"Bluegill-izing� Crankbaits for Clear Water

[Paul Roberts]

In general, I don't worry too much about color scheme, or trying to match prey too closely. That's difficult to do really, if not impossible, a lot of the time. It may simply be more important, the brighter conditions are, to add speed/triggering motions to your horizontal (retrieved) baits.

Darkish crawfish colored cranks often make sense in that, in high vis conditions you want to obscure details of your lure. Generally darkish muddy colors can do this. But in the high vis conditions in the clear bluegill-based waters I fish here in CO, I like translucent finishes. In general, I like to go more opaque as visibility diminishes. Get downright roiled and I tend to go with black, or chartreuse.

However, I do doctor some of my plugs with various nail polishes to get a bluegill look the primary prey fish in the mostly clear ponds and small reservoirs I fish. I realize this effort is likely mostly for me; I truthfully don't know how much it matters to the fish.

Soif you want to get fancyBluegill-izing crankbaits for clear water:

Most bluegill colored lures you find are patterned after spawning males dark heavily marked and colorful individuals the ones most people would recognize as bluegill. But we're trying to talk to fish not fisherman here.

The rest of the year bluegills may be much less colorful and less marked. Fish, esp sunfishes, use color pattern changes for communication and camouflage. More contrasty areas (like clear water with heavy vegetation), the gills are often dark and more heavily patterned. In less contrasty situations (open or roiled waters), the gills are usually pale and washed out. Spawning sunfishes those trying to interest mates and intimidate peers and predators are boldly marked and colorful. Those around the periphery of the nest colony are pale trying to remain unnoticed for several reasons I won't bore you with.

In the ponds I fish many if not most gills, much of the time, are not heavily patterned -donned in ghost coloration. These may be immature fish, adults feeding on insects or plankton in open water, in plankton blooms, or sometimes in somewhat roiled areas from wind stirred sediment or blown-in algae.

Sofor many of my cranks I try to mimic this as best I can. I start with translucent cranks that are already bluegill-ish and go to town with various nail polishes, basically offering the correct basic coloration for the conditions (often bright and clear here in CO), and adding sparkles and flash in appropriate hues.

First, believe it or not nail polishes stand up to use surprisingly well. I use cheap brands from Target: one called NYC brand works really well. I work with pearlescent colors in pale olive, lemon yellow, pale tangerine, and oyster shell (mother of pearl). I also use the blue-green mylar flakes suspended in clear. All together, these can make an amazingly realistic finish.

Again, this is more of a fun art project, and makes me feel a little closer attuned to what's going on with bluegills and bass in my ponds. Other stuff, like what's mentioned in the first two paragraphs, is more important. What my artwork means to the fish I can only hope.

Pics don't do 'em justice I suppose but here are some to get an idea of what I mean by "bluegill-izing":

The second one down is a Bomber Model A, originally opaque white, scraped down to it's clear plastic interior, then bluegill-iszed for my ponds.

A translucent Daiwa shad-style, detailed: MOP belly and gill, yellow pearly breast, mylar flakes.

A translucent Matzuo in an Ayu color, detailed: MOP belly and gill, yellow pearly breast, mylar flakes.

A Mann's Elite C4 in bluegill: very nice to begin with, detailed:

MOP belly and gill, mylar flakes.

If you decide to go the extra length, cranks are easy and fun to detail. They're fun to fish too. And if anything can bring oohs and ahhs from your fishing buddy 8-).

[Shad_Master]

I have done this with Storm Wild Eye Shad (sort of a rubber crankbait) that I picked up at Wal-Mart - paint the belly chartruese with a Spike-it marker and the tail orange.  I have had mixed results but they sure do look cool!

[Mottfia]

you did all that with nail polish? How long can you expect the paint job to last?

Mottfia

[Gangley]

How has the bouyancy been affected b ythe addition of the nail polish?  Are you still capable of running the advertised depths, or rather are you still capable of reaching the depths you were able to before the modifications?

[Paul Roberts]

Mottfia,

As to durability, I don't really know yet. I haven't done this for very long.

I originally did it on just a few plugs a couple seasons ago, and then a bunch more last winter. The originals (the third down in the photo is one) I haven't had to touch up yet. That did surprise me.

But... I'm not fishing them on rocks, just vegetation and some light wood. Bass teeth are the primary cause of wear so far. I would guess though that any one plug has had no more than a couple dozen fish on it.

Although these polishes have proven to be surprisingly tough for my purposes, they are certainly not a substitute for paint and epoxy.

I've even used it on some jigheads, and in the soft bottomed ponds I've fished them, I haven't had to retouch them either. Basically, the stuff sticks like glue.

[Paul Roberts]

How has the bouyancy been affected b ythe addition of the nail polish? Are you still capable of running the advertised depths, or rather are you still capable of reaching the depths you were able to before the modifications?

