Chinalure

Black Fish, Yellow Fish and One Very Small Pufferfish

The National Day holiday closes the office for a week, and we use part of it the way we like best. On the morning of October 6 the team drove down to the harbour in Weihai, loaded the rods onto a boat, and left the pier while the sea was still flat.

Weihai in early October is hard to beat. Clear sky, light breeze, and water calm enough that nobody had to think about seasickness. Half the team had never fished from a boat before, so the first hour was mostly tangled lines and laughing at one another. Then the fish started biting.

Black fish came up first. Then a few yellow fish, a mullet, an octopus that refused to let go of the jig, and one very small pufferfish that went straight back over the side. Nobody broke a record. Everybody caught something, which is more than most of us had hoped for.

We build fishing lures for a living, so a morning like this is never really a day off. It is the closest thing we have to a field test. Watching a lure drop, swim and get taken under a moving boat tells you things a tank never will, and a few notes from that morning went back to the shop with us.

Next time we will bring more bait, and probably more people. If you fish our lures anywhere in the world, we would like to hear how it went.

Fishing from Our Own Paddleboards: A National Day Holiday on the Water in Weihai

The golden week of China's National Day holiday gave us something no factory schedule ever could: a full day on the water, doing what we build our products for.

Under clear autumn skies and bright sunshine, Young and Jessica headed out to the coast of Weihai — the same waters where our company was founded back in 2003 — carrying fishing paddleboards made in our own workshop. For us, this is more than a holiday pastime. Every product that leaves our factory is something we use ourselves, and this trip was both a celebration and a field test.

The sea was calm, the visibility excellent. Standing on our boards just off the shoreline, we had the kind of stability and casting freedom that shore anglers can only dream of. The fish were cooperative — cast after cast brought in small but lively catches, the kind of steady action that reminds you why fishing is never really about the size of the fish.

A fishing paddleboard lives or dies by its stability, its deck layout, and its durability in salt water. Hours on the water in real conditions are the most honest quality inspection there is — and our boards passed the way we expect them to: quietly, reliably, without a single moment of doubt.

For over two decades, Chinalure has grown alongside the anglers who trust us. Whether it is our lures, hooks, rods, or the paddleboards we took out this week, the principle has never changed: we build what we fish with, and we fish with what we build.

As the sun began to lower over the Yellow Sea, we packed up with a full catch and an even fuller sense of gratitude — for the holiday, for the weather, and for everyone who shares this passion with us around the world.

From all of us at Chinalure, we wish our friends, customers, and partners a happy National Day holiday. The water is waiting — we hope to see you on it.

Tight lines,
Young & the Chinalure Team

Day Two at Booth E2 2125

Opening day is a price day. People walk the aisle, stop at the standee, ask what a nine centimetre shad costs in a mixed carton, and move on to the next booth. Sunday runs differently. The visitors who come back on the second day bring a notebook, take the chair, and the talk moves off the price list and onto cartons, packing and delivery dates.

By the middle of the afternoon the small side table had stopped being a table. Scissors, a bottle of water, paper cups, a notebook, the lid off the sample box. Those are the marks of a conversation that's been running for an hour rather than five minutes, and none of it fits in a catalogue. It's why we keep the chairs out.

The Fisher Girl rod sets on the aisle standee sold out on Sunday. The chairs filled early again, and this time it was overseas buyers in them, from several markets at once. Most of them weren't here for the shelf stock. They came to work through the new products before the catalogue catches up.

The walls haven't changed since Friday. Soft plastics stay in their colour runs by body shape, squid jigs hang in full sets, and the tinsel tails tied at the table are still hanging on the metal ladder in the corner. Gold spoons and jig heads sit on the tray where a buyer can pick one up without asking.

Still on the table

• The 2026 colour range, in soft plastics and squid jigs.
• The lead-free jig head program.
• The OEM and ODM desk, with the sketches, the competitor samples and the 3D printed prototype that came in with them.
• The hand-tied mouse lures, two days into a run at the corner of the table.
• The three moulded bait trays for soft baits and hard baits, CL26-03 to CL26-05.

