I usually make wooden fishing lure blanks while around the campfire (pic). It is super easy to do. If you know the type of wood then you can make a lure that fits where it sits/floats in the water and know how much action it will have. Heavier woods need exaggerated bills and whatnot to make them more livelier while lighter woods will have more action naturally. That is why balsa wood is favored for lures. Bobbers, casting eggs, and fish traps are easily made. Custom rod handles are also nice and can be whittled by hand, though most are turned on a lathe.
To learn more about the local trees' woods in your area, look them up here:
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-finder/That can give you tons of info and even ideas on what to make with your local woods. The search function for the site above is pretty good. So, you can just type out something like "maple" and it will give you a species list of more than a dozen maples. Dead fallen wood that has come down due to a storm breaking a living branch or entire tree is best. It will have seasoned and won't split while drying after you've carved it. Though, look out for punky wood that's infected with fungi and starting to rot. It had fungal stains and mycelium running through it, but isn't punky, you can heat it up hot enough that you can't touch it in order to kill the fungi. Then the wood won't continue to rot.
If you are a real pro, you'll bring along a small can of candle wax you can boil your finished, seasoned, wood pieces in. That will help make them extremely water proof. Just put them in the melted wax and the moisture in the wood will start boiling out. When there's no more bubbles the wood is moisture free for the most part and you can take it out and allow it to cool. As it cools it will suck in excess wax. If done correctly you won't be able to tell it even has wax on it until water beads up on the outside. See:
>>1398589 Trying this with green unseasoned wood may split it, depending on species of wood.