# From the carnage some natural paint jobs.



## TIGGER

Well its been a while since I posted some musky baits. The walleye baits are nice playing around with the bright colors and contrasts but I really love painting the natural patterns.

I have expensive , medium priced , and old used guns that I have bought. I have tried the cup feed on top and the siphon drawers from the bottom. It is funny that my favorite brush is an old Pasche siphon feed. When I paint I leave carnage on my paint bench. I am a total slob. I am impatient and messy at the same time. When ever I start to make baits I have to bring a garbage can in the shop and just throw away bottles of paint I forgot to close. I have to soak my airbrush for days in MEK to free up the nozzle. 
I shoot my paints at 40 lbs or higher. It is really not what you are suppose to do. I can never add my .02 cents on a painting thread to start anyone in some bad habits. I know with the high end airbrushes you can paint a single hair line. Mine are never that clean and I all my fine tips have right angle bends on the ends from knocking off access paint. Here is my train wreck work bench and my airbrush that I have been painting with this week. I have to leave the back cap off my airbrush because it clogs every 10 minutes.



































Well some how from this carnage these appear. These are some 6 " musky shad baits. I hand painted some blank glass taxidermy eyes. 
















































This is an 8" perch glider that suspends. It has taxidermy eyes.


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## TIGGER

Here are some smaller shad type crankbaits. The are 3-3/4" long and a bomber fat "A" type of shape. These are the smallest baits that I have put glass eyes into. They blank eyes that I painted.


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## TIGGER

This is a shad body in an 6" length but with a fatter hump back. I painted some in perch patterns.












































This is a cedar body in a 5" length. I tapered the body to the tail. It was hard to run a router around the tail area. In a perch pattern also.


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## Boondock77

haha, I think if a bomb when off on the bench it'd look cleaner than that. haha, but isn't that bench about typical?


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## TIGGER

Boondock........ I get to the point where I have to walk away from it for a couple of months at at time thinking it will get cleaned up by itself.

Here are a couple of trout patterns.



































I love painting the bluegill patterns.


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## Boondock77

those gills look good... what's giving you that hex pattern base on all the lures?


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## Bischoff66

Wow I am blown away by your work!!! I dont know if I could fish with something that looked that good.


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## JamesT

I am speechless.

And glad to see that I am not the only slob! Only I am much more slobby than you.


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys, 

The hex pattern is mesh netting bought from the fabric store. You just paint the color you want remaining after you paint over it. You stretch the mesh over the top of the lure and use small clips to hold under the belly. Paint away and then remove the netting. The color below will show through the scale pattern. Just make sure your paint is dry before removing the netting. It will smear your scale pattern. I use a blow dryer to help dry it. You can see the little clips I use to pinch the netting on the bench in the picture.

James I do get out of hand when I get going. My shoes are covered in drips! In the summer when I paint in sandels my daughter gets a kick out of the paint on my toenails. I am glad you paint like I do ! 

John


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## ShutUpNFish

Amazing work!


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## K gonefishin

Geez John, how do your amazing baits even come out of that mess.  unbelievable. your gun doesn't even look like it will spray anymore.


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## CarpetBagger

You paint up some deep divers for eyes and ill pay $7-10 each for em...

Amazing work...Pure art...


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## SELL-FISH

CarpetBagger said:


> You paint up some deep divers for eyes and ill pay $7-10 each for em...
> 
> Amazing work...Pure art...


$7-$10 Dude he gets like a minimum of $100.00 a piece for his baits. John could sign a dog turd and sell it for $50.00 bucks on ebay. I have 20 of his walleye baits and they are sick fish pulling weapons. Plus they are all signed so if times get tough at least i can pay my mortage for a couple months. J/K I wouldn't part with em for anything.


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## MadMac

Beautiful baits John. You've been busy. So do you wear gloves to handle that gun or what. lol


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## crittergitter

Wow! Awesome baits, but this has me wondering............do I really want to get into airbrushing this winter? lol


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## Hetfieldinn

CarpetBagger said:


> You paint up some deep divers for eyes and ill pay $7-10 each for em...


You'll have to add a zero or two to that if you want to get your mits on John's baits.


