By: Bryan Blazek – Date Posted: September 15, 2011
For as long as I can remember, there has been one thing remaining constant with my fishing. A properly presented crankbait will produce quality fish consistently, outing after outing, and year after year. Crankbaits will probably even continue to produce until my children’s children are fishing 50 years from now.
I remember the first time I peered into my grandfather’s tackle box and noticed a beady eyed Heddon Pumpkinseed staring back at me. It is interesting that in the 52 years since the Pumpkinseed first debuted, the crankbait industry has come full circle; back to hand painted, ultra realistic color schemes to reproduce live forage accurately. Advances in materials have made for much more precise manufacturing, and more consistent baits. However the old balsa wood crank bait is still the preferred tool of many pro anglers for those lazy summer bass. Sometimes a departure from a natural appearance is necessary to trigger strikes from fish, often because of lighting and water clarity issues; bold, high contrast colors are also popular choices to catch bass, and bass fishermen alike. One only has to look to the shelves of a local big box store to find an effective crankbait, and with many of the models selling for around five dollars, most anglers own a considerable assortment.
With the market flooded with crankbaits, and every snag at the local fishing hole littered with lost lures, where does the discerning angler turn to find the edge above the field, to show the fish something new, to best replicate natural forage?
Custom hand painted crankbaits have been the answer for a long list of professional bass fishermen for the past couple decades. Ever since Tim Hughes started painting his famous Table Rock Shad pattern, and as soon as the tournament winnings started pouring in, many anglers sought out high end artists to do custom airbrushing on mass produced lures in order to separate themselves from the crowd.
Tim Hughes is largely considered the father of modern lure airbrushing, and I was lucky enough to consult with him while putting together this article. Over one-million dollars in tournament winnings have been documented on Tim’s Table Rock Shad and Norman Flake designs. Nowadays, almost every major tackle manufacturer offers some variation of these patterns.
Over the years, Tim has consulted with Bass Pro Shops, Excalibur, and Bomber to put his color designs into the tackle boxes of more anglers. Tim explained to me that there is no single most popular lure sent in for customizations. However, there seems to be some baits that he sees most often. During the spring jerkbait season he sees many Smithwick Rogues, as well as the Megabass jerkbaits; and during the summer, he will see many Bomber Fat Free Shads, Storm Wiggle Warts, and Lucky Craft RC Squarebills.
Besides factory manufactured baits, hand carved wooden baits are also still popular for anglers willing to foot the bill. Many of them swear that there is nothing even close that compares to the action of a wooden crankbait. The obvious advantage to the plastic baits is the consistency at which they are manufactured. Many of us have had the experience of taking brand new crankbaits out of the box, tying them on, and casting them out, only to find that they do not ‘swim’; or roll off to one side. Plastics and resins, along with computer aided design processes have led to a much smaller percentage of baits being defective, yet it still happens. Because of this, any bait sent in for custom paint should previously be tested for desired action.
The advantages of a custom painted lure can be described differently depending on the color pattern being ordered. The first major advantage that can be immediately noticed is a thick durable clear coat. Unlike the less effective clear coat on mass produced lures that often loses its color and cracks, most custom cranks will look better and last longer, even after deep probing structure and rip-rap. The obvious next advantage is in the realism offered by some of the baitfish patterns, which is remarkable to say the least. Combined with the thick clear coat, the vibrant colors really come to life, and offer an ultra realistic package when created by the hands of a true artist.
The attention to detail is what many tournament anglers demand in order to be a cut above the field. Artist and graphic designer, Dwain Batey, of BaitWerks explains this well. “It’s also not all about realism, though that’s often what the customer is led to believe in this industry. Often times the advantage is a mixture of several factors from color selection, to contrast. I feel like a lack of contrast kills a lot of the major manufacturer’s photo finish color offerings, they look great, but just don’t produce. Its taken me a lot of years to learn the little things that I can incorporate into a design that brings the bait to life, but keeps the fish interested.”
