troutgnat

+1 on that. You are correct. Another dead give away on the original warts.....a lot of them do have a very pronounced seam line that you can see down the middle of the top side of the lip. This is from the two sides being fused together down the center of the bait(basically "sonic welding" was the term I remember Rapala calling it. That's where they take the left side and the right side and glue them together. Sometimes this is the very cause of some baits being very hard to tune due to them being off-center. This is the primary reason Rapala changed the design process.

Well, at that price who can complain? I have so many originals that right now I don't see the justice in buying very many of them until I run out of my good stash. Now, if I were selling repaints that would be different but very rarely do I charge for my repaints, most are for myself and good buddies. And, I'm no where as good as the "fathers" of repaints. Those guys can make them swim/crawl right off the table! Hey Dtrs, your a hell of a good painter too.....Would you be so kind to post us some "eye candy"???

Alex, I love those colors. That first one really appeals to me! Are you painting these??? What do you call that first one? Here's my latest repaint I did for the Rock. I call it 'Ghost Cinnamon Raisin". I haven't tried it yet but I think it's going to clean house.

Dtrs, Thanks for asking. Still a work in progress but going well. She's fully repaired, re gel-coated, new carpet and pad:), all new custom dashes, fully redone trailer, now it's all the add-ons/accessories, etc. I ran out of money.....LOL. I should of bought a new boat....LOL But I'm proud of what I've accomplished. However, took too much time off the water! Here's what in progress for now and this year.....finish custom aluminum drop-in deck extension, finish installation of Bluewater LED's(mostly done), now putting in their blacklight system, painting of the engine, installation of custom graphics.

Abkeenan, You are correct. I believe I saw the same comment from others about that blank crank. There were some comments in regards to that on Tackle Underground. I have not tried them yet either but was planning on buying some to try out for myself. If they run good, I'll repaint them myself.

To add a little more fuel to the fire.....lol. Well, it helps that I was Rep for Rapala when the change over took place. I saw the end of days and ordered up on my sample account . Now, if I was only smarter and didn't give so many away to those who begged me. Well, I did my good deed and I still have enough to finish out my days. The first box is my fishing box, second box is my spares and extras for me to repaint.

I have two SP-90's, no original box. One I fish on occasion, only out of necessity! The other sits in silence, untouched. If you have the balls and cash I'll sell them for $500 each.......LOL

Bill Babler and others......Sorry for posting this here but I figure no better way than to ask those that would really know. So, my lady would like to see this display; neither of us ever have. I thought to myself, wow, how cool would it be to take the boat up and watch it on the water......(Now that I've said that you all can quit laughing). Upon my research I here this draws like a 1,000 boats......Now I say, hmmmmmm??? I would bet to say 85% of these will not be bass boats but more like cabin cruisers and jet boats more in the range of 30'+. All I have is a newly restored 18' 374V Ranger. I don't think it will cut the mustard for that kind of traffic. Not that I'm scared in my boat but I have been plenty scared from "knuckleheads" in their boats. Is there a secret spot to launch close and witness this event and avoid the "death trap" or am I better off elsewhere? Thanks for your input!

Everythings' too good right now.......I'm about to break my neck trying to figure which way to go. The carp are just too much fun my friend.....I have to be at work at 1pm tomorrow.......didn't feel like night fishing by myself so this is the next logical solution. 4-5 hrs of carp whacking I can handle. If I went to the Bull I'd be to tempted to stay and call in to work and that would be bad. Why must there always be a dilemma when it comes to fishing?..........well, were not staying home in the cabin.

Gentlemen, I must apologize, for in the morning I break the bass fishing code of ethics and will be on an undisclosed location on Lake Taneycomo bow whacking the mighty carp. Again my sincere apologies and the best of luck to those chucking and winding the spook and spinners............So you know, I've been thinning a few out of the bushes on Bull to make more room for the bass to hang out. Oh, I have too many hobbies.

Welcome and thanks for the report.

Kudo's to Lynn Reeves. I had an office right across from him for 2 years back in the BPS corporate days. He's a fine gentlemen and his re-birth of the Lew's company proves it. I too am on board with Lew's baitcasters, bought my first one over a year ago from Lynn at the shop.

