repainting shad raps

[foulpole18]

I was going to repaint some shad raps that are beat up and was wondering if using devcon would affect the action of them to much.

thanks brian

[benton B]

No it won't effect the action. I've repainted at least 15 shad raps and use

devcon on all of them.

[Palmetto Balsa]

Foulpole,

Yes, it will affect the action. For the better or worse, I don't know.

Are the baits beat up because of fish or something else? If it is the fish that beat them up and they are still fishable then I would not repaint them until they are no longer fishable.

[benton B]

Palmetto, you don't know how the action is going to be affected but your positive devcon is going to affect the action in one way or another.

[BJ Smith]

It has worked well so far...... SR 7,8,9s are my most requested to rebuild and repaint..... so far so...... so good

[benton B]

BJ, I have not seen any problems or had any baits come back. I strip the baits with a heat gun and seal, prime, paint, and coat with 2ton.

[Vodkaman]

The caution of repainting lures and covering with epoxy has been raised many times. The density of epoxy is slightly greater than water as I remember.

A heavy coat of epoxy would affect the lure in two ways. (A) it will alter the buoyancy, its rise rate etc and ( it will re-distribute the weight of the lure over its whole length, affecting the action.

The big question is by how much? Benton B states that he has not experienced any problems, also I cannot remember anyone actually stating that a problem occured, certainly after a single coat. So, as long as you do not apply three or four coats of D2T you should not have a problem, if you do, then you should report back and let us all know.

If the lure to be repaired was a neutral buoyancy bait then problems would be inevitable. So Palmetto is right in that the lure will be affected and his point of, 'if it is not broken, don't fix it', is a good one.

[Palmetto Balsa]

My prior post

"Foulpole,

Yes, it will affect the action. For the better or worse, I don't know.

Are the baits beat up because of fish or something else? If it is the fish that beat them up and they are still fishable then I would not repaint them until they are no longer fishable."

Palmetto, you don't know how the action is going to be affected but your positive devcon is going to affect the action in one way or another.

The action will be affected. For the better or worse of a particular fishing situation, I don't know. Only the fish could tell us how they will like its new action.

Devcon, in most situations would reduce the action on floating crankbaits. This is because Devcon has a specific gravity just a little higher than water. Example would be to add a layer of water (or anything) to the exterior of a floating crankbait. This would change the ballast (1 : a heavy substance placed in such a way as to improve stability and control) location of the bait and in-turn change the way the crankbait reacts to the pressure of the water across the lip and on the body of the bait. The added heavy exterior on the bait would reduce its ability to change direction in the same manor and at the same speed as before.

Many crankbait makers use balsa and other light weight woods because they are able to place the ballast where they want it. The lighter woods can be weighted in specific ways to create different actions to fit certain fishing situations (time of year, water clarity, etc.). Baits can be built to have a wide wobble or a tight wiggle. Weight placement can cause more roll or less roll. These actions are caused by a number of factors and one major factor is ballast location. Lip size, angle and shape along with line tie location, and the baits shape are other factors that will affect the action of a crankbait.

I ask if the baits are beat up by fish or for some other reason, because if the fish like the action it has now then don't do a thing to it. Keep fishing it till the fish don't like it or it falls apart. Your baits might have a special action that would be changed if it were repainted.

If someone could remove the same amount of surface from the bait with the same weight of material as it is replaced with then the action should be same. That would be hard to do.

This is not to say that a custom painted bait with a devcon topcoat will be ruined, and my original post was just to say that the action would be changed.

2 post were added to this thread as I was typing this out so some may be duplicated information.

[BobP]

On plastic #5 Shadraps RS clearcoated with D2T, I haven't had any problems - still suspend, still catch fish. Is the action exactly the same as the original? Maybe not, but close. If they're balsa Shadraps, I would just lightly sand, paint, and clearcoat with Dick Nite Fishermun's Lurecoat. It's very thin and tough. Weight difference would be minimal. I like to repaint but if it's a "fish magnet", I say patch cracks/chips rather than repainting if possible. Anything and everything you do to a bait changes it - including fishing it!