Where is a good place to buy reliable blank lures

Welcome aboard!

 

Can't help you with blank lures, but some lure builders

on the forum might...

I’ve found them on Amazon before. Used them for a project I did with my classes during one of our exploratory days. Decently cheap and the designs are very similar to the stuff you buy painted from the name brands. Are they high quality? That I couldn’t tell you, but they don’t look or feel any different to me. 

My 2 favs are: https://avidbasstackle.com/ and http://cedarrunoutdoors.com/lure-building-and-craft/unpainted-blanks/?sort=featured&page=1

 

Fishkds.com

A lot of companies are now selling an unpainted version of there baits.  TW has several including strike king.  

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_KVD_HC_Square_Bill_Silent_Crankbait/descpage-SKKVDHC.html.  color nude

On 10/9/2017 at 8:38 AM, Angry John said:

A lot of companies are now selling an unpainted version of there baits.  TW has several including strike king.  

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_KVD_HC_Square_Bill_Silent_Crankbait/descpage-SKKVDHC.html.  color nude

 

While this is a viable option, you're a fool to pay full price for an unpainted blank. Most blanks are available from numerous sources for around $1 each, and sometimes even cheaper. 

For a home painter who wants a proven lure it's a good piece of mind.  At that rate you may just want to repaint a lure you have that might have peel or not a color you want.  

You can get good blanks at Predator Bass Baits. There is a small custom shop called "Adam's Custom Lures" that I believe uses those blanks. I only have experience with their 1.5 and 2.5 square bills but I can tell you they perform well, around my area they are more popular than a KVD 1.5 because of the custom color patterns and the lure having just about the same action. The blank lures from Strike King have the eyes installed so in order to paint you'd probably have to remove them and once glued the 3D eyes get brittle so you'd more than likely have to buy eyes as well which is tough when the baits are full price.

This should be in the Luremaking section.

 

Predator has the best quality blanks at around $2 each.

 

Stay away from Avid as he has not fullfilled orders for many, including me.

 

Cedar run has ok blanks for $1

Lurecraft

Get bit

Dinger

Shelts

 

wLure.com has cheap blanks. I have done well on a few of their blanks. Shipping takes a couple weeks from china.

Dinger Baits & Get Bit Custom Baits , There Blanks Are Top On The Line.

 

Mike

Shelt's Fishing House

This thread has given me some ideas. After reading posts about the high end jerkbaits I thought about buying one but the cost ($20 range) really stopped me. Now I might pick up some blanks and see what I can do over the winter. 

Dinger baits. Not a ton to select from but the best quality I found.

Dinger is good but slightly more expensive than like Wlure which comes out of china. Dinger will get to you way faster. I have used them both and have been really happy with both.

Jannsnetcraft.com , too.

This is a hit or miss deal and depends on your expectations of how well you want the lure to perform and your expectation of quality. Almost all “knockoffs” are external copies of popular commercial baits and they are molded in Asia. A few work just like the original.  Some fish differently but are fish catchers in their own right.  Some are just junk that you can make pretty but will never run right or catch a fish.  So you have to ask around and you have to experiment with different models to find ones that meet your expectations, whatever those may be.  I’ve tried various models through the years.  About 30% met my expectations.  One I do like is the Wiggle Wart sold by Predator Baits.  Squarebills by several sellers are also often good baits.  Jerkbaits is a category in which it is harder to find good baits because commercial originals depend on a lot of internal structure and weighting schemes that knockoffs do not or cannot copy.