I have a few hard swim baits I just purchased and the paint is starting to wear off. Can I put some kind of clear coat on them to keep the paint from wearing off? Also what kind of clear coat do you use and how do you apply it.

Thanks

Battle scars, man! Nothing cooler than a hardbait that loses it's luster with a bunch of fights. I would leave it alone.

This looks ugly as sin, but it produces fish like crazy!

Leave it alone!

Well they are fairly expensive baits 20 dollars or more and I would like to keep them as new as possible.

LOL, you should see my $55 Mattlures Hard Gill after two years. Or my prized, one-eyed Sammy - it's pretty much clear.

Here's a shot of my best producing lipless baits after 50 or so of these:

If you're worried about scratching your baits, put them in a display case, and don't fish them.

I add a coat of Devcon 2 ton epoxy with the longer cure time to all my hard swimbaits as soon as I get them. Nothing else compares as far as durability. It's a pain to put on a swimbait at times though because of the joints and the posibility of it getting in the joints and it does add weight to the bait and cause it to sink slightly faster. Also some swimbaits will not do well with epoxy clearcoats and the baits will release gasses causing the epoxy clearcoat to bubble up and come off if it gets hot at all. If the bait doesn't come with any kind of clear coat this may be the reason for it.

Keep in mind that coating many baits with Devcon, E-tex, or many of the others will kill the action of the bait. It changes the dynamics of the bait. Bait makers send you the bait as tested. Changing anything about them changes the way the bait runs. Argue as you'd like but there's no denying the fact. Fish them as they are, don't change a thing.

I love my baits when they get what I call the "bite ring" around the belly hook from catching so many fish. Like JFrancho said I've got baits that are almost clear from catching so many fish and I'd be ticked if someone painted them! I swear they catch fish better beat up than new out of the package.