A couple of split rings and some hooks

[ctom]

.....and this one will be ready to hit the river.



This has to be one of my favorite color schemes. I've filleted a lot of fish using the Rapala Shad Raps in a similar pattern, but I have wanted one that is mine and here it is. Nothing fancy, just great colors. This one dives to 10 feet on my six pound line and the body is three inches. I did some up earlier this year while we still ha snow using the changeable pearl pigments on solid black bodies in this same bait and have had some nice success using them. I picked up some more paints today at Hobby Lobby and before Ma could get a serious grip on me to do garden work I managed to get the air compressor running and my goodies laid out.  I base coated a bunch of different bait shapes to tinker with while she's away for four days. Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share by early next week.

[alwrenn]

…..and the fish in the river will hit that.  Awesome ctom!

[ctom]

Thanks! Coming from you after seeing your work I feel like I just hit the lotteries numbers just right!

[WALLEYE WACKER]

That will get the job done Tom

[Thembonez]

What are your thoughts on this blank Tom?, I’ve been eyeballing them wondering if it’s worth to pull the trigger on them.

[ctom]

This is a Chinese blank and I can't even remember what site I found them on.. They were less than a buck apiece, but amazingly they don't , or haven't, require a lot of tuning. The five or six I have fished with only two needed tweaking to run straight and they seemed to tune very easy. I ran one under a buddy's locator at a normal retrieve on 6 pound line and was down to 10 feet so that'll cover most of what I will want from them. I use a snap on the line's end with my cranks so you know.

The blank in the picture here paints very nicely and evenly. I can't say a thing bad about them.

I've got three other body blanks to work with too but just today got the seal coat on 2 of them. If they dry well I'll get a pic of them up, then hang some hooks and trot on down to the river behind me for a test run on the two. They share a body style but one has a short square bill and the other a longer bill for deeper water. The third bait style is almost identical to the one shown here. I assume the deeper of the two ready to picture later will get me about 8 feet on the 6 pound mono, maybe 4-6 on the square bill.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

Shelt’s fishing tackle has a one like it for 80 cents each.