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## triton175

John, my workbench/paint area is nice and neat and well organized. My airbrushes look brand-new. But for some reason my baits don't come out looking like yours.
Maybe if I get sloppier in the work area my baits will come out better....thanks for the tip.


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## BassSlayerChris

You are a artist. Those are beautiful! You should make an sell them for the big bucks!


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## sonar

Tigger, this work is perfect!!!!!!!!! your work shop, also is PERFECT. You have more important things to do than pretty-up your shop! I know that's how mine looks too! Awesome work ! Keep it up!------------sonar..........


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys for the kind words. 

I never had art class in school or at least past the 6th grade. I always thought I would like to learn some day. Believe me I have ruined many of lures with crazy ideas.  

I really like the natural paint jobs. I do have trouble with patterns like firetigers and such. Patterns with crisp lines and stripes mess be up big time. 

I have been lucky with the ebay thing. Lure collectors and a strong following from Europe keep them the baits in demand. I have never started a listing of more than .99 cents. The rest is done by the bidders. I am forever greatful!

Off to clean the shop!

John


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## tomb

> I always thought I would like to learn some day.


Your sure not doing too bad the way it is now If carnage produces art, than so be it.


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## TIGGER

I just finished a 10" walleye trolling bait for muskies. 
























We caught some fish on one just like it I made last year for up at Lake St. Clair. We also caught a 5 lb walleye with it. Not sure what the walleye was thinking. It was almost half the size of the fish.

This musky got tangled up pretty good. It was released safely. Sometimes those three hook baits can tear the fish up around the face area. I am glad it didn't hit the core of the gills. There was no bleeding.


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## SolarFall

uhhhh what else can i do but to just drool all over my keyboard when you post stuff like that.. beautiful stuff mate


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## tomb

Nice muskie, and one aggressive walleye! It's cool how all your lures have that distinctive face/head on them John. I would know a lure was yours even w/o a signature on it.


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys..........

Solarfall the scale painting you do is incredible!


Well I got a hold of some mahogany from a job we are working on at work. I reclaimed it from the scrap wood burn boxes. I made three one inch thick trolling bait bodies. They are 9" long. I did a Perch , Walleye and a Sucker. They have 8/0 hooks and weigh 7-5/8 OZ. I am working some 2" little buggers from the scrap off these bodie. They are hard to get balanced. I hope I don't have to throw them away. I will find out later in the week as the epoxy coating goes on them.


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## MEISTERICS

Last Spring i shaped a bait nearly identical to your new 9" mahagony baits. But its only 7 inches. I never finished the bait. Not really sure why, maybe one day. 

Nice work John.


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## TIGGER

Well I decided to try to make a couple shad out of some 1/2" thick scrap mahogany. I decided to go with some oversized glass eyes to help give front end weight to the bait. It turned out to a pleasant suprise. They make the bait shimmy/swim instead of a wobble. The eyes must have some water dynamics involved like a wing on a airplane.











I also like the effect it gave the face of the baits. They are 6" long.


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## TIGGER

This one I just finished today. It is a Red Belly Dace. I remember catching these as a kid down at the creek. It is out of 1-1/4" thick mahogany and is 9" long.


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## MadMac

Those are sweet John. I really like the shads with the eyes.


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## Brian.Smith

All i can say is i really like the tackle making forum you guys do an amazing job with your work.


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## TIGGER

Here is one I finished this week. It is a smallmouth out of the 1-1/4" thick mahogany body. I used the testors little paint jars from the Hobby Town USA. You can get the bronze , gold , and other metalic paints and mix them for just the right color. The guys there laugh when I come in. I buy just about every little bottle they have. It is amazing how many different colors they have for model making. I even started to take rattle cans and just spray them into glass bottles and spray them out of the siphon gun.




































I had some resin bodies that I weighted to heavy for my cranks and decided to try them for glider bodies. Earlier in this thread you can see the same body with lips in them. I filled the lip slot back in and they worked great for little 5" gliders. I did a White Crappie pattern and a little Bluegill. They cast great and are not to bulky.


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## TIGGER

I have always wanted to try a Golden Shiner in this body style. I just finished it yesterday. With it getting dark early there is alot of time to kill!

It is 10" long made out of solid resin. It weighs 5.5 OZ.


