Australian Lure Manufacturers N
If you know of an Australian lure maker no matter how young or old that we have not mentioned in the following list feel free to contact us to have the details added or updated.
*Cover banner photo - Nutterjuck Lure made by Scott Anderson
Nabem Lures - NSW:
Nabem lures were made as copies of a number of popular lures in the 1990's including Stuckeys lures. They were made in the Scone area around Glenbawn Dam.
The two lures pictured below although resembling a Stuckey lure have many features so that they may be recognised as Nabem copies. Stuckey eyes are gold, the bibs are scooped, not straight as in Nabems. These lures are not in high demand as they were poor imitations of the originals appearing at the same time. There are a number of other copies.
There may be some variation in packaging but essentially the lures will be stapled in a bag with a cardboard sleeve either in white or less commonly blue as shown right with the same logo.
Nail 'em Lures - NSW:
Nail 'em lures - little info other than this photo of some which show them to have a quality finish with metal bibs. They were made a number of years ago by Jack Beetson. A quality hand made product.
Below shows a large Nail 'em lure - shallow diver with signature near tail
Natas Lures - TAS:
Natas Lures were made by Glen 'Flash' Cahalan from the Hobart area of Tasmania. This was a short run of lures made around 2012. Glen was active member of the Pedder Hombake in its early days but doesn't do much fishing nowadays. Lure is shaped from native Tasmanian timber.
Nat Nat Lures - NSW:
Nat Nat lures were made in Guildford, Sydney by Bill Way. As well as making metal slugs and lures they also supplied some of the strongest split rings ever made. Early carded Nat Nat Lures will date to the late 1980's and be on a yellow card as shown in photo to the right - Model 'Bills Bullet' at 20gms. See full page bio under Nat Nat
Nautilus Lures - NT:
Nautilus lures are made by Chris Hurt in the Northern Territory. Models include metal bibbed minnows called 'Barra Blitz', 'Mack Magnet' and poppers.
Early card shown above has PO Box number for Winnellie.
The photo below is from Trailerboat Fisherman, May 1986 with an article by Dick Eussen.
Deep and shallow models were available and earlier lures will be characterised by 'coffin' bibs. Started around 1985 and still available today but with Lexan bibs and modern styling.
Lures shown are rare earlier 2nd generation minnow style lures including a massive blue-water trolling lure that is near 40cm long.
Nautilus lures below show the evolution from timber models with the bib variations to modern day Nautilus design with polycarbonate bibs.
(Below) Nautilus Barra Blitz
(Below) Mack Magnets.
Nebs Lures (also Pops Lures) - NSW:
Neville Sternbeck is a cottage lure maker from Gladstone on the NSW north coast and can turn his hand to making most styles of lures. All Nebs lures are designed for catching native fish and feature hand shaped timber bodies, laser cut bibs and a hard wearing finish. Neville's lure making skills were further honed by Ted Sartori from Esoteric Lures who assisted him bringing his lure making to a higher level.
Some of Neville's earlier lures may be hand signed 'Pops' similar to the two Jitterbug style lures below - interesting holes in bibs to create bubble trail.
(Above) Two of Nebs Lures most recent pattern - the deep diving 'Caspa' in yellow and green frog spot. (Below) an early one off called Nebs 'Dugite', timber, 65mm.
Necol Spinners - S.A:
Quality made metal spinners made by Neville Collins Ltd in Hackney, South Australia. The advertisement shown below appeared in the Australian Fishing and Shooting Monthly around 1956. Not sure if the Necol range had any identifying marks or stamps
Nee Deep Lures - NSW:
Quality timber lures that were made between 1986-1991 in Richmond, NSW. The makers were good friends Jamie Mallett and Bryan Farr. Lures are hard to identify but do show up occasionally.
Neiderboom, John Neiderboom - QLD:
Quality made timber lures that usually used red cedar and in the style of the early QLD makers like Eric Moller. Vintage c.1970's. The photo right is the one of the rare John Neiderboom lures that was shown on the Lure Lovers forum
Nesbitt, Peter Nesbitt - NSW:
A cottage maker based in the northern NSW town of Casino. Only ever made lures in small numbers for personal use and friends. Peter was a wood work teacher and also made lures with Kevin Clark and some of these lures will be showcased in the future. In an article entitled 'Where the Fangs Fit' by Vic Mc Cristal that was released in Modern Fishing, 1986, a Peter Nesbitt lure is pictured
Nessfit Jet:
A lure that appears occasionally and was listed in the Craig and Aitken Pty Ltd catalogue, Sydney in 1954. There was also a spinner available in 4 sizes.
