This week, we sit down with Al Lemire, owner of Lemires Plug Works to discuss his line of outstanding custom made wooden plugs. This series of made in the USA fishing lures has quickly become a staple in the tackle boxes of "in the know" fisherman along the striper coast.
Goose Hummock: Thanks for agreeing to take time from your plug making to sit with us to talk about your line of custom lures. Could you tell us a little bit about how you got started in the plug making business?
Al Lemire:Thanks, I started making plugs as a hobby for myself and friends. I started working on block island as a chef many years ago and was reading a book on surfcasting Block Island and there were some directions on how to build a needlefish. As many people know, block island is great for fishing, and was the first reason why I started to work out there, and needlefish is the best plug for the island, so naturally, I wanted to make one.My family are woodworkers, and my uncles own a cabinet making shop. My grandfather, who turned wood all his life taught me the ins and outs of turning and my uncles also help me in the processes of building a plug, as they are avid fisherman also, and know what they like in plugs. I made a few different styles and shapes and we tested them over the course of a season. The next year I decided to see if the owner of Twin Maples Bait and Tackle on the island would be interested in carrying a few of them.GH: Interesting that you started out on the needlefish fish plug...it has become an instant classic on the outer Cape beaches here as well. What really intrigued us about your product line and ultimately led us to stock your plugs was the Sea Fly Plug..a couple of the guys in the shop used those in various spots last fall and all report that the bass hit them like they were furious at it. The action is perfect. Did it take you a long time to fine tune that plug and what led you to conceive of that style of lure for use in saltwater?
It was an instant hit, I would have to go home on my one day off a week from work on the island and make more. John would sell out every week, stating he had more return customers on my plugs than any other brand he ever sold. And that is how it started, I have been a chef all my life, and this was something very different for me and I really enjoy working with my hands. As the years go by I find better ways to build and different painting styles and the plugs have taken off very quickly and still growing faster than ever. The show season starts next week and it is always a fun time to meet the fisherman and hear their stories of using my product.
I do all the work myself, from start to finish, so it takes a lot of time, especially for the volume that I produce. This is what I do all winter 7 days a week, and in my free time in the summer in between my job on the island.
Al Lemire: Ha, the Sea Fly. This came about by accident. I was online one day on a site that sells various lure parts, and stumbled across the lip. I instantly thought, wow, I remember using jitterbugs when I was a kid in freshwater and bass crushed them. Why wouldn't this work in salt. So I ordered a few lips, and made various different styles and shapes before I decided on the one you see now. I made some that were thin, but because of the size of the lip it would lay in the water head down, and sometimes foul on the leader. I also wanted it to have some weight to it, because of the size of the lip, it wouldn't be the best casting plug, so they heavier the better. To many anglers surprise, the sea fly casts just about as good as any other similar sized metal lip swimmer. I ultimately had my own tools made to stamp the sea fly lips to my specifications, and now I make two sizes, the 3 oz. and the 1.5 oz. Guys are using then now in salt and freshwater. I have had reports of stripers up to 50 lbs. caught on the larger sea fly and big largemouth caught on the large and smaller model as well. Over all, it took a while to tweek the design of the sea fly, but I am very happy with the end result, and it is a really fun plug to fish.
Goose Hummock: Well, like I said, the guys here at the store swear by them...great lure. One last question and we will let you get back to making lures...anything new you have coming out for this summer that you can tell us about?Al Lemire:Yes, I have a couple of things coming out by spring time, one is a jerk bait style, gliding plug. It is flat, weighs about 3.5 oz. and looks great in the water and is a sinker. I wanted to have these for the show season, but haven't got them into production yet. I also am working on a floating needlefish, that can also be used as a walking stick. Hopefully I will have these out by the beginning of the spring run. I will send you a picture of the jerk bait, I don't have a name for it yet, but you will get an idea of what it looks like. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me,and I will see you at the shows.Goose Hummock: We look forward to seeing those..floating needle fish, in particular. Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us.
