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Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance...

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eurojett05
stevel
Rowhunter
bennyraw
holymackeral
Charlie G.
skippy
fatfingers
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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 11:10 am

Had a lot of fun in the now infamous Skippy Chat Room last night...you know, that place where the world's deepest and darkest secrets of bait and plug building are bandied about in casual tones.

Anyway...last night I wrote a bit of about using different types of netting to make what appears to be scales on a bait. I even shared some of God's work. God is a great bait maker, ya know. His stuff get eaten consistently and so far no one has duped his work with any accuracy...so let's start by looking at His work:
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Take a moment and examine the scales in the pictures. Note that the not all scales are alike. See how some are elongated? Note also some scales have different colors than others and that the spaces between each scale also varies in color. Capturing these finer details can give your baits a far more realistic look and...the opposite is also true...breaking the "rules" and using wild, unusual colors instead of realistic colors can help you create a bait that will attract attention and vicious strikes.

Where do these pictures come from and how can you get your own pictures of the bait fish in the waters you fish? I take these pictures when I'm out fishing and try (unsuccessfully, I might add) to duplicate what I see in the bait that my target fish are known to consume.

Here's one my first attempts to try to come close to a species known as the Threadfin Shad:
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Of course, we don't have to get it perfect, but we all try anyway. Just the overall 'impression' of a bait fish is usually enough to trigger a strike when our fish are in the right mood. For now, just note than in the picture of my first attempt at a Threadfin Shad, the SCALING plays a huge part in giving the impression that this particular chunk of wood moving through the waters just might be a meal for a musky. Actually I gave this lure to an avid local musky angler and he scored multiple muskies with it.

So...how do we make scales? How can we add details to our plugs to give more of an impression of reality to the fish we try to tempt?

Well, stand by boys and girls. Lets look at some easy ways to have more fun in the sun and at the workbench as we paint!
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Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... Empty hey stubby nubby....

Post  skippy 3/28/2010, 11:37 am

We all know you are one of the countries premier artist, I already knew, and I think some others are finding out about your insane wrighting abilities..
I mean clearly your legacy will be your baits? right? Hmmm, I am a fan of the person as much as I am the bait, appreciate you sharing the god givin talent you have Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 560155

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Post  Charlie G. 3/28/2010, 1:22 pm

Fingers I want to "Thank You" for your presentation last night in the chat.
To me that was the most detailed an unselfish sharing of tricks and techniques for scales and useing paint I've ever seen. You are not just the Master but a great teacher.
Now I will be looking at every netting to see how to make scales out of it.
Again Thank You Fingers Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 92223
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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 1:26 pm

Thanks, Skip!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So lets just have a look at how this can be done. And lets look at some examples of what you can do with different types of netting.

First lets get the terms straight...

I call the stuff "netting." Technically, I believe the name is "tule," or something like that. Others even use the phrase "wedding veil material." To me, the stuff look like fish netting so that's what I call it. Fair enough?

Here's how simple this is:

Step 1. Clamp the bait into a vice of some type.

I used to use a big, old, bench vise; you know, the type of vice you'd clamp things into to bend them or pound on them. The vice worked great and it holds your plug as steady as a boulder too. But its a bit heavy to move around so,,,since then, I've acquired a smaller vice, similar to a large, fly-tying vice, and it clamps to my bench.

Step 2. Lay the netting over the bait.
Pay attention here, dang it! Align the netting so the scale effect will look most natural for you. Look at how it lays on the bait and try turning it a few different directions until you find the best look.

Step 3. Shoot paint over the netting and onto the bait.

Again, stay alert here. Count how many passes you make on each side of the bait so you don't get too much paint on one side of the bait and not enough on the other. Always, remember...darker colors like black, brown, or powerful colors like red, can easily overwhelm a bait. With the darker colors, less is more. But on the other hand do NOT be afraid to experiment. Be bold.

Step 3. Clamp the netting
Attach clamps to the bottom of the netting to get the stuff to lay nice and tight and FLAT AGAINST THE BAIT. This is important so that each individual scale stands out when you remove the netting. Failure to get the netting to lay flat results in 'fuzzy,' ill-defined scales, and that is not what you want here. This is not a technique that looks good unless it is crisp and distinct.

Step 4. SLOWLY and CAREFULLY remove the clamps.

Be careful to not 'snag' the netting as you do this or it may smear your pretty scales.

Step 5. VERY, VERY SLOWLY remove the netting.

