Northwest Fishing Reports

I was painting up some perch patterns and a yellow base rainbow pattern.

Now I am NOT an artist, but I do the best I can with what I have/am.

Can you review the lures and let me know what you do and what you don't like about the paint jobs. Please tell me why.

The pic of the four looks pretty darn perchy

they look good to me, wish the pics were a bit bigger. Mind sharing your painting technique? I was thinking of playing around with some paint projects on crank baits.

I need a lesson on putting pics on the site. I had trouble in reducing the pic size to a size that would post. then they were too small. Let me know which one you want to see closer and I take more pictures. I'll see what I can do and re-post.

I use an air brush, painting the base color first. In the case of the perch, I used gold pearl Createx. To get a little green to it, I painted over it with transparent green. This makes it way too green, but when I then put a top coat of more gold pearl, it tones the green down. It is hard to see in the pictures, but the green really pops in the sun.

I cut out the perch bars to make a templet. I use 5 x 7 file index cards for this, but I have tried foil with excellent results as well. To get the scale pattern, I shoot the paint through bridal vail mesh I got at the hobby store.

I wrap the lure with the mesh and then the templet over the lure. I then spray light coats of paint on top. The color is a mix of transparent brown and transparent green.

I am still working on the orange fin detail. Some of them are free hand, some through a templet I cut out. The rest of the details are free hand, with the gill plate red painted with a very fine brush.

I found most of the methods on a lure making web site in Europe, translated into English. They were using spray cans of paint, but I can't control them well enough.

what kind of paint?

Mike Carey wrote:what kind of paint?

Createx airbrush paint. It is a latex paint.

For Bass and Rainbows, it is strong enough on its own, but for toothy species, it scrapes and peels after time. I normally top coat it with a hard clear finish.

Right now I am using a 24 hour epoxy. I thin the epoxy after mixing with a little denatured alcohol to brush painting thickness. I paint the lure, then it must be kept turning to prevent sagging. I am making a lure turner to do that for me out of a gearmotor (2 RPM). Some use Envirotex Lite, others use automotive clear coat (dangerous so use a mask and excellent ventilation).

they look great. keep up the good work. might have to send some plugs your way for steelhead

those look great, you inspired.To get back into it

They look GREAT to me! if you wanted to get rid of a few I might know a guy ;)

curado wrote:they look great. keep up the good work. might have to send some plugs your way for steelhead

With a long lead time. I do this for fun, not money, so they get painted when I am not working. LOL

cudaman wrote:those look great, you inspired.To get back into it

Funny, your the one that inspired me to start.

If I was a fish I'd bite them. They look awesome.I like the first one with the red blood spot.

racfish wrote:If I was a fish I'd bite them. They look awesome.I like the first one with the red blood spot.

I toss a lot of the S-Wavers for large trout at RW and Sprague. That color, while not on an S-Waver, is one I played with for the oversize fish. It worked really well, even better then the standard S-Waver colors. I lost the S-Waver I painted up that way, but another will be painted.

So, thanks everyone for telling me what you like, but what you don't like is just as important, if not more so, to me.

So, dish the dirt, I need it.

Let's see if this picture will post better.

Well, at least it can be viewed.

Mike, will this help? One thing is for sure, my photoshop skills are even worse then my painting skills. This took some trial and error.

thanks ,i got into a lull but seeing other peoples work helps ones creativity .just look how lure company,s cpoy each other .Dont worry though im just glad to see other lure makers out there.great job

Oh Yes, the River2Sea collection. I would like to see a little more orange on the belly. Nothing bright like finger nail polish, but something clean that triggers. I have had my best luck on hard baits with orange bellies. A gold and black or perch pattern. Long, Rock, and Waitts lake fish seem to prefer it anyway. Nice looking lures. looks like a fun hobby, maybe after I get done super tuning my reels, or at least attempting to.

I'd like to get my hands on one of them Perch lures. Great for my local bassin hole. Was using a Rapala perch, but them bass busted it up

Wow you got some big pics on here. Those big pics really let us see what an outstanding job you did on painting those. All I can say is WOW!!!

Thanks guys.

goodtimesfishing, I have become a bit better with my painting since these were put up. I should put up some new pictures. I need to do a better job of re-sizing the pictures. LOL

Bryne Chum, perhaps I can hook you up closer to spring. I am not doing the same lure right now, I have one I created called the wandering taildragger that looks similar but has a better depth, better swimming action, and far better hook up ration. I was going to do a perch pattern soon but I am waiting for some special paint. Perhaps if you PM me a picture of just what pattern you are looking for?????

I took some time to work up a new lure. It actually made finalist status in a contest, but you know what they say, 2nd place is first looser. I call it the wandering taildragger.

The top one is a silver based rainbow trout fingerling. The next two are pearl chrome based rainbow trout fingerlings. Following that are two brown trout fingerlings. The last row has a mottled sculpin and finally a large scale sucker.

It took a lot of research to find the actual colors of the fingerling sized fish to copy. The colors seem to work pretty well.