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## ezbite

TIGGER said:


> I have always wanted to try a Golden Shiner in this body style. I just finished it yesterday. With it getting dark early there is alot of time to kill!
> 
> It is 10" long made out of solid resin. It weighs 5.5 OZ.


thats a great looking bait.


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## SolarFall

great looking baits once again, i especially like that golden shiner color scheme, it defineatly looks like something that might work well here too.


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## JamesT

Schweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys. I want to try one in a 6" version some day. I hope to try a musky and some pike patterns soon. 

Tom, I hope to icefish skeeter alot this winter. Do you go? I think you live out that way. Jig and I are chomping at the bit for it to ice up. 

Solarfall, You have been making some very nice lures! What kind of fish in Finland have the shiner pattern? Are they called shiners there also or something else?

James I am waiting for you to bust out some new projects. With Winter here we have lots of time for making sawdust!

John


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## SolarFall

TIGGER said:


> Thanks guys. I want to try one in a 6" version some day. I hope to try a musky and some pike patterns soon.
> 
> Tom, I hope to icefish skeeter alot this winter. Do you go? I think you live out that way. Jig and I are chomping at the bit for it to ice up.
> 
> Solarfall, You have been making some very nice lures! What kind of fish in Finland have the shiner pattern? Are they called shiners there also or something else?
> 
> James I am waiting for you to bust out some new projects. With Winter here we have lots of time for making sawdust!
> 
> John


thanks john i haven't been too active with the lure making but i did make a small patch today of that latest pattern that i posted here tackle making section. we'll see what kind of color patterns i will come up this time, i have few cool ones already lurking in the back of my mind. 
about your shiner question, i could be mistaken here but im pretty sure there are no shiners here in Finland but there are several small pray fish that kinda look like them. 

-Mikko


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## TIGGER

Mikko, I know you will come up with some good stuff as always! Do you guys have the those "Roaches" there?


Here is a cisco I completed today. Snowing pretty steady today here in the snow belt in Northeast Ohio. Maybe 5 inches or more today. Good day to work in the shop. The dang plow truck already took out my mailbox!!!!!!!!!!!

10" solid resing body with 4/0 hooks.


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## SolarFall

yeah we do have roaches here, its actually my favorite pattern to try and imitat. and if your curious you can check the common species of fish that we have here http://www.skes.fi/fish-species.php

oohh and nice looking cisco, i have 2 unfinished bodies that kinda look like that one. good thing i have the whole winter to deside what im gonna do with them.
btw im curious since you said that's a solid resin body, what type of resin do you use? and what do you use for the mold


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## TIGGER

Mikko, I use Alumilite resin and add the micro ballons. I make the molds from RTV silicone.

Do you use any resins? What kind of wood do you use for your lures? Do you have cedars over there?

Great link to the fish patterns. Thanks!

What do the pike over feed mostly on in Finland?

John


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## MEISTERICS

I painted up a few Golden shiners in my 7 inch bodies. The Guys at St Clair really liked that color. ALOT. I guess what i am trying to say is that it will catch fish.

Great work John.

I will be posting some of my latest batch likely late next week.


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## SolarFall

TIGGER said:


> Mikko, I use Alumilite resin and add the micro ballons. I make the molds from RTV silicone.
> 
> Do you use any resins? What kind of wood do you use for your lures? Do you have cedars over there?
> 
> Great link to the fish patterns. Thanks!
> 
> What do the pike over feed mostly on in Finland?
> 
> John


ahhh like i guessed its alumilite and micro balloons, i've never tryed it my self, i might give it a go sometime, it would definitely make the whole process that more easier than making the lures out from wood. 
Usually i have used oak or maple to make my pike lures, its nice when you dont have to put ton of lead to the belly when the wood it self is pretty heavy. 
I guess pikes feed mostly the kind of pray fish that is most abundant in its own environment, here in the near by lake those pray fish seem to be roach and perch and of course other too since pike can be very opportunistic when it comes to food.


