Rob --

You mentioned you've repainted your AC Minnow 3 times now. Any suggestions as to the best paints, sealants and/or application techniques to use on my 9" Slammer? I've considered calling Mike Shaw to see if he'd be willing to repaint the thing, but I haven't resorted to that as of yet (& my guess is, he probably wouldn't want to be troubled).

Any other inputs on repainting chipped wooden plugs???

Hey Jeff,

I'm sure you have seen my pic of my best plugs
http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/DCForumID2/35.html
The grooves on my slammer are pretty obvious but the fish don't seem to mind. After a while, the paint is just going to wear off. It's just the nature of a big wooden lure with very sharp hooks that rub against it as you retrieve it. You should see the difference between fishing cheap mustads vs gamakasku. The gamakasku hooks eat your lure up bad, but you have to use them. Mike has been working on this issue for 8 years now and the new plugs especially are very resistant to scratching and chipping. But it's a tough one to get around and it's certainly not something that he guarantees the plug against.

If my plugs get really bad I guess I will repaint them, but I'm starting to believe more and more that it's the action, the irregular kick, the squeak of the hinges, and the bouyancy of the wood that combines to make a killer plug, not the color. I would much rather fish a totally trashed looking plug that I know is good than a brand new clean looking plug that I don't know if it is a good one or not.

If you do want to paint yours the best thing I have come up with is to use model airplane enamel, like those little bottles of testors paint. Paint it and let it dry overnight. Then coat over that with nail polish. The nail polish will melt the underlying paint and smear it a little, but just make short strokes with the brush and you can get it pretty well covered. Put on extra polish where the hooks rub. It will last pretty well, but be careful if you leave the bait in the sun because the paint can melt again and get on your box. Repainting lures is a tricky deal that I am certainly not an expert at.

Here is what I do to repaint AC Minnows in what I call a Purple Rainbow pattern. I use Testor's enamel spray paints that can be purchased at most hobby shops. You don't need an airbrush to get good results. The first time I painted one of these it came out great.

1) Remove hooks and split rings. No need to take the hinged section apart. I also prefer not to remove the screw eyes that hold the hooks.

2) Remove the existing paint/coating down to bare wood with 60 to 80 grit sandpaper. It takes a little elbow grease, but works. You can use paint removers, but you need to be careful with that stuff. It burns the skin.

3) Sand entire bait with 100 grit sandpaper.

4) Use strips of masking tape to completely cover the bill. With a Slammer you will need to mask the eyes also. Keep the masking tape on until all painting is complete.

5) Hang the bait with a wire coat hanger through the screw eye on the nose of the bait.

6) Spray paint entire bait with two light coats of white primer. Let dry overnight.

7) While bait is hanging, spray both sides of bait using purple Testor's. Don't worry about overspray yet. Let dry for about 15 minutes to 1 hour before the next step.

8) While bait is hanging, spray dorsal side with black or dark green. This is where you need to be careful with overspray onto the sides. Vertical strokes with the spray can about 12-inches away will do the job. However, you do want some overspay onto the sides to blend the two colors together. Let dry as in step #7.

9) Spray belly of bait with white as in step #8. Let bait dry overnight.

10) Apply spots along sides of bait as desired using Testor's black paint marking pen. The body of the bait needs to be dry to touch at least, because at this point you need to hold the bait. For the eyes on a AC Minnow I first use a gold paint marker to paint a 1/4-inch ball, then follow-up 15 minutes later with a black pen for the iris. Let dry.

11) For the final coat I use a 2-part epoxy finish called "Aristocrat". It doesn't melt the paint finish. Follow product directions carefully for best results. I apply this with a 1-inch throw away type brush. Hang the bait back on the wire hanger and let dry. If you mixed the epoxy carefully the bait will dry overnight. This stuff really provides a tough, hook resistant finish.

Hey Pat,
Thanks for the good info. May have to try some of that aristocrat finish you are talking about. Purple is definitely a good plug color for some reason. Dark green back with purple sounds like a nice combo to me.

That Aristocrat is good stuff, but a little hard to work with. Marlin Spencer has been using it for years and swears by it.

I have to agree with you on color versus action. Some baits just work better no matter what color you paint them or if they are worn down to bare wood. I mainly re-paint/re-coat to protect them from waterlogging, which definitely alters its action.

So do you have any of his secret baits :-)

Waterlogging can be a problem. My old ac minnow is kind of water logged and it doesn't swim quite the same as it used to.

No Rob, I don't have one. But if I did, that would be a secret.

You are right, I just had to give you some grief since what little I know abou Marlin indicates that he's a pretty secretive guy. There's quite a few secret trout lures out there, and if everyone had them, then it wouldn't be a secret any more, right :-)

Are you aware of the fact that Allan Cole produces a purple rainbow pattern on the lures he makes. I also think Luhr Jensen produces one in the AC Plugs that they make. Some amazing detail can be achieved by ultilizing an airbrush. One of my mst unque rainbow patterns was achieved by a friend using markers such as the Spike-It and others for the fine detail, for the most part it does not look like it was colored using marking pens.

Hi Pat:

Thanks for the great painting details! I'm keeping a copy of this for future reference... One quick question...where can I pick up some of this "Aristocrat" epoxy finish?

Thanks.
Tony

I live in Santa Barbara. I found it at the Home Improvement Center. I would try any good hardware store that has a paint section. I have not seen it at Home Depot though. Pat

Just the kind of stuff I was looking for -- you da man!