So now that you know how to seal...Here's how to paint!

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Pictorial/Steps to finishing fishing lures.


Seal your fishing lure to keep water out first, see previous post on how to seal lures before you start. Your sealer must have sufficient time to dry before you paint! Very important.


I like to hang lures as sometimes screw eyes in each end are beneficial-you can flip it end to end or hold these with visegrips to flip sideways for finish coats. You can also use a rod turning motor to turn your lures several at a time, screw eyes in each end and paper clips to link together work well.



Here are our two subjects, freshly sealed and fully dry. Glue/epoxy your belly weights in and fill holes with wood filler (optional) Re-drill for through hole beforehand also (that way if you mess up it's not all your paint time)

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Give your lures a coast of white primer. Bullseye in the red can is alcohol based and in Gold can is oil based, both work but with varying dry times. Lures can also be dipped in a pickle jar with thinned primer. Many primers will work, just remember to use a high hiding primer on cedars or you will see oil spots. Multiple thin coats work best.


Allow the lure to dry real well and I recommend 2-3x manufacturers dry time. If it says 1 hour give it 2-3. You can warm the lure with a hair dryer between coats also, it helps to crosslink the finish.  Keep your coats thin.


Here we are with primer.

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After your primer is sufficiently dry you want to base coat your lure, White for light lures, black for dark lures or for special effects paints.


Using a Vallejo white basic paint, mix with 10% water to thin and shoot with airbrush, can also be brushed with fine camels hair brush.


Cover the lure in a uniform coat.


Allow to dry.

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Paint belly color, pearl/Silver/Gold/Green/Etc


In this case we're spraying the Vallejo Silver metallic over our white base. We want a nice light silver/pearl belly.


Again thin 10% with water and spray with airbrush or brush straight unthinned.


Allow to dry thoroughly!

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Next paint the back color Fading into your belly color.


In this case we're doing a Vellajo bright yellow back/sides.


Allow to dry between coats!

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Paint any other colors on the lure you would like. In this case I like this Tequila Sunrise color.


It's done by spraying red over the yellow for a great orange/yellow effect that is VERY visible on a cloudy day.


We also did a blue back on our second lure.


Did I mention you need to let this dry?

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Paint a red beard on the front of your lure. It looks like fish blood in the water to a predator.


We'll do this with the Vallejo Bright Red.

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Now that your lure is all painted it needs to be top coated to slow down the toothy critters from destroying it.


We'll use the Bob Smith 30 minute epoxy for this, it's waterproof and very durable with an excellent shine!



It also adds a UV inhibitor to keep lures from fading.


Take a Acid brush and cut the bristles down in half. I like the Flat Camel brushes we sell on the site: http://www.saltwaterplugs.com/paint%20brushes.htm


These brushes can be cleaned with acetone as long as the epoxy is not hardened. Brushes can be re-used over and over.

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Mix your epoxy in a small mixing cup. Use a hard plastic stick if possible as it reduces bubbles.


Bob Smith epoxy topcoat is mixed 1:1 ratio 5ml of each size is enough to do two lures of the size we have.


We'll add some denatured alcohol AFTER we first mix the epoxy. We want to thin it down some to make it easier to brush on. ~ 1ml is usually enough. Denatured Alcohol will not hurt your paint and allow the epoxy to be thinned and not destroy it's polymer chains...Don't need alot, just enough to thin it down to milk consistency.


We'll spread this on the lure brushing very well. You want to make sure the lure is coated completely and brushing out the top coat will allow it to level down flat to a high gloss.

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This picture shows a good leveled finish. 30 minute epoxy is one of the best things to coat a fishing lure with. Recommend keeping the thickness down as much as possible on the topcoat, 1 coat is typically sufficient without adding excess weight on the lure.

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Add some glitter! It makes it sparkly just like what fish scales look like in the water!


After this you need to either flip the lure end to end or side to side so that as the epoxy dries it doesn't "puddle " on one side of the lure. Do this once every 5 minutes for the first 1/2 hour or more as needed.


Bob Smith 30 minute Epoxy will take approximately 4-6 hours to dry to the touch and 24 hours to fully cure.

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Some people like to add the eyes before they do the epoxy-It helps to lock them in place.

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Will add hardware next. Stay tuned!