Lincoya Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Here are three lures that I have been trying a new (for me anyway) technique on. These are my "photo finish" lures. I have had a few problems but I think that I have most of them worked out. The one in the middle is my Talapia bait that I am planning to take to Mexico with me in a couple of weeks. Thanks for any comments; good or bad. Gene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughesy Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Holy Smokes those are unreal. What a great job. Tell us how you went about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
u63405 Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Holy Smokes is right! Those are some beautiful lures!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coley Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Great job Gene.....ius I told you guys, Gene has more talent than any person I have ever met. I need to learn how to do this before the next BOB contest. Glad to see you getting back on the board. Coley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Wow! Those looks absolutely perfect. Can?t believe what I am seeing. I guess you?d like to share the techniques you?re using? Jann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrawdadBill Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Great job. Share your techniques with us. Can't wait to see more baits. Keep up the good work and good luck on your trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I don't think you could make a lure any better than those...perfect. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoya Posted February 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Some of you asked how I did it. Here is a brief overview without pictures. In the future, when I find the time, I?ll create a web page with directions and pictures. If you have already done some foiling, then this will be basically the same procedure. Be sure to use contact cement to bond your pictures to your lures. I have tried double-faced tape and spray cement. With both of them the edges of your pictures will lift when you apply the first coat of epoxy. 1. Find a suitable picture of the fish that you want. There are many resources for this but the web is the best place to start. A good source is: http://www.americanfishes.com/ 2. Transfer ("copy & paste" or "right click & save as") your picture to one of your favorite photo programs. Resize the picture to whatever size lure you want to make. 3. Make a mirror image of your picture so that you will have a left and right side of your fish. 4. Print your fish pictures on regular white printer paper. I would suggest printing them at a quality better than normal. This will give you a much better picture to transfer to your lure. 5. Cut these pictures out. Nothing fancy; no fins, just cut out the basic fish body. 6. Using one of these pictures trace the outline of your picture onto your block of wood. If you plan on doing several, I would trace the outline onto cardboard to use as a pattern. 7. Cut out your lure blank. 8. Add the appropriate weight. 9. Carve and sand your lure blank. 10. Seal your blank with whatever sealer you normally use. I use Delta's All Purpose Sealer that you find in the craft department with the acrylic paints at Wal-mart. After the sealer dries lightly sand your lure. 220-grit works fine. 11. Brush some contact cement onto the backside of both of your pictures and your lure blank. DO NOT use rubber cement. Rubber cement makes a temporary bond. You want this to be permanent. 12. After your contact cement dries carefully stick your pictures onto both sides of your lure blank. Make sure that you get it right the first time. If it sticks too much, you can't pull it off and start over. Try to align both sides the same. 13. Burnish the entire picture starting from the center and working towards the edges. 14. Trim any excess from your pictures (if necessary). 15. Coat the lure with a long-drying epoxy such as Devcon 2-ton or Flex-coat. 16. Rotate on your drying wheel or by hand until the epoxy sets up. 17. Sand with light sandpaper. 18. Paint the back and belly of the lure with appropriate matching colors. 19. Coat the lure with a long-drying epoxy such as Devcon 2-ton or Flex-coat. 20. Rotate on your drying wheel or by hand until the epoxy sets up. 21. Add all hardware. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. By-the-way: Thanks for all of the nice compliments. Gene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Gene, Great minds think alike I guess....I have been working on the exact same process during the last two weeks or so. Perhaps even more amazing is that you have been going to the same site, americanfishes.com to get the models. Below I have attached a sardine lure I put together using this same process for you and others to see. I used the Pacific Sardine for my model......you did a much finer job Gene than I did by the way. I might add to those wanting to do this that you need some type of photo manipulating software to work with the pics. When you see something you like online, right click on the picture and then save it to a folder. Then go into your photo-software, I use adobe photo-shop. If you have Win98 you use the Microsoft version, can't remember the name of it. In WINXP I believe all you have is "imaging" which is not user friendly at all. It might be possible to suck down some free photo software at www.nonags.com or www.download.com. If you have a digital camera use the software that came with it. Anyway, open the pic up in the photo software and resize as Gene has instructed, then print at high quality. Next choose "horizontal flip" and print a replica of the other side of the fish. I found glueing and fitting the pattern easy to do, the difficult part for me was getting the correct transition from my pattern to the belly and back paint....tough thing to do with a rattle can. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoya Posted February 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Jed, Thanks for the compliment. I think you did a excellent job on your sardine and especially if you are using spray cans. I would be interested in hearing about any differences in your process and any (if any) problems that you encountered during your expermentation. Gene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassNator 1 Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Yo Guys, Thats an AWESOME idea! I would never have thaought that a computer generated picture would look and work that well! Nice Job to both! Cody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Gene, I read through your process and the only thing I can see different is that I used Elmer's glue to secure the pattern and I only used one coat of Devcon. After glueing the pattern, I painted the back and belly and then coated with Devcon. I personally don't like to use two coats as it adds a considerable amount of bulk to the lure....just personal preference. Oh, I also used my dremel to grind out the eye pockets for the 3-d eyes, this was done prior to the Devcon of course. I could have left the eyes that came with the pattern but the 3-d eyes really bring the lure to life. I like how you brought the belly paint up higher than I did, gives the lure a very finished look and is quite realistic. For realism this process is hard to beat. Whether they out-perform traditional paint jobs on fish, however, remains to be seen. When I look at this sardine lure compared to the one with foil, the foil to me just look more genuine! When you tilt the foil in the light you can see small scratches in it, small dings that occured during constructon, these areas look identical to a live fish when you are holding them. If you look at the side of a bass, a crappie, salmon, whatever, they all have small marks, scratches, lines, foil can duplicate this exactly. A good painter (unlike myself) over the top of foil is amazingly accurate in my opinion and I suspect must look incredibly real to underwater predators as well. jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perro Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 great idea for people who are not good painters (like myself).....by the way, Adobe Photoshop is the best program for photo work out there, u can do a lot of things, not only rotate the pic, but add bright, shadows, remark details, etc...you can download it from kazaa, ...its a big download but its whorth it ....i think the last version is adobe photoshop 7 great job and thanks for all the ideas and the help mem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
out2llunge Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Absolutely beautiful! The big time manufacturers better look out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassNator 1 Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Taking that idea.... 1 Step Further, AND thinking outside the box....... Try and use your foil with this application. You tape a piece of alluminum foil onto your regular piece of paper to go through your printer after you resized the fish you want to use. Make sure that it doesnt overlap and that it doesnt buckle up in your printer... or you be messed up. Your chosen Photograph will print right onto the piece of foil. With colors.... it can be a Totally different look and it kind of looks cool! I just tried it on a black and white printer and it does kind of have a neat look to it! If you add a few embossed scale marks you can have a totally unique bait with a bunch of different techniques... without even painting. BUT if you do it on a black and white printer, you can also just add a little color to it with your air brush... use some translucent colors so you dont lose the foil shine and shimmer! WOW! The possibilities are endless. Might be worth trying! Cody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassnattractin Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 of the three, i like the tapalia one better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brivera88 Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 yea..the middle crank is a real beuty..a nice fat crank..wish i had that talent..nice job..u rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebBass Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 I had to leave town due to a death in the family and come back to see the most amazing lures I have ever seen. I still can't beleive what I am seeing. That is amazing! I love the idea and I appreciate you sharing it with us. Thanks and keep up the amazing work!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Brush Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Gene, Those are some nice baits. Of the 3 I like the top one best. The print is much lighter and the pattern shows a little more. Where in Mexico will you be fishing? What icthy is on the hunt agenda? Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoya Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 We will be going to Hacienda Las Palmas on Lake Guerrero and will be fishing for largemouth bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 Beautiful job Gene...I had a thought..(it doesn't happen often!!)instead of tranfereing it to regular paper,and fighting glue..why not transfere it to decal paper...I've transfered tons of stuff to decal paper...it works slick,and it is so thin,there are no seams to worry about, it forms to any contour and you can easily reposition the decal if need be..Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soupysayso Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I think these tips are a breakthrough for a lot of people. If I understand correctly, I can go out, find a fish, photograph it with a digital camera, come back, manipulate the picture and stick it on a bait. Matching the hatch just became a problem of the past....now it's just viewing the action of such hatch. Thank you tons for sharing your information; you've saved me a lot of $ and material with trial and error. An additional question with this post, Cody what type of foil are you running through your printer? If it's not standard aluminum foil, what gauge? I had an earlier post about a thin film my father uses to tint windows that has an adhesive backing...I'm going to gather a couple sheets and run it through my printer unless somebody warns me otherwise. I've also used the website you've mentioned, but I've found some other great baitfish pictures on my state fish commission website along with their pelagic movements and habits. I realize we live in different states but it's a resource that may help some. http://www.fish.state.pa.us/ Make sure you scroll down 3/4 of the way and on the right hand side you'll see a green box that says "pennsylvania fishes"....click that box and you can view what I've been reading for about a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassNator 1 Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 Hey Soupy, No You dont find a fish and photograph it with a digital camera... as a matter of fact you dont use your camera at all. They mentioned if you own a digital camera you can use the software they provided for the camera to manipulate the picture you get from the internet. You must visit the website that they listed and pick out the fish you want to use for your lure. The webpage offers a lot of variety of fishes to use. Once you find the fish on the website you must copy and save it to a program on your computer.... MS PAINT can work as well but Adobe Photoshop is better. You need to manipulate the image to the size you need... then make a copy of the image you snagged from the net THEN PASTE IT on the same page you had the first photo, THEN Flip it horizontal. That way you have a mirror image for the other side of the lure. trace your lure design onto the wood and cut it and carve it, glue it on and finish it up. Now yes, I just ran aluminum foil through my printer. I taped the top edge of the aluminum foil that goes into the printer first to a plain sheet of paper. That taped edge was taped so it wont buckle up and damage the inside printer. I also have a button that enables my print cartridge to be able to print on an envelope. Basically that makes the gap inside the printer where the ink cartridge is a little bit larger and easier for it all to go through. ITS A LOT EASIER THAN IT SOUNDS! Hope that helps. Cody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot Posted February 23, 2004 Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 HI...I'm a newbie here..been lurking around for a week or so and it's amazing what I have picked up from you guys already....Thanks for all of the info sharing yall do....i wish i would have found this site along time ago...anyway...I thought I would post a few photolures so you can have a few more to look at....BTW the ones yall posted pics of are awesome.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soupysayso Posted February 23, 2004 Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 Cody, are you using a laser printer for that? I used the tinting material through my printer with no luck. I have an inkjet and it printed the fish pattern just fine....but basically all that happened was there was wet ink on plastic and it wasn't a pretty sight. Maybe there's a way to dry or "freeze" the ink in place that I'm not aware of, such as a photochemical or something. I'm going to change gears and look into decal paper. Not sure what I was thinking with an inkjet and plastic sheet, doesn't work! Went through the printer fine, but wiped off like a bug on a windshield! As a side question, I like the G-finish done on a couple of the current zara spooks. I would settle for finding such material and airbrushing over it after sealing. Anybody know where to find that stuff? Pretty sure it's just a film like foil that they wrap, at least in some other lures I sacrificed for science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
