this little bugger is harder to paint than i thought. my first couple tries looked like frikkin' goldfish. just a big blob of gold without much character. this one is better but i think it still needs work. definitely going to use an irregular black base coat next time. not enough contrast around the scales. your are always welcome.

1.fin needs some orange
2. need to mask the gill plate to keep scales off
3. some color other than black for the accents around the gills. probably sepia.
4. im not sure but i think the fins are on backwards...hmmm

Do you have a pic that you're using for a reference?

Papa,,,, can't help you with this one. Not a big gold shiner user.

If I was spraying one this is what I would do.

Base sides in transparent black, belly in white, scale overlay in gold on top faded to iridescent yellow bellow lateral line. Transparent black shading down lateral line with scale mask still on, remove mask shade gills and back lightly with sepia, finish off with Transparent orange pectoral fin. I have never painted one though.

there are too many variations of the golden shiner to count but here's the one i was using.

yeah that's pretty close to what i plan for the next one. it's hard not to have it look just like other baits we've done.

The fins in the actual photos are orange and they tend to have a golden.
Back that fades to yellow. Just my opinion.

If you were holding that shiner in your hand every line between each scale is iridescent to chrome. That holds true for every bait fish that I have picked up in the lakes from minnows to tilapia. Some come farther down the body toward the lateral line than others and will vary from one lake to another. I think it depends on what they eat and how much sun they get in lakes that don't have grass. In Mexico with no grass most are green to brown scales even on some of the shad I have seen; but all have that iridescent flash.

Looks good. Takes many attempts to get something you can live with. Just spitballing here, might turn out to be another goldfish, or a carp
black base, apply scale mesh, white over black, golden yellow sides, dark brown back, remove scale mesh, mist gold over dark brown, pearl belly; using fin stencil, white, orange over white, dark grey rays; mask body(gill plates)exposed, darken gill areas accordingly and detail with sepia.

This effect is difficult to achieve. Only thing I can come up with is foil as a base then paint over mesh. Been playing around with Don's "edge flash" observations for a while....still in the works.

what in the world are you doing up at four o'clock in the morning?
problem with trying to get an effective "edge flash" is the small size of the border on the scales. no matter what i use you can't really see it very well. that sponge technique for the scales i showed you has promise but it's tough to get any consistency

Neighbors took a 3:30a.m. drunken dip in their pool . Working with a heavier mesh...trying to get a good dark scale pattern with "edge flash" over foil.... on a Zara spook..... will post results.

Now were talking. Can't wait to see it. Love those spooks.

can't wait to see how it turns out. tried putting some paint on scale mesh to thicken the webbing and get a heavier edge. great concept but disappointing result. i think i got the paint too thick on the mesh and lost some fexibility. need to find another kind of mesh to use.
here's the redo of the golden shiner. redid the fin and clear coated. the led's in the light box cast a weird light on some areas of the bait around the fin.