here is a blacknose shiner i did for my friend:

this is what i was using as reference:

Very nice, Dave.  I've never heard of a blacknose shiner.  I like!

Very nice, Dave. I've never heard of a blacknose shiner. I like!

lol thanks, me neither until he asked if i could paint one. i told him i'd try and he really likes this one.

Looks like the real McCoy. Nice job.

Looks really good Dave, keep up the great work! Btw is that an xrap?

Looks really good Dave, keep up the great work! Btw is that an xrap?

thanks, sure is.

Looks good.  It looks very close to the real fish. 8-)

Nice work Dave.

Very cool.

thanks guys. i need to work on my freehand details though... the lateral line just didn't look right taped off and i couldn't get a stencil to work out for me, so i decided to free hand it and it turned out pretty wavy but i tried to fix it with some more paint, turned out alright in the end i guess.

Looks good to me. Nice work Dave.

Were you trying for that slight arc on the lateral line that follows the contour of the body ?

Maybe a pipe cleaner pre - bent to the desired arc and then somehow get the paint onto the pipe cleaner and then lay it on the body to 'transfer the image' so to speak. It may at the least give you the line you wanted and you can freehand from there.

Anyhow I think it looks good.

thanks bilgerat, yeah i was trying to arc it slightly. the pipecleaner thing is a good idea, but i imagine it would waste a lot of paint as it would just soak up the paint i put on there....

looks great,very natural.

Oh yeah and The lateral line looks great free-handed,I don't paint baits but It would look like an earthquake seismograph if I did.Any way real fish don't have perfect features so if things seem off when making a bait,I think it makes it all the more natural.

looks great,very natural.

Oh yeah and The lateral line looks great free-handed,I don't paint baits but It would look like an earthquake seismograph if I did.Any way real fish don't have perfect features so if things seem off when making a bait,I think it makes it all the more natural.

2X lookin very good

Vern

The bait looks great Dave.

"earthquake seismograph" I almost got Dr. Pepper on my computer screen. ;D ;D

That's exactly what mine look like.

Falcon

Wow. that is an amazing job.

thanks guys!

Beautiful work.

I love the eye.

Another addition to the future "Big Dave's Tackle" manufacturing company!!! 

P.S.  You will still need a college degree to open the business.