I've been painting my own crankbaits for almost a yr and recently I've had a few start to bubble up, I've used the same paints and clear on all of them but recently switched thinners, could this cause the baits to bubble? I use normal craft acrylic and clear with devcon 2 ton.

Once epoxy has cured hard, it almost never reacts with other coatings so I don't think it's a reaction to the thinner.  A bubble indicates that the acrylic paint has been pushed away from the crankbait's surface.  Most often this is caused by water penetrating the the acrylic paint somewhere.  It can also be caused by heating the crankbait.  If the finish contains solvent from your thinner, it is more likely to expand and cause the paint to delaminate.

Ok I guess I just missed a spot possibly around the hook eyes. I think I'm gonna go back to the old brand thinner just incase. Is there any reason I shouldn't use craft acrylic? Does any one have any tips or pointers to make the process easier or make the baits hold up easier?

I love Createx, most of them are ready to shoot right out of the bottle, they have the BEST colors, and they mix together to make infinite custom colors. I've used them on fabrics, plastics, clay, wood, metal, glass...you name it. The paint always sticks and with Devcon 2Ton on lures you can do so much. Dont get me wrong, I have craft acrylics that I use from time to time, but theres a reason why every professional airbrush artist uses Createx.

I tried spray painting some lures using the model lacquer paints. I figure I can seal them with the clear lacquer spray paint. Two or three coats of clear should seal them. Tpreperation of the lures surface is very important so the new paint will adhere to the lures old finish. I took some brand new lures and removed the split rings and the hooks. Then I took some fine sand paper to rough up the old finish. Once I removed the old finish I then used the 0000 fine steelwool to smooth the rough clean surface to prep it for painting. After the painting is done and dry I then clear coat it. I'm just not sure how long the finish will last.

When Terry Clark redid the finish on my lures he dipped them in clear epoxy or sprayed them. It appears to be a very hard finish. His work looks so awesome I hate to use them. I feel like framing Terry's work and hanging it in my man cave on the wall. It looks like fishing lure art work.

Why do you need thinner?  You don't say what kind of baits you are painting or what you thin.  Wood baits are different from plastic baits.  I've never had epoxy topcoat bubble from a reaction to a finish product.  D2T contains no solvent and once cured, it is very resistant to any chemical reaction.  I do thin my Devcon slightly (a few drops only) with denatured alcohol to improve brushability and help expel any mixing bubbles.  If you use a different thinner in your epoxy and also use a solvent based product anywhere in your finish, yes, you can get bubbles due to solvent incompatibility.  But in my experience, bubbles UNDER the epoxy are caused by air being forcefully expelled from a wood lure due to heating or because the epoxy topcoat was physically compromised.