Fishing lures are made from a surprisingly wide range of materials, from carved balsa wood and molded plastic to stamped brass, lead, tungsten, and even animal fur. The specific material depends on the type of lure, because each one needs to behave differently in the water. A crankbait needs to float and wobble, a soft worm needs to flex like living tissue, and a spoon needs to sink and flash. Here’s what goes into each major category.
Hard Baits: Wood and Plastic
The classic hard-bodied lure, the crankbait, was originally carved from wood. Around 1960, both Rapala and Bagley independently landed on balsa as the ideal material. Balsa is extremely light yet strong enough to hold its shape through repeated strikes. Its natural buoyancy gives crankbaits a lively, erratic action in the water that’s difficult to replicate with other materials. The wood grain holds paint well without warping, and its consistency means two lures carved from the same stock will behave almost identically. Some lure makers describe balsa as producing the closest thing to lifelike movement available in any material, including modern foams.
Other woods show up in handmade and specialty lures. Cedar and basswood are denser than balsa, so they sink more readily and suit lures designed to run deeper without heavy internal weighting. But the majority of hard baits sold today aren’t wood at all. They’re injection-molded from ABS plastic or polycarbonate, which are cheaper to mass-produce and more durable on rocky bottoms. Plastic lures can be made with precise internal chambers for rattles and weight-transfer systems that help with casting distance. The tradeoff is that plastic is denser than balsa, so it doesn’t pop back to the surface as quickly after hitting an obstruction.
Soft Plastics: PVC and Plasticizer
Soft baits like worms, crawfish, swimbaits, and creature baits are made from plastisol, a liquid suspension of PVC resin mixed with a chemical softener called a plasticizer. When heated to the right temperature, the PVC particles absorb the plasticizer and fuse into a flexible, rubbery solid. The ratio between these two ingredients determines how soft or firm the finished bait feels. A typical formulation runs about 48 to 60 percent PVC resin by weight and 30 to 45 percent plasticizer, with the remaining few percent going to stabilizers, colorants, salt, and scent additives.
The plasticizer is what gives soft baits their signature squishiness. Older formulations relied on phthalate-based softeners, but the industry has shifted toward alternatives like citrate-based and terephthalate-based plasticizers due to environmental and health concerns. Some manufacturers also use epoxidized soybean oil as a secondary plasticizer and stabilizer. The choice of plasticizer affects more than just softness. It controls how well the bait holds up over time, whether it becomes sticky or bleeds oil in your tackle box, and how naturally it moves when dragged through water.
Manufacturers fine-tune the PVC resin particle size to change how the finished bait behaves. Smaller particles produce a smoother, more flexible bait. Larger particles create a firmer texture. Salt is often mixed into the plastisol before molding, which adds weight for casting and gives the bait a flavor that encourages fish to hold on longer after striking.
Metals: Spoons, Spinners, and Blades
Metal lures rely on flash and vibration to attract fish, and the choice of alloy matters for both performance and durability. Brass is one of the most common metals in spoon and spinner blade construction. It’s easy to stamp into thin, curved shapes, takes plating well, and produces a distinct vibration as it moves through water. Most brass lure components are around 1 to 2 millimeters thick.
Stainless steel shows up in higher-end spinner blades and wireframes. It resists corrosion in both fresh and saltwater, and it’s harder than brass, so blades stay true to their original shape longer. Nickel plating is frequently applied over brass or steel to add shine and a layer of rust protection. Chrome, gold, and painted finishes give lure makers a full palette of flash patterns to work with.
Weights: Lead Versus Tungsten
Most lures need some form of internal or external weight to reach the right depth and cast properly. Lead has been the default for decades because it’s cheap, easy to mold, and dense enough to get the job done. A one-inch cube of lead weighs about 0.41 pounds.
Tungsten is increasingly popular as a premium alternative. It’s 1.7 times denser than lead, meaning a one-inch cube weighs roughly 0.70 pounds. That density advantage lets lure designers pack more weight into a smaller space, which keeps the lure’s profile compact and natural-looking. Tungsten also transmits vibration more effectively than lead, so anglers using tungsten-weighted jigs and Texas rigs can feel the difference between gravel, rock, and sand on the bottom. The downside is cost: tungsten typically runs several times the price of lead, which is why many manufacturers offer both options.
Hooks and Hardware
The hooks, split rings, and wire components on a lure are made from one of two metals: high-carbon steel or stainless steel. High-carbon steel is the more common choice. Adding carbon to the steel alloy makes it harder, which allows manufacturers to grind thinner, sharper hook points that penetrate more easily. The tradeoff is that carbon steel rusts, so these hooks are always coated. Common coatings include bronze (budget option, minimal rust protection), black nickel, tin, and zinc blends. Black nickel is by far the most popular finish today, outselling tin-coated hooks roughly five to one.
Stainless steel hooks resist corrosion without needing a coating, which makes them the standard for saltwater lures. Manufacturers like Mustad use martensitic stainless steel, a specific variety that can be heat-treated to hold a sharp point while still resisting rust. Stainless hooks are harder to sharpen in the field, though, and they don’t break down if lost in the water, which has led some freshwater fisheries to restrict their use.
Fly Fishing Materials
Flies are a category unto themselves. Traditional fly patterns use natural animal materials tied onto a hook with thread. Rooster hackle feathers (the stiff, fibrous neck feathers) form the body and legs of dry flies. Rabbit fur gets pulled from masks and hides to create dubbing, the fuzzy material wrapped around a hook shank to imitate an insect body. Guard hairs from rabbit pelts serve as tail and wing fibers. Peacock and ostrich herls, the individual barbs stripped from display feathers, add iridescent shimmer to nymph and wet fly patterns.
Synthetic materials have expanded the fly tier’s toolkit considerably. Mylar tinsel adds metallic flash to streamer patterns. Polar fiber, a synthetic hair, replaces natural materials in baitfish imitations because it doesn’t absorb water and maintains its profile cast after cast. Epoxy coatings harden over thread wraps to create smooth, translucent heads on minnow patterns. Many modern fly patterns blend natural and synthetic materials in the same fly, using fur for lifelike movement and synthetics for durability and flash.
Surface Finishes and Coatings
The outer coating on a hard lure does more than look good. It protects the underlying material from water absorption, tooth marks, and rock impacts. Most production lures start with a base coat of primer, followed by layers of lacquer or enamel paint for color and pattern. The final step is a clear topcoat, typically a two-part epoxy or UV-cured resin that creates a hard, glossy shell.
UV-cured resins have become especially popular among both manufacturers and custom lure painters. These resins harden in minutes under UV light or direct sunlight, producing a scratch-resistant, high-gloss finish without the overnight curing time that traditional epoxy requires. Custom builders often mix in additives before curing: mica powder for a pearlescent shimmer, fine glitter for sparkle, or liquid pigments for translucent color effects. Some lures also incorporate UV-reflective pigments in their paint schemes, which are invisible to the human eye but visible to many freshwater fish species, adding an extra visual trigger underwater.