Lure Display Rack

[fin]

I thought I would share this idea. I’m kind of proud of it. Like most things in fishing though, I imagine someone else has already done this and I’m re-inventing the wheel.

 

 

(Free) - Picture frame 19” X 23”
$3 - Two packs of 6 - screw eyes 1/8” X 1-3/16”
$3 - Can of black spray paint to paint dowel
$1 - 5/16” X 48” wooden dowel
$3 - Zebco 30# test mono 250 yards
$10 total

Holds around 70 squarebills.

I made my first lure rack a few years ago, and have made a few more since then, trying different methods and materials each time. My first racks were made with horizontal dowels or metal rods. The treble hooks would hook directly onto the dowels or rods. The problem with those is that the lures usually hang with their back/spine facing out - you can’t see the side of the lure. That’s why I switched to using mono to hang them on. It allows two of the three treble hooks to go behind the line, instead of a single hook with the dowels/rods. In addition to the line the lure hangs on, there’s an additional line that runs behind the lure. That line keeps the lure from rotating and keeps the lure positioned so the side is visible.

Non-slip loop knots are used on the left side of the rack, and Trucker’s Hitch knots are used on the right side. The loop knot allows the line to be slid up and down on the dowel to reposition as needed. The Trucker’s Hitch is used to tighten up the line so that it becomes taut like a guitar string. The Trucker’s Hitch will also slide up and down the dowel.

The second reason I used line instead of horizontal dowels or rods is that the line can be re-positioned as needed. When using dowels or rods, you have to know what length of lure you will be hanging before you start, and afterward you are stuck with that and it can’t be changed.

The screw eyes hold the vertical dowels in position while maintaining a gap between the dowel and the frame. The gap is needed to allow the line to wrap around the dowel.

The Trucker’s Hitch allows you to put a lot of pressure on the line. The line needs to be really tight so it doesn’t sag from the weight of all the lures. The dowel can be bent easily from this pressure if enough screw eyes are not used. The reason my screw eyes are spaced unevenly is because I can’t math.

This hangs in a junk room so I wasn’t too concerned with appearance, but it could be made to look really nice to display retired lures or collector’s items, etc. There are all kinds of frames available, the dowels could be stained instead of painted, the screw eyes are available in different colors/finishes. You could even get one of those lights that are made to be mounted on picture frames. You could also put a print in the frame itself.

The tricky parts of putting this together was mastering the Trucker’s Hitch, and the production variation of the screw eyes. With the Trucker’s Hitch, it’s tricky to learn where to start the knot so that you don’t have more than a single width too far from the edge (see the closeup). With the screw eyes, the size of the opening varies. The dowel needs to fit inside the opening. I had to go through a few packs at Home Depot to find enough to work. Even though they were the same SKU and had the same specs, the opening varied a lot. The ones I used were labeled 1/8”, but a 5/16” dowel  fits inside it (?). If you were to buy them online, there’s no way to know if they would fit.

I also realized after years of replacing hooks, there’s a standard way to hang them - two in front, one in back. Some of my lures wouldn’t hang like the others until I took the rear treble off and flipped it around.

I hope somebody finds all this useful 😂

These are almost all “found” lures, by the way. I think maybe four of them I bought, the rest were fished out of the lake or plucked from trees. The picture frame was from a moving sale. I got two of them for free.

[IcatchDinks]

Super cool idea! Thanks for sharing! 

[Fishlegs]

That’s pretty cool! Nice job.

[RRocket]

38 minutes ago, fin said:

I thought I would share this idea. I’m kind of proud of it. Like most things in fishing though, I imagine someone else has already done this and I’m re-inventing the wheel.

 

 

(Free) - Picture frame 19” X 23”
$3 - Two packs of 6 - screw eyes 1/8” X 1-3/16”
$3 - Can of black spray paint to paint dowel
$1 - 5/16” X 48” wooden dowel
$3 - Zebco 30# test mono 250 yards
$10 total

Holds around 70 squarebills.

I made my first lure rack a few years ago, and have made a few more since then, trying different methods and materials each time. My first racks were made with horizontal dowels or metal rods. The treble hooks would hook directly onto the dowels or rods. The problem with those is that the lures usually hang with their back/spine facing out - you can’t see the side of the lure. That’s why I switched to using mono to hang them on. It allows two of the three treble hooks to go behind the line, instead of a single hook with the dowels/rods. In addition to the line the lure hangs on, there’s an additional line that runs behind the lure. That line keeps the lure from rotating and keeps the lure positioned so the side is visible.

