Making your own Hand Poured Baits

[calincalif50]

where do you find the molds and the liquid plastic, I'd be interestd in pouring some of my own also  Do you have to color the plastic before you pour, or else...

[SenkoSam]

www.bassresource.com/fishing/pouring_plastic_worms.html
www.bassresource.com/fishing/pouring_plastic_worms_supplies.html

The above links are the basics of worm making and many of the household supplies are optional.
Heck, you could make a mold of a ballpoint pen in clay, melt some old lures in a microwave and have a reasonable copy of a Tiki Stick. But as in fishing, their are different levels of worm making where you customize to suit your needs and preferences.

I bring up clear and minimal color as a topic that is usually overlooked or never considered.
Worm dyes are necessary for specific plastic colors ( opaque colors like bubblegum; florescent translucent colors like chartreuse; two tone colors like motor oil), but glitter can be substituted to duplicate most colors.

I use fine, medium-dark silver to make smoke. You can use floured salt for pearl or white; chartreuse/black and lime glitter for bass; fine silver for silver minnow; fine yellow gold for gold shiner; maroon and violet for purple; blue, dark silver, green and chartreuse to simulate blue gill.

Dye, in these cases, hinders color exposure. If crystal salt is added by any process except by injection, coupled with a super mixer, you're back to opaque and little glitter seen.

How much color is enough? Look at the clear plastic bait with a core of chartreuse flake against a dark background.

Would this amount of flash/color be enough to target underwater and spark a fish's curiousity? I know it will and will experiment in winter to see what is needed to create minimal, subtle core-colors and glitter laminates.

When a fish looks up, it sees a form dropping from above. The form may be colorful or not, but the lure at eye level or against the bottom is where many hits occur. A dark plastic against a dark background is much harder to see until it's jerked or moved. Flash or florescense picks up available overhead light, similar in contrast to glow colors and is more visual in stained water. In clear water, subtle flash and color may be enough, even at a longer distance.

Making your own lures is as addictive as fishing, plus you can take pride in your creation, especially when it catches fish!

Sam

[Fishaholic]

WOW...great info there Sam...now I've got the bug to make some molds and start pouring again...

Lucky for me, I went to Art School and learned how to make molds for unique shapes too...but even with that, this last year the tapered pencil shape and Senkos did the trick for me, so I can keep it pretty simple.

Is there a difference in the salts that can be used? And does it have to be injected, or can it go right in the plastic batch?

It seems like the plastic sets up pretty quick, would it help to heat up the molds just a little bit so the plastic doesn't set up so quickly?

[SenkoSam]

the salts that can be used?

Common table salt, pickling salt, sea salt, water purifying salt
They all have weight, absorb water and make a bait fall faster. They must be ground to a fine powder to suspend in hot plastic or it settles too fast and will not pour from the cup.

One cup of hot plastic can be used to fill quite a few cavities (one piece molds). A Lee Production Pot (Jannes Netcraft) has a thermostat to keep the plastic at 300 degrees or so and the whole cup of plastic can be poured, as long as the nozzle tip doesn't clog with glitter or salt. (Lee's lead pot cannot be used with plastic!)

I zap with the mw for 10-15 seconds, stir and continue pouring.

The lure cools in 30sec. after which I throw it into a cold water bath to set the shape and to be able to pour more of the same size, shape and color.

[Fishaholic]

Thanks Sam, that's exactly the info I was looking for.

[bass1cpr]

Senko Sam. Hi! I've been reading your posts here and checked out some of your links. If I were recomending plastisol I'd have to go with MF's' Lurecrafts plastisol seperates after sitting in the container for a while. No problem with MF's. Lurecraft is a good place to start for molds thou they have such a large selection. I've bought a few and have had pretty good success with them. IF you get one that has bubbles in it or the ribs aren't up to par and you call them they will make good on it.I've built several molds of my own with plaster of paris mostly for my own designs and they hold up pretty well. I only build them in single cavity molds though. I make multiple molds of the same bait from a master prototype. I've built several frogs,some jig trailers and am working on some variations of both now. When I get my digital camera hooked back up to my computer again (someone lost the disk) I'll post some picks of my baits. I know they work as I have some friends that fish them and are always begging me for the one's i've got with me. I've been working on some new ones over the last month or so as I have a lot of time on my hands (recovering from total hip replacement) one more tip i can offer on the plaster molds. Playschool plaster of paris, in the crafts department at wal-mart. A bucket costs less than $4.00 for someone just wanting to do small amounts or that is just getting started. Silicone kits are available from both Lurecraft and MF. About $30.00 from lurecraft for a 1 pound kit. I'm gonna stop before this turns into a book. I hope this info helps someone and I'll definatley be back with more. This site is the Bomb. Tight lines and Bent Rods. It's a biggun.