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## TIGGER

Mikko, The alumilite is neat stuff to work with. You do have to be careful in having the right mixture of ballons to resin. I have had to throw many away by not having enough in the mixture. If you don't have the bouyancy a crank will not work to its fullest. It is the diving action working against the floating that is a big factor in a crank having a nice action. There are many other factors but that is a big part of the equation. I actually viewed some of those Larry Dalberg videos on the Alumilite site today........... Neat stuff! It is in the sister links towards the bottom (tacklemaking link). I want to try that rubber stuff now!

Jared I can't wait to the new stuff. I am glad to hear your baits are catching up there. I love Lake St. Clair! I think fishing up there ruined me from fishing Ohio with my limit free time that I have. I want to get back into fishing Westbranch in 2011. It is only 45 minutes away.



Here are some others that I did recently. I did this Largemouth bass out of 1-1/4" thick mahogany. It is 9" long.
























I got into some with foiled sides. This one is a Cisco out of 1/2" mahogany with silver foiled sides. It is 10" long. I put some blue pearl automotive finish lightly over its back.






































These last two have real copper for their sides. One is 10" long and the other shad is 6" long. They both have mahogany bodies also.









































From the Snow family we wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!

John


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## puterdude

Man Tigger,those are a work of art.You are talented for sure!I'd be afraid to fish with those for fear of snagging one.Afraid I'd be diving


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## Jigging Jim

Wow! They would be great in a Fishing Museum. Beautiful work Tigger.


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## SolarFall

yeah john i really need to at least experiment with alumilite, it seems to be neat stuff and you could probably make really detailed work with it with out having the pain in the butt individual lure carving that you have with wood. btw how long does it make for that stuff to fully harden ?
ps. very nice baits once again  the cisco you did kinda reminds me of a bigger brother of a deep diving lure i have drying right now


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## Nikster

Some of the work you guyzzz's do is AMAZING!

Nik,


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys!

SolarFall...... the ALumilite sets up in 5 minutes and gets fully hard after about 15 minutes.

Here a couple of gliders I made from mahogany. They have a silver foil side. One is a White Crappie and the other is a White Bass.














































John


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## Pikopath

John, you dont have any oil issues? The poly I use will also harden in 10 minutes, but are disposing oils for atleast a couple of days. 

Michael


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## TIGGER

Hey Michael, Yes at the start I had bad issues with an oil residue. I was not using the Alumilite products. It got so bad I almost abandoned it. I ended up using the Alumilite systems and thing started working out great. Now I make the bodies and let them sit around for a month. I noticed that the reaction was not completely done for about a week with degassing. Alot of the issues I was having was the type of microballons I was using. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of them from another company. They were purple in color and for the marine industry. The purple ones expanded like crazy but they left oil pockets on the baits. 

One other thing, If your mixture in not completely mixed it will leave the oil. I will mix it untill it is almost expanding in the cup. Also don't be afraid to heat your mold before you pour the body. I hope this helps. I bet you are doing all the things I mentioned. What type of product are you using?


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## Pikopath

TIGGER said:


> One other thing, If your mixture in not completely mixed it will leave the oil. I will mix it untill it is almost expanding in the cup. Also don't be afraid to heat your mold before you pour the body. I hope this helps. I bet you are doing all the things I mentioned. What type of product are you using?


Yes, cept for not pour until it starts expanding. That was next on my todo list, because my biggest problem is that my stuff expands so much, and it starts form the outside working inwards, that it cloggs up the vent holes, thus "exploding" my mold.
I throw my blanks in water after 1 hour, it seems to speed up the de-oiling. Which Ive read is a very common issue with polys.
My poly (polyole) is from Axson. I contacted alumilite, but the shipping over here was very hig, besides I found the distributor for Axson and Wacker (silicones) to be 10 minutes from me. So i just drive to their fascilities and pick it up whenever I need.
Now Im out of poly so my experimenting will start up again in '11.

Michael


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## TIGGER

Michael good to hear you have a plastic source there. A couple of tricks with the resin that may help. Not sure if you have a dishwasher. You can put them in there and run a cycle that will help de-grease them. If you don't you wash them with warm water and dish soap.

