BigZ

I buy Morton Pickling Salt and run it through my bar blender until it is pretty powdery. I think 4lbs was $1.29 at the grocery store. You have to run about 50% salt in your baits to start getting the milky effect going. I guess Iodide really whitens the salt.

I have to concede with Chris (AL) about Frank's (SAM's) glitter. I have the holo .008, the string, the .090 and probably some other stuff. I have had nothing but positive results with his stuff, and you can't touch the price or the service. Great stuff! I have used LC, 4 or 5 different craft store glitters, and the only one that favorably compares to Sam's is the actual polycril brand stuff, but it's about 3 bucks an oz and the colors aren't what we would normally use... I have to admit that I do like going to the craft store and buying glitter just to flirt with the chicks that work there...

It makes me happy to hear that the slither is boating fish for you Jim! I'll have to try that pegged rig here! Satisfaction is knowing that your designs work, and win! OK, I'll admit it, I'm smiling now!

I was just wondering what everyone's favorite colors were for wintertime. I'd like to add a little more variety and productivity to the arsenal for the cold months. We all know this is when the biggest fish are caught, a few new weapons in the war would be cool! Let's say five favorite colors? Mine are: 1: Green Pumpkin Pepper 2: Junebug/Blue laminate 3: Black w/ blue tail (Old School!) 4: Reverse Weenie (moss green w/ black flake over dark brown) 5: Chocolate and Blue Neon laminate Thanks for contributing!!!

You can get a good swirl pour in a single sided mold by pouring at the same time, but I don't think you can do it in an enclosed cavity without injection molding. I end up with a mess when I try it.

I always add it before I pour. You need to mix while you are pouring or you will end up with leftover highlight at the bottom of the cup and inconsistent mix in your baits, ie... the baits you pour last out of the batch will have more highlight.

I think lurecraft has one very similar to it, but I couldn't tell you the part number off the top of my head. Good Lcuk.

Clem, if you are pouring in a 2 piece mold, with more than one color, you want to have your plastic as HOT as possible. I use an IR thermometer to check my plastic and especially in 2 piece molds you want it as hot as possible without scorching. I run about 335-360 on the temp. Any lesser temp and you end up with streaks and voids in the bait. Salt content also causes baits to cool faster. Run your plastic about 340 and you will end up with happy results. Cooler plastic, especially in a closed cavity mold, wil give you aggravating results and an inconsistent surface finish. Good Luck. Z

I sat down and calculated how much it cost per bait a while back and I was right around 8.5 cents each. This was for regular 4" baits. the cost will go up in proportion to the amount of plastic you use, highlight, glitter, scent, salt, etc...etc... I think the most detrimental aspect of pouring baits is the amount of time it takes to pour,package and post everything. Once you factor in the time it takes to complete every aspect of the process, the profit is marginal. I think I'll stick to designing baits and fishing them instead of commercially endeavoring to sell them. I really only pour for myself and a few friends and a couple tournament guys. I just like making molds and catching fish on the designs. If I could make more $ than I do now (technical consultant) doing worm stuff, I would quit the computer stuff right now!

If I got caught "wearing" glitter, I'd be accused of going to one of our finer topless establishments faster than I could blink.

After getting sick of cleaning up different colors of glitter tonight, I decided that I would mix the glitter combos together in a container to make my life easier. For example, I make a lot of smoke worms that have black, green and holo string in them. I mixed them as follows. 3 parts .040 black glitter 1 part green glitter 1 part holo string glitter Next time I pour the nice smoke worm that gets this glitter, I won't end up chasing sparkly particles all over the counter. I used an old LC glitter bottle to keep the mix in. Hopefully the lesson I learned will help some of you guys experience less grief cleaning up after the worm mess. If someone has a good idea about cleaning up those pesky "spill dots" it woud be appreciated. Shop Vac just isn't neighbor friendly! Doesn't pick up glitter well either!

