Striper plug building. Worth it?

Hey guys,

As you fishermen know, lures for saltwater can get pricey especially if you start looking at Gibbs, After hours, Mikes custom plugs and Danny plugs  $20-50 each!  If you have ever fished off a beach or jetty, you know you're one cast away from a line snap or bail malfunction (highly suggest a reel with manual bail).

I can't count all the plugs I have lost to the deep blue sea! Shit happens reel/rod error or even human error. So I stumbled acrossed lure kits that you have to assemble and add paint, sealer and hooks. Saltys lure kits makes affordable easy to assemble wooden striper plugs for under $8.00. Most lures you buy you have to replace cheap hooks or add split rings anyway so why spend the money?

Before:

After:

I wouldn't say I am an artist but I think I can buy some paint and sealant and make some cool looking plugs for 15 bucks or so. I recently looked into a beginner paint air gun and they are only like $25 and then buy some paints and I should be able to do some lures. I found some pics on google, so you can see before and after results above.They do sell their lures for $23-30 each but I think I can do a decent job for like $15 each.

Maybe I'm sounding cheap but I'm also from the northeast and stripers leave the area from Nov-April so I have time to kill. You can only oil up the reels, look into new lures so many times, if I have time to kill why not save money and be creative?

I've heard that its so gratifying to catch a fish on a lure you built and painted. I look forward to that feeling.
I plan on buying a couple kits of various styles soon and post how they were to build,  paint and if i'd recommend them to you guys to kill time and save money.

My biggest worry is that my wife (when I'm dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.  ~Koos Brandt