Expanding molds........... That is one of the biggest things that turns people away after trying the stuff. You need to back your silicone mold. There are many ways to do it. You build a wood box that goes around the silicone mold or you can make your mold at the beginning using lego's as your containment box. Make a little box with the lego's high enough to get your pour, suspend your bait and pour your silicone. Husky's idea from a couple of years ago! After it sets take apart your lego's and remove the mold. You can re-assemble the box anytime you want to do a run of baits. It helps keep the mold from expanding out the side. It will force the expanding mixture up and out your pour top. It is a custom fit to your mold everytime. 

I do not make vent holes when I am making resin baits. I do when I am pouring foam baits.



Hear are a couple 4" resin Hot-N-Tot style bait I played around with last week. 
















































This is a 6" mahogany shad with silver foiled sides.


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## JIG

Nice work John! After reading some of this stuff and all the pics Im startin to understand the process.


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## bowhunter29

John,

If you and I have time, I'd like to pick your brain about resin at the Butler show. You do a great job explaining things and your work speaks for itself. Those are some beautiful little baits.

jeremy


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## TIGGER

Well I started messing around with the shad bodies some more. My friend Jim who has the bait shop by LaDue asked me to do a little shad glider for his upcoming bass tournament at Lake Norman. I wanted to give it some flash so I put some fancy wrapping paper as its base. It gave the bait a neat finish. It is a slow sinking glider / twitch bait. It is spinning on the wheel at the moment. I can't wait to give it to him.























I tried one in crankbait form with a little different head. I moved the lip down under the head more. I can't wait to cast it in some open water to see how it swims.
























The shad heads drive me nuts!!!!!!! It is so hard to get that "mother of pearl" look to the cheeks. 














I have this one that is almost done. I tried foil with the wrapping paper. I just have to finish up the head and eyes detailing. Getting a little closer to the look that I want. The whole thing is insane.


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## Pikopath

Wow, that foil one is great, and the last picture, the head...the iris...insane. 
Also thanks for the tip on the casting, I will note them in my cookbook and try later on, now Im back with regular wood work again. I did try to box the mold in, but I didnt make it strong enough.

Michael


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## bowhunter29

I really like the shape of that shad body, looks like you have it just about perfect. What are the dimensions on those? They look like they are in the 4.5" range.

jeremy


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## SolarFall

wowzers john those new ones are killer. that prism foil or what ever its called gives a really sweet effect under the upper paint layer, i remember seeing that on a local crafts store and after seeing your stuff i think i have to pop in there and buy some too. 
also that last eye close up pic.. ohh man it does not get any better than that 
-Mikko


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys........... I got them cleaned up tonight. I really really like how the film came out around the eyes of the glider. 

It is hard to keep the film tight as you go around contours. It wants to pucker. You have to put the small patch of 5 minute epoxy down on the lure and them put the film over top of that. Work the epoxy around with your finger to get the air bubbles out. You have to be carefull not to press to hard or there will be no epoxy left to hold down the edges. After it dries you can lightly sand the edge of the film to knock the edge down. Use a very fine grit or it will peal the film like opening a fresh pack of gum. A nice heavy coat of epoxy will bring it back to smooth. It is amazing what you will find at the party supply stores. Anything from cool glitters to neat wrapping paper! 


It came out to 2.2 ounces. It is a very slow sinker and is 4-1/2" long. It is 1" thick at its widest point and is 2-1/4" high.





































The shad crank came out floating! I always freak out my tropical fish when I drop a lure into the tank.  I am always worried about them floating after the final coat. I can't wait to cast it in some open water. I may have to run to downtown Cleveland to cast it off the power plant. The body is same as the glider above. They came from the same mold.


























That is funny you like the eyes on the foil one. The gun was splattering all over the place and I was tired and lazy. I thought I would wipe the paint off the next day and spray them again. They didn't look to bad so I put them anyhow thinking it was just a prototype. I want to try that thinning of the createx you guys do. I just shot it out of the bottle and it is to thick at times. I didn't finish the last shad tonight. I am not sure how I want finish it off.







John


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## puterdude

WOW,simply amazing.That's a thing of masterful art & talent.Great looking lure man period.


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## Pikopath

John, I love the spatter around/on the eyes, Im happy every time it happens to me. Been thinking about using a toothbrush to make a spattertool, if I can control that is.

Michael


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## tomb

Beautiful work as always John! I can't even imagine how difficult those paint jobs are.


