Hey guys
I'm trying my hand at carving my own wooden baits. My first one is going to be a top water bait. I modeled it after the Spook.
My question is, what color combination would you guys suggests? I know there are different colors that will work in different circumstances. But what would be your "go to" color for a bait like this?

Here's a few I "carved" out a number of years ago - maybe help on color ..
Good luck and have fun.
George

Thanks George
How do you get the honeycomb pattern on them?

Various size netting material - encase over lure body and spray over undercoat. IIRC I found that netting in my wife's sewing basket.
Google up lure making - there's tons of stuff - Jannnetcraft comes to mind - also Barlows Tackle Shop

Great looking lures, George. Are topwaters your favorite way to fish? Those are all good colors to shoot for.

Great lures George

Thanks guys, those old lures bring back a lot of memories.
Primarily striped bass lures but good LMB as well.

Stick, topwater probably my favorite way to fish, but not necessarily most productive. Big ole striper blowing up on a big plug makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck ...
I say not most productive - should say for biggest fish - sometimes the big Moes will hang out deeper and let the schoolies kill the shad and easy picking on crippled shad...

Notice that all of George's above are some variety of silver. A good hint there.

I like black topwater lures. Lots of contrast...

Yeah Travis, you are right on about black lures, whether topwater or sub-surface - IF - off color water, cloudy or night time.
Eric has it right about a "hint" of silver - IF - clearer water conditions and sunny skies,
Another favorite color of mine is - "if it aint Chartreuse - it aint no use"...

I want my lures or flies bigger, brighter, noisy and crippled.
Color should be selected on water and weather conditions (IMO)

ok im thinking white with a red throat fading to a darker top, with sparkles ( flakes) on the sides, and large pupil eyes

how does that sound?

NICE!!!!

"If it aint Chartreuse, it aint no use"... That is the sayin' I hear all the time for fishing for stripers or as they call them rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay.

Impossible to do with a wooden lure, but one of my favorite lures of all time was the completely clear plastic Tiny Torpedo Heddon used to make. Last I checked they stopped making that color.

When fishing for stripers on Lake Texoma, chartreuse most of the time outperforms all other colors.

Topwater fishing is the best. My favorite is a baby bass color. It is dark green with a little black on top. Surprisingly, this lure works well on surfacing stripers during the summer too.

Travis, my favorite lures for fishing the rocky bluff banks on Lake Texoma are 1/2oz buck tail jigs with white chartreuse spilt tail plastic trailer …. if it aint chartreuse ... aw you know ...

jludwig, glad to find another Texoma striper fisherman!!!
Fished "big windy" for 20 years sometimes as many as 100 times a year before I got too old and found pond HSB more fun anyway ...

Good SMB lake as well!





Pardon the "Condello" photo technique SMB pose ....

This is going to be a christmas present for my future father in law. So im going to package it up like a store bought lure. I've even come up with a name for my "lure company".

"Bite Me" Lures

I'll submit a pic when im through

Those are awesome baits, George. You never cease to amaze...

Thanks T.J. but you give me too much credit ... most of the stuff I try to do ends up in the trash basket....

Send your rejects this way! Will provide fed ex acct number!

Dennis, I'm pretty sure there is a real lure company by that name. (or there used to be!)

There sure is, just googled it. its bite me bait company.

I have one of their T-shirts.

Get that Fedex account # to me. I have all kinds of sinkers I could send you.

I would like the number as well.....


....the Sock Puppet of the Month Club will ship via FedEx.

If the number were just posted on the forum think of all the cool stuff that would be arriving daily.

ok here is a pic.

That looks good Dennis!

Sorry George, your post slipped by me during finals week. Lake Texoma is great, we don't make it down there as much as we would like living three hours away. It is considered a success if we make it down there once a year. We try to go in July or August when the fish are surfacing. We just go to fish for stripers.

NICE!

July and August - great topwater!

I would go with more of a white with black flake. So shad colored. Depends where your fishing. The best time to throw the spook is during a shad spawn, beginning of the year, early spring, and during a cold front.
Water clarity is also a key factor. If your fishing relatively clear water, natural colors, such as a shad color are great choices. If your fishing muddy, less clear water, less natural, brighter colors are better, such as firetiger.
Hope that helped!!