The doldrums of winter pushed me to start doing some custom paint jobs on vertical rattle baits for ice fishing. As it got a bit warmer, I started painting some crank baits to cast from shore. Finally, I dove into painting and tying buck tail jigs. Feel free to give me some feedback.
The lipless ones have caught quite a few fish for the short time that I had them this winter. I think I only had them with on two trips. Makes life easier knowing I won't lose a $6 rippin rap to a pike. The open water ones have gotten wet at the tail race and at heskett. No takers yet but only time will tell. I have a few friends casting them as well. The jigs are 1/4 oz. so they just weren't heavy enough for the current I was in the last few weeks. I tried them but I couldn't maintain bottom contact. When I get into these smaller lakes I think they'll start to shine. The crank baits are perfect for casting. They're a little heavier but you can certainly bomb them out there.
I sold six of these two a couple of young men that were chasing some green backs that upcoming weekend. They said the gold/red did a good job. The action seemed a bit off which was what I was worried about. They'd probably be great for casting, but not the best for vertical jigging.
Those are the only ones I've sold. I want to make sure they catch fish first. Then I'll start in with the licensing and such. So, strictly hobby right now. JayKay, from the other site, dresses treble hooks so we usually just trade. What I've told them I'd do is paint whatever they'd bring me.
This style of lipless crank has some awesome movement. They're 1/3 oz so pretty similar to the #4 UL rippin rap. I had one painted in "clown" before a northern destroyed the trebles. I had caught all my fish on it that day. I'll be ordering and painting quite a few of these as I wait for the water to freeze this winter.