A lure that's tempting: trophy bass--as well as the tournament anglers who seek them--are hooked on Brian Huskins' handiwork.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: PICTURE THIS

When it comes to fishing, luck is fine for beginners. But pros need an edge, and for that, many turn to a four-building complex in a backyard in Mount Holly, near Charlotte. There Brian Huskins and his family-run business mingle art with science to make lures so alluring that $65 for an artificial minnow doesn't seem extravagant. Not when purses in angling tournaments often exceed $2 million.

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"They know it's not made overseas or stamped out of a machine. And when they buy it, they expect to see my signature on it," says Huskins, 44, who started Brian's Crankbaits in the 1980s when he tired of modifying store-bought lures to catch fish. He still competes in nearby tournaments. "You'd be astounded at what most pro fishermen have in their boxes. I may have a little more than most because I make it, but I have $25,000 to $30,000 in tackle.

" Huskins' handcrafted lures are more than just tarted-up fake fish prey. Consider his credentials--a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from UNC Wilmington plus a community-college degree in graphic arts. Then there's how they're made, beginning with balsa, a wood he values for its light weight but consistent density. He designs his lures on a computer, then uses a computer-aided router to rough-shape them. The result is a board, flat on one side with three-dimensional shapes on the other.

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Each lure is sawn out, and a wire tree--a straight wire with eyelets for line, hooks and attractions such as spinning propellers--is run down the middle of its flat side. "When guys are fishing for million-dollar pots, my big fear when I first started was one of my baits would malfunction and they'd lose a fish...