Bassmaster Profile:

Superpicker Dale Sellers
By DON WIRTH
Senior Writer

Few people can pick an electric guitar better than Dale Sellers. The colorful Alabama native was in high demand as a Nashville recording session musician in the 1970s and '80s; his signature licks have appeared on countless hit records by artists as diverse as Ray Charles, George Jones, Neil Young, B.B. King and Reba McEntire, to name a few. But the superpicker has long harbored another passion besides music: luremaking. Now his custom baits are gaining a nationwide following among bassers looking for a winning edge.
"I've always loved bass fishing," Sellers says. "I began building my own lures in Nashville between recording sessions."
While in the Music City, Sellers joined other session musicians who loved to fish, to form the Music Row Stringbusters, a band that entertained bass pros and the outdoor press at several BASS Masters Classics.
"In 1987, Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton hears Sellers' guitar work on the soundtrack for the movie, Elvis, starring Kurt Russell, and he hired the Nashville picker as lead guitarist for his legendary stage revue. "I worked nights for Newton, which freed me up during the day to get into luremaking more seriously," he says. Sellers' handmade spinnerbaits quickly became a hit among tournament fishermen on Lake Mead. "Several tournaments were won on them, and once the word got out, local bait shops started calling me to supply them with lures. Soon I had a good sideline business going."
The guitarist's luremaking enterprise escalated dramatically in '93, when Wayne Newton and his band left Vegas to open a theater in Branson, Mo. "When I got to the Ozarks and saw all that water and all those bass boats, I thought I'd gone to heaven," Sellers recalls.

Tennesse B.A.S.S member Dale Sellars enjoyed three decades of success as a professional musician in recording studios and on stage Photo:  Don Wirth

"Premium spinnerbaits are Sellers' specialty. "I use all American-made components, including Mustad Needle Point hooks, Worth swivels, stainless steel wire and the best polished blades I can find. I'll finish the blades however the customer desires. One of my favorite blade finishes is a clear chartreuse powdercoat over a nickel blade. It has a greenish-gold look in the water, like a live baitfish. I guarantee all my baits will run perfectly straight right out of the package. One of my Missouri customers has won two bass boats in regional tournaments on my spinnerbaits."
Sellers is as artistic with an airbrush as he is with a guitar. He custom-paints other  manufacturers' hard baits on special order to the exact specifications of the customer. "If you want a certain color or finish on a crankbait, jerkbait or topwater lure that you can't find anywhere else, I'll paint it – one or a hundred," he says. "I've pained baits for some of the top B.A.S.S. pros, although they won't talk about it because they're all sponsored by major lure companies." On the day I visited his shop in Pegram, Tenn., just outside Nashville, Sellers was custom-painting for a Missouri pro several dozen Smithwick Suspending Rogues in a purple back/chartreuse side/red hash mark pattern he calls "Bleeding Buffy." "Serious tournament anglers know that a custom-painted bait is something their competition isn't likely to be throwing," Sellers points out. "Pros and guides who use them on highly pressured lakes tell me they really make a difference."
For information on Dale Sellers' custom lures, phone (615)952-9582.

For Bassmasters desiring a winning edge over their competition , lure maker Dale Sellers Custom-Paints other manufacturers hard baits, like these Smithwick suspending rogues, any color the customer desires Photo: Don Wirth