I haven't done any testing. I fish mostly shallow ponds (<12feet), know the depths I'm casting to, and am always probing for contact, and to keep track of where I am.. I doubt there's appreciable difference in depth or buoyancy.

[Paul Roberts]

you did all that with nail polish? ...

Mottfia

Ahhh...when you say "all that"...

I've gone wild on only a couple -scraping off paint and reapplying polish, as in the Bomber A above. Those were fun. The others I've chosen already translucent plastic plugs, that already have something akin to a proper bluegill color. I just made changes or added to them., like pearl bellies (all of 'em), pearly olive sheen to the sides, blue pearl gill throats, tangerine-yellow pearl breasts, and mylar flakes.

For example, the third down, the Bomber Excalibur was called "ghost crayfish", and I simply scraped off the orange belly and replaced it with rich layers of mother of pearl. Blue-green mylar flakes were added to the sides.

So, no, I haven't completely repainted these plugs from a clear shell, except for a couple Bombers like the one in the pic. To be clear, I edited and added what I did with each.

[Mottfia]

Can you show me the before and after of your cranks? I've tried something similar to spinnerbait blades but not as good as that. I'd like to give it a try soon.

Mottfia

[Paul Roberts]

I don't have any "before's" left lol.

You can find a pic of the Mann's Elite C4 easily enough on-line. That one I had to do little to. The Daiwa plug was pretty close too, it had a green back, dark top-line and the stripes. I added the pearl belly and throat, tangerine-yellow breast, and flakes.

The one's I was most invasive on were the Bomber A's in the striped bass color -they still make it -so you can find a pic on-line somewhere. I scraped off all that paint and coating down to the clear plastic shell, except for the darker back color. Since nail polishes do not blend well, I haven't been happy with trying to make the contrasting back color. So I left what was there, and blended it somewhat with a single light coat of the olive pearl I used for the sides (done in several thin coats). That plug is 2nd in the photo and looks chartreuse in the pic; it's actually a translucent olive pearl. Oh yes, and the eyes are vinyl fabric paint, coated with clear.

Again, I am usually starting with plugs close to a bluegill color and then adding translucent pearlescent details. Opaque polishes simply look bad. You could certainly get some of those clear plastic crankbait shells lure craft places sell. It would be pretty easy to make a basic 'gill from the ground up. In fishing, the fine details matter less than the overall image. That Excaliber plug above has a pearl olive top, a tangerine breast, mother of pearl belly, and blue-green mylar flakes on the sides. That's all.

When I get the urge to go artsy again, and can find the time, I'll post something. Spinner blades would be the easiest and cheapest to experiment with. I would not suggest you "go to town" on a favorite plug, until you've had some practice.

Some keys things:

-Type of polish. I don't know the chemistry, but some don't work well. One type (I believe it's an eco-friendly type) develops a mold or scale on it -a white waxy substance I had to rub off when I went to use 'em. I fixed that minor hassle by coating with a regular clear polish. And not using htat type any more.

-Use translucent polishes. The opaque colors simply look bad. You are probably better off simply altering what's there, not re-painting. I've done it, so it's possible. But nail polish is limited as a paint.

-It's not paint. It dries so fast you cannot blend edges. You'll end up with a mess. When doing a large area, like the whole side of a plug, load the applicator brush, use it wet and spread as quickly, smoothly and thinly as you can. You cannot go back over it until it's fully dry, cause it gets gummy really fast. At the same time, don't try to make too thick a coat. You can layer somewhat, but it needs to dry completely. This is how you blend edges -with thin coats. And then you have to move fast and smooth with the next coat bc the previous will re-soften. Too thick a coating I think would be more apt to chip or wear too.

Spinner blades would be a great way to start; I've done this too adding the mylar flakes suspended in clear polish to mute and alter the flash of blades. You can use more opaque polishes here too bc metals are tougher to cover than plastics.

Hope this helps.

[.dsaavedra.]

before you know it you will be buying an airbrush :

[Jake.]

I fish several ponds where bluegill are the main forage by far. Most of the small Bluegill are partially translucent. Lucky Craft's Ghost Sunfish color is my favorite to imitate them with:

[Paul Roberts]

before you know it you will be buying an airbrush :

Yeah I know. That's why I didn't post this in the tackle making section -I'd be getting all the rolled eyes I deserve lol.

But nope -I don't need to invest in another hobby. But maybe someday...

Dave, I've seen some of your paint jobs -very nice!

[Paul Roberts]

I fish several ponds where bluegill are the main forage by far. Most of the small Bluegill are partially translucent. Lucky Craft's Ghost Sunfish color is my favorite to imitate them with:

Yeah, that's a darn nice looking plug. But knowing me I'd still be tempted to get out my nail polish bottles. Probably just as well I don't own an airbrush, and myself into some real trouble ;D.