A quick smile and a kind heart are evident when first meeting October’s Holladay Artist of the Month Aidan Davis. A closer look reveals a tenacious young man who sets and achieves goals with laser focus and persistence as a student, marathon runner and fishing lure artist.

When Davis walked across the auditorium stage at Olympus High School in 2023 to receive his diploma, he had already received an associate’s degree from Snow College. His future scholastic goal is to attend BYU-Idaho in two years to complete a degree in construction management. 

“At the end of September, I’m leaving for Indiana to serve an LDS mission,” Davis said. “When I return to Utah in September of 2025, I plan to attend BYU-Idaho. I only have three years left to complete my bachelor’s degree in construction management. I want to become a general contractor and to build residential houses.”

Davis’s talent for building and crafting with wood is evident in his hand-carved decorative fishing lures. Fishing with his mother and grandfather at an early age, he learned to enjoy the sport and eventually had the desire to craft his own fishing lures. 

“I’ve been a fisherman my entire life,” Davis said. “My mom and my grandpa planted that seed. My favorite place to fish is in the Uinta’s. Recently, I returned from a fishing trip to Henry’s Lake in Idaho outside of Yellowstone. Usually, I lake fish from a float tube which allows me to fish areas that hold the most fish. When I first saw a hand-carved fishing lure, I knew I wanted to learn to make them. Also, I’m a fly fisherman. One of my best friend’s dads taught me how to fly fish when I was 14. The Provo River and Mill Creek Canyon are both great places to fly fish.” 

Carving fishing lures is a unique art form. The lures Davis carves are pieces of art and not used for fishing. His lures are usually carved from basswood which is a soft wood and easy to carve.  Hand-carved lures that are used for fishing are usually made from a hard wood such as oak. Oak is more resilient to repeated f`ish strikes.  

When crafting a lure, Davis draws out the lure design on paper and then transfers it to the basswood. He saws, sands and whittles the block into the desired shape. He then uses an air brush to paint the lure before giving it a coat of epoxy clear coat. Matching paint color is a delicate and difficult process. The painting and epoxy clear coat process is repeated twice.

Davis won a first-place award in the Holladay Fine Art show for his fishing lure artistic craftmanship. Celebrate Utah Wild Life traveling exhibit will be displaying his award-winning lures throughout Utah for the next three years. 

A marathon runner, Davis completed the Deseret News Marathon in three hours and 16 minutes. Recently, he competed in the Deer Creek half marathon where he was awarded third place. Two weeks later he laced up his running shoes and ran in the Swiss Days 10K. His short-term and long-term running goals are to train to run in the Wasatch 50-mile ultra marathon while working toward the Moab 240-mile ultra marathon. 

“I’m a very goal-oriented person,” Davis said. “Most of my time is spent working toward a goal I’ve set for myself. I’ve learned that if you want to be successful at something you have to stick with it for a significant period of time whether it’s competing in a marathon or carving lures. I have bags of fishing lures that didn’t work out, but I kept trying to learn to carve until I became successful. When I return from my mission, I hope to display my lures in more art shows and festivals.”

Davis’s fishing lures will be on display through October at Holladay City Hall.

 If you would like to nominate a Holladay resident for Artist of the Month visit www.holladayarts.org/suggest-an-artist.

For more information about Davis and his decorative fishing lures visit Instagram @Canyon-Custom-Baits. λ