It is true that sometimes an aggressive fish will strike almost any color you throw, but tournament anglers are looking to catch the passive fish as well. Combining ultra realistic paint, with the modern suspending action of today’s high end crankbaits can be a deadly combination for lethargic bass. The last major advantage comes out of the concern of conditioning.
Many anglers believe that a fish can grow accustomed to seeing the same baits swim by on a regular basis, and will in turn, lose curiosity. You may not believe this to be the case at your local honey hole, but at lakes such as Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, which hosts over a hundred tournaments a year, it becomes a legitimate concern. In these cases it often takes a new color, or a slight tweak to an existing well producing pattern, to gain the edge over your competition. Casey Sobczak from 6th Sense lures explained it like this. “Colors that the fish have never seen can really catch more fish on pressured lakes. I call these colors ‘Curious Colors’, where a bass will eat the crankbait out of curiosity.” Casey may be a young guy, but he’s no dummy when it comes to custom crank bait artistry, with over $100,000 in documented winnings coming on his baits since 2011 alone. Speaking with Tim and Casey about their client list is like a who’s who in professional bass fishing. Tim has painted for pros like Stacey King, Robbie Dodson, Tommy Martin, and Larry Nixon to name a few. In addition, Casey is proud to have worked with Scott Rock, Gerald Swindle, Tokahiro Omori, Matt Greenblatt, and Jason Quinn among others. The artists I interviewed all expressed that they also had many other customers that would prefer to remain anonymous due to potential sponsorship conflict, but one can plainly see that the pros turn to artists like this when they want the ultimate bass catching tools.
Now more than ever, the consumer has access to the custom designs once only available to the pros. As discussed previously, Tim Hughes has teamed up with a few major manufacturers to make his color patterns available to anglers of all skill levels. Artists Dwain Batey and Casey Sobczak have also worked on similar ventures. Dwain has teamed up with Mike Yucca of Bull Shad Swimbaits to produce some truly awesome swimbaits, especially when painted in his ultra sheik Batey “Shad 2” or “Live Crappie” pattern. Casey is working on an entire new line of cranks that are slated to hit the market in the next year or two.
Another ever growing market for custom cranks is the realm of online auctions. There are inherent downfalls when it comes to buying from these places, however great deals are still to be had. One of the best ways to take advantage of online auctions is to purchase discontinued crankbaits in unpopular colors, and have them sent out for a fresh new custom paint job. Many artists will also repair worn or broken lures, and return back a finely tuned, tank tested, fish catching machine.
A couple of years ago anglers may have been lucky enough to score some of Dwain Batey’s work on eBay, and I hear that every once in a while some are still out there. The past few years has seen an explosion in custom baits like never before, Dwain explains. “When I started painting the only person I knew of that was even painting crankbaits full time was Tim Hughes, who is the grandfather of the whole custom painting industry, and before the explosion of people doing this happened I had already developed my own style. I really try not to copy anyone’s designs, choosing to focus on my own experience as well as actual prey images for reference. There is too much copycatting in this industry already. I started painting after learning about airbrushing when I was in high school back in ’90 and ’91. I’ve been fishing since age 2, and an artist just as long, so a marriage of the two in custom painting was just natural for me. I painted for myself and friends for many years. In about 2004 I found a reasonable clear coat that made my baits durable enough that I could start thinking about doing some for other people. After that I started selling some of my work on eBay, which at the time was the heyday of custom painted baits for eBay. The prices were ridiculous that I was getting sometimes. This led to a lot of fly by night painters who thought it was a gold rush, so now eBay is flooded with custom painted baits. I hardly ever sell there anymore, it’s just not necessary with the customer base that I have from my website and networking.”
If you are ready to take your bass fishing to another level, you need to consider custom painted crankbaits to complete your arsenal. Before writing it off as cost prohibitive, first consider this: These are finely detailed pieces of hand-made art, and should be priced accordingly. Then consider the benefits. These artists transform normal pieces of plastic and wood into masterpieces of taxidermy, as well as neon radioactive fish magnets that will guarantee you a shot at finishing in the money, or at least with a smile on your face.
Tim Hughes
http://www.hughescustombaits.com/
Casey Sobczak
Dwain Batey
