# Anyone pouring their own soft plastics?



## onthewater102

Up until now I'd just been interested in recycling used baits that are too chewed up to function, but I'm toying with just pouring my own from fresh plastic going forward.

I assume it's pretty straight forward making baits for summer use, look for more durable formulas and the heat will keep things flexible, but I fish a lot more during the cold water (55 degrees & under) season so I'm thinking I'm needing softer plastic formulas. Anyone out there find a good balance between flexibility and durability for this type of situation?


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## handyandy

I haven't, but it's crossed my mind to. Being I fish a lot of creeks and rivers for smallies sculpins, and helgramites are a favorite of riverine smallies. There are these molds from ukraine that are used for fanatik baits one is a goby one another is the larve mold. Larve is pretty darn close to a helgramite and the goby would make a good sculpin.


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## onthewater102

I found these for hellgrammites:

3" https://www.basstackle.com/3_Hellgrammite_p/562-kj-2.htm
2" https://www.basstackle.com/2_Hellgrammite_p/563-kj-2.htm

but at $69 or even $49 they are a lot more than the Ukrainian plasti-stone ones. Granted it's an apples and oranges comparison, cnc machined aluminum multi-cavity vs. cnc machined synthetic single-cavity. Instead I bought 50 of the baits on ebay for $15 which should hold me over for a while until I decide if I'm going to use enough to make it worth my while.


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## handyandy

I don't know if I'd ever bother with the paddle tail type soft plastics, I've had good luck with the zoom fluke paddle tail baits. They're cheap enough to not make me think about bothering with making them. I may buy some of the fanatik baits to try out they're not horribly expensive, that's kind of been my logic on most soft plastics most are cheap enough it hasn't seemed worth it to me to make them. But it has crossed my mind on for some things. I do use jewel sculpins which are a good bait, but I like the more paddle tail design on the urkraine ones better and would like to see how they work. I've got some of the ukraine chubarashka swing jig type things which are actually a good design. The ones I have I like as they're like a biffle head jig that I can change the hook type/size on easily for using a multitude of baits with. I really like them for small craw/creature baits.


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## Doc Arroyo

I have thought about it quite a bit lately. My favorite plastic worm is a 6" Culprit, and they quit making a specific color combo. It was the most effective worm I ever fished locally, and hand pouring it is they only way to get it. Problem is that I have not found a commercially available mold that matches a Culprit.


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## onthewater102

Pretty easy to make an open pour mold from an existing worm - check youtube. I loved culprits back in the day - for some reason I don't throw a std. texas rig very often anymore, dunno why really.


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## onthewater102

Since you posted that about the culprits I've tried to keep an eye out for them and I've yet come across anything. Closest I've found is a berkley powerbait worm mold but that's only a 4.5" and it has a much longer body section whereas culprits were mostly ribbon tail...actually, just found this today which is a lot closer to the culprit body:

https://www.barlowstackle.com/Do-It-CNC-Ribbon-Tail-Worm-Molds-P3868.aspx

A few observations now that I've cast a bit, the synthetic stone needs to be surface coated in a thin layer of oil to get the same surface finish as a bait made out of an aluminum mold, which also helps to release the bait from the mold, but the price difference makes the stone molds so much more affordable. They need to be cleaned well when you first buy them, scrubbed down with an old toothbrush or something similar, as the machining dust will come off in your baits if you don't. Other than that thus far they're a great alternative to expensive aluminum molds. 

Definitely worth the extra money for multi-cavity molds, even only making a personal-use volume it's a bit tedious to shoot the same mold 5 times in a row to get 1/2 a commercial bag worth of baits - certainly not worth it from a time perspective. Hasn't been an issue yet as I shoot 4 of 5 single cavity molds at a time and make a bunch of different baits, but if I were trying to resupply on just one bait it would take quite a long time. Open pour molds are a PITA to get just the right amount of plastic into before the plastic cools and starts pouring heavier, or the thinner sections overfill but the plastic is too cool to seep into the larger sections. I won't be buying any more pour-style setups unless there is no other mold available.


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## onthewater102

Wow - got a few molds from www.basstackle.com and all I can say is wow. They come with wing nuts and threaded studs so you don't need to fumble along with clamps. 

Only issue was my 45ml injector isn't big enough to fill the larger 4 cavity molds...time for an upgrade I guess. Lesson to anyone learning from this, if you're buying an injector go for the larger 115ml or 120ml ones if you plan on shooting multi-cavity molds.


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## Jim

Also check out Baitjunkys. https://www.baitjunkys.com/

The owner is a member here and a long time internet friend of mine. :beer: 

And guys, please post what you make, I'm always in the market to buy stuff for me and giveaways.


