Tom in Sweetwater

I use 10 min epoxy. I top coat with automotive urethane, and it becomes completely invisible. On baits with a deep socket, I put enough to let it push out around the edges and when top coated it looks like it is part of the bait.

I am going to get some decent drawings done and post them up to see what the experts think about construction. All great info so far.

Thanks Bob. I am trying to make a wood lure that is loosely based on the Mud Bug. I just want a craw that looks and swims like a craw.

I am in the process of designing a new bait. I am going to make it from balsa or basswood. I am going to make it in two halves to facilitate easier through wire construction. It will be approx. 3" long and use #4 hooks What wire would you all recommend? Supplier, diameter, material? If they work as intended, I hope to do small scale production. Thanks in advance for your input.

If it is bubbling in the cup, it probably means that the air cap or nozzle is clogged. Ask me how I know. (Had to deal with this today myself)

Great lures that catch fish today are what become collectibles tomorrow.

Yes, this is where the practice part kicks in. I am constantly changing how I do things as I get better. It's part of the process. One thing to do is not work on one at a time. Get half a dozen working at once, you will see a big increase in how fast your knowledge accumulates.

A customer of mine handed me four original Little Petey's in great condition. He wants me to do repaints on two, and I keep the other two. Who knows what they are worth as is? I really am reluctant to repaint my two if they have value as is.

I charge the same to do a repaint as I do for one of my stock baits. There is no savings when they supply the lure. Removing hooks and rings, taping, sanding etc.. Unless they are a regular customer, I require at least 3-4 baits in the same pattern just to get started. If they get the number to 10 or so, then we can talk a little discount. If you have any talent at all, don't sell it short. People will pay for quality. Remember, your quality is your product, not your time. Don't ever compromise it.

You can do a test to see if it interferes with your paint, but alcohol should not effect anything. It will evaporate almost instantly. I regularly use a lint free cloth and alcohol to prep for painting and clear coat. Also tack cloth to remove any lint from the lint-free cloth (no such thing, lol)

Here's my rainbow pattern. Pearl white basecoat, gold candy on the upper half, medium green faded on top of the gold, light salmon colored stripe, and a billion little dark green dots.

First, thanks for holding me up as a good example, lol. Second, the issue you may be having may be due to paint. I am using urethane paint, 10 or so PSI and a .2 tip. I can do that because my paint is literally thinner than water. The tape trick above might work for you with a little modification. Cut a rectangular window in a piece of plastic (milk jug will do) a little wider and a little longer than the stripe you want to paint. Now tear the tape as mentioned above and attach it to the window, with a gap a little narrower than the stripe you want. Secure your bait so you can work with both hands. Hold the window slightly away from the bait and spray through. The extra distance should give a softer edge. If you make a long enough window you can use a different sections for each stripe so you don't have to do a new one for each. Then you might carefully add a few dots of paint here and there along each stripe to break them up a little. Hope this helps, and I look forward to seeing how this works for you!

The thing about that Lucky prismatic effect is it's on the inside of the bait.

Great shot! Hope you don't mind, I'm going to use that photo as a source, it's the clearest tilapia photo I've seen.

Ben, I ran up against the same problem. That's how I ended up painting the pattern of the wrong fish on that other lure. When I paint local Tennessee patterns, I use the state wildlife resources agency website for source photos. We are lucky, they have are really good selection of photos. Check it out Photo Gallery of Tennessee Reservoir/Big River Fish I am sure Texas must have something similar. I am actually going to be asking TWRA if it would be possible for me to go on one of their shock fishing runs to take my own shots for reference.

All I use are urethanes and 2 part urethane clear. I don't think there is anything better for putting the pattern on the bait. People will argue about the clear coat, but so far I have found it to be perfectly acceptable. I use mainly white pearl and silver base coat and candys over that. You can get some amazing depth to the work that way.

Well, looks like I did a good version of the wrong fish,

I actually used that third picture for this lure: