Wild River Lures |
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CaptainCranky
LureLovers.com Guide Beta Tester Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 7141 |
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Posted: 14 Jul 2010 at 9:24pm |
Today I had the pleasure of doing a Bio on John Collett and his Wife Bonnie.
He is the man behind Wild River Lures and is a keen Fisherman. John started in 1977 making a few lures for himself as well as friends.He started to sell his lures to tackle shops in 1980. He now only makes a handfull for himself. He has a modified copy lathe that was made by Jeff Reid but set up a little differently by John so as to fully utilise the shapes and sizes of his lures. John then set about making a bib punch and concaver and then a custom wire twister to go with his cutomised triple head drill press.
John is a firm believer in making things easy because he has a slight disadvantage in only having one arm. While I was there in his workshop he put a piece of Pine in the lathe,turned it down on auto,then cut the ends off with a hacksaw and straight after that he drilled all the holes and bib slot with no measuring in less than 3 minutes - Unbelievable to watch.
In the early days he used to cut out the timber around an alloy template and then sand it down on a large open cut white stone wheel. He then hand sanded the rest.Now he uses the copy lathe.
Anyway his lures are made like this---
All eyelets are stainless steel.
All bibs are alloy.
All acrylic paint used with airbrush.
His very first lures were Red Cedar, then White Beech, then Western Red Cedar and finally he used ordinary old Pine. If his lures have a "H" written under them these were his first commercial ones.The "H" stands for Herberton.
If you find one of his lures with no writing underneath it is his earliest.
If his lures have "WR" underneath then they are his later ones. "WR" means Wild River.
The numbers underneath his lures are for colour coding charts he has on the wall. His Eyes are put on with a wooden rounded end stick with a nail on the other end. One end for the large part of the eye and the nail for the small part of the eye.
John standing next to his copy lathe.
A lure have a couple of grooves put in it.
John's 3 chuck drill press.
Putting the grooves on the side and belly.
All by hand and eye.
This tool cuts and bends the bib.
This is the cutting bit and above is the bending bit.
It is operated by a foot lever.
One of his airbrushes.
Some of John's spraying equipment.
One of 2 colour code boards.
A plastic template.
A few Blanks
The small jig on the left is where John bends his eyelets and cuts them to go into the tool on the right where he twists them.
A few of John's magnificent lures.
And last but not least a TD MG I saw in Atherton.
Forgot this one of the turning process in action.
Hope you like it.
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The Journey is the Reward
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tooch
LureLovers.com Fanatic Twitchy Lures Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Location: windsor nsw Status: Offline Points: 3450 |
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Good Bio Barry, John certainly is handicapped with one arm but it seems as though he's got it all worked out with his setup he's got there........Pete.
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simon bruce
LureLovers.com Guide Joined: 29 Nov 2009 Location: Heathridge Status: Offline Points: 2951 |
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Barry
great write up and insight into the Wild River story. Some innovative stuff there for making the lures.
Simon
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darcymenchin
LureLovers.com Fanatic Mencho Lures Joined: 25 Nov 2009 Location: raymond terrace Status: Offline Points: 1055 |
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Hi Barry.
great story ,looks like you should send a couple of his lures down this way ,What do you think........good idea hey. Regards Darcy
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rally44
Stall Holder Lee's Lures Joined: 22 Jan 2010 Location: townsville Status: Offline Points: 1817 |
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hi barry,excellent coverage of another NQ luremaker.Well done,i dont feel so bad at all about the state of my shed & surrounds after seeing Johns set up.cheers richard.
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jclures
Unverified New Member Joined: 14 Jul 2010 Location: North Qld Status: Offline Points: 2 |
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I thought that is what a shed should look like, well used.
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puglee62
Stall Holder Fugly Lures Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Location: ipswich Status: Offline Points: 7933 |
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bluudy oath!,THAT is a REAL workshop!, i really like that bib press set up ,is it kick operated or
motorised?. great story Barry ,they are beautiful lures a real testament to John and Bonnies skills
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CaptainCranky
LureLovers.com Guide Beta Tester Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 7141 |
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The press is just put your foot on the bar at the bottom and press.
