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Posts: 25
Location: Roseville, MN | My first and last BIG trolling bait. After seeing so many outstanding b-i-g lures on this forum, and because I always wanted to try an ultra-natural paint job, I finally gave it a whirl. Had a lot of fun and I can see why lots of guys like to build huge lures. Now, it's back to topwaters for me. 
Gale
WakeMaker Lures
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 Walleye Diver 2.jpg (19KB - 126 downloads)
Walleye Diver.jpg (23KB - 109 downloads)
WkMkrTroller30001.jpg (26KB - 116 downloads)
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Posts: 399
Location: Burton, Ohio | Very nice! how big is the lure over-all. I like how you did the suttle yellow patches on the head. They really have that on the cheeks. My friend is a taxidermist and that is one thing that makes his walleye mounts stand out. Nice job. What wood did you use? Is that maple?
Thanks
John
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DSC00505email.jpg (27KB - 106 downloads)
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Posts: 25
Location: Roseville, MN | The wood body is a hair shy of 14". Since I normally make topwaters, I am most familiar with red cedar (non-aromatic) so that's what I used for this one. It was a bit tricky to get the interior weighting system worked out, but at rest, it hovers upright and slightly nose-down just below the surface. Pure, blind luck. |
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Posts: 106
Location: Michigan | Looks real cool how did you do the scale's? |
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Posts: 25
Location: Roseville, MN | I pressed the scale pattern into the wood using a small, dull wood carving gouge. In earlier trials, a sharp-edged gouge left such a thin cut that I had to cut deeper into the wood than I really wanted too. A dull edge cut much less and gave me the "indented" look I wanted without removing any wood at all.
To give the scales depth, I initially sprayed the entire lure with 2 light coats of Spazstix Ultimate Mirror Chrome and then built up the chrome until I had a highly reflective mirror finish through out. Then, I applied a medium coat of one part Black mixed with one part Pearlized Silver (thinned with extender) over the scaled areas. After the black/silver dried, using very fine steel wool, I removed about 90% of it from the face of the scales, leaving only the scale grooves and the basis of the darker walleye markings darkened.
From this point, I basically had a black & chrome walleye and all that was left to do was add color tinting. I did so by using very transparent mixtures of Gold/Yellow, Gold/Brown, Green/Black and Black. After those color tints were dry, I used a more concentrated mixture of the Gold/Yellow and tipped a few random scales and applied several coats of Pearlcote Pearl to the belly and lower margin of the gill plates.
This is not an original painting process of mine. It is similar to the method used by some taxidermists on fish replicas. It is super easy, doesn't require and stenciling or masks, and by color-layering using transparent paints, even the most inartistic of us can create a realistic pattern. On the down side, you can't get something like this painted in a day, nor two. Figure on a week if you take your time and do it right. |
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Posts: 36
| very nice |
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Posts: 432
Location: mpls | Gale,
Looks Great!!
Joe |
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