KelpKritter

Got a batch of Solarez to see how it holds up to SoCal saltwater gamefish. Started by making a simple drying rack to set in the sun. Applied the Solarez to the first swimbait by dipping and hanging to drip with a few rotations for about five minutes and then set outside. The bait had a slight pooling on one edge even though it was not noticeable prior to curing. The second bait I brushed and although it appeared to have some minor visible brush strokes they were not evident once cured. Brushing was actually quicker and cleaner overall than dipping. Once out in the sun they were set up in a few minutes, overall a very quick and clean process. Now the big question will be durability. Every top coat that I have used that was hard enough to withstand the fish has had a problem with chipping and subsequent peeling at the edge where the segments clack together. We will see how the Solarez holds up next weekend when they hit the water. One additional note. There was a slight bit of the fisheye effect on one section of the bait. It was only over a portion with the same color on each bait. The paint itself did not lay down well during painting so I think it was somehow contaminated and this may be the reason behind the issue. So far so good!

It has been a while since I have undertaken any new baits but I am now in the process of re-tooling a bait to give it a more realistic look. In order to give the bait a realistic scale look I am wondering if I could affix some form of netting that suits my desired look to the master before pouring the RTV. Will the bait will still release from the RTV when it cures without tearing or have any other adverse effects on the newly created mold. Anyone ever try this? Thanks in advance,

I have been away from building for a while now, if for nothing else, my inability to find a clear that would hold up to the environment that I fish. My baits are used to chase west coast saltwater bass and are thrown in some nasty neighborhoods. I have used DN, Etec, D2T, and others but invariably have failures. After reading this thread it got me thinking that the bond between the lure body, a resin from JGreer, and the paint may be part of the problem along with the fact that epoxy based products seem to be to brittle and ultimately crack and peel from the bait. So I did a few internet searches and some experiments over the weekend. Please chime in if you have tried any and can add pros, cons, or other relevent info. First, I painted the molds in a color scheme I would normally work with and then cast the bait. Surprisingly, at least to me, the resin picked up every bit of paint from the mold and looked great. It was superior in scratch resistance to a post cure painted bait with no clear coat. However, after dipping in water the paint was weaker and although it could not be completely removed it was dulled significantly. This method would definately need a clear coat but showed some promise. Second, since I did not have any casting powders available I tried dusting the mold with Pro-Tec powder paint to get an idea of how it might work. Although it did not pick up the full color it did look fairly good and the "paint" was scratch resistant and did not get affected by submersion in water. My first conclusion and initial thought is to give some casting powders a try like those seen at Alumilite. Has anyone used these and have feedback. Second, it would appear that a chemical bond is occuring with the resin curing in a pre-painted mold. Has anyone tried to primer paint the inside of the mold to see if the final paint has better adhesion. As for me and my fishing buddies, we all know that the right bait has more to do with action than the paint, but it is hard to sell unpainted lures to fishermen. I have baits in my box that have no paint left that catch fish as good or better than ones straight from the paint booth. I would like to have some more confidence that a few toothy critters of a couple of casts off the boiler rocks are not going to leave my baits with cracked finishes in both the paint and clear coat. Dave B.

Bob, Thanks for the link, that is what I was looking for. My thought was to email and call in conjunction and hope he is his able to ship fairly quick. Dave

It has been about six months since I have built anything and am now in need of a new batch of Dick Nite's top coat as I start building again. I am trying to remember the process to order from him and get the reduced pricing for TU members. Any help would be appreciated. Also, does anyone know how his turnaround time has been lately? Thanks in advance, Dave

Mark, Congrats on the big fish award and on one of your baits to boot. I know exactly how you feel. Same thing happened to me earlier this year in one of our SWBA events, although not on one of my baits. DaveB. Kelpkritter

The fish in the video are Calico Bass, a saltwater bass found on the west coast.

I was finally able to get some good underwater footage of my KelpKritter swimbaits with the help of a good friend who was willing to jump in the water at Catalina Island on the West Coast in the middle of November. The area we were filming in, as well as the type of water we fish, has a ton of current so some of the shots look like the bait is falling over on its side as it sinks. This is not a trait of the bait but rather the conditions it is being fished in. In still water the bait swims levels, sinks level and can be slow rolled or burned on the surface without rolling over on its side. The still shots in the video are of calico bass, a gamefish on the west coast saltwater scene. A fish over ten pounds is considered a fish of lifetime, these are all fish in the 7-8 pound range which is considered an exceptional grade of fish. Enjoy and please let me know what you think. DaveB. KelpKritter

I have ordered twice directly from the boys at wolverine tackle and I am just a home builder. Great product, you will not be disappointed. DaveB. KelpKritter

I am applying two coats of DN to my jointed baits, but I am having some issues with wrinkling after applying the second coat. Smooth as can be with the first coat but varying degrees of wrinkles after the second dip. Any thoughts/suggestions. Using two dips because the baits target a little toothier fish. Thanks for the advise. DaveB. KelpKritter

Thanks for the insight everyone. It looks like I will start with the fire tiger and perch colors. I was leaning towards those to begin with because I know he uses the fire tiger a lot anyways and it seems like perch color is talked about a lot with regards to midwest fishermen. Looking forward to trying something new. DaveB. KelpKritter

I have a friend who now lives in Minnesota and likes to fish the pike with his young sons. I am going to be sending him some of my jointed swimbaits as a gift but have no idea what the pike prefer in bait colors since I am a SoCal boy. Any advice on some color schemes would be greatly appreciated by any pike fishermen out there. Thanks, DaveB. KelpKritter

[ Mix both well and keep mixed well during the process. I then add .300 oz of each part to a 3 oz cup. Mix well and pour slowly into mold. Pour in a very thin stream or resin may clog pour hole before you finish. Dust your mold with baby powder or similar and bang molds against each other to remove excess powder. Coley, Am I assuming correctly that you mix a larger batch for multiple baits? You mention mixing .300 oz. of each part in the smaller cup, is this the amount you are using for one bait. If not how big is the bait you are pouring that you need that large a volume of resin. Just trying to compare bait size. I use a total of 2 oz. of resin and 1.75 TBS of microballoons for a seven inch bait. When and why are you dusting the molds with the baby powder, never heard that one before. You can always learn something new. Thanks, DaveB. KelpKritter

Thanks for all of the insight everyone. A lot of good thoughts and things I will work on this week as I mold some new baits. I will do some more painting next weekend and will report what I find. Also changed to a different paint for the second coat on some baits today and it went on much better than the other paint was going on for the second coat. Could very well have been an issue with the paint although I believe some of it has to do with the time I was waiting before painting. Will report back on the results next week. Thanks again, DaveB. KelpKritter

Husky, Stirring thoroughly in disposable plastic cups with wooden craft sticks. I am not currently using any type of mold release. Are you thinking something in the mold release may cause this or lack of a mold release may cause the problem.

KcDano, I do not believe it is detergent residue as it has done the same thing without washing the baits. Phil B, I have not tried wiping down with Denatured Alcohol would be worth a try and the paint goes on in light passes and immediately starts wicking away. Mark P. The basecoat is going on the naked bait and wicking immediately prior to even getting into the real painting. I always heat set between coats. Vodkaman, All of the methods involved in the "prep work" were aquired at some point from this forum by those who seem to have success with them, I just put them all together. The baits are fully cooled before attempting any painting. The resin is a two-part urethane. As a point of interest and possible help I used the same process today on a few baits but also grabbed some defected baits that have been sitting around for a few weeks and painted them as well. The paint went on just fine with the baits that had been sitting around for a while. Could it be an issue of the baits still de-gassing? My recollection of the reason for baking the baits was to speed up that process. Back to the search function but help is still appreciated. I will see what I can do about a picture.

I have been using white enamel from the spray cans for a basecoat on my molded resin baits and am getting a dimpled finish as if something is repelling the paint away from the lure. The paint adheres fine where it settles but if is obvious something is not right. Before painting I finish sand, bake in the oven for up to 24 hours at 200 degrees, wash in the dishwasher, and only handle with gloves from this point on. Any thoughts or advise on the painting process with molded baits. Thanks in advance. DaveB. KelpKritter

I tried a sample of Dick Nites this past summer and really liked the results. Tried the SC-9000 from target coatings and liked the results but it appears to not have the qualities to withstand the fish I pursue. So I went ahead and ordered a pint of DN to try and work out the kinks in the storage between working with different batches of baits. I understand many like the use of Bloxygen to help retard the curing of the product in the can. I plan on dipping and my question is this; "If I dip and use the Bloxygen is it O.K. to drip back into the container or is this still a no-no?" Thanks for the advice, DaveB. KelpKritter

Just about ready to fully assemble my new molded baits after some experimenting and trial and error I am getting close. As part of the learning curve I tried priming a couple pieces of the molded baits and ran into a problem. The first piece I tested the primer on had been demolded for about 48 hours and when I shot the primer, Krylon Fusion for plastics, it left a lot of fish eyes like something was wicking the paint away in small spots. I went back and did a few searches and proceeded to bake the next piece for about 8 hours in the oven after it had been out of the mold for nearly a week. The fish eyes were not as bad but still a few showed up. Do I need to bake the bait longer or let it sit longer before painting. Any thoughts? I am looking forward to showing off the finished product and giving some feedback about the process but I am not quite there yet. Thanks again, DaveB. KelpKritter