Non-slip loop knots are used on the left side of the rack, and Trucker’s Hitch knots are used on the right side. The loop knot allows the line to be slid up and down on the dowel to reposition as needed. The Trucker’s Hitch is used to tighten up the line so that it becomes taut like a guitar string. The Trucker’s Hitch will also slide up and down the dowel.

The second reason I used line instead of horizontal dowels or rods is that the line can be re-positioned as needed. When using dowels or rods, you have to know what length of lure you will be hanging before you start, and afterward you are stuck with that and it can’t be changed.

The screw eyes hold the vertical dowels in position while maintaining a gap between the dowel and the frame. The gap is needed to allow the line to wrap around the dowel.

The Trucker’s Hitch allows you to put a lot of pressure on the line. The line needs to be really tight so it doesn’t sag from the weight of all the lures. The dowel can be bent easily from this pressure if enough screw eyes are not used. The reason my screw eyes are spaced unevenly is because I can’t math.

This hangs in a junk room so I wasn’t too concerned with appearance, but it could be made to look really nice to display retired lures or collector’s items, etc. There are all kinds of frames available, the dowels could be stained instead of painted, the screw eyes are available in different colors/finishes. You could even get one of those lights that are made to be mounted on picture frames. You could also put a print in the frame itself.

The tricky parts of putting this together was mastering the Trucker’s Hitch, and the production variation of the screw eyes. With the Trucker’s Hitch, it’s tricky to learn where to start the knot so that you don’t have more than a single width too far from the edge (see the closeup). With the screw eyes, the size of the opening varies. The dowel needs to fit inside the opening. I had to go through a few packs at Home Depot to find enough to work. Even though they were the same SKU and had the same specs, the opening varied a lot. The ones I used were labeled 1/8”, but a 5/16” dowel  fits inside it (?). If you were to buy them online, there’s no way to know if they would fit.

I also realized after years of replacing hooks, there’s a standard way to hang them - two in front, one in back. Some of my lures wouldn’t hang like the others until I took the rear treble off and flipped it around.

I hope somebody finds all this useful 😂

These are almost all “found” lures, by the way. I think maybe four of them I bought, the rest were fished out of the lake or plucked from trees. The picture frame was from a moving sale. I got two of them for free.

That's great!! 

 

My biggest worry would be how to sort them!! By color? By size? By name? LOL 😆 

[fin]

2 hours ago, RRocket said:

My biggest worry would be how to sort them!! By color? By size? By name? LOL 😆 

I went by size and then grouped by brand, type, color a little. Top shelf is 2”, second starts with 2” and then 2.25” on right side, third and fourth are 2.25” and bottom row is 2.5”. You’re right though, I spent a lot of time rearranging them. I sorted them a little before hanging, that made it a little easier.

[JackstrawIII]

That looks great man! Very cool design. 
 

Also… the man really likes squarebills haha. 

[king fisher]

Your Square bill collection looks good.  Great display.  The Bait Monkey has already pointed out a couple baits that I don't have and he thinks I should get.

[ButchA]

Wow.... That is fantastic!!! 

[fin]

52 minutes ago, JackstrawIII said:

the man really likes squarebills

😄 This is just one of my racks. That's almost all of my squarebills I own on the rack I posted. I've got three other racks, and one of those is about 2-3 times as big as this one. I just redid the big one with a similar type design, but it's not near as nice looking as this one. I'm about to redo two of the other racks based on this design.

 

[king fisher]

What is the purple one, third from the right on the third row down.  Bait Monkey wont leave me alone until I have one just like it.

[fin]

6 hours ago, king fisher said:

What is the purple one, third from the right on the third row down.

 

I don't know. Here's a couple better pictures. Ignore the blue spot, that's a reflection. The belly is all chrome. The nostril is unusual, that's probably a good identifier.

 

I'm glad you asked, because it made me notice how bad the hooks are. I need to replace them. I like it a lot too, but I don't think I've ever caught anything on it.

 

 

[PaulVE64]

That will catch alot of fishermen