Fishing Lures | Kodiak Custom Fishing Lures

It was a drizzly evening in Izhut Bay on Afognak Island Alaska.  After working eight hours at my day job in a local salmon hatchery, I was eager to start the night shift at my second job as owner, lure designer and video producer of Kodiak Custom Fishing Tackle.  My latest project was putting the finishing touches on (what will soon be) the best bottom fishing jig this world has to offer and capturing its results on film.    

These jigs were originally designed for targeting halibut and lingcod in the Prince William Sound and Kodiak Alaska areas.  They proved to be lethal in both locations but there was still something missing.  I wanted a lure that would catch all bottom fish species (halibut, lingcod, all rockfish, skate etc.) on the Pacific Coast.  My number one policy when designing fishing lures is to ensure that all of the gear I manufacture will not only catch a lot of fish, but also hold up to the punishment of hard fishing and salt water corrosion before I put it on the open market.

It was an unusual winter Saturday morning in Kitoi Bay on Afognak Island.  The crisp fresh air came in at a chilling thirty five degrees.  The sun was beaming down through a light fog layer while casting the threat of a clear sunny day at the same time.  “What a nice day it’s going to be,” I thought.  “If I don’t take advantage and go play in it, I might not see another day like this until next spring.”  Fishing comes first on my list of recreational priorities.  If the weather is cooperating and I think there are hungry fish somewhere that need to be fed, it’s safe to say that I’ll be throwing my own Tony Davis Kodiak Custom Fishing Tackle in the water to find them.

My buddy, Mike Waitt and I headed out to the middle of Izhut Bay where it opens up into the Gulf of Alaska.  We found an area that produced good bottom fish earlier in the year and we were hoping to find it again.  We were fishing out of an aluminum skiff that is not equipped with electronics.  Our only source of relocating a productive bottom fishing area in open water is by using land marks, instinctive juncture and hoping for the best.  It is definitely a shady method that is accompanied with trial and error.  I guess that’s why it’s called fishing and not catching.

To make a short story long, it all began in March of 1997.  My buddy Ty called from a salmon hatchery in Prince William Sound, Alaska .  He informed me of how good the fishing was up there and invited me to come out and experience it for myself.  The next thing I know, my bags are packed and the spawn of a new career is in motion.

Upon my arrival to Prince William Sound , I stepped out of a float plane and could not believe my eyes.  Towering landscapes of mountainous beauty accompanied by salmon jumpers as far as the eye could see.  The entire bay resembled a kettle of boiling noodles as leaping salmon churned the surface to a white bubbly froth.  I had no idea at the time but this was then and there, when the fetus of my greatest achievement (Kodiak Custom Fishing Tackle) was conceived.

A favorite hobby of mine since childhood is the challenge of using my very own hand crafted lures to catch fish.  My father and older brother are to thank for the development of this skill.  It led my new life in remote Alaska to a slam dunk when it came to putting the hurt on local salmon and bottom fish populations.  I was simply crafting lures that out-fished what my buddies picked up in local stores and having fun.