Vince,

I had a chance to talk with Jerry Rago who makes the Generic Trout. He is working on the clear coat issue and wanted to assure everyone that the baits will only get better. Wooden baits are very hard to get a good finish on, and he is having some problems because he is making the baits at elevation and when they get down to sea level the wood changes size somewhat.

I asked around about possible clear coats and got two recommendations. One is called Helmsman, it's a urethane. The other one is called Aristocrat, it's an epoxy.

I did two coats of this Helmsman stuff and it seems to be working pretty well. It does dry a little amber colored, but after chucking the bait today I didn't notice any new chips in the paint at all. I think the Aristocrat stuff is a more serious solution to the problem, I just couldn't find any locally.

Here are some links to it online if you are interested:

http://www.craftswholesale.com/products3.cfm?PART=92804

http://www.bearwood.com/shop/searchresults.asp?ProdManList=ALL&ProdTypeList=Finishing%2Fepoxy