An easy way to avoid bubbles is to use a piece of plastic wrap under the lid of your one gallon jugs. Moisture condensation is from atmospheric pressure equalization into the container. I had one gallon out of five of calhoun get bubbles in it, it was the one I didn't seal after I dumped the plastic into gallons. The regular lids don't have a tight enough seal. Once you open the fiver make sure you put it all in seperate, DRY, manageable containers right away. Once you unseal that bucket you are asking for moisture to gather in it. Hope this helps.Z

Civic, unless you get the larger pot, you have to mess with the pots a bit to get them to work with 2 piece molds. on the smaller pro pots, you have to turn the base around and raise the pot up on something to get the mold under the spout. Salt content is also an issue when you are using the pots as they are likely to clog up when you are using a ton of salt. They can be more of a pain than they are worth. The hardest part for me is keeping the temperature regulated. Use the TU search function at the top of the page and punch in "lee pot" I am sure you find a ton of info as these have been discussed quite a bit. The pots are great if you are pouring regular single part molds and you have to do a bunch of a single color.

Congratulations Jerry! Thanks for bringing another fisherman into the world!

Green Pumpkin w/ black flake, Watermelon Pepper, and Smoke hologram w/ black flake. I only sell to a couple guys, I don't really have time to pour quantity. Smoky Blue Shad has been a killer lately. I had to pour 200 of those in 4" senko the other day.

I use a guitar string to knock the solids loose off the bottom of the bottles of color if there is a bunch of stuff settled on the bottom. Seems to help.

Gotta love the watermelon green flake! Haven't tried the marigold stuff yet....Hooray for Bass Thumb!

Never thought of rigging it sideways. I fish it on a 3/8 c-rig/mojo rig , 12lb vanish leader, 3-4 feet long and do pretty well. I use kind of a twitchy retrieve. I am using owner 2/0 EWG rigged normally. If you pour the tail a little fat, it will float more. I've been dropshotting the 6" version as well with success. Must be nice to be bored at work and fishing a lot GBN!!!

OK here are some new prototypes I just got the molds for today. I HAD to pour some. I was surprized how easy the eightlegger was to pour! Very Happy. I don't know when these will be ready, I have to test them first. The straight worm works well, I know that already, the other just got done. Let me know what you guys think : . I might do the test sample thing again but not for a while, my schedule is hellish right now. Gonna go down to AZ this weekend and tinker with mold stuff with Bob and fish...of course. Zack.

Sam, M-F has a ton of colors. Great service too. Their website is located at: http://www.fishingworld.com/M-F-Manufacturing/Default.tmpl?Cart=109760118315677518I agree with mojo, the Changeable motoroil kicks some serious ass.

I think it's just a bad bottle or something. It looks dark in the bottle but the results are screwy. I just love shaking those little MF bottles up a whole bunch. I see exactly where they get their initials from when you open the bottle after shaking it a bunch. Since I have a huge bottle of Watermelon Brown, maybe I'll mix it with that and see what kind of sludge I come up with. :idea: :

Al, I tried using even 3 drops per oz of plastic and it's pale pink still. I must have gotten a bunk bottle of it or something? No brownish color at all to it. Your craw looks like I thought the dye would look. I think I got it from Bass Pro, probably been sitting on the shelf for aeons.

Thanks guys, there's a ton of new baits on the way. I should have some molds for a new worm as of tomorrow. I posted a pic of them under this thread: http://tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3488&highlight=. I had a one cavity mold proto of it and it works pretty good. Tail floats hard, fish kill it.

I have to agree with Nova, the LC garlic is the strongest. Don't get it on you, it stinks forever

I finally got time off enough to go kick around and test the baby slither at Uvas Reservoir and Chesbro Reservoir today. Weather was awesome, about 70 at the most, and a little windy. I was catchin' fish on Rat-L-Traps and Slithers (drop shot and mojo rigged, 4" and 6"). They are really chowin' on the shad right now. All of the fish were tight to the bank in ambush mode for the most part. Water is HELLA low and I like it like that! This fish hit a baby slither on a 3/8 mojo rig (1/0) at least 4 or 5 times before I could stick him. Notice there is no tail on the worm anymore. First cast with the bait for today, I was happy. Smoky blue shad strikes again! 12"-15" fish were the rule of the day, and damn it felt good to get the waders on and go kick around in the float tube again. My legs are gonna kill tomorrow I bet.....LoL. Totalled out 11 fish at Uvas, 7 at Chesbro. Not a bad day. PS: It sucks taking pics from a float tube!