Nostalgia in Cedar

I’m not a fly fisherman, I don’t tie flies, I do appreciate the artistry of the sport and the amazing art in the flies. I’m not a fly fisherman. I am an artist and sometimes woodworker, oh yeah and old. I remember when the original Big O came out. Hand carved, fat bellied crank bait that took bass fishermen by storm. We were just kids, along with my buddies, Brian and Keith, the twins, we drooled over magazines showing this new wonder bait. Not having a great deal of money but with time and inventive minds we set about making our own version of wooden crank baits.


Brian came up with a couple of slab sided designs that we caught quite a few fish on in our favorite pond in Shelby Park. This 5 acre pond in the middle of East Nashville was our training grounds, test facility and, just so happened, to hold some really big bass. We learned to cast bait casters there, tried all of the techniques we found in the books and caught many a big fish where people thought there was nothing but little bluegill. I caught my first 2 pound bass in the moat like channel that surrounds the lone island. When we carved a new bait this was the first place it hit the water.

Time went on, our income increased so the need to carve baits wasn’t an issue. We had tackle boxes full of everything we wanted so our carving days pretty much ended. Still over time I repaired, repainted and at times, carved wooden baits. What does this have to do with not being a fly fisherman? Well, they tie flies and several people I know have been showing off their flies. What happens when their beautiful work inspires you? I decided since I can’t tie flies, to revisit my youth, carve a quick top water bait and show folks how it’s done including a paint job.

Living where I do cedar is almost considered a weed. It is everywhere and either free or cheap. I make a type of cedar box so I always have plenty of aged stock on hand. The good part about baits, being small you can use scrap wood that normally goes to waste.I grabbed a cutoff laying in the shop and split it using a hammer and wood chisel. Then headed over to the band saw to get rid of the sap wood and start shaping.

This bait is 5 inches long.


This bait is a simple cigar shape used for the walking the dog technique. Once it is roughed out on the saw I move to the belt/disc sander for final shaping. This could be done on a lathe but I want it to be less than perfect, showing it is hand made, plus I can have it done by the time I get a lathe set up. I just eyeball the shape, adjusting with the sander until it is very close to what I want. After the sander I use 3 different grits of sand paper to hand sand it into the final shape. Usually from 100 to 220 grit paper.

After sanding I used the drill press to drill a hole large enough to hold the weight I add to the rear of the bait to make it tail heavy. I used a bullet sinker that I put on the anvil and whacked with a hammer to slightly flatten it. I used a Dremel tool to shape the hole to get a good fit. You can do this with a sharp knife or Exacto, too. After the weight was below the level of the wood I used CA glue to hold it in place. I used 2 part epoxy to overfill the hole slightly. Push this into any voids around the sinker and make sure it is just higher than the wood. It takes a little more sanding but works as a filler and sealer. After it dries, sand it down to match the contours of the cedar. For this I use fingernail files I get from a beauty supply store. Now to seal and paint.

At this point add your attachment points for line and hooks, remember you need something to hang onto while painting and to hang them by while they dry, so add one at least. I use an inexpensive primer most of the time but a good wood sealer isn’t a bad idea. Once the sealer is dry prime the bait using flat white. This keeps your colors from becoming muted as it does with grey or black. If you want your scales to be edged in black then you have to lay black down first.

Painting is as simple or as complex as your imagination, ability and equipment will allow. I painted many a productive bait with a brush or can of spray paint. This one is going to be painted with three techniques. I will use spray cans for the first two colors, airbrush the next few colors and then add eyes and gills with a brush. Then I seal everything with a polyurethane spar varnish, again from a spray can. This stuff gives a good high gloss, helps protect from exposure to sun and water and is a snap to apply.

After deciding I wanted this one to be in a golden shiner pattern I laid out what I needed. I used an almond base simply because it was what I had on hand. After this dried I painted the entire bait silver, again with a spray can. I allowed this to dry for a couple of hours before starting with the airbrush. I like to use transparent airbrush ready paint and there are several good brands out there. Some people use lacquers or taxidermy paints but I like using water based. I paint with a Paasche VL double action airbrush and a Badger airbrush compressor, this setup works great for whenever I need an airbrush.

I used a piece of tulle that I have mounted in a cardboard frame to add the scales. I leave some slack in the material to allow me to make it form to the bait by pushing it until tight. I used a transparent pink along each side leaving the bottom silver, this is the only step where the tulle is used.. After this dried I mixed transparent yellow and Indian red to get a light yellowish/bronze color. This is blended into the top of the scales and then painted solid across the top of the bait. I added more of the Indian red to darken the color and painted the top of the bait. I let this dry and decided to add a bit more of the red to darken it again and painted this along the center of the back.

After painting the main colors all that is left is detail. I went with hand painting these to keep with the hand made theme. You can buy eyes in many different styles which work great if you are one of those folks that has to have everything perfect. I painted black circles for the eyes and kill spots with a simple crescent shape for the gills. I painted the center of the eye with yellow leaving a bit of black showing around the edge then added a fat crescent shape for the pupil. All that is left is coating everything repeatedly with the spar polyurethane. I let this dry until it is just a little tacky and add another layer. Most baits get around 5-6 coats.

Will there it is. Hand carved cedar top water baits. I make several versions of this in whatever sizes someone wants. Since they are all custom painted I can have tons of colors and patterns. Just think them up and get them painted.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this article.

