There’s an old saying about us when it comes to buying fishing tackle. “Baits are meant to hook fishermen, not fish.” There’s also certain baits that just work so good you can’t keep the paint on them. Whether it’s a chartreuse & black crankbait with a design that only works in clear water, or a jerkbait that’s been choked down a fish’s throat one too many times, I’ve started to experiment with a new way to fix the problem of good lures that are the wrong color, and good lures that are missing paint from errant casts and battles with largemouth.
I spent a little time this winter pulling lures out of my boxes that had never been thrown and would never be thrown. After the dust cleared and I had sold some of them off, I hung onto a couple old jerkbaits, cranks, and topwaters that still had life in em’. After asking around, talking to a couple pros, and spending countless hours starting at pictures of painted baits online, I shipped 4 lures to BB-Lures and 4 lures to Baitwerks.
Rogue painted by www.BaitWerks.com
# 7 Shad Rap by www.BaitWerks.com
What I received in return was amazing…almost too pretty to throw. The first batch I got back from Dwain Batey at BaitWerks.com included 2 old rogues and 2 chartreuse shad raps that somehow found their way into my collection. Following a recommendation from Clark Reehm, I opted to get all four of them painted in Dwain’s ‘Melorite’ pattern. After changing out the stock hooks in favor of a premium, fish sticking set of EWG trebles, these baits were ready for late-winter action. But…the only time I’ve been on the water since they’ve been tied on was at La Cygne Reservoir in East-Central Kansas. With the hot water discharging from the power plant the 58 degree water was a little warm for a jerkbait or tight-wobbling balsa crankbait to be effective. Last Sunday we ended up catching them pitching jigs and plastics to bushes with icicles hanging off of them…1ft of water in the middle of winter!
Kentucky Bluegill pattern by BB-Lures
A Norman DD22, Lucky Craft Gunfish, BDS, and Pointer 100DD got shipped to Bill Barton at BB-Lures. From looking at his pics on Facebook I could tell he paints a nasty bluegill pattern, but I opted for his threadfin and gizzard shad patterns. A deep diving crankbait, topwater, and squarebill won’t see any duty this time of year, but you had better believe the jerkbait pictured here is going to see a few fish this winter!
LC Pointer 100DD and LC Gunfish by BB-Lures
Both of these guys can be found and easily contacted on Facebook or on their own websites…got a pointer that’s the wrong color or a topwater that’s chewed up? I highly suggest you give them a try!
