I may be able to help out with this one. The market for custom lures is actually pretty big (about $200 million/year) and customers are willing to spend more for custom lures. The key to selling them is the finish.
To get a "sellable" finish, you need to use transparent lacquer paints and ALWAYS apply a starter coat of transparent pearl over your base white coat and under your actual finishing colors. Then add some holographic glitter to your finishing coat. These types of paints will blend with each other during the airbrushing stage and make an incredible finish. And the finish truly sells the lure!
Also, if you're thinking of selling them commercially, you should think about making a turning wheel to dry the lures you paint. They're pretty cheap to make (less than $300) and seriously speed up the manufacturing process.
In a nutshell, a turning wheel has a rotating shaft with round foam "frisbee" shaped discs along it. The disks rotate when the shaft motor is turned on. You paint your baits on sticks and then slide them between the foam pads to dry.
If you need help getting started selling, drop me a line and I can point you in the right direction. We work with a lot of custom tackle makers to sell their products.
- Erik
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