Painting Ghost Minnow

[stephen snider]

Can anyone help with a color for ghost minnow? I have some clear blanks to paint and can't get the right color

 

Thanks,  Steve

[HAWGFAN]

Can you be more specific?  This pattern can differ greatly from one manufacturer to another.  Who's are you trying to copy?

[mark poulson]

One thing that might help is to dip your clear plastic bait quickly in clean acetone, holding it by the bill so that doesn't get dipped.  A quick dip will clean and open the surface of the plastic, so you can spray your Createx or other air brush paint directly onto the clear plastic, and it will bond without a primer.  That opens up all kinds of transparent color schemes, since you're not starting with an opaque prime coat.

 

For me, ghost means hard for the fish to see clearly, so I try to use really light coats of transparent paint, no matter which scheme I'm painting.  I want to be able to still see through the bait when I'm done.

I try and visualize what the lure will look like from below, and from the side.

 

In really clear water, the movement of the bait will catch their attention, and the less that's visible means they have fewer negative cues.

So a clear belly, a hint of silver sides, trans. violet on the shoulders, and one mist of black on the back are my shad colors.

The same idea goes for other paint schemes.  I want the sun to show through the bait from above, and just give a hint that there's something edible swimming away.

[Matt Moreau]

A ghost minnow can be tricky depending on which retailer you are trying to copy. What i have come up with is a scheme i like a lot and is very transparent.

 

Clean the bait or do like Mark suggested.

Spray candy red pearl on the bottom third of the bait. (This is candy red pearl powder suspended in a base like createx gloss)

candy blue pearl on the top half/two thirds of the bait (same as above but candy blue)

transparent light olive on the shoulders cheeks and top

transparent dark olive over a mesh on shoulders and top to give scale appearance

gold pearl on the shoulders cheeks and top

Red gills

light rainbow sparkle over everything

 

Remember to go very very light on all the applications. the candy pearls will look like nothing is there but appear at angles and in the sunlight.  Candy pearl i believe is smaller particle size than regular pearl. I bought them at paint with pearl but you can source them other places and on ebay.

[stephen snider]

I was trying to copy the lucky craft staysee 90  ghost minnow or  lucky strike secret night colors.

I'm trying to get the brown olive green back goldish brown face. I wish I could describe it  better  . 

 

Steve

[stephen snider]

The transparent light olive and trans. dark olive on the back and gold pearl on the face are probably close The sides do have a reddish tint to them

[Matt Moreau]

Yes my pattern is based on a lucky craft ghost minnow. You can go very light and i mean very light with transparent red and blue on the sides if you don't have candy pearl but its not as nice.

 

For the olive i mix my own since created doesn't have a good one. half bottle yellow... a little blue and a little brown to get the colors you want.

[stephen snider]

Matt,  Thanks for helping , I'm not sure if I'm good enough to mix the paints especially the candy red pearl  colors.

I wish there was an easier way to paint that color. My friend said he caught  a 6 today and a 7 pounder  yesterday( weight on a scale).  and he thought the red tint on the side might have helped. I never thought these colors would be so hard to paint.  

 

Steve 

[Ichthus]

Steve,

You can always get a pearl white and mix with dark red if you are lacking pearl powder or colors. I did this last week on a pair of bluegills that I wanted to give a purple shimmer that would only show at certain angles. I watered it down a lot and brushed it on with a paint brush but I'm sure it would spray well too.

[HAWGFAN]

I also mix my own olive with Createx transparent paints, but I go about it a different way.  I use (approximately) 1 part dark brow to 3-4 parts leaf green.  Sometimes I'll brighten it up a bit with some transparent white.  For the back on that pattern, I reduce my dark brown very thin, and add pearl gold or copper

[mark poulson]

Folk Art makes some great metallic colors that work for light overspray effects, too.  Their Peridot is a green with a gold metallic sheen.  Another choice for an interesting effect.

[stephen snider]

Mark,  could u use peridot  for the top of ghost minnow?

[mark poulson]

Stephen, Folk Art is a water based acrylic paint, so it is not usable as a top coat.

I mist it over the back and shoulders of my crappie patterns, to give them a warm golden glow,  but I use a regular top coat over that.

If you put a thin top coat, like urethane or concrete sealer, over your finished paint scheme first, to seal and protect it, you can play around with misting different metallics and pearls over your bait to see how they look, and just wash it off afterwards  if you don't like it.  That's what I do when I want to see how something new will look.