One day left. The show runs to five on Monday the 21st and we open at nine. If you want to see what came off the bench this year before the catalogue catches up, the list grows on the new products page for 2026, which now runs to five patterns: the mouse, the ice fishing beanie and three moulded bait trays. If you can't get to Weihai, write to young@chinalure.com and we'll send the same files. The pattern notes for the mouse are on the mouse lure page.

Opening Day at Booth E2 2125

The 18th Weihai show opened at nine this morning, and the first real conversation started before the coffee in the back corner had time to go cold. Two buyers, one from Singapore and one from Australia, took the chairs at our sample table early and stayed there through most of the morning, working through colors, packing and delivery dates with the sales team while the walls behind them did the rest of the selling.

The display walls carry the range in a fixed order. Soft plastics run left to right by body shape and then by color, so a visitor can find a 9 inch shad or a small ice jig without asking anyone. Squid jigs hang in full color runs. Trolling teasers and spreader bars sit at eye level where the light catches the tape. The boat rod rack at the right corner pulls people in from the aisle, and above the booth a mounted marlin points the way for anyone looking for big game gear.

Two panels on the aisle side do the stopping. The first is the wholesale stock lot board, aimed at importers who want mixed pallets rather than single SKUs. The second is the Fisher Girl rod combo, our pink rod and reel set, which has drawn more passers-by than anything else on that wall. Both standees are lit, so they read from four aisles away.

On the table today

• Soft plastics and squid jigs, in the full 2026 color range.
• The lead-free jig head program. New to most visitors, so it gets a walkthrough every time.
• The OEM and ODM desk: sketches, competitor samples and one 3D printed prototype have come across the table so far.

One more thing ran all day at the corner of the table: hand-tied mouse lures for night pike and taimen, built tail by tail in front of visitors from the Russian market. We wrote up the pattern, the fish it targets and how to work it, so the notes are not lost when the show comes down.

The sample table stays open for all three days, and everything laid out on it now carries a number of its own. If you want to see what came off the bench this year before the catalogue catches up, the list builds up on the new products page for 2026, and we add to it each morning.

We're back on the floor tomorrow from nine and again on Monday until five. If you're walking Hall E2, come by the table and ask for the 2026 catalog. If you can't make the show, write to young@chinalure.com and we'll send the same files.

Booth Setup Complete: Chinalure Ready for CGC EXPO (Autumn) 2026

The ladders are down, the floor is swept, and every hook has been straightened one last time. This afternoon our team finished setting up the Chinalure booth at the Weihai International Economic and Trade Exchange Center, one day before the 18th China (Weihai) Fishing Gear Manufacturing Capital Expo opens its doors.

Setting up a lure booth is slower work than it looks. Each wall display was planned at the factory in advance, then hung piece by piece this morning: rows of soft plastic lures sorted by body and color, squid jigs lined up in full color runs, and the heavier trolling gear, including spreader bars and teaser rigs, placed at eye level where the light hits the tape best. The blue backdrop panels with our Chinalure banners went up last, and by late afternoon the booth looked the way it does in the photo above.

The show itself is a big one for our home city. This year's edition fills 70,000 square meters with more than 1,000 exhibitors, including two dozen companies from outside China, and it runs for three days:

What we are bringing to the table

Three things, mostly. First, the new 2026 soft bait line, including the 9 inch shad in the colors distributors have been asking about all year. Second, our lead-free jig head program, which has grown from a side range into a full catalog of its own. Third, the OEM and ODM desk: if you have a design, a sample, or just an idea scribbled on paper, bring it by the booth and we will quote it on the spot or within a few days of the show.

If you are walking the show on any of the three days, come say hello. The coffee pot will be on, and there is always room at the sample table for one more visitor.

Daily reports to follow

We will update this page every day of the show with photos from the floor: opening morning crowds, visitor meetings, new product reactions, and anything else worth reporting. Bookmark this page or check back each evening.