Master fishing lure craftsman Dave Killalea’s favourite pastime is designing and creating custom made fishing lures for a particular purpose.
And I’m not talking about a lure for barra or jacks etc. I’m talking about something much more specific than that!
By “custom fishing lure” I mean for example; a 6 inch hard bodied lure to run at 40 feet for dam barra when trolled at 4.2 knots.
It is this attention to detail and passion for lure making that led Dave to create his first ever custom lure – one he made for himself – to tackle big barra lurking at the top of the western rocks in the Townsville break wall.
The rest of course is history as those lures became the ever popular 4 inch Killalure and he went on to found and later sell, one of Australia’s most successful lure brand collections.
He now operates under the name Old Dog Lures.
I wouldn’t like to count the number of big fish I have caught on a Dave Killalea designed and hand crafted fishing lure.
His most recent projects include a 12 m plus barra lure and some heavy duty poppers for the offshore fishing enthusiast chasing GT’s and dog tooth tuna. Old Dog customs are made tropical tuff and that’s tough!
I love talking to Dave as he is an absolute wealth of knowledge of all things lures and during our latest chat, we looked at some of his recent custom projects.
And even if you don’t have the expertise (or the money) to put one of Dave’s custom lures to the test, you will be sure to learn about this wonderful craft and what really goes into the making of a top class lure by watching the below video.
All of Dave’s custom lures are numbered and will be sure to become highly sought after collectors items.
You can learn more about Dave’s custom work here: OLD DOG LURES | CUSTOM MADE via his website Old Dog Lures
For Dave’s take on the perfect barra lure, check out our previous post here: In search of the perfect barra lure
Do you have a great fishing yarn about a DK barra lure or maybe have an old one in your collection? Let us know in the comments as we love to hear your stories.
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