I only wait about 30 seconds to a minute or so. Never more than two minutes. But...keep in mind, I shoot enamels.
NOTE: With water-based paints you'll have to feather your paint on in layers and flash the paint between layers ("flash" means make a few passes over your fresh paint with a blow dryer or heat gun to "set" it permanently and dry it nicely)

This is the most important step...remove that netting slowly so as to avoid smearing the scales.

Read the steps again. This is EASY stuff, guys. It sounds hard, but it is one of the nicest and easiest effects available to you in bait building. After a while, you can lay out scales on a bait in just a few minutes from start to finish.

Finally, please remember this...

This is not brain surgery. Its just boys playing with their toys. Do NOT take it too seriously and most importantly, allow yourself the latitude to screw up now and then. If you do, wipe the plug down and try again. No big deal. I still screw up now and then and I screwed up a lot as I was learning. Its cool. Know that as time goes on you'll get better and better and better.

Having said that, this scaling stuff is clearly among the easiest stuff you can do.

Here's is all of the above in two pictures:
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The clamp you see above is the kind I favor, but even ordinary clothes pins will do. I like a heavier clamp though, because the extra weight 'pulls' the netting downward and makes it lay flatter on the bait. Eventually you'll collect a number of different clamps...and a bunch of different types of netting, which is what we'll discuss next.

More to follow. If you leave now, we will gather up a posse and we will hunt you down and kill you execution style in front of your neighbors and friends...so stay tuned. Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 870783
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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 1:29 pm

Thanks, Charle. It is that type of feedback that is very encouraging.
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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 1:53 pm

Okay so now let look at a couple of different styles of netting that I favor.

This first one is my overall favorite:
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It is stuff I found at Walmart a while back (No longer available, which is a bummer.) It is a camo material and it has a cotton 'feel' to it, which makes it softer and more prone to lying flat on the bait. Softer netting is usually a lot easier to work with than the nylon stuff. Nylon is stiff. I hate it and I only use it when I can't find anything else.

I like this fine netting because it renders very fine, crisp scales. These tinier scales seem to look good on the belly:
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But...I like 'em on the sides of smaller baits too:
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Here's another larger scale pattern. This one is from the most common netting out there. Everyone uses it:
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The above is a nylon netting and I uses it infrequently because its tough to work with and because everyone else uses it, which render it rather cliche. Note that in this case I sprayed the black through the netting over a gold base. You always want to shoot two different colors...meaning, you never spray red over red or black over black...if you do, your scales won't show up.


Okay here's another of my favorites. This is a mesh curtain matieral. It actually has a little stretch to it, which makes it super easy to stretch over the bait. Oh, baby, is that nirvana, or what??? And look closely at this stuff. See that fine line inside each cell of the material? Is that not cool? Oh, give me a minute here, I'm getting aroused!
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So what does it look like on a bait? I thought you'd never ask! Look inside the bars on the side of this bait and also inside the gill plates near the head:
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I used the same stuff on the sides of this bait:
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And look deep inside this bait...see it in there too?
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This one has it on the sides and that fine, tiny scaling on top:
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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 1:58 pm

So how's about we look at how to combine scale effects, since we saw that in the last bait...

To do use two or more type of netting, just do it twice!

Here's one I'm still working on. This has a large, oblong scale on the side and the fine, tiny scales along the back (top) of the bait:.
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More later...
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Post  holymackeral 3/28/2010, 8:53 pm

fatfingers... i can not say it enough your work is awe-inspiring... although i haven't started building lures yet i am still inspired by your work.... i actually picked up a few blanks today hoping to paint them... i'm not going to try anything too complicated with these just try some basic scaling as you have shown in your great tutorial...

i know i'll never achieve the skills that a lot of the builders on this site have. but i think i can at least get a decent and straight scale with this tutorial.... maybe i can combine tutorials.... like skull scales?

thanks for taking the time to share with us your talent. if you ever get the urge to sell a bait or two i would like to be first in line.... lol

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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 9:24 pm

For the record, my baits are definitely for sale...

Just shoot me a PM or an email at:

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Post  bennyraw 3/28/2010, 9:27 pm

I knew I wanted to be there last night. I love all your stuff but your use of stencils really blows me away. Hopefully someday I'll do some stencil stuff that works out for me, so far it's one of my biggest barriers. confused

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Post  fatfingers 3/28/2010, 9:41 pm

Holymack, you feel free to pm me or email with any questions that come up as you go about trying to get started. This hobby is fun and it makes our fishing even more exciting as you know.