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## TIGGER

Thanks for the kind words about the baits. I know the whole thing is a bit obsessive for me. It is nice to go down into the shop and make what ever you feel like making. I start dozens an dozens of baits. Some have been hanging for years and some only weeks. I think about things alot before I am ready to work on them or until I solve a problem in my head. I don't even want to tell you how much time I have put into a single bait.

I have been playing around with this wrapping paper I got at a party store. I like how the baby shads came out so I tried it on a cisco. I really like how it came out. It reminds me of the rebel fast tracks with the "G" finish. Man we would tear up the salmon and trout up at Olcott New York in the 80's on those in the spring running the shore line with planer boards. The bait changes color as you rotate it.


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## SolarFall

bravo john that cisco looks absolutely fantastic. it shows that you have taken alot of time to make that thing, hehe i have spend 10's of hours on 1 lure too. btw ever tryed to make carvings on your baits? like for that cisco pattern that you do,like gill plates would look really wicked on that model. it takes a hell of a long time to do though but its worth it in my oppinnion.
keep em comming your stuff is really inspiring for a baitbuilding junior like me!
-Mikko


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## MadMac

That cisco rocks John. The changing colors remind me of the rocket shad Vince made for me that caught the 51 last year.


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys, 

Steve is your boat running? I asked Bob if you had been fishing Westbranch and he said you are working on the boat. I hope it is alright.

Solarfall you have been making some great baits!

Well I bought a Hagen pro-bender to form some wire baits. Kinda neat trying something different. I have a bunch of walleye stuff I hope to try on the water soon. I will do a little post on the thing and how to make some spinners. 

This one has me excited to try soon on some musky water. I have been playing around with this idea throughout the Winter months. The weighting was tricky. I messed up 3 bodies to get the right action and who knows now many wire / blade combinations. It spins great on a straight retrieve. You can twitch it and it has a glider action with quick darts. On the pause it will decend forward slowly with the blade spinning the whole time. I am hoping to follow deep weed lines and drop-offs. A gaint blade gives the bait a different action. It actually makes the bait shimmy. It moves alot of water and wants to keep the bait moving in a staight line only. I changed it back to a smaller one for the darting action. The big blade will work good up at StClair with an inline weight attached 4 feet in front of it. It can't wait to get a follower and give it a couple of quick twitches with the bait shooting to one side or the other. It is not a heavy setup at all. I am happy with that. No lallygaging for the fish anymore. 

I am working on some others .......hope to post those soon.


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## gunnr

Very cool lookin lure...awesome work as usual


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## "Big" mark the shark

wow"""""""


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## TIGGER

Happy Easter everyone!

Well I have been playing around with some more of the wire and hardbodies. I came up with these. They cast nice and have a little flash to them. I think they will work great casting around weeds. 5" long and made of alumilite resin.
































































This one has more of the typical spinner bait setup.













Since Lake Erie is all tore up and can't fish for the walleyes I decided to make one. It is a top water "walk the dog" type of lure. 8" long. I made the eyes from top coat epoxy and foil.


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## TIGGER

Finished this one up last night. Made from 1/2" thick mahogany and 6" long. It is a suspending model in a bluegill pattern.


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## MadMac

The boat is out of comission John. Getting a motor put in it in about a week from now. Nice baits. I like the idea of the shad body and spinner combo. I bet that will work at the branch.


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## Musky Lip

Those are great I really like your minnow and blade combos. Once I get my skills up I will try and do a lure like that. They look great and the concept makes a lot of sense. It looks like you get the benefits of a baitfish profile and the flash and vibration of a spinner. Do they produce more fish than other lures? Is there a particular issue you had to overcome when designing a minnow/spinning bait?


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## bowhunter29

John, that bluegill is beautiful. Your attention to detail is outstanding! I also really like your new 'spin shad' design. I'm always excited to see the new stuff that you come up with.

jeremy


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## rjbass

John,

Love the spinner baits....do they run straight in or do they have some wobble??? Just wondering....

