The
Craze for Custom Crankbaits
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/
Hughesbait@centurytel.net/
Casey Sobczak
http://www.6thsenselures.com/
paintyourbait@yahoo.com/
Dwain Batey
http://www.baitwerks.com/
orders@baitwerks.com/
Article as-seen in Issue-6 of
Fishing-Headquarters Magazine