[SenkoSam]

I've been tempted to buy lazer-cut aluminum molds ever since I saw the results on Tackleunderground.com, but the price was a little steep. After I started pouring a few stick baits, I was convinced that the worms were commercial quality, with few flaws and very uniform results. Here are a few pics:




Are handpoured worms superior in quality, especially those sold by individuals as a sideline?
Some are, some aren't!The basics must be observed for various soft plastic lures or the results will just be another hunk of plastic that the angler will not develop confidence in and that catch few or no fish.
For example, softness must be proper or that simple characteristic will not help a fish retain the bite and the lure will sacrifice most of it's action to too much hardness.

A curl or sickle tail must be thin. Wideness is a design preference; thinness is an action necessity.

Too much softness is evident in Senkos - one lure/one fish. A lure can be soft yet resilient.

Few baits require salt, but those that do (Senko types), must have the right percentage of salt and the right amount of softener added for the best action. Salt stiffens a bait and a plastisol with too much hardener makes the lure actionless on the drop.

Too much dye or glitter affects appearence as far as light reflectivity and translucence. A little goes a long way!

These are a few quality control issues not addressed by many that sell on-line and I don't understand how they keep selling lures. Other handpourers make a unique product that can be customized to customer specs or that are not available commercially due to unique design properties. Certain pros have their soft plastics made special and I'm sure they insist that those specs remain classified, considering the price they pay for each lure.

What justifies a high unit price for a good handpour?
1. Time - mass produced lures are mostly injection poured and the molds and automation cost thousands of dollars for one size in one design. For a handpoured lure, each is poured one at a time, slowly, to prevent air bubbles and too much or too little plastic that could effect action or appearence.
2. Softness is a supreme quality coupled with just the right amount of durablity. This means changing the bait less and less placement to the front of a hook or jig.
3. Salt affects fall rate and castablity without weight. Are Senkos superior, in part, because a finicky or older fish never tastes lead, when it inhales a soft plastic lure or is it just the faster horizontal fall? Regardless, salt percentage is an important variable that affects drop rate and allow the use of a lighter sinker or jig and that can be customize to a certain fall rate yet maintaining the same action.
4. There is a degree of personal skill involved in handpouring quality lures versus a machine that pumps out 1,000 lures an hour- packaged. Again, a machine can offer the same quality as a handpoured bait, but is not capable of customizing or variation.
I once asked Mr. Twister to consider a certain color combo that Kalin produced in their grubs. Mr.Twister never responded.
5. The cost factor for an individual is much higher versus the cost factor/ profit margin for the manufacturer. A large company buys materials by the ton and saves on unit costs. The small timer pays much more per unit cost (i.e. $/oz., pound, gallon). A large company like Yamamoto Enterprises, produces a Senko for a dime and sells it for a 200% profit to a retailer.
A handpourer may only make 20% profit on materials and energy, but it's his time and craftmanship that is significant.

For personal use, one can save time and money on a unique product, customized to ones own exact preferences. There is no price on satisfaction.

Sam

[SenkoSam]

A few quick comments about the lures shown in the post.
1. fully round.
2. softer than most sticks on the market.
3. contain varying degrees of salt.
4. the laminates shown, have salt bellies (making then white), but colored plastic, top halves. The bubblegum worms are uniformly, salt-impregnated (30% by volume) and weigh .2 oz. more than the sticks without salt. That's a big difference in a plastic worm!
5. Spike-It worm dye was used to color the salted belly of one worm.
6. the worms took a few minutes to pour and cool down for single pours and about a few minutes more for laminated.

[bass1cpr]

 Sam quality is something that I am very serious about with my hand pours. I hand trim any flashing that I have on my baits. I cut all my multi cavity worm molds into single cavity so i can manipulate the mold and make the flow of plastic follows the tails flow into the body. I start a the tip of the tail and work my way to the body. I also keep a hot piece of stainless steel angle on my burner plate. If I haven't done a good enough job at a smooth flow I grab the stainless (with a pair of pliers) and pull it across the mold removing any excess plastic and insuring a thin and consistent tail for lots of action.

