The hot new lure produced limits of bass the last couple of weeks, but now the bite is starting to slow. What to do?

Success stories about new baits spread like wildfire through the marinas, internet chat rooms, and tackle stores, so it doesn’t take long before every lure-slinger is using your secret weapon. Switching lure colors helps you continue to catch fish, but after awhile bass start to ignore your offerings again. In this situation some anglers search for a new wonder lure, but you can revive the magic of your not-so-secret-anymore bait with a custom paint job.

Professional anglers have been lure-coloring for years to get an edge on the competition.”I want something different,” says Arkansas pro Scott Rook, who handpaints many hard plastic lures. “Lure painting is unlimited as far as what you can come up with, and fun to do, particularly when you start catching bass on a lure no one else has.”

Lure coloring can be as simple as dipping the tail of a lizard in a bottle of dye, or as complicated as refinishing a Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue in a realistic shad pattern, with scales, eyes, and body dots. You can custom-paint your own lures, or if you’re artistically challenged, you can hire a lure painter.

Lure Artist

When tournament pros need a particular lure in a special color, some ship their baits to Tim Hughes, a former Table Rock Lake guide who has become the Picasso of lure painting.

Equipped with airbrushes and compressors, Hughes churns out colors that attract both anglers and bass. The lure painter uses lacquers and water-base paints to provide custom jobs in any hue. “Some colors are available in water-base that you can’t get in lacquer, and vice versa,” he says.

Hughes begins by removing the lure’s hooks and applying a white base coat. Then he applies colors, adding features such as firetiger stripes, gills, dots, and red bleeding marks on the throat and tail. He completes his work by applying a clear coat, then clipping his baits to a motorized wheel that constantly turns over, allowing each lure’s finish to dry evenly.

Hughes can custom-paint a lure in any shade as long as he has a good photo or a sample of the requested color. “We can paint colors that are discontinued,” he said. “Companies are notorious for coming out with a great bait and then discontinuing it.” He also can paint one manufacturer’s colors on a competing company’s lure, such as brushing the naturalistic green crawfish Storm Wiggle Wart hue onto a Norman Little N.

“A lot of guys also want a faded look,” Hughes reports. “We can paint it that color so they don’t have to hang their lures in the sun for two months.”

Since he receives orders from coast to coast, Hughes notices regional variation in color preferences. He receives numerous orders from Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama for rattlebaits and deep divers in various shades of red. Midwestern anglers ask for custom paint jobs in realistic brown or green crawfish, threadfin shad, and purple-chartreuse. Northern anglers favor baits resembling alewives (green back and silver sides), while Western fishermen ask for shock colors such as bright pink or purple-chartreuse.