Do You Guys Believe In "custom Painted Crankbaits"?

[nocellcontracts]

I'm starting to see a lot of people selling custom crankbaits. Some have paint jobs while others are "photo wrapped". These baits are bringing $10, $20, or more.
What's your thoughts here? Genuinely worth the price? Or just "all prettied up" to catch fishermen?
My thoughts are that a crankbait calls up a reaction strike and a fish has no idea it has a "custom finish" on it.

Ok, let me hear it.

 

[blongfishing]

Those are nice but I don't think a paint scheme has nothing to do with it. I think reaction theory is true.

[Scott F]

I catch a lot of fish on baits that barely have any paint left on them at all. Fancy paint jobs are fine for the enthusiast fisherman who like the collecting and having unique rods/reels/baits aspect of the sport. I really don't think they will put more fish in the boat.

[WRB]

Realistic lures are nothing new, Bagley came out with the Small Fry series over 30 years ago, Mann lures followed. Anglers didn't have instant success with the life like finishes and both Bagley and Mann realistic lures faded into history.

Can custom painted lures give you an advantage today? Today's lures have excellent finishes compared to lures in the past. The question is, do bass become conditioned to seeing the same lure? Lure action trumps color but good action and color combination catches more bass. IF a custom color gives you the confidence to use the lure, that lure will catch more bass if it's not stored in the tackle box.

Tom

[Bankbeater]

I have been catching a lot of bass on solid color baits that are only one color. I think that while the color schemes work in some waters, the baits catch a lot of fishermen also.

[Dwight Hottle]

The only time a custom paint is worth the price is when it replicates a bait forage that you can not find on a standard bait. Example, currently on the Great Lakes the hard bait manufactures have not provided a realistic goby colored pattern across the board.

[Jrob78]

The only time a custom paint is worth the price is when it replicates a bait forage that you can not find on a standard bait. Example, currently on the Great Lakes the hard bait manufactures have not provided a realistic goby colored pattern across the board.

I tend to agree with this. Although, I do believe that occasionally certain colors will out perform other colors on certain bodies of water. Craw Wiggle Warts on the White River lakes come to mind. I think it might be worth the money in those situations, especially when a bait has been discontinued or is hard to find.

[Montanaro]

If someone paid me 20 bucks for painting a crankbait, I would sell them too!

Has nothing to do with creating a "better" lure

[FishTank]

Color can sometimes make a difference but some of my favorite lures have a lot of paint missing.  For instance, I have a Lucky Craft Combat SSR in ghost minnow that has been a secret weapon for a long time.  The paint on top is almost gone.  I also have a Megabass Griffon MRX that is clear (no paint or finish) and it catches fish all the time.

 

Would I go out of my way to purchase a custom painted bait>No not unless it is just a collectors item.  There are way too many choices out there.

[WRB]

Back in the early 80's Poe Cedar 300 series deep diver came out with a ghost color that was white with silver micro flake skelton pattern on the sides and yellow eyes. Excellent lure, except it was a big deep diver. I sent a dozen Bomber 7A series to a friend to duplicate the Poe ghost white color scheme on the 7A's for medium size deep diver that was closer to the shad size. The ghost 7A's had red eyes, I tried them anyway and they out fished the yellow eye Poe's. I still have a few of the ghost Bombers and when it's a tough bite, them catch bass today. Custom colors can make a big difference. I won a few night tournaments with custom Norman DD 14's & 22's in pearl black with red crawdad pattern and they still work today. Confidence....who knows!

Tom

[aavery2]

Several reasons for custom baits, damaged baits that need repainted, if you want to use a certain bait that does not come in a pattern that you like, some colors are not available in all depths.   Some baits are no longer available in certain patterns.  

 

I can buy nice custom painted baits for 11 dollars, that is about 3 dollars more than the stock baits, if I have a blank that can be repainted it is cheaper than buying one to replace it. 

 

Fisherman are a funny group, we will pay 70,000 for a boat, 50,000 for a truck to pull it, 600 dollars for a rod and reel, 45 dollars for FC line, but a 20 dollar custom painted crankbait is out of the question......?

[Raul]

One of my favorite baits is a CLEAR Baby Torpedo.

[aavery2]

One of my favorite baits is a CLEAR Baby Torpedo.

I have a few custom painted clear baby torpedo  that I will sell you 

[Bluebasser86]

They may not help in all situations, but they certainly don't hurt anything. 

[Montanaro]

One of my favorite baits is a CLEAR Baby Torpedo.

x2

[frogflogger]

It's all about confidence - if a $20 custom paint job gives you confidence then do it.

[Catch and Grease]

If I ever did spend 20$ on a crank solely for the color it had better not wear off...

[*Hootie]

I believe they exist. I don't believe I would pay the extra money for them.

Hootie

[Felix77]

They look great ... I will stick to my $5 - $7 ones.  Catches them just fine for me.

[DTack]

I go back and forth on this one...  WRB has great points and there are definitely times that it DOES matter...  He may also be correct that it is just due to confidence really.  Much of the time I would say color doesn't matter much in the big picture as long as it's "near" what you're imitating when it comes to a crankbait. 
I will say I've run into multiple scenarios where a custom or specific color WILL outfish another color 5 to 1 or even greater.  At that point it just kind of depends how much do you fish, how much money do you have elsewhere and what is it all worth to you.  Honestly, I have no problems paying good money for a hard bait.  Once your knot tying becomes good and your casting is a bit more accurate you don't think about losing it or breaking it as much.  The way I see it, I have a smaller boat and still spend $30-$50 just in boat gas when I go out...  I don't think about spending $10-$20 on a hardbait that can last 2-10 years. 
It's all different for everyone and I can still side with the person saying it is crazy to pay more than $8 a bait.  I have plenty of $7 and under baits that catch the snot out of em, but I like to have the "niche" ones if they're better in that category too!

[roadwarrior]

Custom paint jobs are for collectors, it has VERY LITTLE impact on "catching" fish.

I consider the Megabass Ito Vision 110 line to be works of art, not just great lures.

As a collector, these are the cat's meow!

 

 

 

[Nice_Bass]

this topic causes me to juxtapose my beliefs on color.

Color does not matter at all to me as long as its one of the three colors I would need: shad-ish, bream-ish, or red-ish.

[ww2farmer]

It's all about confidence - if a $20 custom paint job gives you confidence then do it.

My thoughts as well. As a poor, cheap,old farm hand, I'll stick with factory colors, they work fine for me.

[tholmes]

this topic causes me to juxtapose my beliefs on color.

Color does not matter at all to me as long as its one of the three colors I would need: shad-ish, bream-ish, or red-ish.

Yep! ^^ I've found that those three basic colors (shad, bream and red craw) are all I need. 

 

Tom

[bighed]

Well, I would have called BS if someone else posted what I'm about to say had I not seen it myself.  My son and I went to Falcon about 4 years ago when the fishing was really good.  He likes making, painting, modifying his tackle, something I do not do.  He took three odd colored DD22's he got in a bargain bin and painted them bass colored before we went down there.  Not fancy or realistic but with a green back, bold black stripe, and solid white belly.  Those baits out produced, by about 25 fish a day, anything I had including other DD22's fished in the exact same spots, dragging through the same brush.  No, he would not give me one.  So yes, if a custom paint job imitates forage better than the off the shelf baits, I believe.  I don't think it has to be a $25 super realistic bait though.