There are some anglers who like to tinker with lures; pouring and painting their own jig heads or making spinnerbait skirts. On the other hand, there are anglers who push the envelope... they are infatuated with making the perfect crankbait or topwater lure. In addition to giving every one of their baits a custom paint finish before using it. Mike Vann, owner of Vanndalizer Custom Tackle, has been infatuated with lure design, building, and doing custom paint finishes for over 20 years. His degree in mechanical design has only enhanced his ability to produce works of art that anglers can fish with.

For Elite anglers or weekend anglers it's all about catching fish, having that edge to putting fish in the boat. It's a certain color pattern or bait no one else has or can get. So, the demand was there for quality custom lures and the "supply" is turning out to be Vann' Vanndalizer Custom Tackle. (See www.vanndalizer.com for more information on lures and lure components available).

Vann's extensive line of hard plastic lures include: lipless, small, finesse, shallow, medium, and sunfish shaped crankbaits, topwater poppers, topwater walk-the-dog style bait (Agitator), minnow shaped, spoonbill minnow, and jerkbait style. All of these baits are available in a custom painted finish or can be customized to a color patter an angler requests. Most anglers wanting a particular color pattern will send a sample or photo of the exacted pattern they want, he continued, "I then paint one and get the "ok before making a batch for them." "As for right now," Vann pointed out, "I do not have a color chart on the website, but that will be added soon." One more thing anglers can also look forward to is a foil finish that Vann is working on.

In addition to plastic lures, Vann also makes custom balsa crankbaits. For right now he has 3 different sizes of the Trapper balsa wood crankbait. The Trapper series consist of: Trapper deep diver has a coffin computer chip board lip and dives down to 12-feet, Trapper medium diver has a coffin computer chip board lip and runs 6 to 8-feet, and the Trapper 3-inch shallow diver with a computer chip board lip and runs 3 to 5-feet deep.

Besides selling finished baits, Vanndalizer Custom Tackle offers anglers a select number of components needed to build their own lures or balsa crankbait. They can also purchase a number of different plastic bodies that are not painted to custom paint if they want. "The website is a source for anglers to purchase all the supplies they need to get in to custom lure making," Vann said.

Although Vann enjoys making custom lures, he also likes to test his lures by fishing in bass tournaments. He has been a member of American Bass Anglers since 1986 and fishes in their bass tournaments. Vanndalizer Custom Tackle is also a sponsor of the American Bass Anglers Couples Series Tournament. (See www.americanbassangler.com for more information on the ABA Couples Series or other sanctioned ABA tournaments). Vann is one angler, whose infatuation with making custom lures means less time fishing for him and more time working.