bassnfool

I use a floured salt (Super Salt). 1/3 cup of salt and 1/4 cup of softener to 1 cup of plastic. The rate of fall is great and the bait holds up quite well.

I'll be there and I'm going to drag my 21' Triton if anyone wants to try Truman or Lake of the Ozarks while we're there. Looking forward to it.

If you use worm oil or scent, you'll want to stay with a laminated barrier (worm proof) bag.

If it's made in the U.S., the company that manufacturers the item pays the tax, if it's imported, the importer pays it. Ie: if Wal-Mart buys a bait from a U.S. company, the U.S. company that made the bait pays the tax. If Wal-Mart imports a bait from outside the U.S., Wal-Mart pays the tax.

The rules for Federal Exise Tax on Sport fishing equipment can be found the instructions for Form 720, Part II. I'm sure that you'll find that the 10% exise tax is not added on to the selling amount, but taken from it. ie: you sell a bait for $10.00, you owe $1.00 in excise tax and have a gross profit of $9.00.

In September of 2006, my 2001 Evinrude 200HP Ficht broke a ring at 230 hours total time. Evinrude (Bombardier) had no problem telling me that even though the engine only had 230 hours on it the problem wouldn't be covered in any way. I had it fixed and a top overhaul for $2000.00. Needless to say that after having Evinrude outboards since 1988 I was little disappointed. I'm happy to tell everyone that my new boat is powered by a 225 Mercury Optimax.

Saint is on the right track. I pour almost all of my stick baits out of a pour pot and used to get a dent in the side of a bait occasionally. I cranked up the temperature from 325 to 350 and almost never have it happen anymore. Temperature increase was the only change.

In one cup of plastic I use 1/4 cup softener, 1/4 cup floured salt, 1 teaspoon Del's Black Grape, 20 drops of Del's Red and 20 drops of Del's Purple, then add 1 teaspoon of Green Flake from Ozark (it doesn't change color when hot). Good seller.

It's not used any more because of Fed Safety Regs and you want us to buy it????

Answer for Saints question, you can get regular or flourescent chartreuse, I happen to use regular. I add all of my colors prior to heating, just to keep the process consistant.

I use Del's chartreuse, 30 drops to 1 cup of plastic in my stick formula. Chartreuse Pepper is one of my more popular colors. I just shake it and add it to the plastic before heating it.

When using a microwave, I use a 1 cup Pyrex cup. Once in a while the handle gets quite hot, but not often, and it cools down rapidly. I've never felt that stabilizer was necessary. The only issue for hand protection is when the aluminum molds get very hot. Rather than continuing pouring, I just set them aside to cool and find other things to do, ie: trim baits, bag baits, etc.

I like to use silicone made by Smooth On. Releasing the masters is not a problem, and the silicone duplicates fine details that the others can't. A little on the expensive side, but the molds last and last.

Keep on pouring, you'll be suprised how easy it's going to get.

Time of year, type of lake, etc. makes a difference, but my basics are: Watermelon Seed Watermelon Red Pumpkin Seed Motor Oil-Black Flake Pearl White Green Pumpkin Black-Red Flake June Bug Root Beer-Green Flake Black-Blue Flake Keep in mind, although I'm always looking over my shoulder, I'm still waiting to see a camra boat.

Just use a standard twist drill bit for drilling in metal.

7/16 inch drill bit. 1/4 inch X 18 National Pipe Thread. 1/4 inch brass ball valve. They can all be pruchased at McMaster-Carr web site.

I use the Presto Pots for my pours. I use the pot along with a drill press with a paint mixer to keep the glitter, colorant, and salt mixed throughly. I have one pot for each color of glitter which makes it easier to keep from cross contamination when you change the baits color/glitter. Although the Presto has a six quart capacity, don't put in more than 2 quarts of plastic to keep from having a splatter mess. I also make a throw away cover out of cardboard to avoid the mess and getting splatterd with hot plastic. I normally pour around 500 Senko style baits at a time. If you want to modify a Presto pot, you'll need to drill a 7/16 inch hole on the BOTTOM at the outter edge to avoid damaging the heating element. Then use a 1/4 X 18 NPT tap to thread the hole. Install a 1/4 inch ball valve with a male end for the pot. You're ready to pour. If you're not in the modification mode, you can buy one already modified at Ozark Tackle. When pouring, you will probably have the valve clog when first starting. I use a metal rod to push through the valve to open it up. After that, the valve normally doesn't clog anymore. You'll find that you don't have to open the valve very much for the best pouring resluts.

I went to this guys website. It looks like a typical super slick scam artist to me. Lots of advertising-little information. Check it out for yourself, but I'm not wasting my time going back.

That's a very nice looking lure.

Now that's thinking outside the box. I bet the tail action is awsome compared to a regular tube.

I like it!!!!

One day I had an anti-fishing nut that wanted to start an argument and asked me if I knew that as many as 50% of the bass released died. I replied that I didn't have any scientific data to quote regarding the mortality rate of bass released while fishing, but I knew for a fact that if we didn't release them, all of them would die.

May all of you have a very merry Christmas, joyus holidays, and a great New year. May all of us need to cull when we're fishing.

I only use the Calhoun soft #2101 for the majority of my pours, and add softener when a very soft feel is desired. The soft is tough enough for most needs.