[Fishaholic]

Sam, nice post...one simple question...ok 2

1. you thought the aluminum molds were too expensive, but your illustrations appear to be using the aluminum mold anyway...is the end result that much better from the aluminum mold and is the pouring easier?

2. I'm pretty new to pouring, how do you get the two tone effect...lighter on the bottom, darker on the top?

[SenkoSam]

I was going to wait until after Xmas to try a few aluminum stick molds, but my wife wanted to buy a few for Xmas (considering the majority of fishing stuff I return every year that I really can't use.) I ordered three:

A beautiful copy of a 5 1/2" Tiki Stik by Wave Ind.
A 4 1/2" Senko copy
A leech - a flatened, yet fat stick with nice tapers.

Laminates are a little more involved with a one or two part mold.
With a one part mold, pour the first half of one color; pour the next half.
You save a lot of time by having two pyrex containers in the microwave containing the two colors. Hot plastic will melt onto cold plastic permanently and should not delaminate.

With a two part mold, pour the first half; close the mold up and slowly pour the next half through the smaller hole, but with the mold tilted. The plastic must run like water and contain no clumps.

Pearl powder with glitter are what Zoom uses to make it's fire tiger tube laminate color.
The Stiko-O and Senko come a few nice laminates.

Note: M-F plastic is excellent, but much more expensive than Calhoun's plastic, by the gallon or 5 gallon tub. Lurecraft's plastic is junk, seers easily, smokes and stinks. I never fail to cough a lot, even with good ventilation. Some Lurecraft colors aren't accurate and the service stinks when they've made a mistake (sometimes on purpose). Their glitter in small amounts is a rip-off and the container weight makes up half of the net weight. Certain molds are crap - creature molds and  lures that have legs. The detail in fine ribbing is lost in the silcone molds they offer, which is why I went to plaster from Home Depot at $7 for a 25lb bag. (I used to get my plaster from Wal Mart in the small tub, but it's more expensive.
I avoid LC as do many on the lurecraft site I mentioned.

[bass1cpr]

SenkoSam whats the approximate costs of those aluminum molds? Who's the source also?

[SenkoSam]

http://www.bobstackleshack.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=59

Bob has 4 cavity, 2-part Stick mold for about $45.  8 cavity molds go for about $90. They will last forever and are lazer cut aluminum, guided by a computer program used in the aerospace industry. (This is for 4 or 5 "; 6" is a little more)

Smaller finesse worms and grubs are as cheap as $15-20, depending on the number of cavities. He offer's many styles of plastics - chunk trailers, creature baits, grubs, minnow jerkbaits (Fin S Fish), swim baits and others. He will custom build a lure, but I'm not sure of the added cost.

[Mike Cork]

Sam, I have poured plastics on a commercail level before. Back when I was doing this metal molds were very tough to create certain specail effects with, mainly because of the temperature of the molds but Aluminum obviously would answer some of those problems. What about the release of the worm is there any sticking to the molds, do you have to use a lubricant? Also, in talking about temperature, how long does it take for the plastic to cool to a point that you can remove the bait without stretching or tearing?

[bass1cpr]

 Calincalif and anyone else interested in finding molds for hand pouring here's a web address. www.lurecraft.com They have over 700 molds to choose from. You can get all your supplies here.

[SenkoSam]

Mike, the metal is polished and when I used Fish Formula oil, it took away some of the fine detail away. Cooling plastic shrinks slightly, especially when it hits cold metal, so worm release is only necessary for silicone molds to get a gloss finish. Silicone molds will only give a flat finish and oil is needed to gloss the cavity.

Once the lure is poured completely (4 cavities), it takes less than 3 minutes to cool enough to pull the lure out from the poured end and throw into a small container of cold water. If the lure has no salt, it will float; if salted, it will go to the bottom.
The cold water completes the internal cooling and form-set, so the worm is straight.

If the upper 1/3 of the bait develops an air bubble, I cut off the end containing the bubble, put the worm back into the mold exactly, and pour the upper third again. Perfect.

[Mike Cork]

You mentioned taking a cooled worm and then cutting it in half and then re-pouring to it. How do you prevent the two halves from separating during your fishing. It was always my experience that two separate pours only adhered well if they were still liquefied or very close to that state.

