About Lure Heaven
Welcome friends! I'm Joe Frisk and Lure Heaven is a little site featuring the muskie lures I made, in Austin, MN, from the summer of 1990 to the summer of 1998. I operated under the name Joe Frisk Wooden Lure Company, and I sold my lures throughout muskie country.
Muskie lures are recognizable by their large size and, in general, ugly looks. They are heavy and tiring to cast; too tiring to use on a fish called "The fish of 10,000 casts". They are hard to retrieve and can quickly wear you out . The large hooks and heavy body make most muskie lures prone to being thrown loose by a fish in its fight to escape. I decided it was time to make a better lure.
I wanted a smaller, lighter body that would cast with ease and have little resistance on the retrieve. A smaller, lighter lure is also far less likely to be thrown by a fish. I wanted to build lures that looked nice. The bad finishes on most muskie lures are the result of cost cutting and indifference by the manufacturers. Poor looks do not make a better lure. The end result of my research was the Frisky jerkbait. Superior strength, great castability, the easiest retrieve out there and beautiful finishes are what set this lure in a class of its own. Western red cedar is used for the body and the lure is highlighted with genuine glass eyes.
My next lure was the Frisky Frog. This lure featured a western red cedar body and front and rear props. It was the first lure I built with through-wire construction and my first topwater lure. I followed this lure with my second surface bait, The Bat! My bat featured my first use of leather on a lure. It had garment grade leather wings and ears and was made for river fishing. I got the idea, in 1993, while night fishing for catfish. Bats kept touching my line as they'd fly by! On occasion, wind will catch the wings on the cast and the bat lure will land on its back. No problem. The Bat is the only self-righting lure ever made! Just begin reeling and it dives under, flips upright and pops back to the surface! This was my neatest lure and is very popular with collectors, though rare. I made less than 300 bats.
Just after building the Bat, I started in on the Muskyrat surface bait. Also featuring through-wire construction, I put leather ears and a tail on this bait. The sub-surface blade spins and is a great fish attractor. The Muskyrat beautifully imitates a young muskrat! Later on, I covered this lure with muskrat fur for added realism. The same design was also incorporated into The Opossum. This lure utilized both opossum and rabbit furs. My Buzzzard was a large topwater lure with three buzz blades. I made only a few dozen Buzzzards in three colors.
In the mid 1990s, I started making non-wooden lures. These included an epoxy tail bait, the Tailspin spinner and the perfected Friskytail spinnerbait. My Friskytail combined the wide spin of an in-line bucktail with the weedlessness of a standard spinnerbait.
In the future, I might resume production of my lures. I doubt I'll build wooden lures again, but a new bucktail is a strong possibility. For now, please check out my site and watch for additional photos.
home | jerkbaits | topwaters | bucktails | contact | links
oddballs | oldies | fish pics | tackle | myths