7" trout finished

Some fine looking swimmers there Mark. Are you making your own tails?

No, Captsully from this forum has made me some. Otherwise, I get Scott Whitmer's Triple Trout tails from Performance Tackle in Long Beach.

Those look great. Looking foreward to your fish report. Good luck.

awesome looking baits there.

Truly awesome, Mark. You just keep getting better and better. These look to be your best work so far. Beautiful paint. Hope you catch a big 'un on them.

David

they relay look great mark

and they all look the same too!!

how is the "hitchhiker" system for attaching the tail-fin performing?

Everyone,

Thanks for the compliments. It's a lot of fun, and I never dreamed I could make something so pretty.

dramone,

I painted them all the same, but two are floaters, and the rest are sinkers, with a rate of fall (ROF) 1' per second.

I left the violet stripe off the side of one of them, just for variety.

I like the overall paint scheme, which is the same one I used on my latest 8" trout lures, which were also made from PVC decking matl. instead of wood.

The 5/16" diameter coil "spring" I epoxy into a 3/8" hole in the tail section works great.

I have to take my time putting the tail on, to keep it centered and straight, but that's just for looks. Even when it's not perfectly aligned, it works great, and the coil keeps it on and in place.

I started out by using spinnerbait wire, but it's too stiff, so now I use some softer sst wire from Barlows.