[bass1cpr]

 Calincalif50 just noticed another part of your question about hand pours. You add colorant as the plastic is comming up to temp most of the time. I usually add it when it changes from the white milky color it starts as and changes to clear as it begins to jell. Now things like super highlights which are powders, i mix them in while it's cold. Don't get me wrong here you can add colorant at any time but I like to add it when it jells. In comercial pouring everything is mixed in 55 gallon drums and sucked up in heated hoses that run over to the mold presses. I've had the privilege of going thru Eufalla Manufacturing on a private tour with the plant manager from start to end. What really blew me away is the way they make chrome crankbaits. Mann's bait company head quarters is next door to eufalla manf. In betwwen is a small maybe 1 1/2 acre lake. I left one of my favorite spinnerbaits there it was the first time I ever set the hook and it felt like I set it on a stump, before it started swimming away. The next pull i got a good feel of it's weight then the line snapped. I was thrilled and disappointed at the same time.

[SenkoSam]

Mike, try this:
Cut a worm in half, hold the two ends over a candle until they start to catch on fire or melt. If on fire, remove from flame and blow out.

Hold the two halves together for about 6 seconds. I use a soldering iron to smooth the line of fusion.

The joint will be as strong as the original worm. (This is how I make my hybrid creations using the parts of two different lures to make a unique shape.



275-300 degree plastic will melt a room-temperature, plastic end in a mold and fuse to it.
When I make two part grubs, I pour the tail first and allow gravity to allow excess plastic to run into the body (for a thin tail). I close the mold up and pour the body the rest of the way. I haven't had a tail come off yet (unless a pickeral bit it off.)

This is the only way to pour grubs with curl tails.


Sam

[Mike Cork]

I understand the grub thing but when you said you had a worm removed form the mold and then cut it and put it back and then poured too it, unless your new plastic is almost ready to burn a good connection is difficult.

I must agree when pouring any type of culy tail it is important to get the plastic to run from the tail to the body making sure the tail is thin and has high action. Unless of course you are pouring a tail that is meant to be thick for thump perposes.

[bass1cpr]

Senko Sam your onto something there with the soldering iron or a wood burning iron. Get the kind that have changable tips. Your can cut weld and touch up baits using different tips. I have one addaptor that works with exacto blades although they take longer to heat up so i buy the smallest size exacto blades i can find.

[SenkoSam]

Pouring hot plastic into a mold, containing part of a soft plastic body (room temperature), will weld to the end and become one. I save some of my favorite sticks (superstition) and when the tip gets ripped after catching a few fish, I snip it off like a cigar, down to the solid part, and pour old excess, same-color plastic into a mold containing the lure. Good as new. It's also a way to put an end on with a different taper or action.

Tom, I have a plastic handled soldering gun with trigger and light, that has a flat u-loop-type blade. It's getting rusty (form salt and humidity) and will need to be replaced. Any ideas who sells replacement tips? A new gun costs about $13. I won't fuse worms without it.

Sam

[SenkoSam]

Found replacement tips at Radio Shack. The link shows the kind of iron I use extensively to put grooves into smooth plastics, trim flashing, smooth fused edges of two plastics and rejuvenate old Senkos and other plastic worms (discontinued colors).

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F009%5F007%5F003&product%5Fid=64%2D2193

Replacement tips are only $1.99 and $13 for the gun.

These worms were from clay prototypes cast into plaster and were originally smooth. The soldering gun was used to make grooves (or the segments) in every worm shown and then each worm was re-cast again in plaster. The smooth worms would probably have worked, but a textured worm does more for me.


Sam

[Mike Cork]

I have seen a lot of talk about plaster, has anyone used casting resign? I would always do my experimenting with plaster but once I decided it was perfect I would recast it in resign to make a more permanent mold plus it was a lot easier to work with.

[BIG PAPA]

Pouring hot plastic into a mold, containing part of a soft plastic body (room temperature), will weld to the end and become one. I save some of my favorite sticks (superstition) and when the tip gets ripped after catching a few fish, I snip it off like a cigar, down to the solid part, and pour old excess, same-color plastic into a mold containing the lure. Good as new. It's also a way to put an end on with a different taper or action.

Tom, I have a plastic handled soldering gun with trigger and light, that has a flat u-loop-type blade. It's getting rusty (form salt and humidity) and will need to be replaced. Any ideas who sells replacement tips? A new gun costs                                                         OUR HOME DEPOT HAS THE TIPS
PAPA