New, Gavin New Lures - QLD:
Gavin New was making high quality timber lures from the mid 1980's. Known as 'Groover' he was a well known fishing guide and deckhand from the Townsville area. His lure making idols are Terry Leadbeater (Lead's Lures) and Carl Grist (C-Lures). Gavin also had some contact with Dave Killalea (Killalure) and his lures show influences from all these makers.
Gavin made a wide range of lures for most fishing applications. An excellent lure maker and his lures have stood the test of time. There are some excellent examples on the Lure Lovers forum including a surface teaser and other style of lures.
Newell Lures - Peter Newell - NSW:
Possibly the most influential of all Australian lure makers from Tenterfield, NSW. See full page bio for Newell Lures
New England Lures - NSW:
New England 'Mudrakers' and 'Mudrats' are extremely nice hand carved lures. There is also a 'Muddler' surface lure (similar to Jitterbug) which is where the Kingfisher Mantis lures evolved from. Mike and Stuart focus on the Kingfisher brand of lures in the plastic range of 'Tempest' lures and 'Mantis' surface lures. The New England range (Mudraker 120mm, Mudrat 120mm, Muddler 90mm) is made on the side more for there own personal enjoyment of working with timber and are marketed from their own store in Inverell or occasionally on Ebay.
Above shows a 'Mudraker' (top) and a 'Mudrat' (bottom).
A New England Mudrat presented on the plain yellow card with black printing.
Presented on two types of yellow card with black printing as shown left (earlier) or with graphics.
Newto's Lures - NSW:
Newto's Lures are made by Glenn Newton of Muswellbrook, NSW. Hand carved from timber and may feature hand painted eyes or decal eyes.
Lure below is a Newto surface frog - a very attractive Jitterbug style lure that was posted on the Lure Lovers forum several years ago.
Newto's 'Belly Thumper' lures.
Lures shown below with original cards are the 'Bass Thumper', 'Belly Thumper', 'Cod Thumper', 'Bass Sneaker', 'Minnow', 'Barra', 'Bass Hunter', 'Ripple Bug', Popper' and 'Shrimp' (from top left to bottom). This photo was posted a number of years ago by Brad 'Fishaholic' Holman and is the best photo that shows the Newto's Lures model range.
Next Bend Lures - NSW:
Made by Ashley Thamm from Sydney. Next Bend lures own the rights to make East Coast lures which used to be owned by Mick Munns. The following was kindly supplied by Ashley;
''Next Bend lures was started in 2012 to remake the old East Coast lures originally made by Mick Munns and Dean Hayes based in the Hawkesbury region. Mick continued to make these lures after the East Coast Lures stopped production until a few years ago under the name of LureLogic, always trying to perfect his previous models and create original lures. Next Bend also make a small range of diving lures mostly used for chasing Bass and EP’s and are currently working on a range of larger surface lures suitable for Cod. Made from Meranti, Huon Pine, Camphor Laurel and Cedar, with nude versions available in purple heart, zebra wood, walnut, or king billy pine. Surface lures available are made on a lathe using the original East Coast jigs and can be painted upon request in original East Coast paint and patterns of which there is a limited supply.''
Nic Nac Lures - QLD:
Nic Nac Lures were made by Mark Truscott in Townsville, North Queensland. Lures date to the the 1980's and are signed. Quality hand carved with metal bibs, Nic Nac Lures were only ever produced in small numbers.
Nicel, Paul Nicel Lures - VIC:
Paul Nicel of Euroa has been making lures since the 1990's and the available range as of 1995 was the 42mm and 72mm 'Humpty', 'Dumpy', 'Pimple' and 'CKN Big'. One of the nicest maker of small lures with the Humpty 'Pimple' at 2cm vying for the smallest Australian lure. Released in 1995, it was a sinking lure and available in 10 colours. The pimple shown right is a rare one with the belly hook hanger as opposed to hanger at rear of lure.
(Above) Showing most of the Nicel range.
(Above) Showing the brown trout spotted dog pattern on this early 'Humpty'. Left is the mid sized 'Dumpy'
(Above) This 'Pimple' is a rare centre hooked model instead of the rear hooked version that was marketed.
(Below) Early 'Pimple' in the Paul Nicel packaging
Nichos Maulers Lures - QLD:
Made by Jason Nicholson from different selected timbers, Nichos Maulers are great fish catchers. Jason has his own style going on and each lure is signed on the belly. Quality lures made for fishing. In early 2017 Jason announced that he would no longer be making lures to sell.
Above shows some of the Nichos Maulers range of lures. Jason is a big fan of making 'nude' lures - clearcoated creations showcasing the timber.