Rod


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys,

I biggest issue with the spinner in relation to the bait is its size and location. With a standard spinner bait design the line attachment is up and forward like the bluegill one. It is very stable and forgiving. You just have to weight the body enough to stay down and under the blade. When you move the spinner back it wants to tip the bait backwards. By moving it closer to the body and back it helps with the rollback. You have to weight the head heavy for this to work. No matter what the bait will pull with the head up a little. I have one I will post later with a rubber tail on the backside of the shad.
Rod, there is wobble only by the spinning of the blade. You can feel it in the rod tip. The bait wants to travel in a straight line. If you pause and twitch it will do a little movement. The bait with the spinning blade inline out front will move left or right with a twitch as you are retreiving.

Steve hope to see you at the Branch soon!


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## JIG

That bluegill is too cool! I bet you can get some monsters on that! You got me wondering what the other lure you mentioned looks like to?


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## ShutUpNFish

Simply Amazing John!


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## TIGGER

I bought the stuff to make my own rubber baits. I like messing with that stuff but it smells. You need good ventilation. I was heating it up in the microwave but I bought a hot plate to try soon. I bought aluminum curly grub molds and have been playing around with different colors. I have an 8" version coming by mail soon. I hope the injector will hold enough product to fill that one.  

I want to play around with making molds and casting that stuff. Not sure how that will work. I will let you know with silicone molds. I am going to figure out how to get Lake Erie walleyes to hit rubber baits!


Here is the bait in a Pearl Shad type of pattern with the curly tail. I really like it on the figure 8. I hope the muskies will!


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## MadMac

Nice John. That should get their attention that's for sure.


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## JIG

A bait you can go from muskies an colorado's too eyes and willow's in a snap!


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## WillyB2

Fantastic baits John. I absolutely love that bluegill !!!!! I can only dream of producing a lure like that someday, but my wheels are always turning. I am making my stencils out of some 1/16" thick red rubber that we have down at work. Its easy to cut and wraps and holds tight to the lure.


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## TIGGER

Willy that sounds neat to use for a stencil. I thought of making some out of rubber gloves in some way.

Bob we need to get out on the water. It looks like that bite is going on in Cleveland!!!!!!!!

Here are couple that I did in a 4-1/2" body. Slow sinkers that swim on a straight retrieve. Easy to cast around weeds.











































I did this mahogany shad type body. I decided to try a crawfish pattern on it. I put the head towards the back of the lure. A fun one to do.


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## TIGGER

Here are couple more of the inline spinner bodies. I did a shad , yellow perch , black perch and a bluegill.


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## SolarFall

wow this one is so cool im totally gonna copy that to my own lures lol.. but yeah like always top notch baits john.

-Mikko


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## muskyslayer96

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

:d

ms


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## MadMac

John, have you been doing any muskie fishing? I am really curious to see how you do on those combo baits. WB is productive right now.


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## JamesT

Super cool designs! They look great!


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## TIGGER

Hey Steve, 

We just got back from a family vacation in the Carolina's.


I haven't been out musky fishing this year. I burned up a bearing in my lower unit on my big motor. I told the guy I was not in a hurry to get it back. I have a bunch of work to get done around the house that I have put off the last couple of summers. I live in a log home and it is time for another coat of stain. I guess I could still go to WB with my 15hp kicker to run around but it is not the same. 

I am starting to climb the walls seeing all the walleye reports out of Fairport to Geneva! LOL I see the muskies are biting also! I will call the guy today to check on the progress. I can't wait to try some of those casting around Goose Island!


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## CatchNrelease

Wow you guys make some awesome looking lures. I will pay you to teach me LOL......somebody, anybody please teach me...


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## TIGGER

Here are a couple of recent ones I played around with. This first one I decided to try 3 wires with spinner blades coming out of its head. Casting it around my pond the bluegills were freaking out and jumping out of the water to get out of its way. 





















These are some more spinnerbait type of lures. Some I put a belly hooks and some I did not. Undecided which one I like better.













































This last one I decided to try a thru-wire jerkbait. It is 7" long and a floater. I like the big sappy eyes on this one. It has a molded resin body. I made this body for catching large Tuna but it got painted in a perch pattern.


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## TIGGER

Well I started messing around with the musky baits again. Here are some that are made out of resin.


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## TIGGER

These are mahogany bodies with silver foil sides.



































































This last one has copper foil for its sides


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## theyounggun

Dang! Where did you catch those fish at?? Oh wait.... 

