the lure of it all David Brauman

FOR NEARLY FOUR DECADES, PREDATOR LURES HAVE BEEN AN AUSTRALIAN ICON WHEN IT COMES TO COD FISHING. STARLO CHATS WITH THE CREATOR...

Since retiring six years ago from his life-long career as an electrical linesman, David Brauman has been able to invest much more time and energy into his greatest passion: lure making.

For Dave, making lures began out of economic necessity. Paying off a hefty mortgage in the mid-1980s — especially with the high interest rates of the day — didn’t leave a lot of disposable income to spend on fishing gear. If he wanted to own a collection of decent diving lures to chase Murray cod, golden perch, trout and various other species, Dave realised he’d have to make them himself.

A selection of 75mm & 90mm diving lures.

Brauman’s early creations worked, and he soon had mates and acquaintances asking if they could buy some of his productive 75 and 90mm plugs… and so it began. Although, in reality, it had all started much earlier than that — way back at the beginning of the 1960s, in fact, with a five-year old David casting Celtas and Mitchell spinners for trout in Middle Creek, near the Victorian town of Wangaratta. This little stream ran right past the Brauman’s family home in Greta South, and young David was able to fish there safely under the watchful eye of his Mum. Later, he set out on his own or with mates for longer and longer forays into the bush, camping and fishing — something he still loves to do today, 60 years later.

While Dave started with timber — red cedar, to be specific — he soon branched into plastic, as well as various metal lures such as spinnerbaits and bladed jigs (chatterbaits). But he still loves working with wood, and has recently re-introduced some timer bodies into his growing line-up of Predator Lures, in the form of some deadly surface models.

75mm

I asked Dave to list some of his proudest achievements in lure making, and he had no hesitation in nominating his ability to keep Predator onshore, as a wholly Australian-based operation. “With the exception of a few components, I’ve managed to keep Predators completely Australianmade,” he told me. “To me, that’s something to be proud of.”

Dave admits that there can be a lot of work taking a new lure from concept to fruition, and especially in getting a plastic lure to swim as well as its original timber prototype. “I first made that change back in about 1990,” he explained. “But it took at least 18 months to get the plastic lures swimming as well as the wooden lures.”

These days, the Predator Lures’ line-up includes 75 and 90mm divers that each come in an impressive range of colours, as well as three sizes of surface lure (150, 190 and 215mm), two weights of spinnerbait (1/2 ounce and one ounce) and a 5/8 ounce “Hummer” or bladed jig.

“I sometimes also do different, additional colours in the divers and surface lures,” Dave explained, “but these are generally only sold via my website, at least until they become really popular.”

I was particularly keen to hear David’s advice to others who might be considering getting into lure making: either as a hobby or, potentially, as a business.

“I love to see people having a go,” Brauman told me. “However, if you expect to make a business out of it, you’ll need two attributes in spades: passion and drive. Plus lots of hard work, of course. Otherwise, keep it as a hobby.” That seems like very sound advice to me!

“Once you have a lure shape and action that works, it’s decision time,” Dave continued. “What materials and methods should you use? Timber could be cheaper in the short term, depending on how many you make, but it’s a lot of work — sanding, sealing and so on. Luckily, there are some good lure makers out there now who specialise in cutting wooden lures and will cut and shape other people’s lures for them. That’s worth investigating. Or you can go down the plastic injection path, but that can be initially very expensive.

“Once you’re set up properly, making lures can actually flow pretty easily,” he continued. “However, there are some especially busy times of year and, unfortunately, that’s when I like to do be out there doing things, like fishing and camping! So, sometimes it’s hard for me to find a good balance. I also find it frustrating getting hold of lure components in a timely manner, especially in this age of continual supply chain issues. It can take up to two months on occasions for vital components to arrive. That’s extremely frustrating.”

On a more positive note, David spoke enthusiastically about the much-improved level of communication and co-operation between lure makers these days, and the wealth of knowledge now freely available, on-line and elsewhere.

“When I first started, back in 1985, not many lure makers communicated with each other,” Dave told me. “So, it was very hard to get information on basically anything. Nowadays, you can get almost any information required from the internet about how to make lures, and most lure makers do speak to each other, too. I’ve met a lot of good people along the way and made many great friendships. My wife Jan has also been a fantastic help through this journey.”

That five year old lad intently flicking a Celta into Middle Creek as his Mum watched from the kitchen window has certainly enjoyed a full and rewarding life as an angler, and for almost 40 years now, he’s also been providing his fellow fishers with beautiful, Aussie-made lures that have a proven reputation for catching all manner of species in both fresh and salt water. You could even say (with apologies to Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb) that the Wangaratta lineman is still on the line… but these days it’s a fishing line! Long may Dave Brauman continue doing what he does so well.

Ben with a beautiful Murray River trolled Yellow Belly.

Brauman’s Predator Lures are stocked by a growing number of tackle shops these days, and David urges all his customers to support their local businesses by buying from these stores if they possibly can, but otherwise you can order lures from him directly by going to www.predatorlures.com.au, or emailing Dave at predatorluresaustralia@gmail.com