Kozak

Can you get in trouble for selling lures that are copies of ones already out there? Even if you give them a new name? I know my trickworm-style mold is exactly like that of Zoom's 6.25", but if you look, I believe NetBait also sells the exact same thing (slightly harder plastic with less salt)

There actually is a chance that a fish (especially bass & trout) will turn down an offering based on color. If what they're used to feeding on is bluegills and crawfish and you throw a neon red worm in front of their face, they may not hit it, but do the same with a pumpkin green and there's a better chance they'll devour it. "Match the hatch" as the fly-fishing saying goes, actually applies to a lot more than flicking little feathery hooks at trout. That being said, the colors I carry greatly depend on the lake I'm fishing because the types of forage can vary between bodies of water. I'm a bass angler so this mostly applies to LM and SM bass but for the most part, if fish are feeding heavily on threadfin shad and you throw an all black hollow belly swimbait, you'll catch fish, but throw a threadfin or sexy shad colored hollow belly and you'll catch more and bigger fish. The colors I carry depend more on what region of the US I'm fishing rather than just the color of the water. Northern lake: Yellow Perch color, Green Pumpkin, Watermelon, Green Pumpkin/Chartreuse tip, and dark blue will cover most lakes. IF there's a known herring population I may make some smoke/blue baits. Southern lakes: Green Pumpkin (red or blue flake), Junebug, Black (blue, red, or no flake), Scuppernong, and smoke/silver colors. Of course other colors will catch fish but so far these have been what I carry at all times. Only time I use anything neon/bright is for a worm tip or straight bright colors on floating worms in the Spring. I'm mainly a finesse angler so getting the most natural presentation possible is what I try to do. I've found that color CAN and DOES make a difference at times when bass fishing.

Same plastic here, I'll let you know if it was because of them sitting in water. I have some drying right now, will post tomorrow at some point.

a full week? Do they look different when they're "cured" after a week or something? I've had my stuff in bags after one night and they aren't mis-shapen after a month in the bags

thanks everyone, will give it a shot and yeah, there's no liquids allowed near my work area, I do my plastics in a side room off the side of my house and bring them into a different room to place in water...or at least that's what I've been doing but clearly something is wrong so I'll go waterless for tonight.

I had watched youtube video stating that plastics should be left in water overnight so they can set. Is this what everyone does? My last batch of plastics were in water for over 24 hours and came out slimy, I'm not sure if it's because of the water, the crayola coloring, or because of the silicone I used in my plastic molds (I'm mainly using the cheap durable ones from LC). My baits are not coming out shiny, but rather a bit waxy/greasy/slimy. RIGHT OUT OF THE MOLD, they look perfect and glossy. I let them sit in the mold about 5 minutes after pouring and then place straight into water. Help PLEASE thanks

Yours arent coming out greasy? Are you using crayola brand? I just went through a bunch of mine and they're very slimy/greasey

it doesnt change the action of the bait but it does make the texture a little greasy/waxy feeling, anyone have any problems with the fish not liking this? I feel like it might actually help as it feels more slimy like a real organism.

Kind of hard to see but you get the picture.

I'll post up some pics tonight, they're in water right now I just gotta trim em and package them. I also did a Green Apple Crayola (came out like a bright watermelon green) and tried a Tan Crayola (came out orange/tan, should be a good craw imitator)

Just wanted to thank everyone that contributed to this. I'm new to pouring and have only been at it for a month maybe. This crayon thing is one of THE COOLEST things I've ever seen. I tried it out today and WOW, talk about some awesome colors and endless possibilities. First one I tried was Crayola Violet Blue (looks like purple), I did 1/4 of the crayon in about 4 oz of plastic and added some red flake. the baits came out beautiful. I told my little brother he could pick out of a crayon and I'd make him baits for catching smallies on our vacation next week. He chose "Olive Green" thinking natural colors. I heated it up and it looked like straight poo. Had to add a little Watermelon Green Dye to make it standable. So if anyone is looking to do this, please stay away from Olive Green haha thanks again, yall are awesome

Hey everyone, Been pouring away and have a couple questions: 1) My silicone single side molds are retaining a brownish color after having about 100 baits in them, it seems almost like a oil residue as I can wipe a little bit of it away with a paper towel. Is this normal and will it effect my baits? and if so, what should I clean them with? 2) Some of my baits (mainly baits from silicone molds) are coming out a little "discolored". They're not so much the wrong color but are just not shiny and nice looking, does this have anything to do with the the previous question? I'm seeing this happen in about 4 of 20 worms. I think I had one more but I can't seem to remember it. Thanks for any responses

gaaaah too many cool molds, not enough money Daveh, did you ever get my email?

