You don't need to buy new soft plastic shapes when a simple mod does it for you

[SenkoSam]

I own quite a few soft plastic molds, the great majority sitting unused. Some years back I figured that since I have stored over a thousand soft plastic lures with different shapes and actions, why not figure out a way to take the body of one and attach it to the tail of another? Super Glue too messy and not permanent; soldering iron is too time-consuming. I had a bunch of candles lying around for emergencies and a battery-powered soldering iron, so why not join parts using a flame and smoothing the seam with the iron?

From that day on, though I still pay for some new soft plastic shapes I see online, I figured that lure action is primary along with lure size so why not discover how many different lures fish will strike varying both size and action? Plus, the tried and true designs of the past I figured might be modified in different ways: altering lure diameters, tail size and shape, color combos never seen on those lures and in particular - classic lure actions like the Senko and hard plastic Zara Spook.
Now if any of you feel adventurous, please copy any of the designs I post. You won't be sorry and may even discover modifications of them that catch all kinds of fish. My molds even came in handy to be able to pour lures I could take parts from to attach to other parts.

I have no idea which modifications came first so I'll list them as they come up on my IMGUR.com photo storage site. The first mod is using the shape that I own the mold to pour it from. I call the body shape the pill which has a thin straight tail and smooth pill-shaped body. When I join it to another body (ribbed), it has the shape and action of a Zara Spook except underwater using rod tip twitches. (It does look something like a light bulb.)

[coldfront]

Before continuing I need to find a better way of putting photos in my post.
photobucket wants money for storage
shutterfly - very little photo modification

I tend to modify my photos using the microsoft photo editor before uploading them to photos.google...  but then again, I don't try to do everything on my smartphone. 

[Bud Kennedy]

I have been using Image Shack for a few years now and have not been disappointed.  It does cost somewhere around $18.00 per year as I recall but not sure about that but reasonable enough to make it worth while.  This at least allows me to post good photos using the forum setting.  I edit photos if need using the editor in the Mac photo program that is part of the operating system or I use the preview function that is also part of the Mac system.  If I need to do more than I do use adobe but not too often.  You may want to check out Image Shack just to see if it would fit your needs.

[apenland01]

postimages is your best bet, free and easy to use.  I've been using it for the past couple of years and it's great.

[SenkoSam]

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I will test them out.
note: postimages is not an on-line site.

For modifying images I use Adobe photo studio 5.5 on my PC. A fantastic program!!!

[apenland01]

It's postimages dot org.  It's a legit site that is excellent for posting pictures in the forums.  It's definitely "online"...

https://postimages.org/

[SenkoSam]

They want a credit card #. Not cool even though free.

[apenland01]

Wow, don't know what you're seeing or using, but there's no credit card needed or required.  You must be clicking on an ad or something.  Sorry it's not working for you, good luck....

[SenkoSam]

The site said it wouldn't use it but I'm leary.

[apenland01]

Sorry SenkoSam, but I'm completely lost.  I've never seen that screen before and I'm not sure where it's even popping up.  There's no membership required for postimages and I would NOT enter a credit card number there ever.

When you go to postimages, just click upload on the top left.  Don't try to create an account, or membership, or sign-in, it's not needed at all to use the site....

[SenkoSam]

I'll try again. Thanks for the help.
You might look at imgur.com for storage. Too bad all of the photo modification tools are gone, but they have many different code/addresses to leave on sites such as this.
Problem is when adding photos to storage, the addresses/photo used in a forum post disappears from the post as they're pushed down imgur photo list.

[SenkoSam]

I needed to get back to the initial topic so the following gets it done. Hope some find it helpful.

I've been joining parts of soft plastic lures together for years and found shapes and actions fish clobber. There are many predator species that attack them and you never know which is on the end of the line. It could be a 6 lb channel cat, 2 lb bass or 12" crappie. That's not to say retail lures don't work, but that modified lures work better much of the time based on a slow presentation and unsteady retrieve. I will use a steady retrieve after attaching a Sassy Shad boot tail to a lure, but unsteady retrieves tickle the later line thereby provoking strikes from neutral fish.

The actions of the two modified lures on the left have different actions than the two on the right. There are more that have actions different the the four - all catch fish.

[SenkoSam]

Mold used: table spoon


silicone skirt added: