jigmeister

Of course the dog was excited about the action of the lure must have been a .................Rat Terrier

Thanks for the "heads up" on the sale . I bought a couple of molds yesterday I had been wanting for awhile . 25% off and shipping was free too !

I got some of the "Super plastic" Calhoun's was selling and it is a different animal from regular plastisol. You cant heat it in a microwave it has to be directly heated in a pan on a burner and is very tempermental regarding pouring temperature (too hot and it hardens and too cold and it is filled with globs) . You can only use powdered colorants no liquid worm colors. You cant reheat it once cooked either. For most people pouring their own baits its just too much trouble lacking the specialized equipment required

Yes it is possible to make a hand pour ribbon tail worm though I don't think you can hand pour any worms tail as thin as an injected worms tail. I made a "Culprit " style worm mold out of polyester casting resin a few years back and it worked out pretty good . I made up a little triangle shaped piece of plastic cut from another worms ribbon tail so the thickness would match . I glued this down along with the worm I was copying bridging the body of the worm to the end of the curled up ribbon tail. Heating the plastic up good to thin it out gave the best results . Pour from the head of the worm towards the tail but with this mold you pour around the tail in a circle and and stop pouring where the tail connects to the body . (due to the triangle shaped connector you made the plastic will equalize between the tail and body of the worm resulting in a thinner tail ) Once cooled you just trim off the little triangle connector . You can also slightly raise up the tail end of the mold with a thin piece of wood , cardboard , etc. and this helps make the tail thinner as the hot plastic want to flow down hill towards the head end . OK hope this helps

I have been working on a molded prototype topwater bait using "Quick Cast" polyurathane2 part casting resin and adding micro-spheres to make the bait float . I need the maximum buoyantcy possible but was wondering if adding to much of the micro-spheres to the resin will weaken the finished bait . Anybody know what mix ratio is acceptable without compromising structural strength? I remember reading here about another 2-part casting resin that made a floating bait without adding any micro spheres but dont recall the name. Thanks-Ken

I would drill into the mold and place short piece(s) of stainless steel wire (such as a piece of spinnerbait arm wire ) into the mold to suspend the ballast weight in the proper location. Drill a small hole in the ballast weight the size of the wire and place it on the wire end sticking up in the mold . just pour in the resin and after setting you can demold your new bait . Now pull out the wire stub out of the bottom (or side) of the bait and patch the small hole that remains. You'll have to determine the best location for placement of this wire pin but maybe an "L" shaped wire at the parting line would be best with a two piece mold? Good luck -Ken

thanks for all the responses guys . I bought maybe 10 baits 9 or 10 years ago .I discovering just about half the baits would "hunt " on retrieve. They were/are fragile but when you get a good one its a fish catching machine! I guess I'll be forced to sand down and repaint some of the good running ones with factory paint jobs the fish don't seem to care for .......

Anybody know if these baits are still in production? I tried going on their website but the various pages would not open . thanks , Ken

I printed an old thread posted here about heating/bending hooks a while back . It was pretty detailed explaining about heating then cooling the hooks to remove the temper, then bending into a different shape , and then heating the hook followed by quelching to retemper the steel . It seems to me one could heat the hook only in the area requiring bending and then immediately quelch to re-temper the bent area and omit the middle step . Any one have experience with hook bending that could explain why this will or won't work.......Jigmeister

As stated by other responses the straight alignment of the wire with the head is critical . Make sure your swivel is turning freely also . I have had brand new ball bearing swivels out of the package hang up and not spin properly and cause problems. Opening up the wire (bending the blade arm up and away from the hook) will also stabilize a spinnerbait that wants to roll or lean to one side .........Jigmeister

I was wondering how much the swimming action varies between the long plastic bib and short bibs? Thanks

I am interested what size bait is this? 5" or 6" Thanks, Ken

Is the last 5" senko type mold still available? Thanks, Ken

OK -Thanks for the info ......................Jigmeister

I have made silicone molds using hard resin masters but was curious if you can use a plastic worm as a master or will the plastisol react with the silicone during curing?

I have had this happen with a couple of pours using black liquid color for smoke color baits that turned green . The first time with a medium consistancy plastic that turned green when exposed to sunlight all day and the second time was with salt water plastic during heating pouring . My smoke/ purple glitter baits turned into green /purple glitter. Anybody else had this experience? I am wondering if plastic colorant has a shelf life because I think it was a pretty old bottle of black . I suppose maybe the plastic may have been too hot as another possibility?

I just bought some of this and made a mold this morning . It is more expensive than their regular silicone but has some added benefits . It comes in two equal sized bottles and the mix ratio is 50:50 , curing time was as advertised 2 hours . It has very low viscosity and pours thin without trapping bubbles so no vibrating / vacuum required. Picks up detail very well and cures a transluscent clear color . The down side is that it is so thin it runs between the joints of the legos I made a form with . I taped the outside of the legos just in case but it did seep in between a lot of the bricks .

Why not cover slightly over half the cup (between the handle and spout ) with duct tape . fill the cup just over half with POP . Then put the cup on it's side with the handle and spout level . When dry the POP would fall out and you would have a half cup template

That would be a "Dyna Gone " by Garage craft A very expensive bait that seems to fall apart and fly off the hook when fighting sub-keeper sized bass

Most anglers have their own opinions and preferences regarding skirt materials and these are mine . 1) Hair was one of the first skirt materials and is generally considered best of use in very cold water. It will make a lure with a much slimmer ,minnow like profile . Tied to jighead with thread. 2) Latex was widely used in spinnerbaits skirts and some jigs years ago but is harder to find nowadays . It has similar characteristics to living rubber but would melt/rot when stored in contact some plastic baits. Slipped over jighead skirt collar 3) Living rubber make a bigger , bulkier profile with many legs that are moving when the lure it retrieved or twitched on the bottom . The older original (square cut) living rubber had "square strands" looking at the ends of the strand while the newer version has "round strands" The fine cut living rubber known as "frogs hair" is considered better for cold water situations . Can be tied to jighead with thread,wire, or skirt band 4) Plastisol is soft ,flexible ,and can be made in just about and color . Salt or scent is sometimes added to the plastic and fish tend to hold on these skirts the longest . The downside is they are least durable . Slips over jighead collar 5) Silicone skirts are the newest and come in virtually any color/glitter combination you can dream up.. It makes a large profile ,bulky bait such as the living rubber and the strands all float up off the bottom when the jig/lure is at rest on the bottom. Normally attached to jighead with skirt band but can be tied with thread also. OK hope this helps - Ken

I bought one of those in the late 70's and it was my first bait caster that wasn't an Ambassedeur . It was a pretty good caster but did have a problem with lighter lines getting between wrapped between the spool and frame just like you describe . I don't think there is much that can be done to correct this as it was due to the gap (tolerance) between the spool lip and reel frame . Another annoying qwirk with that reel was an Anti-reverse button that sat on top of the reel . Many times when setting the hook with a worm or jig I'd hit the button and the handle would start spinning backwards releasing line . I finally got tired of fighting that reel and sold it to someone who loved those reels .