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## Captain Ahab

Breath deep as your pour LOL


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## onthewater102

I wonder which is worse, the carcinogens in the plastic or the unknown fumes off the lead pot?

Either way, I fashioned an exhaust hood for over my workbench. Not taking chances with that stuff just using a series of window fans.


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## onthewater102

Grabbed a food processor at Goodwill and used it to mince up all the beat up plastic left over from last year's fishing efforts. Worked perfectly. Even the salted plastics were easy to melt back down in an 1100 watt microwave. 1 minute, remove & stir, 40 seconds, remove & stir, 20 second intervals from there out removing & stirring after each.

Tried some silicone hand-pour molds from lureparts online, the plastic really needs to be on the extreme hot end of the spectrum in order to use those and not get tons of excess. Makes a dreamshot style dropshot worm out of a mold costing $10 and a $4 pyrex cup from walmart, pretty inexpensive way to get into it.


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## senkosam

onthewater102 ,Have any photos of lures you've poured that have caught fish ?


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## onthewater102

I've got to get pics of the lures to go with each...but these were some of the year's highlights that I actually could find pictures of. All were on jigs/spinnerbaits that I made (poured/tied), with plastic trailers I poured on rods that I built.

5lb 11oz LMB Yellow perch bladed jig w/ golden chatter trailer










4lb 4oz LMB Blue-black bladed jig w/ Black / Blue flake chatter trailer









4lb 15oz LMB Golden shiner spinnerbait w/ golden 4.8" swimbait trailer (not sure why it's pinkish in the picture - it's the same color as the 1st pictured chatter trailer, this is actually my favorite all-around spinnerbait pattern)









3lb 11oz SMB Silver baitfish bladed jig w/ smoke back/pearl belly fluke trailer


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## senkosam

Very nice !!!

I've been pouring and designing my own plastics for over 10 years and love catching fish on them - far more than store bought overpriced lures. Here are a few, some which I designed, some of which catch most species of fish :
fat tail grub:





mini-sticks:















larger size:





stubby tail grubs with more of a point:





topwater lure made using a _spoon_ as a mold:





made sizes #11 and #1 copies of Uncle Josh Pork Frogs in plaster molds before they went out of business:





made this super thin tailed _minnow_ using a tipped floor tile:




(cut out the shape with a box cutter blade and dipped the front half a few times to thicken the body. I catches everything!

Used the thin tails to fool around making these, attaching the parts with a candle flame:





Swimbait molds from Lurecraft.com produce nice lures that bass attack:
design A:




design B:


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## onthewater102

I've been using molds I find on the cheap on Ebay as well as a handful of really nice ones that I've accumulated that can be ordered new through www.basstackle.com

For instance, this is the mold I'm using to make the chatter trailers:


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## onthewater102

I've been using molds I find on the cheap on Ebay as well as a handful of really nice ones that I've accumulated that can be ordered new through www.basstackle.com

For instance, this is the mold I'm using to make the chatter trailers:

https://www.basstackle.com/6008_Chatter_Trailer_p/6008-kj-1.htm


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## senkosam

Jim, too bad there aren't forum sections devoted to _lure craft design_ and of the few that do have them (crappie.com), few post on them. The one site that is focused only on making different lures is too technical, only discussing what to use and proportions, not design innovations nor lure action or uses. I like you feel very lucky being able to catch fish on what we come up with.

_Pouryourownworms.com_ is my only source for plastisol. (M-F); 
Ebay is great for 2-part mold shapes and price; Lurecraft.com for hundreds of cheap silicone rubber molds that do the trick - many have multiple pour cavities for under 20 bucks. They've even legally copied lure designs in mold form that are no longer protected by design patents. If I like a design enough, I'll make a mold.

Dang if the stuff we make doesn't work far better than most same-type lures sold ! Price isn't important - catching fish on lures I make is!
Here are a few I came up with on the weekend (top and bottom lures):




The body is from an Ebay curl tail grub mold; the tails were added using a candle flame and then using a soldering iron (battery powered) to smooth the seam. The middle _stick_ is the joining of two lures poured from a mold. (The action on a 1/16 oz wacky rigged jig is incredible!...at least fish seem to think so...)

Frank


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## onthewater102

I've only tried one frankenbait so far and it wasn't that original a concept. Combined the basstackle.com 736 Craw with their 4" skirt grafted to the back. Comes out as basically an HD hulagrub:


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## onthewater102

I don't have any more of the smoke/pearl fluke bodies other than the one in the pic I added alongside the fish they caught, but they were to color match with these jigs I made as a generic swim jig that I could throw pretty much anywhere (even in the salt) and have confidence that it mimics some type of baitfish in the water body. These were the jig bodies I made some with blades (homemade chatterbait) that got me the smallie in my earlier pictures.





