Hoosier_Hawgz

Honestly I think that’s pretty awesome, I’m good with it. +1 on the not losing it though!

Count me in! I’ve got a bait that’s seen some good use, it’d be sweet to have somebody else hook up on it too.

That purple looks sweet! Those gill colors are definitely coming together.

I’ve gotta say, I think I could die a happy man if I got my hands on a 250 Bonheur and a Ghost of some kind. First I’ll need to have a setup capable of throwing them though!

Man I will always be jealous of some people’s abilities with both carving and painting, and you’re one of them. Those things are looking sweet!

Thank you for this! So just to clarify, you mean laying down a base coat of gray across the entire bait will help tone them down? Because that’s what I was hoping for with the light coat of white over the top of everything but it didn’t quite work as I’d hoped. I don’t have any detail sepia yet, but once I finally break down and buy some Createx paint, that’s probably going to be one of my first ones! Along with pearl white.

Definitely! I get a little jealous seeing all of the YouTubers with rows and rows of Createx paints that can match the one specific tone they’re going for, but it’s satisfying to come close with the cheap craft pants at the same time. Thank you! I agree, it really is impressive how creative and realistic people are with their paints. I think my paint will always be more on the artistic side than the realistic, but it’s a fun process to dial in either way!

Thank you sir! I’m still figuring out airbrushing, so for using a $20.00 Amazon special and $0.50 Walmart craft paints I’m pretty happy with the end result!

Well it’s all ready for clear coat and hooks now! I’m hoping to put some time in with it this coming weekend. I’ve got some interesting plans for this in the future, so everybody keep their eyes peeled in a couple of weeks.

In

Well this weighs only 40 pounds so you should be able to carry it anywhere you need to! https://apexwatercraft.com/fishing-products/ At that price though you could probably get into a decent bass boat…

Thanks Victor! That looks like an awesome little guide, and now I’ve got most of their freshwater patterns bookmarked to find them when I need to. That bluegill of yours does look sweet! It’s that time of the year where it should get whacked pretty easily.

Alright folks of the Grass Roots, I need some help. My painting skills are still developing, so it’s been a little bit of a struggle with painting this thing. Mainly problems with paint consistency and PSI, but that’s just going to take time and more experience. But now I need some opinions on the paint scheme. Here’s what I’m going for, a bluegill caught from the pond where I fish 90% of the time- And here’s where the bait is at- So my question for everyone is this; where do I go from here? I don’t think the colors are blended very well, but I’m unsure if I should try to blend them better or if I need to lay more colors over the top of them. And there will be more colors added to the chin, tail, and face areas, but I wanted to get some opinions on the body colors before I continue. Thank you in advance to anyone who chimes in, I appreciate you all!

You’ve got some wildly cool and original ideas. Can’t wait to see what it looks like after paint!

I had to look through my old pictures to confirm, but this fish is indeed my PB. For my first time throwing big baits, literally just test swimming them, and to break my old PB by five ounces? Just unreal. On that note, anybody want to buy some conventional gear lol?

Thanks fellas! @Mossyback Angler that’s solid advice, I appreciate it. A net for sure would have been handy because my knees were knocking together for about ten seconds after I caught her. I thought for sure she was over 5, which would definitely make her a PB.

Well first I’d like to start by saying I made a bit of an oopsie. I went ahead and signed up for the monthly tourney because I’m the optimistic type, but I forgot one little thing; I don’t own a measuring board. I figure no biggy, what are the odds I’ll actually catch one big enough to be a tourney contender anyways? Fast forward to this evening, and I’m pumped to test swim the baits I just bought from @Kccline49 (awesome dude by the way). First swimbaits I’ve ever owned other than a 3-piece wake I made myself and I’m throwing them on a Berkeley Big Game spinning rod. Everything swims/glides good, my fiancé is catching blue gill every cast for 20 minutes straight, it’s starting to sprinkle. Last one for me to test is the Strike King Mega Dawg. I get a blow-up about 8’ from the bank, and set the hook into this- I live in Indiana, so with the handicap this becomes a 6.62 lber. Needless to say my next purchase is going to be a measuring board.

…I’ll admit I’m a bit ashamed that I hadn’t thought about any differences to action the tail shape would make. I just had the material available to make a more flowing style of hard tail than I see in other baits, so I wanted to try it. I could see how it could possibly catch water easier than a standard flat tail though, now that you’ve mentioned it. It’s currently got a base coat of white on it but once paint is finished I’ll report back on what I find!

Thanks fellas! @danthefisherman I’m glad you appreciate it! Haha my cuts for the tail block didn’t quite line up right so I had some extra material to play around with. I probably spent as much time shaping it as I did shaping and carving the rest of the bait!

While I was starting on the paint for my creek chub glide, I had the idea to try working on a medium-sized crankdown. Where I fish has had some grass begin popping up from the heat lately, so I wanted something bigger than a standard crankbait that I could burn past those patches to pull those fish out. Since I had so many difficulties figuring out the weight with the thin profile in the glide, I made sure to keep the body much thicker for this bait. I also kept the facial detail to a minimum just for simplicity’s sake and it’s all ready for paint now!

In

Well folks, it’s finished!

I would respectfully disagree with the line “It’s not the best looking bass”. Not trying to be a brown-noser or anything, but you’ve got the colors and patterns spot on man!

I would take a swing at it if I were a fish! The swim on it looks good, but personally I would love to see a video with some different retrieves thrown in to see how it does at different speeds. The paint looks good too, simple and clean. Nice job all around!