crappie-sized crankbaits

Here are some nice crappie-sized crankbaits I painted and am waiting on hooks…..and open water.

The two at the top of the picture have basically identical color patterns except the one on the left has a blue back, purple on the one on the right. Both have a clear coat with purple – to – blue color shifting pigments in it and in the sun they’re something else. The two lower baits are both shad color and the smoke back has the same color shifting top coat and they are like the other….something else in the sun.

The bodies on these are “just” 1.5″ in length. The bill will get these down to about 8 feet on a decent cast. Bring on the open water!

Looks great

Tom those are sweet !

Here are the last three, painted in Chartreuse/Flo. Orange, of the 15 from my first order. Second order is on its way. lol I’m liking this bait for painting.

On these three the clear gloss top coat has Platinum Pearl added to it to make it an interference color and it does an outstanding job in that department. I’ll have to get a picture tomorrow in full natural light to show how this stuff works. The results are uncanny. The Platinum Pearl is not a gold, nor a copper or bronze. It looks like it wants to be a real pale gold but just doesn’t get there. In natural light this stuff just dances all over the orange. Crazy stull, bit I like it.

Those look great Tom!
I am just starting to mess around with painting crankbaits – what do you use for clear coat?

I use Createx clear gloss top coat to finish the painting process. In these pictures I have added either the platinum pearl for the orange baits or a color shifting pearl in the others for the final sprayed coat. After fixing the eyes I dip the entire PAINTED surface in CS Seal Coat, let the bait drip excess back into the jar, then hang the baits until dried. Some people will brush on thinned Devcon epoxy, though not the five minute stuff. Other Use Diamond Seal, but its very spendy. All of these will achieve the same end result.

Hey Tom those look amazing. Was just wondering where you got the bodies from? Was thinking I could stand to add a few to the box.

The ones shown came from Shelt’s but in checking just now for the address for you I see they are out of them.

http://www.sheltfishingtackle.com/unpainted-medium-divers-blanks-c-6/

Check back with them every week or so as they are usually pretty good about re-stocking.

Check here too for very similar bodies.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=unpainted+crankbait+bodies&msclkid=a54cd89047af11ca079384105f46a5f6&ul_noapp=true&rt=nc&_pgn=1

Thanks Tom, I’ll have to get some. Thanks

Here are some crappie and pumpkinseeds done on a slightly different bait of the same size. These turned out pretty decent.