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The Journey is the Reward
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Timber King Lures
Unverified New Member Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Location: Barra country Status: Offline Points: 886 |
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I like them lures.John does a great job
Thanks Barry. nando.
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laz
Senior Member Joined: 03 Jan 2010 Location: Emerald Qld Status: Offline Points: 103 |
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Thanks Barry now i know who made my lures .Mine have just a W followed by a number i am pretty sure that when i bought them they had no backing card
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Tony
Admin Admin Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Location: Hervey Bay, QLD Status: Offline Points: 6012 |
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Another exceptional read - thank you Barry.
(sorry I'm a bit slow in responding - slowly catching up!) Some very nice examples of John's lures Laz |
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Cheers, Tony
For the love of Fishing Lures. |
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bigi
Unverified New Member Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Location: dandenongranges Status: Offline Points: 71 |
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great story, and now some people know where some of thier lures come from such as Laz. Its great to hear a storey behind the lure.
Could you describe how the eyelets are bent and twisted on the casts please
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hazmail
Stall Holder Rayna Lures Joined: 05 Jul 2010 Location: Calwell A.C.T Status: Offline Points: 2561 |
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Great work again Barry, thanks mate I enjoy reading these.
Pete-R |
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bluey
Unverified New Member Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Location: IN YOUR FACE Status: Offline Points: 1247 |
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an early one found on a snag in Hervey Bay by my brother
regards George |
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Seaweed
LureLovers.com Fanatic née Capt.Seaweed Joined: 23 Jan 2011 Location: Darwin N.T. Status: Offline Points: 3124 |
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Good one George, I picked-one up in an old tackle box down at the local dump. Nobody knew what it was, it's now home in my collection, beat-up like yours but plenty of character. Have a few of John's in good nick as well, terrific paint jobs. Great bio, thanks Barry.
Regards, Tony (Darwin, NT).
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"Always Merry and Bright"
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N.Stock
Senior Member Joined: 28 Jun 2012 Location: Weipa Status: Offline Points: 123 |
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This thread made my night! I caught my first decent Barra in Tinaroo Dam on a Wild River Lure when I was 8 years old in 1993. Not only did I think that John's lure was the best thing ever to hit Atherton, it sparked my fascination for timber lures.
I think from memory that we bought it from the Atherton Convenience when I was in grade 2 along with some of J.M's unreal timber lures. I wish that you could still walk into your local tackle store and buy from a decent selection of hand made , FNQ local timber Barra lures. Thanks for posting that Bio Cranky, made my night mate
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CaptainCranky
LureLovers.com Guide Beta Tester Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 7141 |
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My pleasure and glad you liked it.
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The Journey is the Reward
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ropes.basstard
LureLovers.com Guide Asian Lures Guide Joined: 31 Dec 2009 Location: Sydney Status: Offline Points: 1961 |
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What a great memory to have.
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Hi I'm Ropes and I'm addicted to fishing lures.
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Lionel
LureLovers.com Fanatic White Lures Joined: 24 Jul 2012 Location: Townsville Status: Offline Points: 1231 |
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Amazing......... There's hope for me yet as I've had a stroke would love to make lures again.....
Lionel
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bassnbob
Stall Holder B.O.B Timber Lures Joined: 22 Nov 2009 Location: Charlestown Status: Offline Points: 9390 |
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AWESOME read fantastic story also regards bob
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jebe
Senior Member Joined: 20 Aug 2012 Location: Ballarat Status: Offline Points: 212 |
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I love reading these
Thanks for sharing Cheers Justin |
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peter am
Senior Member Joined: 14 Nov 2013 Location: bundaberg Status: Offline Points: 377 |
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top yarn
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peter
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Joe92
Unverified New Member Joined: 05 May 2014 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 11 |
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Im from herberton are these still about would love some?
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CaptainCranky
LureLovers.com Guide Beta Tester Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 7141 |
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Joe they are hard to come across.An odd one turns up occasionally.
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The Journey is the Reward
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