2012, Nine ready for clear

 I took new photos to help ease my mind, enjoy.

The tape we are using is a lot thicker than foil or leaf. You can see from the pictures that there is a definite edge. You can spend the time to soften this with multiple coats of clear and sanding, if you chose to spend your time that way. I have been there and done it, looks cool but not worth the time for this batch. Hopefully the Muskie Gods will forgive me! For those who may think it sloppy, evidently you have more time than I do.

This batch is for fishing, not personal critiquing. Use the knowledge you gain. Good or Bad.

As I have said before, I am not a photographer. I wish I could do justice to how this tape really looks. Maybe Frank will get some real photos going.  But anyway, it is cool to say the least. These are the first nine ready for clear. Seeing that I am unable to show the real value of the tape, the solid chrome is mirror chrome, the solid gold is mirror gold and both are a real mirror finish. The green and chartrues are prism, that pulls in colors of the bait. This is also the same for the one that looks orange to chartrues in the pics. 
I have no data to back it up, but I think all tape will reflect U V light, if present. This tape is so reflective it is unbelievable. If there is a light source it will reflect it.

Solid Gold tape

Solid Silver tape

Green prism tape

Chartreuse pearl tape

Solid Silver tape

Perch photo over gold leaf

 These are all in House of Kolor inter coat clear at the present, it gives me something other than paint to scuff before the real clear.
If you look at the two lures in green tape, you can tell how the tape picks up the color of the baits and changes. These are both the same tape, just different light. As for what it does in the water, if the sun is out, it is wild. If there is no sun, it is green prism tape.

Now that UV coatings have arrived on the market and seems to be coming the rage in manufactured baits,  slight delay from the original in 2006,??? I do not see a purpose, if you can reflect light and use hot colors when needed, it works. Not to say, a bright colored lure in clear water is bad, I do that quite a bit when the sun is out.

I am not a believer in the U V coatings being offered now days to enhance your lures color. I do believe in anything than can reflect light. Whether it be tape, foil or leaf, if it can reflect light  it can reflect U V. I personally can't get a grip on something I can't see and something that can not be proven or dis proven. Any promo you see that depicts a U V bait and fish, the only thing that is different is the bait. If U V light changes the color of the bait, then why doesn't it change the color of the fish ????

On the same vain of thought, you can see so far all these baits are hot colored. I might do all 76 this way, the water clarity for Green Bay at the Fox river is Zero. The Bay is are intended target.

The chartrues, chartrues green, and light orange are my triggers along with rattles.The reflective tape is a bonus. This will pick up and reflect any visible light source. So I believe, U V included

( Keep it in the Water.)

Muskie Baits paint & tape

I already know that this should have started about a month ago , but as the world turns this is reality.  We all do the best we can for the time we have . So as a quick note, these are a few I was able to get paint on in 92 degree, 58% humidity weather, it's always fun. 

These musky baits all have tape on them, the new chrome and gold tape is fantastic. This new tape is a lot thinner than the colored tape, and really lays down nice. It has the best flash that I have seen to date.

There are four baits ready for clear in the pics and the others with a white top and belly are ready for color.

When  using the prism tape just remember, tape will not adhere to curves, keep it tight. If it buckles, bulges or creases it will be that way when it's finished. Any open or lifted edge will not work well in the end.

Frank, did a great looking hot perch and maybe he will pull it from the vault and share some pics. You can add it in here, if you would Frank.

I am not a photographer, as you can tell from the pics, but this tape is the ultimate if you are looking for flash. In solids or prism , you could not go wrong with using it.

There were a couple of memory lapses getting started , but I think we will get it on a roll quick enough.

 I not sure, but we may have lost Al to back problems and Tom finished all but three of his baits already.

So it appears that Frank and I are the slackers!

A little side note to all of this , we will be fishing dark water this year. A Canadian trip is out of the question for me . So the Great Lakes , Green bay is what are intent is, hence the hot colors, rattles and flash that will be created. You would be lucky to see something 2'-0" below the surface.

I wish they had  Zander in the Great Lakes, they get huge.

( Keep it in the Water )

Musky Baits in primer and tape

Well I finally put them all in primer and just a few with some tape just to show what they will start to look like. There is also one perch photo finish over gold leaf. The extra time came in because, I decided to install all the eyes before paint. I chose to use the forstner bit and give the eye location a little relief. In the past we put the stick on eyes after paint, no drilled in spot. I didn't want to have to play around with the eyes after paint this time. I used stick on label dots to cover the eyes from paint and also tried a liquid mask. The dots work just fine and the liquid mask ( latex ) did as well , just takes more time to apply. The dots did wrinkle a bit, and I did remove them, clean the eyes from any primer  and reapply new dots for the finish paint.
Keep in mind that none of this needs to be done ,unless you are trying to get the best possible finish you can.
I have not finished anything in envirotec as of late , just because of weight. Once I tank test this batch I will know if I can add any weight.

Garage Baits

click on photo to enlarge

Everything was weighed using the Archimedes dunk test and taken to the neutrally buoyant point. At the time, not all my eyes were in and I was giving 1 gram for eyes, 2 grams for paint in total and nothing for tape. The majority of these baits will have tape on them. Well the tape didn't amount to a gram, that is good. But the primer was between 2 and 3 grams. Come on, how much could paint on a lure possibly weigh! Now I know. I did make note off this in the bible and will see what the finish coats add in.This can all be rectified with some lighter hooks if need be, just wasn't my plan. I will fill the tank and test them out when all is done. Sinkers or floaters! 

The good news is, I have a few 3/4" aspen jerk - glide baits that this error in thought, will work ok with.

As for the Aspen baits, I will stick with Pine. The aspen was a bit hairy ( raised grain ) through out the process. The propionate always laid it down and smoothed it out but just not worth the effort if you have pine.

I will also be finished mixing the propionate with acetone. I don't care for the nature of acetone and I have used lacquer thinner a few times with equal or better results. Just a bit friendlier. We use Sunnyside and Squeak Kleen thinner a lot.    

The tape jobs are prism tape, I think this adds the most possible amount of flash to a lure. Even with a 5" bait you can put a nice metallic flash into it. Normally I put the tape on the bait and trim it to size using a single edge razor. Hit the edge with some sandpaper, wipe it down with thinner and give it a couple coats of envirotex spray or a good acrylic. After that scuff with a pad and add color.

I have played around with gold leaf, foil and photo finishes a bit and other than trying to imitate a fish with a photo finish or a scale pattern with foil, prism tape is pretty easy for the flash you get from it. With Kandies
( transparent paint) the tape can take on endless color changes.
WTP, witch craft products has a great selection of prism tapes. There is more than the red, green,gold and pink pearl scale patterns.    

As a little update, it was 102 degrees and 40 percent humidity in the garage today , I made it to 3:00 and called it quits. The beer was getting warm before I could drink it!

( Keep it in The Water )