In reply to Moley:
I once made a triple jointed swim bait made from a piece of elm from my brothers wood. Shaped, painted, stainless steel screw eyes shipped in from the states - easily 30 hours work. Got onto the shore at Rydal, first cast and it cracked off - went flying across half way across the lake never to be seen again!
I use harris sports mail, savage gear are quality and reasonable value.
Oh, the weirdest lure experience was when trolling a 10 inch fox replicant (rainbow trout pattern) on windermere, it snagged the bottom, reeled in and I had hooked another fox 10 inch replicant in rainbow trout that someone else had lost (its surprising what you can reel in when using 100 pound braid) !!!!