just a heads up, if you're going to be doing some 1 sided hand pours, pick a mold that creates a wide-ish bait, AKA something that isn't extreme finesse or for panfish. The pouring takes a little practice and the wide baits will let you get used to it without making a mess...I learnt the hard way. Started out trying to pour a 4.25" skinny finesse worm... I basically coated the entire mold in plastic

thanks for the advice yeah, I can deffinately see myself saving money on this while having fun doing it. I fish tournaments pretty consistently and if I'm not out pre-fishing, I'm out fun-fishing, always going through plastics. One of the aluminum molds I picked up replicates a Gary Yamamoto bait that I'm obsessed with and some of my buddies know how good they are. I poured A LOT of them today and they look exactly like them. I plan on selling some to my buddies for cheap and making a little cash back that way as well. Also, like you said, I'm trying to keep it simple, the only two piece mold I will EVER think about getting is a 5 1/4" senko. I've got about 4 finesse baits, 2 average worms, and 2 trailers.I'm fine with buying creature baits. As far as swimbaits go, I try and stay away from them because of their cost. I will buy hollow bellies but only when I know the bite is ON.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the help. Got my shipment in today from LC and started pouring after work. Made about 60-75 baits total in 3 colors. I'M ADDICTED and I only did it for about 2-3 hours. I used the scraps I had from switching colors at the end and mixed them in with a bit of plastisol and some cut up sluggo chunks and made a "trash" color, which turned out to be awesome. Pumpkin Green + Minnow Silver + Blue glitter + red glitter + black/gold sluggo + black/silver sluggo + chartreuse glitter = something similar to watermelon candy haha, crazy yet awesome. Also, the silicone/plastic molds pour a lot better than I expected them to. My only complaint is one of the finesse molds has 4 1/2" worms and they are WAAAAY too skinny. Not just because I'm lacking skills but like, I double I could thread one on a hook without ripping it in half. Oh well, I'm already searching for more silicone molds right now! Thanks again people Oh and I'm using 502 which is plenty soft. Bought a gal of 502 and a quart of 536 so I can make softer baits when needed. Also bought a pt of softner. 502 seems pretty standard by itself though, similar to what ZOOM uses on their baits I believe. Add a cap full of softner to 4oz and it gives the lure a little "bounce".

roger that, thanks for the clear up

Don't they also say NOT to use Anchor because they explode in the microwave?

thanks BBK The videos I've watched on youtube all seem to have a milky white looking plastisol? one of the guys was DEFINATELY using LC, he's the one that mentioned combining 502 and 556. I'm assuming after heating they all turn clear...

2 Pretty simple questions here. Tried searching for it in past posts but couldn't find any relevance. Just wondering if you can mix different types of plastics? Say I want to mix some LC 502 with some LC 536 so that I get an inbetween plastic? Also, isn't the 536 clear, which means it wouldn't get as good looking colors? Also, if I'm looking to add scent, I know I CANNOT use anything water-based, but what about scents that are oil-based? I have some CB's hawg sauce that I was thinking about trying... thanks guys

I've done a lot of reading and researching... supposedly you can get 6 6" straight tail (trickworm style) worms per oz of plastic. 128 oz per gallon = around 768 6" worms. I believe these are hand poured with 1 flat side (similar to the Zoom Trickworm). If this rings true then you could assume to possibly get around 1344 4 1/2" finesse worms per gallon (4 1/2" is 75% of 6", thus 768 X 1.75 = 1344)... also I saw somewhere that people are getting around 500-600 5 1/4" stick baits per gallon with the del inject mold (if you re melt the excess). Perhaps you are doing something wrong?

thanks everyone, I appreciate the responses did some calculations and looks like I will be spending around 160$ to start with (including a 20$ or cheaper microwave from craigslist). To me, that's a decent price seeing as how 1000 plastics should get me through the season and I'll be able to make some custom colors that I can't find in stores. I'm also pretty confident that I could sell off enough baits to at least break even to club members at my school. A lot of the guys fish primarily texas rigs and carolina rigs. If I end up getting setup, I'm sure I'll be back to share and learn and ask more questions. thanks again

nice. are your molds aluminum or silicone/plastic? I think my first order is going to just come from LC. I found 1 mold I really like on Bobstackle and 2 on Del-mart. My biggest thing is finding a used microwave on craigslist, then I'll place my order and get started!

haha I guess no one wants to answer us? I'm thinking of starting out with 2 silicone/plastic molds and 1-2 aluminum molds (pours not injected), a 1 gallon of 536 (maximum flex), 1 pt of hardner, 2 glitters, and maybe 4-6 colors I'd like to start out just by experimenting with some colors and stocking up on baits for myself. Eventually if I get the hang of it, I'll look to expand but at first I'm just looking to stock up for my upcoming tournament season. Thinking 6-7" Trickworm style bait, 4-5" Roboworm style bait, 3-4" Zipper Paddle tail bait, and either another finesse shad/worm or perhaps a jig trailer mold. let me know what you do Griver

Hey everyone, Thinking about starting to pour some of my own plastics. I have a few questions before I get too involved though. Hopefully some of you on here can answer these: 1) Is it cheaper overall to pour your own baits in the end, rather than buying them in a store? 2) Which type(material) of 1 piece mold is best to start out with? 3) About how much $$$ should I expect to spend to get started? I'm thinking on starting with 2-3 molds 4) If I'm pouring 3-6.5" worm-style baits, about how many baits can I expect from 1 gallon of plastic (or baits per oz) 5) I'm looking for a flexible soft plastic but not TOO soft so that it flings off the hook on every cast, is there any plastic perfect for this? The baits I'm thinking about pouring will be used for freshwater bass fishing. I'm mainly looking to pour finesse/dropshot baits, trickworm style worms, and jig trailers. Thanks for any help, Mark K