Meet the Wakefield angler making artisan fishing lures from his garage

Josh, 32, from Altofts, launched his business, Lure Boi, selling artisan fishing baits and accessories during the pandemic in 2020.

Since then he has steadily grown his client base, shipping his handcrafted soft and hard plastic fishing bait across the UK and inspiring other young anglers to use colourful plastic lures over the more traditional worms and maggots.

Josh – who works full time in logistics – creates the lures through a process called injection moulding in his garage.

He heats up different plastics to various temperatures into a metal mould, where they cool and set into a shape which can then be demoulded and used on the end of a fishing hook to catch freshwater fish such as pike, perch and chub in rivers and canals.

He said: “The reason why I started my fishing business was because I was bored. I was fed up with life, I wasn’t being challenged and I needed something new and different.

"Instead of going to the pub every night, I decided to launch my own business. In November 2020, I began selling and rebranding existing lures but this only lasted a couple of months before I started handcrafting all the things I sell."

Josh recently cleared out his entire garage to accommodate the workshop and has long term plans of setting up in a larger facility – if the business takes off enough so he can quit his day job.

He added: “I’m slowly running out of space! If the business keeps on growing, I’m going to have to move the business elsewhere.”

When asked about where the best fishing spots in Wakefield are, the expert angler said: “I don’t want to give way the best spots or I will get angry anglers after me but anywhere with water will produce fish, even a tiny stream that you’d think is too shallow to hold them.

"Each canal and each part of a river is different. Fish in different parts will prefer different types of baits, it is all about testing your local water and getting a feel of what works best for you.”

Unlike some anglers who get into fishing through their fathers or grandfathers as children, Josh got into the sport as a teenager.

“It is a bit of a boring story, but one day during the school holidays I decided that I wanted to try something new. After flicking through an Argos catalogue – as people used to do – I decided to buy a fishing rod and here I am now with my own angling enterprise,” he said.

Josh also encourages others to go fishing through his Facebook group and social media presence.

“It is still early days but it is a nice area for people to swap tips and tricks with other each other, and share pictures of fish they’ve caught”, the pro fisherman said.

Lure Boi doesn’t currently stock carp fishing bait and accessories yet but he is trialling some designs on his 3D printer which he may send off to be made into professional metal moulds which he can then make lures from through the injection mould process.

To check out his shop, visit https://lureboi.co.uk/.