Do You Guys Believe In "custom Painted Crankbaits"? 2025
nocellcontracts reply :
I'm starting to see a lot of people selling custom crankbaits. Some have paint jobs while others are "photo wrapped". These baits are bringing $10, $20, or more.
What's your thoughts here? Genuinely worth the price? Or just "all prettied up" to catch fishermen?
My thoughts are that a crankbait calls up a reaction strike and a fish has no idea it has a "custom finish" on it.
Ok, let me hear it.
blongfishing reply :
Those are nice but I don't think a paint scheme has nothing to do with it. I think reaction theory is true.
Scott F reply :
I catch a lot of fish on baits that barely have any paint left on them at all. Fancy paint jobs are fine for the enthusiast fisherman who like the collecting and having unique rods/reels/baits aspect of the sport. I really don't think they will put more fish in the boat.
WRB reply :
Realistic lures are nothing new, Bagley came out with the Small Fry series over 30 years ago, Mann lures followed. Anglers didn't have instant success with the life like finishes and both Bagley and Mann realistic lures faded into history.
Can custom painted lures give you an advantage today? Today's lures have excellent finishes compared to lures in the past. The question is, do bass become conditioned to seeing the same lure? Lure action trumps color but good action and color combination catches more bass. IF a custom color gives you the confidence to use the lure, that lure will catch more bass if it's not stored in the tackle box.
Tom
Bankbeater reply :
I have been catching a lot of bass on solid color baits that are only one color. I think that while the color schemes work in some waters, the baits catch a lot of fishermen also.
Dwight Hottle reply :
The only time a custom paint is worth the price is when it replicates a bait forage that you can not find on a standard bait. Example, currently on the Great Lakes the hard bait manufactures have not provided a realistic goby colored pattern across the board.
Jrob78 reply :
On 8/21/2014 at 9:52 AM, Dwight Hottle said:The only time a custom paint is worth the price is when it replicates a bait forage that you can not find on a standard bait. Example, currently on the Great Lakes the hard bait manufactures have not provided a realistic goby colored pattern across the board.
I tend to agree with this. Although, I do believe that occasionally certain colors will out perform other colors on certain bodies of water. Craw Wiggle Warts on the White River lakes come to mind. I think it might be worth the money in those situations, especially when a bait has been discontinued or is hard to find.
Montanaro reply :
If someone paid me 20 bucks for painting a crankbait, I would sell them too!
Has nothing to do with creating a "better" lure
FishTank reply :
Color can sometimes make a difference but some of my favorite lures have a lot of paint missing. For instance, I have a Lucky Craft Combat SSR in ghost minnow that has been a secret weapon for a long time. The paint on top is almost gone. I also have a Megabass Griffon MRX that is clear (no paint or finish) and it catches fish all the time.
Would I go out of my way to purchase a custom painted bait>No not unless it is just a collectors item. There are way too many choices out there.
WRB reply :
Back in the early 80's Poe Cedar 300 series deep diver came out with a ghost color that was white with silver micro flake skelton pattern on the sides and yellow eyes. Excellent lure, except it was a big deep diver. I sent a dozen Bomber 7A series to a friend to duplicate the Poe ghost white color scheme on the 7A's for medium size deep diver that was closer to the shad size. The ghost 7A's had red eyes, I tried them anyway and they out fished the yellow eye Poe's. I still have a few of the ghost Bombers and when it's a tough bite, them catch bass today. Custom colors can make a big difference. I won a few night tournaments with custom Norman DD 14's & 22's in pearl black with red crawdad pattern and they still work today. Confidence....who knows!
Tom
aavery2 reply :
Several reasons for custom baits, damaged baits that need repainted, if you want to use a certain bait that does not come in a pattern that you like, some colors are not available in all depths. Some baits are no longer available in certain patterns.
I can buy nice custom painted baits for 11 dollars, that is about 3 dollars more than the stock baits, if I have a blank that can be repainted it is cheaper than buying one to replace it.
