Lure Paint chipping

[mvwalleye]

Any advice reducing paint chipping on floating lures? I fished for one day with a fat ******* and the paint is coming off. I believe it is due to the hooks hitting the lure?

[Custom Eyes]

Originally Posted by mvwalleye

Any advice reducing paint chipping on floating lures? I fished for one day with a fat ******* and the paint is coming off. I believe it is due to the hooks hitting the lure?

Not much you can do with crappy manufacturer finishes unless you put a coating more durable over it. I offer a service to clear coat lures with my proprietary clear coat that is more durable than pretty much anything out there, factory or custom.

[prov1800]

Just buy some 5 minute expoxy or something similar.thats all have ever done.

[Custom Eyes]

Originally Posted by prov1800

Just buy some 5 minute expoxy or something similar.thats all have ever done.

Bad part with using epoxy glue, instead of one that is intended to be a clear coat, is that it yellows really bad and quickly, and no better than the stuff they use on FB's. For the price of ski lures, glue is the last thing I would use on it.

[prov1800]

I understand what your saying.i dont buy expensive lures so i fix with epoxy.my lures get beat up bad.but really dont yellow that bad and really foesnt matter if they do.

[Kevin23]

Almost all hand made musky lures out there are clear coated with an epoxy, usually enviro-tex lite or Bob Smith. Devcon works too, but it is harder to work with and get a nice even layer. Devcon sets up a lot faster though so you can do a reasonably good job without a lure turner. You are not going to get any stronger than a properly set epoxy. You could shoot it with a shotgun and I bet the clear coat doesn't chip off. Etex and BSI doesn't yellow easily, at least I've never seen it... I have baits that people made for me that are 10+ years old and not yellowed. Devcon 2 ton yellows, and 5 minute epoxy yellows really fast. You want the slowest cure epoxy that you can find and work with.
Then there is of course UV epoxy, where you dip it into the epoxy to coat and then hang for a couple minutes in a UV light box to cure. That works very well also.

Some guys right between custom and mass producing use a 2 part automotive spray clear for a faster clear coat process, which works good but is not as durable as epoxy. Single part auto cure is not good at all, especially for musky/walleye baits.

Factory big box baits are clear coated with a lacquer or similar, and that is why they chip and scratch.

[prov1800]

Good post.informative.iam just a muskie fisherman with factory lures.maybe if i had real expensive ones i might think different but i dont.ive had some lures crunched enough so they took on water and have fixed them and they still perform great. Might look a little rough but a muskie coming in 9 0 aint going to see the flaws and they dont as that lure has caught many since.the whopper plopper pretty much gets screwed up on the first fish the smashes it.and damages the back part and keeps plopper from turning.so 5 min epoxy does actually that.fixes it in 5 min and is now stronger.its amazing how many ive fixed for guys in my boat. Just have to have some aling like a roll of duct tape.lol.

[yoopertrout]

I think it's inevitable with all lures with big trebles I wonder if adding a layer of fingernail polish where the hooks hit would help? Some people "T" their hooks, which they say helps hook-up rates, and I think may help with chipping too. It seems unreasonable that it would start so soon though. I think that some companies make better quality lures than others. I've found that Phantoms withstand the hook scraping for a long time. On the other hand, I had a Bucher Topraider with a metallic finish, and the paint was flaking off in no time. Maybe they were new at working with metallic paint? Not sure, but I switched to the River 2 Sea Whopper Plopper (with non-metallic paint), and that seems to hold up much better.

Good luck.

[Mark R]

Most of the guides and other serious Muskie anglers have a boat full of baits with paint chewed off. I wouldn’t worry about it and keep casting.

[Agronomist_at_ia]

Just get the Uber lure coating from do it molds and put a few coats on the lure.