Artificial All The Way

I made 2 presto pot set ups and they work great. But as others said I feel they are for large jobs. I have no need for a half gal of one color just yet since I don

Thanks Jim. I set up some hook pull out tests and you are on the money. Hook pulls out much easier. I just tried adding some fiberglass matting into the head area. Was able to lift 5 times the weight as without. Pretty cool results for a first try. Also found a few diff companies using non plastic and making what looks like plastic lures. Wondering if this new stuff "ElaZtech" can be heated and used by little guys. Jay

Sorry. I think I

First shot looks very nice Del. Second seems darker. Is that the same color diff plastic? Can you take this one as well? Does the softness of a plastic determine the hook pull out strength? Harder plastics are stronger or just stiffer? Looking to see if I can get a plastic stronger and softer then the LC 500. I have made some mixing diff plastic that seems to be stronger but I would rather just buy one plastic and not have to add or blend. Thanks

My son just started at Florida Southern College located on Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland. Fishing right outside his dorm. Now I just have to hope my last 2 leaving in the next 3 and then 5yrs go some place warm. I'm out of this frozen tax you to death state to become that drunken fisherman I have always wanted to be when I grew up.

Thanks again. I hear you on the teeth. we have thses little 15lb Blues here. One cast one plastic gone.

Gee thanks Jim. I HATE THE COLD!!!! Making up a package with new pole, reel, and loaded bag for my son in FL.In the 80's there as well. All his new friends want my lures. More freebies going. Costing me 40G's to have him live where I want to for school. What a crock that is. Man I need a time machine.

Thanks Jim. that lure looks very clear. Figures I haven't tried M-F yet. Guess I need to. Those Mans are solid noses. I've done that but it's a PIA to get them to stay centered when adding them in hot plastic. I double dip the heads in very hard plasticm after the lures cool for that same effect. Please chime in Del. Jay

Here's some of the colrs the Gold was tested against. These have all produced fish. Funny. I was just looking at some of the pics I took this past weekend. My buddy Doug all hooded up. It was 42 degrees in the morn. Same day we're in shorts in the 70's with bare feet. Right now as I look behind me the first ugly frozen flakes are falling in CT. Shoot me.

Thanks Jim. In your opinion does the softness of a plastic determine the hook pull out strength? Harder plastics are stronger or just stiffer?

I bounce some plastic off the bottom in 50 60 feet by adding lead. I do this in an open mold. I use pencil type weights and hold them suspended in the bait until it starts to set with thin wire hooks. When the bait starts to thicken and has a film I remove the wire hooks holding the weights and they stay suspended. I use 2 to 3 oz and can get down 60 feet in current. If I was going to make these in any numbers besides for my own use I would think up another faster less me involved method. It takes time but does work. Little tip. Most lures have the weights up front or in the bottom. I find a pencil weight in the tail makes for some kick bass action. Wags like a dogs and fish suck them up. Good luck and let us know what you come up with. Jay

Thank you very much guys. Lots of good info. And to clarify, not trying to clear up burnt plastic. Form my experience that is not possible. You can use it and it doesn

I check temps. Have even gone to far trying to see if it cooked out. Turned brownish tint.

This probably doesn’t matter to most but I like some lures to only have small amount of high light in them. So the clarity of the plastic matters to me in these lures. Question: What plastic stays the clearest after cooking/cooling? I’ve tried a few kinds of plastics in a few diff hardness levels. Some get a cloudy look and some get a tint. Thought it was maybe cooking to fast or to hot but that's not the case. The results are repeatable. Has anyone made colorless lures? What plastic did you find stayed the clearest? Thanks Jay

I’m mixing several colors together to come up with cool colors no one has, will be a PIA to copy, and fish must like. Wasting plastic like crazy making several similar colors waiting to see that next one that says I’m it. First it has to impress me and then if it doesn’t impress the fish I start again. I know most lures are made to catch fishermen and not fish. Pretty colors and packaging do not put fish on the hook. There is one reason and one reason only I make my own lures and that is to hook fish. Now after all the 7 color mixes I’ve played with I get my new Gold High Lite and Gold Flake from Bears along with some molds. They stood on my bench in front of me as I was thinking of what to try next. Was planning on casting for Stripers so big plastics are what I’m pouring. Figured I needed to know what the gold came out like so, half tsp high lite and a half a flake in 2 cups of plastic. That’s it. I never add the high lites or flakes prior to heating. Always after the plastic is up to temp. Picture doesn’t show the real color. You need to hold one and move it around to get the full effect. Obviously the fish liked it. Few shots of my testing them out. Def a keeper color that catches keepers (28” or more here in CT). White, pearl white, ice white, and a mix of any and all of the above have been producing trohpy fish results for me for years. This new gold has out fished all my go to colors each time out. If you are a Striper nut like me Merry Christmas. Use this color. It has caught more 40 inch plus stripers in the last 3 weeks than you could imagine. Lots of smaller fish as well but the big ones can't seem to leave this color alone. It took the only big fish caught with 12 of us fishing. Only my boat had this color. I gave some out after we killed them.

WOW! Thanks for waking me up in this boring meeting I

Couldn

I found the cookbook online recipes I

LOL Charda who? I have a full size beer fridge and several bottles of Tequila. Going to mix a batch tonight to check it out. Thanks.

Looks good. I'll have to try that. Husky I have made several molds with straight bondo body filler. I don't use anything as a release when making molds out of any material. Not for resin, bondo, puddy, or POP. All come out fine. No lures melt even when I added to much hardeners and the molds snapped in half. I couldn't touch them they were so hot but the lures were still good. I can see a shine on that mold. Surface texture looks good. Question. Do you mix the resin and bondo together before adding hardener or do you mix them with there hardeners then mix together?

He has a mold. What he' s asking is "is there any plalce to send the mold where they would produce the baits for him". I think:? I assume you're talking 1 sided molds for hand pouring. In which case I guess anyone could do them for you. If you want someone to inject baits the molds will need to be made for there equipment. You'll need to buy way more than 1000 to make that cost work.

Cool. didn't look that deep into them. What texture does it have when mixed? Pourable or still puddy like? I have made many molds out of each and even a couple with resin and bondo half and half on top of each other to test best surfaces. I don't get much shrinkage at all even with 12" lures. but I have had a few just snap in 2 when heating up to much during drying.

I use my pool with filter on and off to check in current. Clear enough to film if you want. Getting an under water cam for this soon. In the winter I use my boat and or a dock in the river. I'll hang several test lures off the dock or where ever at the same time to see best actions. i've had fish come up and hit my lures while testing. Thats proff positive the fish want them. My buddy has a tank. Can;t leave water in it or it stinks and turns green. PIA to store. Most times it's under 400 things in his garage. Last 2 times he tested was in my pool. Might be because my beer fridge is always full though.

I believe the question is