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This. Is. Awesome. I bet it's about the right size for great white sharks and orcas.

There is a rattle can rainbow trout clipped at the bottom this pic. It is also in pic 2 at the top. What I do is: 1. paint+primer flat white base coat on whole bait 2. pearl mist on belly with belly directly facing nozzle. Sometimes I skip this and keep the white bottom for stained water. 3. You can use a fine mesh here for scales if you want. Metallic silver or Shimmer Metallic silver (Krylon) with back(top) of the lure facing nozzle at slight angle so the paint hits the shoulder and fades down the sides. Give a good dry time here. 4. Use low adhesion masking tape to mark a stripe area down each side of the bait. Spray a few light passes in pink. I found a can of ‘English rose’ color that makes a good rainbow trout stripe. Here you can also do something like paint the stripe purple, keep tape on and let dry, apply mesh, and hit same are with pink so you get purple and pink in the stripe. 5. Spray the back of the bait with a green with the center of the back directly facing the nozzle. The top will get hit and fade onto the shoulder. I have used army green, camo green, dark olive, forest green. 6. Dot with black or purple Sharpie. Or hand dot with small brush. I have used small cans of Rustoleum here because I have a bunch of them. 7. Optional- you can do another light pass of the green on the back here to blend in the shoulder dots a touch. 8. Optional- hit the sides with a quick light pass of Krylon Glitter blast in gold or silver. Keep the nozzle a bit further away from the bait. Only looking for a light dusting here. I do a practice spray away from the bait to gauge the spray flow so I don’t cover the paint job in glitter. I have done a bunch of rainbow trout baits. I sometimes change the colors a bit depending on what I have and what is on sale. It is easy but there is some drying time in between steps. You can use a hair dryer to speed this up if you keep the coats light.

swim video?

Work. Of. Art. I think I need it lol. just to umm... Yaknow, to do some prototype testing...

Does that blade chatter well with that big lure body on it? Excellent catch!

Got munched!

Thanks...this is my first attempt at a big thread fin

Looks good man!

This bait was made for the lure contest but I thought it was open through the end of April rather then closing on the 29th. so I hope you enjoy this bait here instead. It is a sunfish glide bait bade from colored pencils.

Thanks gentlemen!

Still a cool looking swimbait and would be interested in see some of your other work. But if I remember you won with this same lure last year

Wayyy better than what I was making at 15 haha…nicely done!

Exceptional work Ryan. Your stuff is so clean and well done.

Awesome Sauger Pattern!

Thanks both! Fishin Big: it's cunningly designed to scare off the smaller fish and only catch the big, tough ones.

Wow... Your spoon/spoonplug type baits never cease to amaze me!

The sheer depth of this paint job is really nice...love it!

Not perfect, but the bait looks great! It's amazing how much information is on this site. So many people have so much experience. I've learned a bunch over the last couple years. My next jump is going to be into using an airbrush, as the finish is just so much higher quality looking. Did you airbrush this?

Thanks, yea totally use the idea. I'm definitely not the first one to do this! Honestly, I don't exactly make lures just to sell, but I made a few of these as gifts last year, and they were super popular. So I made more this year, and sold more than I could make before Christmas. You end up reaching a MASSIVE demographic of people who would never buy a lure, but know someone in their life who loves hunting/fishing. It makes a great gift for any "man cave".

More pumpkinseed cranks, this time with the turquoise applied with an airbrush over mesh. The fat one on the left has already caught a bunch of fish.

Almost didn't see the spider haha...looks sick!

I like it! Reminds me of a baby porcupine too

We're gonna need a bigger boat!

That's excellent!

Spoon & Fork pike/musky lure Salad serving size.

Is this a spear fishing decoy? Bite marks is a nice touch.

Nice bait! But i just wanted to let you know, you are only allowed one image. Just a heads up.

AMAZING Sauger!!!

Looks great...I'd throw it!

Super clean, super cool, super creative. Awesome Ryan!

Thanks eastman, and yes!

Very nice...and it looks good too! What is it about the wire weed guard that makes it better than bristles?

Thanks, I like how easy it is to form the head. Just a slice with a razor blade.

Looks great!

I'm right there with you Just got my airbrush set up and It's a blast! So many possibilities.

3Lb is a VERY nice fish. The biggest I ever saw was 1Lb from a bomb crater pit on the Wirral, UK. Before and after that day the water only produced 4oz perch. Dave

looks pretty sweet!

Beautifully done.

That is awesome! Did you make that out of wood or Resin?

Great work as well !

basswood and thankyou

Way too many joints I would have lost at least two if I attempted that build lol

Here is the swimming action of it.

sweet

You have done a marvelous job on this first prototype. You must be very disappointed that it did not work as expected first time. More prototyping needs to be done before you spend time carving details. Your analysis of your problems is correct. The proportion ratio needs addressing, and I would suggest work in the body around the forward side of the hinges. The rear side is fine, simply angle the forward side to form a Vee in the same direction. This seems like an insignificant change, but believe me, it will make a difference. Have a look at this video that I made on this subject. As for the proportion, I suggest a 4:3:3:3 ratio, not including the hinges. This would make the head a little longer. A BIG factor to success is hinge friction. Hinges have to be totally free or binding will occur. You could try tapering both ends of the center dowels slightly, removing that face-to-face contact, this might help. You may need more thickness at the head, to generate more powerful vortices. Thicken up from the lip to the top of the forehead. Except for the ratio, all these ideas could be incorporated into this design prototype, using Bondo and a bit of whittling. You are so close. Dave

really nice paint job!

I love it.

Goliath grouper hybrid?

Before I looked at the title or comments I thought, "Now there is a proper bluegill... er no pumpkin seed pattern."

nothing' wrong with that- now go and paint 100 more and look at the difference - it will amaze you! good job