WOW, that is some awesome work! True artistry. So, grind em' off the rocks, get em' chewed on by some big ole' LM's and then have painted again!

Thanks for the compliments. Here's what mainly instituted the rebuild. I could literally drop the trolling motor in, hit high and watch the whole bow of the boat flex and you would hear cracking. Here is the first cut on the rig. After this cut I said "hmmmmmmm; well, I can't turn back now". Then I proceeded to chisel out the 40lbs of wet foam from the bow.....lol. BTW, their was no structurally sound plywood left under that cap.

374V. Topside is all performance white color gel-coat from Bass Cat boats. Other than that pretty bare at the moment. All my plumbing just went in, new dashes are in and wired and all compartments and front/rear decks now lit with LED's. I should have her back hopefully Monday. I still have keel guard to put on, rubrail to install and of course the new windshield, carpet and seats. Oh, did not have the opportunity to paint the outboard when they had it off the boat so I'll have to mask/tape her off and paint the old Evinrude X150 as well.

Gentlemen, Here's a little post to explain my absence from the forum for a while. Shamefully I must admit I wrote off a year of fishing to take on this project. As hard as it was yes, I fished one time in over a year. But here's what I've been up to since New Years Eve 2011. I'm over a year in, 500 man hours+ into the project and $7K in the hole.....LOL. 85% of this project was all me from fiberglass repair to new gel-coat. I bought this boat back in Spring of 09 and ran her hard for almost 3yrs. She wasn't in the best shape when I got it. But it came to the point where she needed to much TLC. It was either give it to her or trade her in for a new ride. I opted for plan A. I love the boat and didn't care to take on another monthly payment. So I decided to fix her up and own her. If anyone belongs to the BBC(bass boat central) forum I have an ongoing thread of the entire project. I've taken over 400 pics of this restore thru every stage. I've got her at the shop right now getting some help with re-wiring.....I don't do electricity. When I get her back in goes the new carpet and seats. Her first trip will be to LOZ for spring crappie.

Dtrs, I own a 89' Ranger 374V. In my opinion one of the best hulls ever. She's a smooth ride. Anyway, I have a whole thread with pics on the bassboatcentral.com forum under the bassboat restoration thread header. It's titled 89' Ranger 374V full restoration. Here's a couple of pics to get you started. I should put this under a new thread. Some guys might find it interesting. It will explain where I've been for the last year and 3 months. Here's a pic of original and latest(just before heading to shop for rewiring).

Thanks to all! For a guy that is just completing a 89' Ranger restoration project this is exactly what I needed to know for when I prepare to upgrade my electronics. That will be next year unfortunately, this year will be paying off this restore project.

That is correct. During that high water it was all about "green cedar". They were in those live cedars under water. Man I could post a lot of pics we had so much fun. Did nothing but shoot for two days straight, had some gar too! Speaking of "grass carp" here's a beauty(43 lbr) I shot on another lake not far from Table Rock.

Dtrs and Trophy. Thanks for the great tips, much appreciated. Dtrs I'll throw this one at ya. I buy lots of those cheap plastic paint brushes from the Wal-Mart art department to brush on my epoxy top coat. I have several that I have cut off at different diameters(the brush handles are perfectly tapered for this). This is what I used for my eyes and dots. As you said, barely dip in the paint and touch it to the bait and "bam" you have a perfect round eye. Then you can use a smaller diameter brush handle for the pupil. A lot of warts I've airbrushed the eyes but I hand paint a lot of my eyes with this technique on my baitfish patterns.

Thanks Trophy. That's the one I named my peach orchard craw. Don't let that cat out of the bag, it works! That one's earned me some good days on the Rock I wanted to achieve a little brighter olive color that wasn't phantom. It's painted on one of the good ole' white baits not clear. It's dynamite in a little stained, not muddy water.

Here are some non phantom colors that I've done: -a modified copy of the SP-90 Missouri Craw -Peach Orchard Craw -Brown Trout -Peanut Butter/Jelly

Here's my phantom series I've painted....... -Phantom green/blue -phantom brown/orange -phantom green pumpkin -phantom hot tomato craw

Nice color schemes Trophy. I've got to figure out that speckle look you got going on.

Wow! I just got the willies looking at those. Love it, Love it!