Fisherman are a funny group, we will pay 70,000 for a boat, 50,000 for a truck to pull it, 600 dollars for a rod and reel, 45 dollars for FC line, but a 20 dollar custom painted crankbait is out of the question......?
Raul reply :
One of my favorite baits is a CLEAR Baby Torpedo.
aavery2 reply :
On 8/21/2014 at 11:37 AM, Raul said:One of my favorite baits is a CLEAR Baby Torpedo.
I have a few custom painted clear baby torpedo that I will sell you 
Bluebasser86 reply :
They may not help in all situations, but they certainly don't hurt anything.
Montanaro reply :
On 8/21/2014 at 11:37 AM, Raul said:One of my favorite baits is a CLEAR Baby Torpedo.
x2
frogflogger reply :
It's all about confidence - if a $20 custom paint job gives you confidence then do it.
Catch and Grease reply :
If I ever did spend 20$ on a crank solely for the color it had better not wear off...
*Hootie reply :
I believe they exist. I don't believe I would pay the extra money for them.
Hootie
Felix77 reply :
They look great ... I will stick to my $5 - $7 ones. Catches them just fine for me.
DTack reply :
I go back and forth on this one... WRB has great points and there are definitely times that it DOES matter... He may also be correct that it is just due to confidence really. Much of the time I would say color doesn't matter much in the big picture as long as it's "near" what you're imitating when it comes to a crankbait.
I will say I've run into multiple scenarios where a custom or specific color WILL outfish another color 5 to 1 or even greater. At that point it just kind of depends how much do you fish, how much money do you have elsewhere and what is it all worth to you. Honestly, I have no problems paying good money for a hard bait. Once your knot tying becomes good and your casting is a bit more accurate you don't think about losing it or breaking it as much. The way I see it, I have a smaller boat and still spend $30-$50 just in boat gas when I go out... I don't think about spending $10-$20 on a hardbait that can last 2-10 years.
It's all different for everyone and I can still side with the person saying it is crazy to pay more than $8 a bait. I have plenty of $7 and under baits that catch the snot out of em, but I like to have the "niche" ones if they're better in that category too!
roadwarrior reply :
Custom paint jobs are for collectors, it has VERY LITTLE impact on "catching" fish.
I consider the Megabass Ito Vision 110 line to be works of art, not just great lures.
As a collector, these are the cat's meow!
Nice_Bass reply :
this topic causes me to juxtapose my beliefs on color.
Color does not matter at all to me as long as its one of the three colors I would need: shad-ish, bream-ish, or red-ish.
ww2farmer reply :
On 8/21/2014 at 9:29 PM, frogflogger said:It's all about confidence - if a $20 custom paint job gives you confidence then do it.
My thoughts as well. As a poor, cheap,old farm hand, I'll stick with factory colors, they work fine for me.
tholmes reply :
On 8/21/2014 at 11:08 PM, Nice_Bass said:this topic causes me to juxtapose my beliefs on color.
Color does not matter at all to me as long as its one of the three colors I would need: shad-ish, bream-ish, or red-ish.
Yep! ^^ I've found that those three basic colors (shad, bream and red craw) are all I need.
Tom
bighed reply :
Well, I would have called BS if someone else posted what I'm about to say had I not seen it myself. My son and I went to Falcon about 4 years ago when the fishing was really good. He likes making, painting, modifying his tackle, something I do not do. He took three odd colored DD22's he got in a bargain bin and painted them bass colored before we went down there. Not fancy or realistic but with a green back, bold black stripe, and solid white belly. Those baits out produced, by about 25 fish a day, anything I had including other DD22's fished in the exact same spots, dragging through the same brush. No, he would not give me one. So yes, if a custom paint job imitates forage better than the off the shelf baits, I believe. I don't think it has to be a $25 super realistic bait though.
WRB reply :
Here is a hypothetical question, you bought 6 crankbaits that the color combination catches nothing, they are $40 worth of lures collecting dust; Would you pay $5 each to custom paint them into bass catching lures where you fish?
