History of Damper Diver Lures |
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Tony
Admin Admin Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Location: Hervey Bay, QLD Status: Offline Points: 6012 |
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Posted: 08 Dec 2009 at 12:12pm |
Thanks to Ron Cockbain and LureLovers.com member Barry (Captain.Cranky) I am very pleased to be able to share this history of Ron Cockbain and his Damper Diver Lures with our members
========================================================================= Ron Cockbain - The early days Ron Cockbain was born in Coff's Harbour in 1946 and grew up there. On leaving school Ron went to Sydney to start an electrical apprenticeship. He fished all around Sydney while completing his trade. After completing his apprenticeship Ron moved back to Coff's Harbour. Ron's first lures Ron started making lures at a young age and as time went on he worked on a lure derived from a Storm Hot N Tot. This and all of his lures were made from white beech. This lure proved to be very successful on Bass and Cod all around the Far North Coast, where Ron was one of the first people in the region to pioneer this fishery. Before 1983 all of Ron's luremaking was in Coff's Harbour. These lures were the evolution of the prototype Damper Diver. A very robust well thought out lure. Birth of the Damper Diver In 1983 Ron moved to Cardwell to further his luremaking skills. Because there was not a lot of work there at the time Ron had plenty of free time for practical experience in the field. This is where the Damper Diver came to be and got it's name. There is a small creek just south of Cardwell called Damper Creek and Ron started to perfect his creation in this creek. What started as a stretched Hot N Tot with a big wobble and tow point on the bib turned into the lure seen from 1984 till 1999. A few tweaks The tow point was changed to the front of the lure (rather than connected to the bib as Ron did previously) which was much easier to manufacture. The shape was changed to a flatter sardine style and the wobble became tighter. The belly was carved to a thin point rather than rounded. An air brush was used to paint the lures and they were finished with a 2 pac clear coat. Ron advised that this new design was certainly influenced by Eric Moller and Vic McCristal. On the road again! Due to various reasons Ron and his wife Maree moved back to Coff's after 6 months in Cardwell. Ron then had a go at making lures full time with all his new found knowledge from practical experience. After a short time back home an opportunity arose for a new business in Innisfail working a banana farm. Ron and Maree packed their bags once again and moved there in 1984 and have been there ever since. Ron gave the bananas away after a while and went back to his trade where in a cyclone ravaged area there was plenty of work. Ron kept on making lures till 1999 and since then has just made enough lures for family and friends as well as for himself. Ron still has all the jigs and equipment that he devised years before to make the unique and original shape of the Damper Diver. |
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Cheers, Tony
For the love of Fishing Lures. |
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Tony
Admin Admin Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Location: Hervey Bay, QLD Status: Offline Points: 6012 |
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A couple of Rons Topwater Damper Diver Lures
One of Ron's earlier lures with the towpoint on the bib A later version with the towpoint on the nose (I love all of these lures although I reckon this one is stunning!) An early lure styled after the Heddon Punkinseed An assortment of Ron's lures Polycarb bib with towpoint on bib Interesting early lure And a few more of these great Lures! |
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Cheers, Tony
For the love of Fishing Lures. |
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Craig
Senior Member Beta Tester Joined: 11 Nov 2009 Location: Gympie Status: Offline Points: 770 |
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Great to see a picture of Ron himself. We should encourage all lure makers to do the same.
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Tagged and released
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Tony
Admin Admin Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Location: Hervey Bay, QLD Status: Offline Points: 6012 |
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Gday Craig I agree that seeing the faces behind the lures we love, and getting to learn some accurate history of Lure makers and their creations is great There's several other detailed lure maker histories available on the site now, although with the help of members I'd love to see many more! It's a fair effort to put these histories up (and we couldn't do it without the help of Lure Makers such as Ron, along with friends and family of those no longer with us) so the more help the merrier! (maybe you could have a chat with some lure makers you know and help us get some more up?) I have learnt so much about Ron's lures thanks to Ron and Barry's efforts in getting this info together, and there's more eye candy to come with more pictures of Ron's lures as soon as I get the chance to finish resizing the images etc. |
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Cheers, Tony
For the love of Fishing Lures. |
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CaptainCranky
LureLovers.com Guide Beta Tester Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 7141 |
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Sorry about the size Tony .I have absolutely no idea how the pics got so big,It's only an itty bitty camera.he he he he he he.I only turn the steering wheel,I do not put the worms on the hooks.
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The Journey is the Reward
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Tony
Admin Admin Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Location: Hervey Bay, QLD Status: Offline Points: 6012 |
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You did a great job with the pics Barry! I just did a little cropping to make the lures fill the picture (I have to do that with my own pics too so it's not a biggy, the trick was finding time with kids home from school, visitors dropping in, and trying to get a little work done to keep the boss happy!) |
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Cheers, Tony
For the love of Fishing Lures. |
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DamperDivers
Beginner Member Damper Diver Lures Joined: 07 Dec 2009 Location: Innisfail QLD Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Having grown up using them i can vouch for their durability and catchability [though i did spend a lot of my early life in the front of a canoe in places like the herbert river casting to far and landing the lure about ten rows back in the scrub!] They were just about the only lure that i used growing up.
Great to see fellow fishermen appreciating Rons lures.
Brent Cockbain
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DamperDivers
Beginner Member Damper Diver Lures Joined: 07 Dec 2009 Location: Innisfail QLD Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Forgot to mention... great site.
Keep up the good work
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CaptainCranky
LureLovers.com Guide Beta Tester Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Cairns Status: Offline Points: 7141 |
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Nice to hear from you Brent,Regards Barry
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The Journey is the Reward
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bassnbob
Stall Holder B.O.B Timber Lures Joined: 22 Nov 2009 Location: Charlestown Status: Offline Points: 9390 |
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GREAT read great luresregards bob
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Fysshe Salmon
LureLovers.com Fanatic Fysshe Lures Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Location: Taylors Beach Status: Online Points: 2746 |
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Certainly are great lures, even nicer to get one for your collection! I like his take on the "Luxon" style tow clip.
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Fysshe
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Fysshe Salmon
LureLovers.com Fanatic Fysshe Lures Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Location: Taylors Beach Status: Online Points: 2746 |
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There's one on Ebay at the moment but it's not cheap!!
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Fysshe
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bassnbob
Stall Holder B.O.B Timber Lures Joined: 22 Nov 2009 Location: Charlestown Status: Offline Points: 9390 |
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IAN i had a white&pink one caught some nice yellas on her a chaffey dam lost her in the sticks at stclair great luresregards bob
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steiny
LureLovers.com Fanatic Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Location: Mackay Status: Offline Points: 5285 |
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Really cool lures and great to have the history and all of those pics for future reference.
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cheers steiny
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MadDogLures
Stall Holder Mad Dog Lures Joined: 09 Oct 2015 Location: Sunshine Coast Status: Offline Points: 2719 |
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Fantastic looking lures
Cheers, Dave
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Life is fishing!
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