Crankbait and topwater 'blanks'

[kingsriverrat]

Anyone who makes their own lures have a recommendation on where to get the best 'blank' white or clear unpainted lure bodies? Plastic or balsa. Jann's Netcraft? Stamina? Anyone used those? Or other sources?

Are they as good as production lures, action-wise, once they're painted?

[dampeoples]

Jann's has the best selection, most of the supply houses carry the basic models, which is all that Stamina and others even stock.

Don't get your hopes up on the performance of these blanks, like anything, you'll find a few diamonds in the rough, you have to wade through a lot to find those, unfortunately. The topwaters are better than the cranks by far, the Jann's Bass Pop and Patty are good, as well as the trap. Honestly, the cheaper blanks (such as the Bandit and Norman copies)are more right on than the LC copies, some of those shouldn't even be sold

On the balsa bodies.....oh boy. They're not even symmetrical. The bodies that Stamina sells are way better, but they're basswood, so you don't get as lively action as you do out of balsa.

Those are about the only places to get them without a hefty investment. There are places in China that mold these, the minimums are pretty stiff, and the one's I dealt with wouldn't send a few samples. I stopped looking, and decided to just make my own balsa baits, and get the Jann's bodies to paint on. Cheap enough to practice on, and you might just get a decent crank, but not likely )

[GAMEOVER]

DP im still wanting you to make me that double prop topwater my friend, but I know we talked about and its a little too earlyer for you to do that right now as you just got into hardbaits (or topwater?).

If you can walk them good river rat and have some painting skills id say go for it. In order for me to be happy with such a product id demand it to airbrushed or someone whos just godly with foil and other finishes.

DP is getting good at painting after a few clear coats and glitter I think some of the cranks ive seen from him would just be awsome.

[kingsriverrat]

Thanks for the info, guys. That pretty much confirms what I suspected.

I customize the paint job on some cranks (adding red gills or dusting the back or the belly, so forth), so I've got the basic setup, and thought I would like to do some from scratch. I didn't think the unpainted bodies on the general market would be up to a high standard, but thought I'd see what others had found.

I'll probably order some topwaters from Jann's and test them out.

They sell "Yo-Zuri" clear bodies, too, I noticed in the catalog. That looks like that might be a good bet.

[dampeoples]

I've never tried the Hardcore bodies, but being branded, they probably are the same thing as you would buy finished.