Here's a sampling of my latest batch. I've got more molds than this, but many are redundant designs in different sizes (swimbaits and senkos especially) but i've also got that bob-tailed trick worm in a 6" (4" pictured) and the flat backed dropshot in a 4" (5" pictured). Lurepartsonline I believe sells that drop shot bait mold that is a $10 silicone top pour mold - anyone with a microwave and a pyrex measuring cup (with the pour handle) can recycle their old tired baits and reform them into something useful.






A swim jig I made soup to nuts (poured the lead, painted, tied the jig & poured the soft plastic trailer) but for some reason I don't have pictures of the fish it's caught - there have been a LOT on this little one. I think this is a 3/8 oz head wearing a 3.8 trailer with a 4/0 heavy wire hook. I usually make the plastic trailers without salt to add buoyancy to slow the rate of fall. 






I've finally got the hang of the airbrush with the powder paint, so I can do color fades on the heads or wackier color schemes:


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## senkosam

Very impressive ! Like the name *frankenbait*. Kind of a moniker for my inspired creations.
I also have 4 of the molds that produced your pearl lures.

I used to think that ordering soft plastic making supplies was not economical so why bother, but then it occurred to me after a while the advantages and the economy:
1. infinite choice of colors and color combinations
2. more components for _frankenbaits_ (as in the example using a Mann worm tail and a molded grub body)
3. s/h for a few bags of lures is very expensive depending how often I get the urge to buy some. Now I can make a few or many, try new designs and repour those that caught fish. 
4. I can copy some lures in plaster, though I recently discovered a super fine mold making substance
5. Never having to worry about a source running out, *a lure being discontinued, color not in stock, delays in shipping, etc. makes it worthwhile 
examples:
*Uncle Josh pork frog in #1 and #11 sizes:








this trailer:




(at at least my claws don't rip like the original when I mix salt water plastic with regular firm)
another trailer:




6. most important is discovering lure designs never seen before that catch fish better than most lures made I've used.
examples of originals:













(one of the best!)




Mr Twister curl tail cut off the grub and reattached:




a claw from a craw bait added to a grub body:










they WORK!
joining grub bodies after the curl tails removed and then wacky or regular rigging them:








Clear plastic:










(note the sparkle on the clear stick. I use a soft plastic glue on a surface of the soft plastic lure and roll it in glitter.)

Equally important than the above reasons is finding unique lure actions that catch fish of *ALL* species. At first you think, *no way*, until it works and then you see why when watching the lure's unique subtle action profile in the water. 








opinion: believing a lure _matches_ a forage is simply adding a name via an _imagined_ correlation to an animal - an unnecessary step IMO. I'd rather keep is simple _by design_,
IE. cone tail, claw tail, tapered tips mini stick, spike tail and my
_spoon_ minnow (original was discovered stirring hot plastic with a spoon, leaving a thin film for a tail and dipping the _body_ in the plastic 4x after using a razor to shape it; shiny floor tile now used); the super thin tail quivers when the lure is _stationary_.


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## onthewater102

I'm trying to find a plastic formula that's more durable. The chatter trailers are fantastic for generating hits, but the plastic I have is lousy at surviving them. I know I need to add a hardener to it, and the sections are actually quite hefty (not like the swimbait boot tails) so I think once I figure out how to toughen it up I should be set.

That's sort of why I got into it in the first place. Fishing in the winter with Keitechs you end up with a bag full of tailless plastics courtesy of the yellow perch, having the ability to melt them down and reform 6 useless bodies into 3 or 4 useful baits rather than pay $1 +/- ea per bait in a new package just made sense. I'll never recover my cost on molds at this point, but as you said, I don't have to worry about running low on a favorite color or size and not being able to source them without paying 3x the cost of the baits in shipping or spending hundreds at a time buying in bulk.

No matter how bad an attempt at creating a color pattern ends up enough black dye and blue flake turns any disaster into something useful.


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## senkosam

https://www.pouryourownworms.com/M-F-Original-Floating-Plastic-in-order-soft-to-hard_c93.htm

This page shows various plastic firmness choices. _Salt water plastic_ may be too firm which is why I add it to _regular grade_ or maybe not.
M-F Inc. plastic mixes easy and has the least odor of any brand I've used after being heated to 280 degrees. Hotter not necessary.



> M-F Salt Water Plastic is a formulation for a stronger, tougher and more durable material. Excellent for shrimp tails, salt water worms and all salt water soft plastic lures.


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