The best part is the friends we make along the way.

Benny, I'll do my best to post all that we went over last night, so you won't miss anything. How's that? And as to the stencils, try using a variety of different materials to make them.

I even heard of a guy that uses cellophane for certain stencils. You know, the stuff you wrap sandwiches in. He says it lays nice and flat and clings to the plug nicely. I'm going to give it a try on a few baits.
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Post  skippy 3/28/2010, 10:37 pm

Welcome To SBO wow

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Post  fatfingers 4/2/2010, 1:49 am

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Post  fatfingers 4/2/2010, 1:54 am

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Post  skippy 4/2/2010, 10:02 am

I want to stick a drill thru all my eyeballs, and start over, thanks for the complex wow

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Post  Rowhunter 4/2/2010, 10:25 am

Absolutely love the all Pearl experiments!

Douglas
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Post  stevel 4/2/2010, 2:08 pm

Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 560155 Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 92223 Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 560155 Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 92223
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Post  bennyraw 4/2/2010, 7:28 pm

skippy wrote:I want to stick a drill thru all my eyeballs, and start over, thanks for the complex wow
And if you feel that way, think about how we feel.
Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 56958

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Post  fatfingers 4/3/2010, 9:39 pm

You guys are crackin' me up.

I just finished a couple more new ones, which I made using that same curtain stuff. Wish I had bought more of that stuff when I found it. It seems to be easy to work with.
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Post  fatfingers 4/9/2010, 6:57 pm

7 1/2 inch glider:
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Slopehead...
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I found some new netting this week and I had a chance to squirt some paint through it last night. The bait is on the wheel now; I'll put it up later.
This new stuff has a fairly interesting pattern to it and I think it will allow me to mimic a couple of difficult baitfish scaling patterns, such as walleye, crappie and a few others. It is some type of curtain material and has a somewhat broken rhythm to the pattern. Hopefully that will make sense after you get a look at it.
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Post  skippy 4/11/2010, 11:55 am

fatfingers wrote:7 1/2 inch glider:
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Slopehead...
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I found some new netting this week and I had a chance to squirt some paint through it last night. The bait is on the wheel now; I'll put it up later.
This new stuff has a fairly interesting pattern to it and I think it will allow me to mimic a couple of difficult baitfish scaling patterns, such as walleye, crappie and a few others. It is some type of curtain material and has a somewhat broken rhythm to the pattern. Hopefully that will make sense after you get a look at it.
I have never used a glider, is it on top like a spook, or a suspender,,, plugs that I made as suspenders on lake o, turned out to be topwater in the salt, had a tough time getting the weight right for suspension in saltwater, even my lakeO subsurface swimmers, turn into topwaters in the salt,,,,,, you just let me know if you need a tester Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 56958 Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 56958 Lace, netting, and other un-manly things to make your lures sing and dance... 622665

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Post  fatfingers 4/11/2010, 2:46 pm

They're made for subsurface, Skip.

I know what you mean about the balance. It is tricky. You can balance them as a raw bait, but you have to try to account for the hooks, split rings, screw eyes, and finish.

I'd go nuts if I have to try to account for the specific gravity of the salt water.
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Post  skippy 4/12/2010, 10:27 pm

fatfingers wrote:They're made for subsurface, Skip.

I know what you mean about the balance. It is tricky. You can balance them as a raw bait, but you have to try to account for the hooks, split rings, screw eyes, and finish.

I'd go nuts if I have to try to account for the specific gravity of the salt water.
lateral balance achieved, I like the suspended swimmer, a suspending glider should cause some real wood wow you know I cannot wait to see this new pattern of yours popcorn

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Post  fatfingers 4/13/2010, 11:00 pm

Here's the pattern produced by the new curtain material I found at a material shop in town.

First here's the overall pattern and a closer shot:
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Here's an even closer shot so you can pretty much see how the pattern repeats. It actually has some gaps and areas where it blocks out a lot of the underlying base colors. It creates a blotchy, staggered pattern. I'm looking forward to using this in a number of ways.
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I'll post other pictures of baits done with the same lace/curtain material later.

I'm working on finer details on the inside of the eyes also:
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Post  skippy 4/14/2010, 9:14 am

Welcome To SBO Very nice effect, but the color choices are what make this lure, of couse the eyes stand out, one man should not have so much talent :..............

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