shrimpy

Frank, I started a few projects with jointed baits a long time ago but wasn’t really happy with the baits performance. I made something that locked like a Rapala Sliver wobbler with a Tomic shaped front/head to get a bait that would resemble a sand eel and. I glued the wire connection between the parts with CA glue and then coated the small area where the wires meet with some epoxy just to get some space in the mould. I cant really see any other limitations with the hot glue other than the size of the bait or part of the bait one can do I one go. I have mainly made sand eel like plugs and lip less wobblers with a length up to 4,5 inch and a diameter up to about 0,5 inch. And I have never had any problems with getting those amounts of glue into the mould. In the beginning when I started to cast with hot glue I was lucky enough to have an “industrial grade” glue gun that I had been give by a friend who used them at work. The gun was more or less in the end off its lifespan but for my normal purpose (fly tying) it was perfect because it had an adjustable temperature ranging from 285ºF-445ºF. When I started to use it for the casting the higher working temperatures really came to its right together with the high melting capacity per minute. After a year or so it throw in the towel and when I started to look around for a replacement I realised that the asking price for the one I had used was about $260 here in Sweden. That was a bit over the top for my budget at that time so I went for a high grade consumer gun that hade a working temperature of 403°F and an asking price of about $35. Since then, 11-12 years ago, I’ve go through a few these guns and the temp is okay but every know and then I miss the capacity of the first glue gun. If I would aim to make big baits I would certainly consider a pro gun that in North America probably don’t cost more than $150. One thing to bear in mind is that there are glue sticks and there are glue sticks. Many of the round ones I run into here are 11 or 12 millimetre. If a gun is made for 12 millimetre sticks you really shouldn’t try force an 11 millimetre stick into it as there is a big risk that the glue will be pressed backwards towards the feeding mechanism and then flood it and make a general mess and sooner or later stop then feeding of the glue stick. Also one should try to figure out which is the recommended working temperature of the glue stick. If this doesn’t match the glue gun one could be in for some trouble.

I have painted some of the glue lures over d the years with spray paint and it has stayed on very well, but then I not fishing with this lures for especially toothy fish (sea run brown trout). But once I started with the hot glue I quickly figured out that for my purpose the best solution was to melt the colour in to the lures during the casting itself. I do this by putting projector pens or Sharpies inside a thing called Blow Pen that is like a mouth driven airbrush made for kids. With the Blow Pen its possible to coat the inside of the mould with the amount a colour need. Once the colour in place, I sometimes spread some pearl flecks inside the mould before, I put in the wire harness and close the mould. I inject the hot glue and after a couple of minutes I have almost an ready bait with colours and maybe some flecks melted into the surface. All it needs is some trimming with and it’s a quick job with a gas burner to get a smooth finish. Some stick on eyes, split rings and it s done. If you want more solid colours, there are lots and lots of opaque and translucent hot glue sticks in different colours on the market. Some are even glow in the dark, some are fluorescent and some contains different amounts of glitter flecks. I have made some with opaque fluorescent lime green glue, pearl flecks and an airbrushed-in-the-mould black back that came out really nice. The lure on the picture is just plain hot glue and an airbrushed-in-the-mould green back made for clear water conditions on the coast.

This might be a bit misplaced. I have made some casting of baits with polyester inside a RTV mould. It was a bit to mess and smelly for me. Furthermore the baits cracked as soon the hit a rock. So I started to cast them out of hot glue with a glue gun. The positive side is that its quick to work with, no nasty smells and clean. The baits becomes extremely durable and hot glue floats so it’s only a question of how much weight that is needed to get the baits swim right. The down side is that there is a limit of how big parts or baits one can do. It’s a bit like casting lead, with bigger baits a preheated mould makes things a lot easier. Also one should use a glue gun with highest possible working temperature and capacity. A 20°C change, up or down, of working temperature of the glue that’s comes out of the gun can make a huge deferens when making a bit bigger baits with lots of metal inside the mould. Regards, Robin