I bought some Wildlife Colors flip-flop paint from Van Dykes Taxidermy Supply and gave them a try on a couple poppers. The colors were blue-green and green-gold. The flip flop effect is apparent, but not dramatic like automotive paints, etc. When I went to ETex them, the Badger black around the eyes began to run. It had dried over night and was pre-warmed, so it should have been dry. After trying to save them, I just went all the way and created these "Alice Cooper Eyes". What the heck, they are just fishing plugs! I don't know if the problem was the paint or the E-tex. None of my top coats came out smooth, although they did harden well. I guess the jury is still out on these paints.

The copper popper in the second picture is Wildlife Colors metallic copper. It is a very nice color and went on and covered well. The bottom on the Nike is green-gold flip-flop. I would say that, generally, the wildlife paints are a bit thinner than createx.

While I'm at it, I thought I'd post these darters. I've never made them nor fished them before, so I don't know what to expect. I thought they were a pain in the A to make, so I hope they do something.

i think the Alice cooper effect looks more realistic actually.

those are works of art....and very unique colors too...

NICE ! good job and superb photo's :btu:

Those plugs look great!!
I just finished some different plugs and I noticed that the black ones did not finish as smooth as the others from the same batch of e-tex.
I used createx black. I dont know if its got something extra in there or what.

I really like that turquoise popper, ane the Alice Cooper eyes, I agree they look more realistic.
Those pictures are absolutely killer too.

nice plugs:ss:

Great idea, I was using Betty Davis eyes

Nice plugs

Nice color schemes. Have you tried the darters? They are fussy plugs and often want to roll out. Your shapes look good, though I'd guess the hooks want to go further back. Darters usually float slightly tail down with the swimming plane level to the water. What I think happens is that the down pressure on the front of the plug levels it out as you retrieve it. If the tail is too light (or plane too big) the plug seems to dive too much then roll over. Too much weight concentrated in the tail (like a big hook or tail weight) kills the action as well, which is why spreading the weight through the plug by using a dense wood such as Maple seems to work best (or is the easiest). It gets more complicated when you start figuring in the angle of the lip and position of the line tie......but I don't understand all that yet. Good luck with 'em and let us know how they do.

Thats a good assesment NS..
I always said the plane on the top fights the tail.
It'a all about balance.
I think if u work off the line tie bieng on top an in front,the lip configuration don't mean much..It's just kinda where the cuts meet up.

I agree with NS and Nibs, spread the hooks out, it makes a huge differance,my early darters had tail hooks and closer belly hooks,I tried eliminating one belly hook and she rolled like a dog, three hooks, and she dove good no wiggle, I dont use a tail hook on the darters anymore, just a sparce teaser, I keep the weight in the belly just behing the front hook, enough to make it dig and stay upright... no issues, no fido action....

wow, nice plugs.. the turquoise one looks great, I think the eyes came out pretty cool. Good job :)

Thanks for the darter tips. Like I said, I have never made them or fished them, so I'll take all pointers I can get. These are weighted between the hooks, but I didn't add a lot of weight. Based on your advice, I'll try them with and without a tail hook, and spread out the hooks and add more belly weight on my next batch. HP

whoah:kewl: nice:hihi: