GB GONE

Thanks for the personal story!!! Being right or wrong sometimes doesn't matter. Just matters who has the largest bank account (and who you know)!!!!! Jim

Brian: Zoom goes throught the same spurts. I have heard through the grapevine Zoom might be making a move towards a hand injection bait that we have seen come out in the past few months. Design patent deal I hear. Anyway, respond with a NICE letter and state you no longer will use the name. End of story... Zoom goes after guys for the Trick Worm name quite frequently as well. They have the trademark so you have to go with the flow or risk a suit. I think most of us can't afford to go to court and fight one of these letters anyway, even if we thought we were not infringing!!! Jim

Be sure if you weight the bait that the weight is centered. If not, your bait may not swim but roll, especially if you let it go deep. This style of bait will come up to the top of the water column quick due to the tail and the side fins. Instead of trying to add weight in the bait, try a tungsten weight on your line in front of the bait. I peg mine with a bobber stopper. It will keep the bait down good, still allow that slow roll retrieve and keep the vegitation and other obstacles off the nose of your bait. Just another option to consider.... Jim

I have a few that do not fit as well (I have Del's injector) and some hand poured molds I wanted to inject safely. I took Dave's (Vodkaman's) idea and used it. Make a small adapter for your molds out of rtv. Simple to do, cheap to make and you can make any size you need... Just a thought if you are squeamish about drilling them out or if you want to sell the mold later on and do not want to alter the original mold. Jim

All that being said, I just finished a $3,000 order and have $1,000 order in the wing. Talked with a few other guys in the "hobby" and they are getting bigger orders as well! The business is there if you hustle after it. Just heed the advice you are getting, do your homework and expect set backs along the way... Jim

My first question before any of all of this mentioned would be, "What is a decent income?"... I have been hand pouring for several years now and turn down jobs/orders weekly as my "real" job pays the bills. If you can do quaility work, you can get paid and paid well. Make it simple though... Figure out what a "decent income" is and then figure out how many bags of baits you have to sell to get there. For example... If $30,000 is decent to you then you need to sell "X" bags of baits at $3.00/bag. Check out the costs of the molds, plastic, web site, marketing, bags, etc. With this simple example, you would need to pour and sell over 200 bags of hand poured baits (or 2,000 baits a week if there are 10 per bag) a week just to GROSS around $30,000. Take out your expenses and you are talking closer to 300/week. Not hard for anyone that hand pours to tell you "GOOD LUCK" with that plan. Anything is possible but odds are not in your favor as mentioned, the competition is tough, and it does take a little while to build up your client base as well. Just my thoughts..... Jim

Fishingbuds.... Send me your address and I will send you a baby e to check out. I have the mold from Bob and the inserts he sells. I am sure I have a few laying around OR I can dig out my molds and pour you a couple up. Jim PS.. I have the smaller mold, the 3 3/4" version.

Thanks for this replies!!! I guess it has been a LOT longer than I thought Del! Jim

Curious if you have tried any laminates yet Stephen? Swirls are not to tough but laminates seem out of reach unless you use a 1 cavity mold when injecting. Thanks for the info! Jim

Can anyone find that old topic or have info on wholesale manufacturers of sticks? I have gone back for 2 years through all the posts and tried every search I can. Any help appreciated!! Jim

Matt: I did a lot of homework and then just started pouring. Trial and error taught me most things and then Chris from Al's Worms motivated me to take things further! Study and ask questions! The learning curve is MUCH shorter now! Jim

That is why those type of baits are big $$$ TDawg. Not a lot of info going to be shared on them! I can help you with the hollow belly types but that is it! Jim

I have a pot and use the microwave as well. I only use my pot when I have a high volume run to do (ie 100's of frogs or sticks), otherwise I do not use it. Most of my requests are for custom colors/pours so the microwave is perfect for a few bags of a custom color or packs of a custom swim bait. The pot works great if you have the molds to support it. Tough to run a pot of plastic with limited cavities as it will take just as long as doing it in the mic with all the de-molding. Jim

Ditto to Dave's comment. Anyway you do it, you will be ahead of the store bought bait. I have been playing around with my newest injector and molds quite a bit. I have a pot with stirrer, an injector + injection molds and I have hand poured molds. No automated injector like Mike though..... I'll have to say that no matter what method you use, it always comes back to the number of molds you have. The only small advantage that hand pour may afford is an easier laminate method (providing you use a split cup and not open the mold). If you are not considering laminte sticks then that advantage is gone. Certainly lamnites might be acheived with a hand injection system however, in my opinion, the reproducibility of the laminate will not be that of hand pouring with a split cup. In the long run, even though you hand inject at a slightly lower temp, the molds heat up quicker as you run your first few runs faster than hand pouring so you end up waiting longer to de-mold after a short time. Actual production of the baits is faster with the hand injector though but de-mold and cooling brings the hand pour and hand inject right back to about the same end time. Pot is the same way. More molds is the only solution to making more baits faster. Once proficeint as usuing any of the above techiniques, the % of acceptable baits is equivalent as well. The last issue would be cost and you can figure that easily by reviewing all the sites that offer the various equipment. Remember to look ebay over as well. Hand pour stick molds can be had for a bargain at times. Plaster of paris, resin, rtv, etc molds can be considered as well to significantly reduce starting costs for hand pouring, pot usage or hand injecting. Jim

I can't remember who offered this up years ago but I know it works good. Cut a dryer sheet in a strip to go in your lure. It can be as wide as the bait and as long as the bait or just up in the front of the bait. Works GREAT and is CHEAP!!!! Jim

I have tried this with a few colors and found certain colors will fade (BLUE) and change. If you add the pre-cooked to some newly cooked plastic, it works great... Other issue is moisture. If the pre-cooked isn't stored in laminate bags, you will get moisture and BUBBLES... At least down here in the south you will.... I was not sold on it being any quicker or easier so discontinued the practice. Jim

Can't speak for Del personally but I guess he did it just like other companies do (wife can tell you about BOGO at Payless shoes!!!), to drive customers to his site. They buy some molds and, oh yeah, glitter, plastic, etc. This is a marketing technique that a lot of companies use. They might loose a little on the item but definitely make it up on other items purchased. I don't think it has anything to do with pricing or mark-up. Just my thoughts... Jim

Chris is WAY to modest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have seen pics of a few stackable molds. Interesting!!! Jim

Mike: Those folks are lucky to have such a great and knowledgable teacher!!!! On the baits, they are all completely hand poured. Rather than hijack the thread completely, check out this link to all the new colors I am doing. Everything done by hand pour so far. http://www.ghostbaits.com/newcolors.htm Been a blast! Even did a Sexy Chart craw color tht recently sold on ebay for $11.80 per 8 pack... WOW!!! I have gotten more sugesstions from customers recently so back to the shop to work on some new things.... Jim