Below is the Nichos 'Raw King Prawn' and a fine capture on the same lure.
An earlier 'Bassnax' - most of Nicho's Lures will be signed on the belly in gold over black and the 'Glenlyon' (below) which would have been made for fishing Glen Lyon Dam in 2015
Below is shown the Nicho's 'Prawn' on the card and the spotted mouse
Ninja Lures - QLD :
Quality handmade lures by Jess Green and Olivia McKenna. Ninja Lures have been at the last few lure Expo's and a small range of lures for the last couple of years. In 2018 Ninja bibs became a major part of the business servicing lure makers with a range of lazer cut metal bibs and number of timber models and spinnerbaits.
The card above shows the earliest version - 'Handcrafted in Dalby' is later changed to 'Handcrafted in Bell'
Above - Ninja 'Assassin' - 80mm body
Opposite - Ninja 'Pixie' shallow and deep - 70mm
Ninja 'Little Fella' - 60mm body
Ninja 'Shadow Hunter' - 3 sizes up to 120mm
Below is the Special release of Ninja Turtles - 15 sets were released late in 2018
NLL Lures - QLD:
NLL stands for 'No Leader Lures' and are made by Russell and Nic Hedges in Warwick. Russell is a keen lure fisherman and collector but also a cottage lure maker.
Noel's Lures - VIC:
Uncommon lures that show up occasionally and found on various printed cards. Made in Tatura, Victoria. Noel's lures are obvious copies of earlier USA colorado spinners, Hog backs and Australian spoons - The name 'Symbol' was used by Fresco to name a spoon they made in the 1960's and the 'Tantangara' spoon is an early iconic Australian spoon pattern that was also released by Fresco.
The cards show some variation as shown in photograph below with fonts different for the name at the top of the card. Unknown maker and age unknown although I would hazard a guess that these are vintage as these style of lures are rarely used nowadays except by 'old timers'. The 'Tantangara' card has an early Austalian Made stickers with a boomerang logo.
The lure shown above is an obvious copy of the Abu 'Toby' or Fresco 'Duchess' and left is an unnamed spoon. Unsure which cards are the earliest. The Noel's 'Wobla' has the exact markings of the Fresco 'Wobla' however paint patterns are not like the earlier authentic Fresco models.
The following information was kindly supplied by Des Morriss -
"As you can see the hardbody has address and town in which Noels lures were located. This matches up with the personal story that my late father told me many years back, he went over to Tatura and purchased the left over stock that a lure maker / supplier had.
Both my wife and can remember selling Noels lures in our sports store back in the eighties in Shepparton. Also in the pictures you will see 2 lure cards marked 'The Tackle Bar'. Epsom Market & Murrabit Market cards and price ticket and lures match those of Noels cards so one would assume that he went to the markets and sold lures under a different name. Mum also told me that the man behind Noels lures was a chap called Les Wright and his wife was Joan. Les has since passed away and Joan was living in Shepparton
The hard body lure on the Lure Hub Oz site with the white tag matches the one that I have with Noels fishing lures attached. Hope this brings some light on to the Noels Lures"
The following information was also published in Statewide Fishing and Boating News and suggests other owners of Noels lures after Fresco. 'Several of their spoons such as the Tantangara spoon, Eucumbene spoon and Duchess have been used for years with good results and it would have been a shame to see this range of simple, but effective lures lost. Fortunately the company has now been bought by Graham Lupton and Walter Hayes of Tatura in northern Victoria and the lures are back in supply with some improvements."
The Noel's timber lures were hand made from balsa and look to be a well finished product. It seems there were at least a couple of models and the contact on the above packet is PO Box 118, Tatura, 3616 with old (058) telephone code.
Northern River Lures - NSW:
Made by Alastair Hills who is a passionate bass fisherman and lure collector. Lures are only made in small numbers.
Lures below were photographed during Expo 2017
Norton's Old Cobber Lures - TAS:
Made in Richmond, Tasmania for many years, Norton's 'Old Cobber' lures are a winged cobra style lure. Shown here in old packages.
Nutterjuck Lures - NSW:
Made by Scott 'Nutterz' Anderson from western Sydney who started making lures as small copies for trout and bass and has evolved into making high quality specialist poppers for bass and native fish.
The evolution of Scotts lures means they have changed alot from those earlier patterns.
The You Tube video below has a great interview with Scott Anderson about the evolution of Nutterjuck Lures and his lure designs.
Nymph Lures:
Complete unknown except for what is written on the belly of this lure which appeared on Ebay Australia in March 2014.
