Author Topic: Color or detail?  (Read 948 times)

Offline ctom

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Color or detail?
« on: 11/25/21 23:26 UTC »
When I am painting jigs, I am going straight for color and pay no attention to the detail the head may possess. I know many who enjoy or stress the detail stuff but powder painting doesn't allow for a whole lot of detail to come thru.

Airbrushing is a whole different animal when finishing jigs or lure bodies but I still focus on color combinations and not the detail that many of the bait blanks offer. My rationale is that the embossing on the bait bodies offers enough character to the paint job: scaling offers a shaded edge that in turn changes color density just like a real minnow's scales do.

Indeed, there are some true artisans out there who can paint up a bait to look just like the real McCoy and I am sure they catch fish; however, I am of the school that color and color combinations do as much to catch fish as a realistic finish does and at times probably more.

Along these lines eyes come into play. On jigs and soft plastics used personally I never use eyes. I do use eyes if I am going to photograph a soft plastic or jig that has eye pockets. The crankbait bodies I paint get eyes as do some cast lead jigging spoons. I just never found the need for eyes on a soft plastic or a jig head but those cranks seem incomplete without eyes.

I'm curious to know what others feel or prefer when it comes to finishing lures they build and why they feel the way they do.
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ships that sail the sea
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Offline RufNec

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Re: Color or detail?
« Reply #1 on: 11/26/21 09:10 UTC »
I have been building tackle and baits for customers for 30 years. I agree with just about everything that you said. However, I have never had a fish look at me over the cash register! Most of time spent is about the consumer, not the fish.

Offline olsarge

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Re: Color or detail?
« Reply #2 on: 11/26/21 09:51 UTC »
I have only been airbrushing for a little under a year now so I am not the best in the world but I am proud of what I have done,  Having said that, my most productive lure to date is an absolutely butt ugly single color (hot pink with coal black eyes),  Go figure.
I find it incredible that I have to explain to a grown American citizen that taking a knee during the National Anthem is disrespectful.

Offline ctom

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Re: Color or detail?
« Reply #3 on: 11/26/21 11:20 UTC »
However, I have never had a fish look at me over the cash register! Most of time spent is about the consumer, not the fish.

I sell very few baits or jigs and use most of what I make as hand-outs or I put them to use personally. I've asked this question of a lot of pretty decent anglers throughout Minnesota and a few in Wisconsin and Iowa and South Dakota during casual conversation and almost unanimously they say color over detail.

A good friend that makes some serious detail finished jigs belongs to a walleye club as well as a bass club with the goal of selling to other members. Those members will take free samples all day long but when it comes to orders they want nothing but simple single-color jigs. He's super frustrated to say the least. Years ago, I did sell to a couple bait shops, one of which ordered several thousand jigs at a time and all but four colors were the usual black, white, purple, fluor. orange, hot yellow, hot pink, chartreuse and blue. The other 4 were glitter colors either in black powder paint or transparent powder paint. Those four colors I had registered under my trademark and were nothing fancy but sold as single-color heads along with the others. Those 8 colors were pretty much industry stand colors. Today with laser and transfer technology applied to the tackle making industry some beautifully realistic baits are available to anyone. Air brushers have become masters at duplication not only of some of the trick patterns but in realism when compared to actual fish. They spend a tremendous amount of time honing skills and talents to do what they do and I envy those talents. But still, when it comes down to catching fish on a personal level, customers out of the equation, I do best with baits using a color or a combination of colors, rather than detail.

When I sold jigs in those two tackle shops, I sold based on the colors I mentioned. Period. Bags of ten of one color and one size. Everything was standardized. When customers began contacting me directly wanting other than what the store had I got out of the trade. It doesn't take long in dealing with the anglers at a personal level to find out how big of idiots they can be. Anyone selling tackle over the internet today has my admiration but I won't deal with that element any more. I'm a panfisherman first, walleye second and Lake Superior caster third. I make a lot of panfish related tackle and carry a ton of it when I am fishing. When I see an angler struggling to catch fish, I'll happily give him/her a few plastics that are working for me along with a couple the appropriate jigs and maybe even one of my custom-made floats and show them how to rig everything so they too are in on the action. I don't take a cent for any of it. I'd rather see them introduced to fishing bait free and watch them succeed. In the end this benefits everyone. By keeping it simple and focused on simple colors it makes accomplishing this easy.
There are good ships
and wood ships
ships that sail the sea
but the best ships are friendships
and may they
always be ......An Irish Toast

Offline MT204

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Re: Color or detail?
« Reply #4 on: 11/26/21 14:18 UTC »
Good example of what fisherman want and what fish want would be the debate of dull versus  shiny plastic baits, when in fact there is no difference when in the water?

Offline ctom

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Re: Color or detail?
« Reply #5 on: 11/26/21 15:51 UTC »
Good example of what fisherman want and what fish want would be the debate of dull versus  shiny plastic baits, when in fact there is no difference when in the water?

Bingo.
There are good ships
and wood ships
ships that sail the sea
but the best ships are friendships
and may they
always be ......An Irish Toast

Online anyfish

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Re: Color or detail?
« Reply #6 on: 11/26/21 20:43 UTC »
I'm more of a color person vs detail.  A lot of times, I just leave lead unpainted. i dont put eyes on any soft plastics and rarely on lead heads, but I do put eyes on plastic baits that i paint. 

There are a few reasons why;  I am always limited on time, less detail isn't as painful when one of the kids casts things into a tree, and most important the fish are happy. 

However, I am always amazed at some of the plastic and painted baits some people can make.   
« Last Edit: 11/26/21 23:31 UTC by anyfish »