There has been a lot of buzz about foiled baits lately, and there are several ways of doing it. This is something I learned how to do years ago painting motorcycles.

The technique is thousands of years old and has not really changed all that much.

I will be leafing a Triple Trout that I stripped down added some gill detail, and enlarged the eyes.

Note: you will want to find the ugliest peice of fleece possible for a work suface.

You dont need much to do it - here is a list

• Size (a glue that is used to apply the leaf)

• an aplication brush (any brush that won't lose hairs)

• a SHARP exacto knife

• a piece of velvet or fleece

• a big plush brush

 

all of these materials can be fouind at just about any good craft store.

Start by brushing the size on to the area to be leafed. This will need to sit for roughly 10 minutes to tack up so the leaf will stick.

Once the size is tacky, very carefully lay the leaf down, and gently brush it into place, starting at the center and working out to the ends with the big brush.

Let the leaf set for a few minutes then go back and burnish (gently rub) it down with the soft cloth. This sets it in place permanently. Next, hit the edges with the big brush and kick off anything left beyond the size.

I recomend doing jointed baits one section at a time to avoid unwanted contact  between setions of the very fragile leaf.

Let the bait sit over night and then you're ready to paint. I did just a basic shad or hitch patern here for Clear Lake.

Make sure and use a good heavy clear coat to protect the fragile leaf. Once it is set up it is amazingly tough.

 

More Lure Making & How-To posts on The Wired Angler:

How to Make Your Own Big Topwater Plug Bass Lure

Painting a Wooden Plug or Crankbait

Hobbytown for the Bass Fisherman

10 Ways to Rig a Basstrix Style Swimbait

Modifying an Osprey Swimbait to be Weedless

As promised, I will go over a basic shad color paint job that will work to paint or repaint any topwater plug or crank bait. I will be painting a plug I made in an article from a few weeks ago.

Priming:
The first thing I want to talk a little about is wood preparation. A lot of primers will not hold up to the constant soaking of water. There are a couple of ways to address this. One is to pre-seal the bait with either a resin or epoxy. This is probably the most readily available method, and what this does is soak into the wood to create a water barrier which prevents lifting. The other thing your can do use a product called Propionate. This is a soaking process that works into the wood and hardens and seals it before final sanding and priming.
There are many places to purchase primers and paint. Here are a couple links.
JannsNetcraft
LureCraft

Painting:
I strongly suggest getting an airbrush for the use of specialty paints rather than just using spray paint. A decent one can be purchased for around $50.00, or so you don’t necessarily need a high dollar airbrush for painting baits.

Once your bait is sealed and you have a coat of primer you will want to finish sand your bait with some 500 or 600 grit sand paper before you paint. You are now ready for your first coat of paint. I will be starting with a white base. Next, wrap your bait in a small piece of tulle – this is a mesh fabric that can be purchased at any fabric store, and it makes a great scale pattern. Lightly coat using a silver metallic or pearl. Be careful not to put on to heavy of a coat, this will cause smearing.

After applying the scale pattern, use the same silver to blend it out slightly on the back nose and tail of your bait.

Finishing steps:
Apply a small amount of black along the back and nose of the bait. I like to add a spot behind the gill as well as area as well as a small gill detail.

You’re getting close. I like to add my eyes at this point. This will insure a good seal if you apply clear over them. Finally, it is time to clear coat your bait. It can be painted or brushed with a super strong epoxy. Epoxies can be purchased at any hardware store or hobby shop.

There are a million different ways you can paint your baits and the more you do it the better you will get.

As promised: here is a ‘how-to’ on wooden plug making. The process is pretty easy, and it can be rewarding catching fish on a bait you have made yourself.

I’ll start by talking about materials, wood types, and tools needed. I prefer to use a few types of wood for my baits: cedar, poplar, basswood, pine, and balsa. These are all soft, highly buoyant woods that are great for top water plugs. E-bay is a great source for pieces of wood without ever leaving home.

First and foremost you will need a lathe to start off your lure, or a round piece of wood such as a pine dowel. These can be purchased at just about any hardware store. Here is a link to Harbor Freight. They sell a lathe-6” sander combo for only $100. The quality won’t be the best in the world, but if you consider that most plugs sell from $20-$50, it will pay for itself pretty quickly.
Harbor Freight Lathe/Sander
You can also buy premade plugs such as these:
Plugs

Shaping above and beyond this is totally up to the lure maker-the possibilities are endless. This is the point at which you will want decide what you will be using for a tail. Just open up any one of your worm boxes and the ideas will start flowing. I am using a large fluke-style tail on mine. This will determine the closing tail size and shape of your bait.

Some tools to help shape your lure further are a 6” electric sander, various files, 80 grit sandpaper (you will be surprised how fast these materials work down), and maybe an Exacto blade or wood carving set for detail. I usually finish sand with about 150 grit and then work down to 400.

As far as hardware supplies for your lures, here are few choices:

Jann’s NetCraft

LureCraft

Stamina, Inc

You will need hooks, hook eyes, paint, clear-coat or epoxy coat, eyes, some sort of a tail (worm or small swimbait).

I have made a jointed bait here, but you can also make single-piece topwater plugs. If you choose to make a jointed bait here is a simple method. Choose your joint area and mark a 30 to 45 degree V to be cut. This can be done on a band saw or by hand using a small miter box. I used a marker here so you could see it well in the photo; however you will not want to do this as it will bleed through the final paint. Once you have cut the V you will need to cut a receiving slot for your eye hook. Make this with the band saw or by hand again. Drill a small hole and insert a pin. The pin should be made out of a stainless piece of rod so it will not rust. Remember to drill the hole just a tad smaller than the rod so it can be hammered in tight. You can also use a galvanized nail for this pin.

Next, decide if you want to add a lip or not. Adding one will give the bait more wobble. If you choose not to it will make for more of darting bait. Lips can be purchased at some of the above mentioned sites or cut out of a small piece of plastic from the hardware store or hobby shop. Cut a slot for it and epoxy or super glue it in place.

The eye hooks can be put in now or after paint. I usually prime my baits with an automotive primer. You can get this in a small can at a local automotive store, or DupliColor makes some good spray can products. The above lure suppliers will also sell various paints. The baits can be spray painted, hand painted, or airbrushed – whatever you have available to you. The possibilities are endless here. Once you are done, add some clear paint or epoxy to seal the deal and you’re ready for hooks and some topwater action. I will do a post on the steps of painting a bait next week.

Things you will need:

lathe and wood stock, dowel, or blank

sander

files

sandpaper

paint

hook eyes

stainless rod or nail

eyes

plastic for lip

tail