About
Mr Pacemaker
Jonny Pace, the Engineer behind Pacemaker Concepts, started his passion for timber craft at a very young age. Starting off with a saw, a hammer and some nails, Jonny soon become inspired by the handy work of his old man.
Before long, with the help of his Father, Jonny learnt the skills required for fine wood craft. Spending several years building just about everything he could think of, Jonny decided to combine his passion for fishing and woodworking to create the first ever Pacemaker Custom Lure.
Jonny had an acquired taste for well-made Aussie timber lures, but of the freshwater class. This is where he set off, replicating a few of the Aussie Classics that were no longer available, and giving them the Pacemaker twist.
In late 2010, the interest in the salt topwater scene started. Not being able to afford all the fancy gear, Jonny decided to save money where he could and make his own lures.
"Why waste money on something that I could build myself right?"
Well, little did he know what he was getting himself in to. Jonny was soon faced with plenty of hurdles to cross. Bent hooks, broken wires, smashed timber and plenty of tears. Now, for those that know Jonny, know that he is as stubborn as they come and loves to take a problem and turn it into a challenge. Faced with the issue of; "do I invest the time and money into this, or do I just go and buy one?". We all know the answer to this....
Hours and hours spent, browsing the internet for swim videos of well known lures, lure forums and what was on youtube at the time, Jonny soon set himself the challenge to create a handful of lures that performed how he wanted, while being able to withstand the brutal punishment from a Giant Trevally.
Straight on ebay and before long there were packages turning up every day for weeks on end. New timber samples, hooks, airbrushes, paints, epoxies, lure hardware and the list went on.
Along came the first official batch of Pacemakers in 2011.
Half a dozen 220mm floating stickbaits were hand cut, shaped & sanded, assembled, waterproofed and hand foiled. A couple simple patterns airbrushed and on with a few layers of epoxy. Ready for testing at an upcoming GT trip.
Social media soon took a hold and before long, Pacemakers started to get a following for what Jonny believed was still a substandard looking lure. Months went by, testing just about every component of the lure build and it wasn't long before he was back to the drawing board, re-designing the internals, the weakest part of any lure.
Being a Mechanical Engineer, Jonny set yet another distant goal, "to make these things GT proof".
After what seemed like endless amounts of testing, along came the well-known, seamless, Pacemaker wiring system. Tested to +300kg, the tig welded 2.4mm Stainless internal wire harness will hold up to any trophy fish you can throw at them. Jonny is that confident in his workmanship that he offers a Lifetime Guaranty on the wiring harness and is yet to see one broken.
Pacemaker Custom lures are well known around the world for both fish catchability and also their quality finish. Tested in just about every corner of the globe, there have been some true giants claimed. This is one of the key principals that drives Jonny to keep pushing out lures, "that smile on a fishermans face while holding their dream fish, is just priceless".
Fast forward to 2022 and Pacemakers are back!
Same bloke, same drive, better quality, even bigger goals.
Jonny still thinks there is a hole in the market for well-made topwater lures and will continue to innovate and improve where possible. With no compromise in quality, Jonny plans to build lures as a part time venture and will continue to build A grade lures to accompany other top tier lures available in today's market.
Keep posted for new exciting things to come!