Fishwhittler

Have you ever thought about how many different bluegill patterns there are out there? There are hundreds of them, and while they each represent the same fish species, no two are identical. I thought it might be interesting to see a bunch of different painters versions of the same pattern in one thread, so if you paint a bluegill pattern, post a pic of it here! I'll start the ball rolling with four of my own:

This is a small (3 1/2", 3/8 ounce) floatering swimmer that dives 0-1'. For the color, I tried to do something along the lines of Aurora Black, and I think it turned out well. A few more cranks in some new colors (for me): Blue Glitter Black Another new bluegill pattern. It seems like all of the bluegill patterns I've tried before had something wrong with them: they were too dark, or not yellow enough, or something that just made them look not quite right. For this one, I took a much different approach while I was painting it, and the result was finally what I was looking for. Silver Shad with crackle back. I used Elmer's Glue as my crackle medium. This shot shows the crackle on the back better: Let me know what you think! Ben

Thanks guys! Stringjam, my brother took the pics. He's much better with a camera than I am. GMAN, the propbaits are the only small lures in this batch, and they're both 2" long not counting the hardware. The Tennessee Shad cranks are 2.25" long and weigh 5/8 ounce, and the two Orange-Belly Craw cranks are very similar in size to the KVD 2.5. I've built some 1" lures, but for the most part I leave that to whittler.

That's a very, very cool bunch of baits.

Very nice! Those last three baits are especially good.

Some cranks, plus a couple propbaits. Orange-Belly Craw Tennessee Shad Glitter Black

Amazing work as always. Those glitter baits are gorgeous!

Very nice work there. I really like the square-bill cranks.

Thanks guys!

The rest: Purple Crackle-Back Craw Midnight Splatterback Dark Chartreuse Shad Let me know what you think! Ben

Here's what I've been busy with lately. I've been experimenting with holographic scales and crackle, and I'm really pleased with how these baits turned out. HS Gunmetal Shad HS Crack HS American Shad Black Shad Splatter Frog

Very nice! I like how you did the bright orange fin on the belly of the perch crank.

Very nice! I like the fourth and fifth baits.

Very, very nice! Those chartreuse baits are awesome.

I tried shooting most of this pattern through scale mesh, and I'd like to hear what you guys think of the result.

Those are just gorgeous.

Here's a bunch of shallow divers I just finished up. Blue Craw Dark Bluegill Winter Craw Red Razor Craw Light Shad Green Sunfish Winter Craw Green Sunfish Let me know what you think! Ben

Superb work there. All of them are gorgeous, but I really like the baits in the second and third pics.

Those are very sharp. I like the jerkbait and the shad crankbait.

Very nice! Both of those colors are awesome.

Very nice work! I really like the subdued colors on that bait.

That's one cool bait. What's the size?

Those look very good. Now go make some more... Splattering paint is usually an indicator that the paint is too thick, so it sounds like you need to thin your paint somewhat. If you're using water-based paint, you can thin it by adding a couple drops of water to the paint in the airbrush bowl.

Here's a new swimbait I just finished. PVC, 5" long, weight 1 ounce. It sinks at a medium-slow rate and has a very fluid action.

Those Rainbow Smelt jerkbaits are awesome.