Any tournament angler wants to have a lure that catches bass that the other anglers don't have, what is that lure worth? A lot more than it cost!
Tom
Ginosocalbass reply :
I'm all about custom painting, Though I cant always afford it.
I have learned the hard way what a "Spike-It Dip-n-Glow Marker" can do for your soft plastics.
So tell me how are hard baits any differant? when you incorporate what loss of light does to color in the water, Or how wind/water turbulance, breaks up light in the water... youll learn how much color plays a big factor in a species of fish that lagrely dispite what people think about the latteral line, are 90% of the time sight feeders.
rboat reply :
Unless you are suspending or stopping your bait, crankbaits are moving too quickly for a bass to see the realistic color pattern. Bass attack those baits due to the movement or vibration given off. If that bait is acting different from the native surrounding live bait it becomes instinct to hit the one that may be weak or injured. On slow moving baits, color and movement becomes more important because the bass have more time to see what they may eat. I believe it is sometimes the difference between a reaction strike and a feeding impulse. Color can be more important in a feeding response depending on available light and water clarity. To answer the question, I would not pay extra for a fancy paint job on a crankbait. Just my opinion.
If you are a lure collector, go for it.
OkobojiEagle reply :
It seems we have plenty of opinions for the anti side of the equation... apparently those inclined to believe custom painted lures can be a benefit are choosing to remain quiet. Hmmmm, the silence can be deafening... 
oe
hoosierbass07 reply :
I read this in one of the Fishing With Confidence books. The author talked about one of the Japanese Bass Master pros and how he had a swimming pool at his home and spent hours painting crankbaits hundreds of different colors and fine tuning them in his pool. I guess after a couple of years of doing that he finally realized all that work and study did not pay off in increased catches and finally stopped all his crankbait experimentations and now only fishes with a two or three different color crankbaits.
Dwight Hottle reply :
I beg to differ. On Lake Erie fishing for smallmouth, who are sight predators one guy on a boat of two people fishing two rods each can kick the other guys a-- by using a color bait that for that particular day has greater visibility or better matches the bait of that particular day. Trust me that is how it is. Color does matter to sight predators based on water conditions and visibility. If you don't believe it ask A-Jay or 00 mod.
Sometimes bass fisherman can learn from the experiences of other species fisherman. If that does not make any sense talk to the walleye guys. They know color does make a big difference.
It all depends on what specieces you are fishing for. Walleye, muskies and smallmouth are all sight predators. Largemouth bass are not considered sight predators.
Ginosocalbass reply :
On 8/23/2014 at 10:31 AM, Dwight Hottle said:I beg to differ. On Lake Erie fishing for smallmouth, who are sight predators one guy on a boat of two people fishing two rods each can kick the other guys a-- by using a color bait that for that particular day has greater visibility or better matches the bait of that particular day. Trust me that is how it is. Color does matter to sight predators based on water conditions and visibility. If you don't believe it ask A-Jay or 00 mod.
Sometimes bass fisherman can learn from the experiences of other species fisherman. If that does not make any sense talk to the walleye guys. They know color does make a big difference.
It all depends on what specieces you are fishing for. Walleye, muskies and smallmouth are all sight predators. Largemouth bass are not considered sight predators.
LMB Bass dont have the same color spectrum that walleyes or trout have. So yes color is indeed much more important for those species, But to say bass are not site feeders? that I feel is wrong. The latteral line theory only works when the lure is very close to the bass, and its displacing enough water. Especially in windy and choppy conditions were LMB often get there Buffet on... they arent feeling the crankbaits with there latteral line nearly as much as youd think. That is why spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits etc, all excell under those conditions...Becuase the flash from the movement of the lure, is the predominate attraction. Not so much the vibration of the lure itself.
the whole pattern of "Red Colored Lipless crankbaits" in early spring proves my point more.
aavery2 reply :
There are a lot of very opinionated responses in this thread, many of them are very uneducated and are just a repeat of what someone was told or heard. I urge everyone in this thread to read this book, it will shed a lot of light on what fish see.
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