KKBC

Brent I've got some baits up in WI that seem to be working well. I actually painted the scheme for a guy that fishes for walleye down here on Lake Burton and he told his family up there. They get upset because the Muskie keep tearing up their walleye baits. Heh! Other than grinnel, a few walleye and chain pickerel I don't have a lot of experience with toothy critters in freshwater. Guess I'll have to break out the shaving tools from back in the day and carve out some tooth proof hardwoods. Uh, no! I know they destroy plastic blanks and no amount of epoxy can stop that. Those are some seriously big motor scooters! What is the norm for blanks for Muskie and pike? Something like a cedar? How do you keep paint on a bait? I triple clear some baits I use in saltwater and can get a good dozen strikes before the bait suffers too much but they are pretty much done after that. Plus I use a solvent based thicker paint and even that doesn't hold up. Guess I need to run a search and see if there are any threads on toothy critters and saltwater.

No worries Centigrade, I was just yanking your chain. I don't run around spending my time getting offended. Yes, we are talking in circles. A lot of that is just simply because it is a form of media where we don't really know each other. I've been lurking around this site for years but didn't create an account until I was called out by name. I'm just an old fart that paints a few baits and I rarely sell more than 6 to 10 in any given week. But they aren't even close to $5 baits. I got back into painting baits when I retired a few years ago. I do not market or have sites set up. Everything I do is by word of mouth. I've been developing paint schemes that are diametrically different for almost a year now. I have a few young guns fishing them in tourneys, and doing well, but I'm more of a big fish hunter. I used to make baits back in the 70s when we carved our own and Iwata just came out with the H series airbrush that opened it up for bait painters. Until then it was all hand brushed. I also used to fish the circuits back then but spent a lot of my time in the saltwater. I was a Merchant Mariner and only had 5 months a year to fish. Guided some on Okeechobee, grew up fishing all over the South and am a 3rd generation bass fisherman. I was Terry Bass when Terry Bass was cool. There is a little background so we understand each other. I have gotten baits that need a lot of work regardless of where they come from. I've had $3 blanks I've had to epoxy bills on and $15 blanks that had hook eye problems that needed fixing. I buy from everywhere you do probably. Shelt's has some good quality blanks the same as Dinger, Predator, et al. You just have to weed through to find them. Like everywhere else. There, the circle is complete! Heh! Will I market and sell baits? Who knows? Probably not. I leave that up to all you professionals. Right now what I do pays for itself and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. Nothing beats sticking a 10# LM, 6# Spot, 6# SM, 18# Hybrid, 30# Striper, etc. on something you've created. It is just a blast and that's pretty much where I'm at. I'm just simply enjoying myself. One thing I'd like to do before I kick off though is to design my own molds. Now that is something I'd really like to do one day!

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I've been busy trying to hack up a lung. Centigrade? So I don't have a conscience? Here, knock this battery off my shoulder! Heh! Like I said above, each supplier has certain blanks that are better than others. And you'd be surprised at how many buy from the same place. Or from each other for that matter. I buy my 2.5s from one place, 1.5s from another, 110s somewhere else, deep divers at another, topwater somewhere else etc., etc., etc. Just takes time to figure it out. As was mentioned here, I too have The Box with hundreds of blanks that are excellent for practice and new color development since they are crap. Shelt's offers me some blanks I like and the quality is good. If they weren't I wouldn't be spending money on them.

No problem Cougar. I just wanted to clear up that I wasn't connected in any way to any of the suppliers. I actually agree with you. I pick and choose from each supplier which blanks I use. Of course it cost millions of dollars and countless number of lives to find out which blanks were the best from each. Eason sells a DD20 that I love for stripers and hybrids that I couldn't find anywhere that weren't trash. Good solid quality bait. I also paint his Fat Poppas. Playing with his CB D20 bubble bill now. I don't buy holos anywhere except Predator's transparent or make my own so I don't have a problem with Shelt's. You just live and learn but I'm always looking for a good blank and I don't mind paying for them when I find ones I like. Now, about finding quality swimbaits........ Man! I will say though, if Eason ever sells that 5" 4 joint painted he sells in an unpainted I'll buy them in a heartbeat!

How did I get dragged into this? Heh! I am in no way affiliated with Eason Lee or Shelt's. I just made a review on some blanks I bought from him. I've found with Shelt's, as with just about every other supplier I've bought from, there are certain blanks that are better than others. Eason sells quite a few I like and I will continue to purchase from him. I had the same problem with the lipless baits from Shelt's that others on this thread have had but Eason stood behind them. To each his own but I am not Shelt's, Eason nor Daniel1. Just an old fart that paints a few baits. I think in this day and age this is the part where I'm supposed to be offended and demand a safe zone or something! Watt Keller