Top: Bothriechis schlegelii.
Bottom: Bitis nasicornis.

No reptiles were of course killed, nor will be killed to produce these.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Kelly Mc »

Those are really beautiful.

I always thought making lures was cool. I admire the skill highly. I had a grandfather who made lures he kept them in a faded aquamarine tackle box. It was a mysterious, priceless oracle to me. When he died the tackle box was given by my grandma to one of my male cousins.

Yes those lures remind me of that treasure.
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justinm
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by justinm »

I think the Rhino viper lure is awesome. I wonder if he would ever actually use these though? I think I would to be honest or why else have them. The skill and craftsmenship are amazing.
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Martti Niskanen »

First of all: I didn't think anyone read this bit of the forum, so appreciating your comments.
Kelly Mc wrote: I always thought making lures was cool. I admire the skill highly. I had a grandfather who made lures he kept them in a faded aquamarine tackle box. It was a mysterious, priceless oracle to me. When he died the tackle box was given by my grandma to one of my male cousins.
I can relate to that. My grandfather's brother was a famous fisherman in Fin between the 40's and 60's and came up with a lure that's still for sale. He gave all his fishing gear to me and my cousin before he died because he didn't trust his own children. I cherish the gear and the lures and take good care of it.

justinm wrote:I wonder if he would ever actually use these though? I think I would to be honest or why else have them. The skill and craftsmenship are amazing.
He certainly will. We did trim the lures to "swim" properly while the Alburnus alburnus (european bleak) were laying their eggs in the shallow water whilst lots of nordic pike around. None of the pike caught the lures. I won't use them, even though the maker insists I do.

I'm keeping these!
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gbin
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by gbin »

I love to fish (though I've done very little of it in recent years), but I'd keep those lures as works of art. Just like a beautifully hand-carved and -painted duck decoy, there's no way I'd stick those in the water, let alone run the risk of some toothy fish grabbing hold of them!

I've often wondered why a lot more isn't done with snake skin. Sure, you see rattlesnake hat bands, belts, guitar straps, etc., especially in the southwestern U.S., but why aren't many other species used? Even smaller types could have their uses. I generally wear a hat when afield, and when I lived in FL I often thought it would be great to use a roadkilled or deceased captive specimen to make myself a cornsnake or scarlet kingsnake band for it, but I didn't know how. Had I encountered anyone with such for sale I would have readily bought it, too (though I never look twice at all that rattlesnake stuff because of my distaste for the crowd that's so big on it); I think a lot of people would. The colors, the intricate patterns... as I said, they're works of art.

Kudos to your friend for his creativity and artistry, Martti, and thanks to you for sharing it with us!

Gerry
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herpseeker1978
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by herpseeker1978 »

I don't get the rattlesnake stuff because it is usually from roundups and I don't agree with them. I bought a python skin wallet off ebat from a company in the UK that farms them. It lasted quite a while. The skin did really well. I've thought of replacing the skin with a DOR I find because the rest of the wallet is in good shape. Anyway, cool fishing lures!

Josh
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Chris Smith
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Chris Smith »

Martti Niskanen wrote:
A friend of mine lost most of his extensive and very expensive snake collection (all CB of course, but some rare species) to a virus some time ago.
Pretty cool! Hopefully you are not using those snakes as lures... Wouldn't want to spread pathogens to wild populations. Viruses are tough little critters!

-Chris
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Chris Smith wrote: Pretty cool! Hopefully you are not using those snakes as lures... Wouldn't want to spread pathogens to wild populations. Viruses are tough little critters!
Just the skins are used, which are frozen, and are under several layers of lacquer, so the chance of any pathogens getting into nature is nigh on impossible. The lures won't be used for fishing anyway.
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Chris Smith
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Chris Smith »

Freezing doesn't kill all viruses, but the lacquer may trap them. As long as they are not being used it doesn't matter. Do you have photos of any more of them?

Thanks for sharing,
-Chris
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Turning dead animals into fishing lures.

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Chris Smith wrote:Freezing doesn't kill all viruses, but the lacquer may trap them. As long as they are not being used it doesn't matter. Do you have photos of any more of them?
Here's a forum post by the maker of the lures. It's in Finnish, but there are some photos.
http://www.herppi.net/topic/21821-vaapu ... ennahasta/
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