Incredible work as always TIGGER! Keep it up. These are the most realistic baits I have ever seen. :B


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## All Eyes

Just when you think your work can't get any more impressive. Just amazing!
Have you ever done any other carving? You could make some amazing sculptures I'm sure. My Grandfather was an artist who worked almost exclusively with birds. Both paintings and carvings as well. I grew up admiring his creations and could only imagine the artwork you could come up with. I've also thought you'd make an amazing taxidermist with your painting skills.


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## MadMac

Nice John. I like the big perch crank in the top pic. Is that real skin?


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## ShutUpNFish

ALL Amazing! I have not yet experimented with a foil bait, but look forwrd to doing so in the future. Those are certainly sweet!


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## SolarFall

really sweet looking baits as always


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## radar3321

Now that ain't tackle that's art work. Great job

Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


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## TIGGER

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. 

Well I got the itch to get back into the shop and tinker some more. Here are a couple of musky gliders that I just finished last night. They all have silver foil for their sides. 6" mahogany bodies with hand painted glass eyes.


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## sonar

Those are PERFECT!! TIGGER....You Have it ALL,,down,,as to eye placement/type of eye,,& the glass finish,,it is VERY right on!! ----->>>>>sonar<<<<<-----


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## "Big" mark the shark

Awesome work yet again Tigger.


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## All Eyes

Man you are good! Love the eyes on these. They really seem to have a natural glow to them.


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## splashman61

Ever sell any of those masterpieces Tigger?


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## Toolman

Tigger,

Those paint jobs are fantastic! Trying to PM you...

Tim


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## oldstinkyguy

Those are some inspiring plugs, wonderful work.


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## TIGGER

Thanks guys,

Tim I have to clean out my PM's. I try to answer them all but I am way behind.

Here are some spinnerbaits that I finished this weekend. They have resin bodies with glass eyes.


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## TIGGER

Hanging in the booth.


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## TIGGER

Hey everyone, 
I am starting to feel much better after the gall bladder surgery. Had some complications with pnuemonia but I am now on the upswing. I had some lures in progress that were just a clear coat from finishing. I ended up in the man cave for some rehab. It felt good to tinker again.

This first one is 9" cisco that has holographic foil from the craft store for its side. I had some Christmas foil I used for the red head.




































This second one is a 9" trolling bait also. I used silver foil for its side and some green Christmas foil for its head.






































I am working some trout patterns. Hope to have some next week. I hope that leads me into painting some the fish replica's.


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## All Eyes

Welcome Back!!! Good to hear and see you are doing better, and thanks for posting more of your fantastic work! Always looking forward to see what you have built.


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## TIGGER

Hey everyone,

I hope Spring will be here soon! Enough snow already!!!!!!!

Here is a holographic shad. I realy like how the pearl came out in it. I will be trying some shell veneer shortly. The saltwater guys have been using the abalone shell for a while. This is just wrapping paper. 6" long with a mahogany body.


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## TIGGER

This one is real fish skin over a cedar body. It is from a yellow perch I caught last fall. The body is 4-1/2" long.


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## Snakecharmer

TIGGER said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> I hope Spring will be here soon! Enough snow already!!!!!!!
> 
> Here is a holographic shad. I realy like how the pearl came out in it. I will be trying some shell veneer shortly. The saltwater guys have been using the abalone shell for a while. This is just wrapping paper. 6" long with a mahogany body.


I think i just bid on it on ebay.....LOL


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## All Eyes

Wow Tigger! Those are Hot! That wrapping paper is cool stuff for sure. You really know how to give it amazing depth with such a smooth finish.


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## TIGGER

Here are a couple more musky spinner baits. One is a largemouth and one is in a smallmouth pattern.





































Here is another foil perch glider. I put some larger eyes on this one.


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## SeanStone

Went through all 12 pages of this post...one word......... awesome. I dont think i would ever have the heart to toss one in the water though. Well done.

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## TIGGER

Hey everyone, hope you had a great summer!

Here are a couple recent ones. Mahogany body musky gliders.


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## TIGGER

Here are some musky crank baits. Mahogany bodies also.


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## Catproinnovations

Very nice! I like the detail of the gills


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