Hey Jeff,

I'm sure you have seen my pic of my best plugs
http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/DCForumID2/35.html
The grooves on my slammer are pretty obvious but the fish don't seem to mind. After a while, the paint is just going to wear off. It's just the nature of a big wooden lure with very sharp hooks that rub against it as you retrieve it. You should see the difference between fishing cheap mustads vs gamakasku. The gamakasku hooks eat your lure up bad, but you have to use them. Mike has been working on this issue for 8 years now and the new plugs especially are very resistant to scratching and chipping. But it's a tough one to get around and it's certainly not something that he guarantees the plug against.

If my plugs get really bad I guess I will repaint them, but I'm starting to believe more and more that it's the action, the irregular kick, the squeak of the hinges, and the bouyancy of the wood that combines to make a killer plug, not the color. I would much rather fish a totally trashed looking plug that I know is good than a brand new clean looking plug that I don't know if it is a good one or not.

If you do want to paint yours the best thing I have come up with is to use model airplane enamel, like those little bottles of testors paint. Paint it and let it dry overnight. Then coat over that with nail polish. The nail polish will melt the underlying paint and smear it a little, but just make short strokes with the brush and you can get it pretty well covered. Put on extra polish where the hooks rub. It will last pretty well, but be careful if you leave the bait in the sun because the paint can melt again and get on your box. Repainting lures is a tricky deal that I am certainly not an expert at.