t-billy

I was making a couple pop molds yesterday when the idea occured to me. Cement mix is cheap and there are several different varieties. I was thinking it would probably be stronger than pop,giving better durability to the cavity edges. Longer working time too,I would imagine. Anybody here ever tried it?

I made a couple open pour molds of the paca craw when I first started making baits. The claws still had lots of action.

It looks like a great bait. It just seem like a lot of work for a not very durable bait. I'd rather just buy a pack of scrounger heads and go catch fish. But that's me. You obviously enjoy making them so more power to ya. Like I said,I dig the idea,it's just not for me.

That's a pretty cool idea. I'm far too lazy to make them myself though.

330-350 works good for me with heavily salted baits. I keep my injector hot by setting it on a hotplate with the 1/2 closest to the tip surrounded by a steel bushing. I have the top 1/2 wrapped with an old sock for insulation. The sock also makes the hot injector easy to handle.

Finely ground salt helps a lot. Also, Only turn off the mixer long enough to fill your injector. Then turn it right back on. Even fine salt will settle some in the time it takes to inject two molds.

I drop a hex nut or two into my bottles to help mix it up.

Salt will stiffen the bait,but it won't make it more durable like hardner does.

Hi Frank. I like the Aero RTV. The stuff that thickend up sat for over a year. It worked perfect one thinned down. Easy to work with. Seems plenty durable. The mold that's seen the most use is my 6 cavity senko mold. Around 3000 baits so far and it's still perfect. I've never had RTV stick to anything before. The pan in question was brand new. Had to have had a silicone coating of some sort.----Tim.

You're welcome Smallie. Thanks Jig Man I think I'll give the pam a try next time.

I bought it at Aeromarine for use with their rtv. I don't know if it'll work with your stuff,but you can check it out on their website.

Yep. 128 is what I use. I just checked their website. I just mix the amount I need in a Large plastic cup and pour a thin stream from a height of about 4'. Works great.

Congratulations. It's always great to see an American small buisiness doing well.

I had some rtv that expired last may. It had thickend up considerably,but I also had some expired thinner so I decided to try a couple LARGE size molds.Figured I had nothing to lose. I used a couple cake pans and made two worm molds with a dozen cavities each. I brushed the bottom of the pans with super glue a couple inches at a time laying out my worms as I went. Let dry overnight and poured yesterday. Since the rtv isn't supposed to bond with anything but silicone I didn't coat the pans with anything. Shoulda,coulda,woulda but..... Demoulded the first one today,Perfect. Second one...Not so much. Wouldn't budge.Couldn't get a putty knife between the rtv and the pan. 100% bonded. Doah!!! Removed it with a razor blade with limited success. Saved 5 cavities. Rtv was STUCK to any part of the pan that wasn't glued. Pan must've had some sort of silicone coating. The cake pans make great reusable mold boxes but in the future any new ones will get a light coat of vaseline as a release agent for sure. I'd have been very unhappy if that had been new rtv. Although the old stuff worked perfectly once it was thinned down. Thought I'd give ya'll a heads up and maybe save someone from scrapping their high dollar mold material.

Sorry I couldn't reply yesterday. Keyboard died. The lable on my jug says durometer 28. Purple catalyst. Working time 45min. 10:1 ratio. I couldn't find the same stuff in their ebay store yesterday morning. Maybe they have it but don't currently have it listed. I hope so. I'd like to get more in the future. I've been very happy with it. Mix,stir,pour couldnt be easier.

+1 on the Aeromarine. Great service and a high quality product.

Bang pure craw was my favorite scent until I found Kick'n Bass. Bang is definitely water based. I can still smell the kickin bass on my soft baits several days after using them. + Being oil based I can cook it into my plastics. It's also VERY concentrated. A little goes a long way.

I bake mine on the oven rack at 250 or so for several hours to dry. Never had any issues. Also,use elmers wood glue instead of white glue to seal. You'll get a nice ceramic like finish with one coat. I use a roughly 60% water 40% glue mix. Coat the entire face of the mold and let soak for 15 min. or so. Then drain and blow excess glue out of the cavity with a straw. Bake at 150 for at least an hour to dry the glue. It's important to use ELMERS wood glue. I tried another brand once and the finish wasn't nearly as good.

Bang scents are water based as are gulp. I personally don't care if they can smell my baits,but I want them to be able to taste them. I don't think scents get me more bites,but fish definitely hold on to scented baits longer than unscented baits. Just my 2 cents.

I've used quite a few different scents. I now use kickin bass craw exclusively. Hands down better than anything else I've tried. It's oil,not water based so the scent lasts a LONG time. It'll even last quite a while on hard baits. Works great in all seasons here in Ohio. I love those river smallies too. Caught 5 this afternoon between 13"-16" from my local river. Water temps are in the low 40's. Almost time to hang up the rods and start making baits for next year. I usually call it quits 1st or 2nd week of December. By then water's in the 30's and the bite gets TOUGH.

I called my woman my ol' lady once. ONCE !!! I walked funny for three days. Anyway,I tried the oil,vaseline,salt mix. BOOO !!! They'd pick it up and spit it right back out. After some research I decided to give the kick'n bass craw a try. I gets great reviews at BP and Cabelas.+ It's oil based so it can probably be cooked in. We'll see.

Thanks guys. I hadn't thought of melting the vaseline first. That should make it much easier to mix. I think I'll give it a try. I've been very happy with bang pure craw,but you have to apply it fairly often. The vaseline should last for hours. Think I'll try vaseline,craw oil and ground salt. I'll post results after this weekend.

I was thinking of mixing some worm oil and vaseline to try and make my own smelly jelly. Has anyone tried this?--------Thanks,Tim.

I have a couple single cavity rtv molds of this worm. Salvaged from a multi cavity mold that didn't turn out. When I get time I'm gonna soak em in mineral spirits and see what happens. I'll post the results.

I'd like for it to be proportionally the same. So it needs to be of larger diameter as well as longer.