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Oh I hear ya Al I'm thinking that he's discouraged about posting anymore on the site not the business argument that's going on. Ya know I will add something that may be of help, Texasfisherman1 take a look at http://www.bigboybaitco.com/ I believe when he started he was your age and appears to be doing quite well give him a e-mail he may offer some direction for ya.

wow a good ole TU Donnybrook going on how'd I miss it Wonder how discouraged he is now

Mike I have talked to you several times on the phone. You have given me great advice. Thank you. I started my business with 1 gallon of plastic and a few colors and 2 molds. Handed out some baits to friends and then next thing you know word spread. Now I have a website and all that. Not to mention a ton of molds. I go through about 5 gallons of plastic every two months or so now. I know thats not a lot comppared to some on here. But hey its a start. I am pretty sure that a 15 year old can do it if he wants to. I am guessing everyone started out pretty much the same way. No one woke up one day and said " I think I will go spend 20k and learn the bait making business". We all started small just pouring for ourselves and a few friends and then next thing you know a hobby turned into away to make some extra money. By no means am I ready to stop working my full time job. I am working on doing that but its not going to happen tomorrow. I just lost my train of thought. so Ill go ahead and stop typing.

I use a fine tipped calligraphy pen from Michael's craft store + black Createx paint. Cheap, lasts forever, and the paint won't run if hit with a solvent topcoat. A calligraphy pen is the same thing as a fountain pen, just without the ink reservoir. Dip the tip in paint or ink, write.

Explain to me why this young man cannot start out with a Lee pot, considering my whole business started out with two Lee pots and 40 POP molds. 20 molds of two different types of jig trailers. I was supplying 4 stores with this setup alone, and it was less than $300 to get started, including plastic, coloring and glitter. I was working a full time job and had two small children, so why couldn't a 15 year old productive young man, not do this and go to school? Again I'm speaking from experience, especially since I have a 16 year old and a 13 year old son. The 16 year old is taking Honors classes in high school and college classes as well. He worked a part time job for most of the summer and during the school year he helps me in the shop, plus still he has time for his guitar and Xbox. What would be wrong with an enterprising young man spending a Saturday making baits? Your average high school kid is not going to spend all weekend long in his books. And if he enjoys making baits in his spare time, why be against it? And as far as the costs go, between the prices of Iphones, Ipads, Xbox, video games and computers, I don't think that $400-$600 is out of the question. I think it would be totally his and his parents decision whether the money was foolishly spent or not. You really sound totally against the idea of a young man starting his own business, but yet you say you would bring him into your shop and work him and give him OJT. So why not instead of being so discouraging give him some safety advice, some pointers on actually making baits and some advice to his parents on supervision. I know several people on this forum alone who did their own OJT with good quality advice and encouragment from people who care on TU. To say that you can only start a bait business by investing thousands of dollars is just not a true statement and I myself am living proof of that. Sure the Lee pot days were hard work, but I gained a vast array of knowledge by starting out very small. The same thing I've been encouraging this young man to do the whole time. After all, the most I've said about this business venture is it's between him and his friends and maybe some neighbors. Who knows he could start the next Berkley. Let the young man dream and encourage his dreams to come true. bluetickhound, that's what I like to hear. Positive comments.

If the kid's really sharp he'll go to trade school, learn how to run a CNC nachine and make a mint off of dopes like me who are willing to spend a ton of $$$$ on molds!!

i never took offense to your 1st quoted statement.You just assumed i was and to assume makes an a$$ out of you and me! Please get off your stubborn horse and carefully read exactly what i have written in this entire thread.I gave him specific advice based upon 37 years in my own business. Give the 15 year old prudent advice. Who's buying the equipment for him, explaning the caveats while showing him how to make soft-baits safely? Oh wait a minute- a small Lee pot and some hand pour molds from Lurecraft and he's good to go-P-L-E-A-S-E! A small ,soft-plastics business is much more financially involved then $2-$400.00.( add a 0 in front of the decimel point) He should be studying hard and applying himself in school. Futhermore, just how is supposed to turn a profit while attending high school? It's a shame he doesn't live in S.E.Pa. I'd offer him a summer job and let him get a real taste of a small tackle business.Most 15 year olds don't have excess $ to throw around. Some O.J.T. would ceratinly give hime the opportunity to make some money and gain hands on experience before foolisly spends hard earned money on equipment ,molds and plastic.

Tracing works.... but you'll need to alter the trace to account for the "width" added for the pencil/pen point. What I've done is similar - but digital.... I lay them nice and flat on a scanner and scan them digitally. Once I have a hi-res scan - I can scale the image as necessary (rarely need to) and trace it in a program like Adobe Illustrator. The beauty of Adobe illustrator is you can export .DXF files... which are usable by most CAD/CAM platforms. If you go this route... my suggestion is to not "trace" the actual hook.... but draw a line as close to dead center as you can and then increase the lines width (stroke) until it's the same as the hook to verify you're dead center / right on. This line can then be used as a tool path to simply cut a slot/path for the hook to sit in. I hope this makes sense.... and while Illustrator isn't cheap you don't need the latest version to do this.... you can probably buy Illustrator 8/9/10 which are a good 6-7 years old off ebay for a couple bucks and be off and running. If you go this route - LMK... I can try to do a quick step by step and post a pic or two up if you like. Also.... I found out that most online catalogs in downloadable PDF format provide actual line work of the hooks. For example... I downloaded the PDF version of the gamakatsu catalog - opened page XX in illustrator (you can open PDF files in illustrator) and BOOM.... what ever hooks are on that page - I now have actual line work for. This doesn't work for everything - as they need to be "vector" linework and not images like JPEG's. I found a few of the hooks weren't perfectly to scale - but with an adjustment or two and verifying with a caliper and a hook I was off and running and didn't even need to scan anything. J.

X2 Good pens. Only problem I have encountered is handling the baits while installing bills and topcoats. Often, i will have alcohol residue on fingers and this handling of bait in this area will sometimes smear the signature. All good though, what better signature than the fingerprint of the maker. Personal touch indeed.

No, I've used d2t, etex, dn, and never had an issue with it. The pen I users from hobby lobby