Overlooked, River Silver

I grew up in Nashville, actually , East Nashville, which let me have access to some of the large TVA lakes and dams that dot the state. Just outside of Nashville is Old Hickory and Percy Priest, both have been favorite stomping grounds since we were kids. Priest is a draw down impoundment, turbines below the dam only run a few weeks a year to pull the lake down to winter pool or if we have a lot of rain, enough to hold the level. Old Hickory is different, it runs 24 hours a day, providing electrical energy to the grid, the more power needed the more of it’s twelve turbines they run. This provides good fishing on both sides of the river just about whenever you feel the need to head that way. Rockfish (stripers), hybrids, catfish, sauger and a list of panfish are caught below the dam either from boats or the two catwalks, one on either side, built for fishermen.

Percy Preist in the summer. You might call this limited fishing opportunities.


I loaded up the boat to try for rockfish and cats one warm Saturday afternoon during mid summer. No wind and a partly cloudy sky promised a good evening on the river. I got to the ramp at Old Hickory, which I hate, it is extremely steep, long and narrow, got the boat launched, then headed upstream to the dam. The turbines are on the left side going upstream with flood gates in the center and the lock on the right. Underwater downstream of the flood gates are large rock piles that hold fish but steal terminal tackle at an astounding rate. There is a good current break where the turbines meet the flood gates, this break flows down the edge of these rock piles at mid river, this is where rockfish and cats cruise.

Gary Hanson with a nice rockfish from Alabama. One of the fish we were after. Photo credit: Gary Hanson

I was at the far end of the turbines. This view is from the fishermens' catwalk.


I pulled up to the face of the dam where the current break begins, we rigged heavy jigs and started casting into water flowing fast from the turbines. This provided good exercise but no strikes so I started wondering what I needed to change. I was tied to the corner of the dam in an eddy and noticed something running shad along the front of the flood gates in the slack current. Stripe (white bass) do this all the time and I sure don’t mind catching them, I’ve caught big stripe in this spot, so my decision was made.

I rigged a 6 ½ foot spinning rod with a #7 Countdown Rapala, another with a white ¼ oz Roostertail and started casting where I could see strikes. It only took a couple of casts for the rod to bend to the handle and a fight to start. After a few seconds a silver rocket came out of the river, back arched, mouth open, twisting and throwing spray. My fishing partner throws into the same spot and gets the same results, now two skipjacks are putting on a show like miniature tarpon, at times several feet in the air. Landing a 2 pound skipjack, I smiled, forgot about what I had come to the river to catch, made another cast and held on.

Tennessee tarpon. Great fighters and almost completely overlooked.


Skipjack are called Tennessee tarpon around here and have earned their name. Besides being some of the best live or dead bait, they are an absolute blast to catch. Every evening during warmer weather they move along the dam and riprap assaulting baitfish. This particular evening they were moving, along with schools of stripe, against the dam face keeping shad pushed to the surface. All along the walls shad were jumping out of the water trying to shake the predators. All I needed to do was follow along with my trolling motor, casting past the splashes, then retrieving through the school. Very few casts went without a strike.

We had hit after hit from stripe and skips, spinning rods bent, reels screaming from the strain as good fish stripped line. We followed schools along concrete surfaces watching shad as they flew out of the river, onto the sloped face, flopping as they went from frying pan to fire. We weren’t the only ones that knew about this evening ritual, black crowned night herons and great blue herons, stood along the water’s edge waiting for shad to appear. They happily speared a shad supper they didn’t have to work for. The action continued, larger fish began showing up as light levels dropped. As bigger fish came in they got more aggressive, several times we had two large skipjack on one bait, straining the poor light rods and eight pound test we were using.

As dusk set in the action slowed, so under the sodium lights illuminating the river from the dam, we rigged up for catfish with a fresh stock of bait. With a live well full of stripe, any cats would be bonus fish. Darkness came and we drifted the current break with a breeze created by water from under the dam rushing by cooling us and keeping the skeeters at bay. We did manage to catch a couple of good cats that night, one blue going about 8 pounds, before packing it in. If we hadn’t seen a cat that night it wouldn’t have mattered, stripe and skipjack had given us a great time.

When I lived close enough to run out in the afternoons many times I went just for the skipjack. I would fish the lock side of the river since it has less current, waiting for the schools to start running the banks late in the day. I use several baits to catch skips, jig and twister combos, Roostertails, #7 Countdowns, anything 1 ½ to 2 inches in length mimicking a shad works. 6 ½ to 7 ½ foot spinning rods with 8 to 10 pound test is all you need. These are fish that so many people never fish for and I love to catch, they are incredible fighters and provide bait for my catfishing trips.

Skipjacks are simply one of the best baits for cats and stripers, either live, cut into chunks or whole, they are great and free. I get as many as I can and freeze them, guts in one bag and fillets in another for later use. Most people use a cast net and it works like a champ. There are several guys from Viet Nam and Laos I’ve met that net big numbers of skips and big gizzard shad to eat. They cut the bellies out leaving a really nice fish which they stack into boxes, the bellies and innards go into a bucket. They will gladly give you the insides which saves me time on those days if I just want to catfish and they are at the river.

Keeping with my theme of having fun outdoors, not making it work like tournament fishing or big time deer management, I have no problem fishing for species most people turn their nose up to if you mention fishing for them. I am out to enjoy whatever time I get plus I need skipjack to help fill my freezer and those of needy families I bring food during the year. In many areas skipjack are plentiful, almost completely overlooked, great bait and better fighters. Do I even need to say it?

Go out and give these guys a try. What a fun way to spend a summer afternoon, rod bent double, drag screaming, silver in the air throwing spray and a smile on your face.