Jump to content
TheSilverFox

Just Thinking...

Recommended Posts

With all these guys painting cranks now using stencils and photo film images, how much more effective do you think it is? Some of the painting and most of the photo images look really life like.

i have to say it's my opinion it catches more fishermen than it does fish when compared to your older style basic paints. With cranks being an reaction style bait, they eat it without getting long to look at it. It's here and gone... at least in my presentation. I may stop the bait for 1/2 second but most of the time it's a steady crank unless I hang it up, then it stops! I don't know about you guys but I couldn't tell you what just passed by me other than a basic color when it's moving away and side to side at the same time... especially with the tricks being underwater would play on me. If the water was swimming pool clear then it would possibly be a little easier.

I'm not trying to knock anyone here... I paint some as life-like as I can from time to time but the majority of the time I paint for people it's a color style they want followed... and I paint cranks for some pretty good fishermen. It just seems to me that having 2 or 3 cranks that match colors for the price of one life-like paint or photo image would be better... at least for me.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with you on many levels, i make my own balsa baits and have not yet bought an airbrush, i just use spray paint, the paint jobs look ok but I can only do basic patterns like shad, of alabama craw. they catch fish better than anything in my tacklebox, but once someone sees one they want to know if i can do a sunfish color of a tennesee shad color, does it really matter to the fish? or are we trying to catch fisherman, not fish?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I LOVE all the detail on the lures I'm seeing out there, and I'm looking forward to trying to recreate some of the things I've seen, but do the fish notice all the detail?  When you consider a Pike will hit a red and white spoon, or a Muskie favorite is the orange and black tiger stripe, I'm not sure all the detail matters as much as we might think, but what do I know?  My personal thought is that the fish can't see most of the detail, but it definitely can't hurt to have it there, in case it does matter, plus, it really looks cool.

 

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bass can't see the detail until the lure is directly in front of them within 12" of their nose.  When I make baits for myself I could care less how detailed they are but the moment I make some for sell I am not selling to fish so they need to be alot more realistic.  The people that I am selling the baits to, do see in great detail and that is the unfortunate truth.  If sales are your end game then get real good at realistic finishes but if it is just about fishing then you do what ever you want regardless of what every one else wants. 

 

As a lure maker I love seeing the realistic paint jobs alot of these guys can do.  I do not have that raw talent and may never have it but if I did I would definately use it to my advantage.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No doubt it's nice but for who? It's kinda like mono vs fluorocarbon line for me. Is it necessary? Not in my opinion. If a fish will hit an Alabama rig with all those wires, whats a little line they can see gonna hurt? I fish fluorocarbon line but usually only in the cooler months when their bites are very light... and then i still feel I could probably catch them on mono. This year I haven't spooled any of my reels with it and don't know if I will. I've never used it for anything but a jig rod or a grub rod... Haven't used it on grubs in the past 2 years.

I can see making a lure like a jig look as life-like as you can. It's a slow presentation for the most part. But something that's moving I don't know that it helps. If it does I'd say it's very little.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as what bass see underwater I'm pretty sure we don't know all there is to know about that subject. An article I read recently was explaining the different types of flash a bass sees in different water and weather conditions as well as the type and color of the blades used on a spinnerbait. When we look at a spinning blade we mostly see a bright flash. The article claimed that a bass could actually see the individual flashes as the blade turned. Something akin to a strobe effect. Does that relate to the color schemes used on crankbaits? I don't know, but realistic finishes do catch fish. If we knew all there was to know about catching fish it wouldn't be as challenging or as much fun. If you like the old style patterns then use them. If you like the realistic photo finishes then use that method. There's plenty of room for both styles. That's why I try to keep an open mind when it comes to things like this.

 

just my :twocents: ,

 

Ben

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not knocking anyone who does it or buys it... just a general statement that i think it catches more fishermen than fish. My shad patterns are pretty life like even down to dot placement. The only thing they are missing is a crankbait that really looks like a shad body. Several baits I paint for guys are nothing like a shad color but they all have the dot and none of them are where they would be on a shad. These craw baits guys paint now... you ever seen a craw swim? We are backwards of the way they actually move.

That's all I'm saying... I guess it's the same reason car makers make ugly cars and use ugly colors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't mean that in a negative or deceptive way...we all know if you tie on a 6" purple Texas rigged plastic worm we will probably catch fish. Over time guys get convinced that the fish get conditioned to a color or a bait and stop throwing it...a good custom painted crankbait gives them (fisherman) the confidence that they are throwing something that few if any others on that lake have, thus fish have not seen it. My end is...if it gives them added confidence, they use it more, catch fish,...everyone is happy. Most of what we do is psychological anyway...

Edited by Cougarftd
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"it's my opinion it catches more fishermen than it does fish"

 

Absolutely right, plenty of fish were caught before these fancy finishes came onto the scene and I think a bait can look too realistic sometimes when fish will respond better to a more animated finish, a lures action is infinitely more important than the finish.

 

Having said that I love experimenting with finishes and that is a hobby in itself  8O 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"a lures action is infinitely more important than the finish"

 

That might be true most of the time, but not always. If you had been fishing Sam Rayburn back in the early spring of 1990 you would agree. We all know how popular rattle baits are in the early spring and that year was no different. The only thing was that if you were fishing anything other than a pumpkin seed 'trap you weren't catching fish. Bill Lewis couldn't build them and ship them fast enough. When you were lucky enough to find some you didn't buy one or two. You bought all they would sell you.

 

Many times I've had "followers" track a bait all the way to the boat without biting only to change to the same bait in a different color and start catching them. If I've learned anything over the many years spent fishing it's that just as soon as you think you've got bass figured out they will throw you a curve ball.

 

Ben

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some years ago I took a small dry branch from the shoreline; tied two treble hooks on it with mono. Then tied it on my line. I caught 2 bass before the twig broke.

 

The point of the experiment was to prove to myself that fish will hit just about anything if it attracts them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what exactly is the attraction of a small dry branch?...could it possibly have been a pond where there was limited food resources and the fish were starving?

No. It was in a lake that we fish tournaments in. Like I said it's just an instinctive reaction. Some topwater baits work the same way.

Take a buzzbait for instance. What the heck does that look like to a bass. Certainly nothing it usually eats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry not offend anyone, I just never found bass to be the smartest fish in the pond. Maybe that's where the term Dumbass comes from LOL.

Didn't offend me. Got to do a lot more than that. It would be something like Montreal Canadians suck.lol (I'm a Canadian like you)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...


×
×
  • Create New...
Top