KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII — ACTIVE YEARS c. 1980s – 2023

Wes Leslie was a Kona fisherman and lure maker whose work became one of the coast's best-kept secrets. He learned the craft directly from Capt. Gene VanderHoek — the plunger pioneer who needed a steady supply of lures but was far too busy slaying fish to pour his own — and Wes became the hands behind that supply, absorbing VanderHoek's methods in the process.

His handmade plungers, tubes, and bullets earned quiet respect among serious Kona fishermen, but he never made them commercially available, so they circulated mostly among those in the know. Wes Leslie passed away in March 2023, and with him went the steady production. Only a limited number of his lures exist, and they rarely surface — when they do, they go fast.

As a museum and archive, we're honored to preserve the work of Wes Leslie and the hardcore Kona fishermen who trusted his gear.

Notable shapes: Plungers, tubes, bullets (in the VanderHoek lineage)

Identification tips:

• Genuinely scarce — never commercially produced, so examples are few and circulate by reputation

Below, you’ll find our ever-growing digital archive showcasing every lure that has come through our shop. This collection is constantly evolving as new lures arrive, making it a living record of rare, limited-production lures. We will continue updating this database regularly, building what we aim to be the largest digital archive of offshore trolling lures in the world.

If you have any further information or any lures you believe deserve to be showcased, please reach out to us at ren@luremonger.com