Frank, To better describe the sinking action imagine a falling leaf. As it falls it flutters back and forth in a vertical position. That is basically what the bait is doing now. It is not moving forward and to the right or left but it is just fluttering back and forth. Mark, I may just go that route. My hope was to eliminate some ballast because of the fact that the resin was going to sink already as it was cast. It would simply be a matter of perfecting the weights to get the right sink rate. I have created a mold that makes 1/8-3/16 oz. weights that are 1/8-1/4" thick so they sit in the absolute bottom of the bait, well below the centerline. The original PVC baits have 2 weights in the front section and one in each of the second and third sections. When I started weighting the new bait I started with one in the head and one in the second section. The fall profile got closest to the original bait when I had all four weights in the same places as the master. DaveB. KelpKritter

Looks like I spoke a bit to soon. I tested the fully cast bait today with ballast and had a few issues. The minor issue is the bait jumps a little on certain retrieves. This is actually pretty cool as I think it adds a dimension to the realism of real fish when they are fleeing from a predator, but not sure if it is what the fisherman will want. The second more important problem is how the bait sinks. My previous PVC baits sank perfectly level in the position the joints were stopped at. It did not matter if the bait was flexed or straight. The new bait sinks belly down for the most part but, for lack of a better word, flutters as it sinks. It essentially sinks downwards with a slant to the right and then either stays in that position or kicks back and then sinks to the left. I like the sink rate and the swim action, but wonder if making the bait more bouyant with microballoons will help cure this problem. I still have plenty of room for more ballast to keep the sink rate the same. But I need to try and fix the way the bait sinks. Any suggestions? Thanks, DaveB. KelpKritter

Frank, Thanks for asking. Well it has taken me the last two weeks because of my schedule to produce the two molds and pour the four sections of the bait. The first swim test I did was with the first two sections molded attached to the back two sections of one of my previous PVC baits. The bait rolled on its side during the sink but swam great on the retrieve. I expected this because there was no ballast in the front two sections. I did this because I wanted to get an idea of how quickly the bait would sink without microballoons in the cast pieces and how it would swim with the density of the straight resin cast. I wanted to use this as somewhat of a guage to see if I needed any modifications to how I was going to ultimately cast the baits. I was happy with the results and I proceeded to make the second mold and have cast a whole bait but have yet to be able to test it. Because the baits are used primarily in salt water I am confident that after I swim test the completed bait it will need about half the weight of my current PVC baits and still do everything the current baits do, but still maintain the same sink rate. I am confident the action will not change either because, although I do not make a slower sinking bait, I have used this same configuration in testing the previous model and it swam exactly the same but as a floater. I wanted to be able to make this bait without microballoons if possible and it appears I will be able to do so. Saturday I will put the finished, i.e. weighted bait, in the pool and see exactly how much weight I will need. The molds are ugly as sin, but the castings have come out clean as can be. I now have the ability to make about 5-6 baits in the same time it took me to make one hand shaping everything. Still very satisfying when you build something and see guys whacking nice fish on your creations. DaveB. KelpKritter

Thanks for the words of advice/encouragement. The first time around I will make two piece molds, primarily because I cannot see any way of casting the hardware into the bait with a one piece mold. I am leaning towards placing two pieces into two seperate molds to make the four pieces of the bait. I will definately post pictures when I am finished with all of the parts of the process to hopefully help someone in the future. I am not afraid to take the plunge into learning new techniques, but this one seems like it could be costly with the price of RTV if I make a lot of blunders during the learning curve DaveB. KelpKritter

Well I made my first order of RTV and Casting Resin from JGreer mostly because it was local and I saved the difference in shipping over the Dascar products. I have been looking very intently at the recent posts about resin casting and did a lot of reading through old posts and exchanged a few PM's with a prominent poster of moldmaking topics to get as much help as possible. I am confident but a little leary going into my first moldmaking adventure. I will be molding a four piece swimbait whose biggest piece is 2.25" long x 1.75" tall x .75" thick. The only real detail is the eye depression for the 3D recessed eye and the cutouts at the front of the final three sections that make up the hinge openings where the screw eyes sit. Just looking for any last minute advice/encouragement as I delve into this new way of making my baits. Thanks for all of the great advice here on TU. DaveB. KelpKritter

I am in the same boat. I have been trying to do as much research as possible over the past few days. I have been looking at AeroMarine (jgreer.com) and Dascar (dascarplastics.com) resins and both seem very similar. The gentleman at Jgreer told me they test their resin by molding into ice cube size blocks and bang on them with a hammer against the concrete and see no damage. Would love to hear some feedback as well as I know only what I have read here about molding baits and the materials. The more information the better as it will help in my final decision on product and hopefully make the learning curve a little easier. I hope to purchase material by the middle of the week. DaveB. KelpKritter