Painter1

Does anyone know who makes this pointed tail skinny stick bait mold? I bought it about a year ago but can't seem to find it again. I may be missing it but I checked the sites of the usual suspects. It is 5/16" wide at the top and 5.25" long. I hope this picture posts OK Thanks

Frank, I am glad to hear your endorsement. How do you keep the material stirred? Are you able to pour directly from the spigot to the mold? I know you do a lot of injector work but am wondering. They told me that they add a second heater control for the pour spout for $150 more. Digital control is over $500. It sure seems like good equipment.

Thanks, Guys I will start with 8:1 and go from there.

I am using CC soft plastic and without salt it floats a bit. For a drop-shot bait it would seem that a neutrally buoyant bait would be best. Any formula for how much salt to add to achieve that? Thank you Mike

Can I soften Caney Creek plastic with the Softener that Bears sells (Calhoun??) Thank you

It seems to be getting worse. It takes up to a minute to switch topics and I get a lot of "Oops" messages also. I cant imagine what a pain it must be to keep the spammers at bay.

would the sprue extenders work for this also?

I recently read on this forum about markup considerations for taxes. I have also been working with my nephew lately regarding his charge rates related to his business. I learned these facts the hard way and hope the following is useful to someone. If you use markups in your business, please be aware of the following; $100 marked up 10% is $110.00. (your sale price) . You owe (someone) 10% of your sales so you must pay $11.00 You marked it $10 to cover your expense but you must actually pay $11 Mark the item up $11.11 per hundred to cover a 10% of sales expense Mark the item up $17.65 per hundred to cover a 15% of sales expense Mark the item up $25.00 per hundred to cover a 20% of sales expense

How do you seal the hole where the blade exits at the tail? Glue?

Good idea. You could mount it on a "lazy susan" and spin it

Wow. That is nice. Is the fan variable speed?

I am in no way advocating patent infringement but I know something about protecting a business interest and shielding yourself from plaintiff attorneys. The keys are separation of entities and secured debt. The other key is to know that PA's are like debt collectors in that they rely on eliciting an emotional response from potential defendants. One example; Joe creates an LLC or a Trust and registers that entity with the State. This is simple and Joe does it in a couple hours. Joe then personally lends money to the LLC or Trust and secures that debt with the assets of the LLC/Trust. Brand Names or Marketing Names can be included as asset. Joe formalizes this debt with a Promissory Note (simple form). Joe makes a UCC filing of the PN. This is just a bit more complex but easy enough to do.. This legally puts Joe in the first lien position and creates a "poison pill" for the LLC/Trust, A PA contacts the LLC/Trust with a nasty letter, or the PA makes the mistake of sending this to Joe himself. Joe and the LLC/Trust ignores the letter and all subsequent correspondence from the PA. The PA, if unable to rattle anyone, must decide to spend money to file suit for a C&D order. Assume, in this case that a suit is filed. Depending on Joe's personal tolerance level this suit can be dragged out without spending money on a lawyer. Ultimately, Joe calls in the PN, leaving the LLC/Trust penniless. and judgement proof. Often, if the PA checks the public record, he will be aware of the poison pill and knows where it leads. Again, this all depends on a persons tolerance level for cold-blooded lawyers. One does not need to be a victim of the legal sharks.

A file cabinet seems like a good idea. I made a "bookcase" type free standing unit that holds Sixty (60) 3600 & 3700 boxes. They slide in flat and individually, are labeled and (usually) organized by bait type. The top shelf is for the big worm binders that Bass Pro sells and they are each for certain bait types (Senkos, Flukes, etc), also labeled. This takes up one wall in my tackle room. Two (2) walls have pegboard above shelves, set up like you see in a store. The last wall has those clear-ish storage drawers in different sizes above a solid sill/shelf. My buddies like to stop in and shop in there, LOL

I just bought a 1100W coil type hotplate, a 2 qt cast iron Lodge Logic pot with lid and the 14 oz pouring pot from ebay and will post a report after I try it. I find that there is a very narrow viscosity & temp range that works best for open pours of multiple colors. If the material is too warm the colors blend more than planned. Too cool makes a thin pouring stream difficult and risks cold delamination. I want to be able to hold 6 to 12 oz mixed material quantities at temp as long as possible. I hope to use the cast iron pot as a holding oven after nuking each cup. Happy New Year.

I'm sorry, I did not mean to be cryptic on the bait. It is a Caney Creek 3.5" Carrot. I am not having any luck posting a picture, but here is the link. http://www.caneycreekmolds.com/Carrot--35-10-Cavities_p_241.html

I had more fun than a 5 year old on Christmas morning yesterday. A few days ago, I read a story about "Layaway Angels" and I thought it was really a cool idea. People were anonymously paying off other peoples layaway charges at stores like Walmart and Toys'R'Us. They were paying the charges of complete strangers they would never meet. (look up the story; you will love it). I had some cash we planned to donate and I decided this was what I would do with it. I picked a Toys'R'Us in the poorest section of our city and stood in a long line at Guest Services. The store was packed. The lady at the GS counter told me that the 16th had been the last day for layaway payments and that items not payed for by then were "abandoned". Nothing I could do. I was dissapointed and walked to my car. As I walked I said a prayer and asked God what to do next. It popped into my head and I returned to the store. I had previously seen the Store Manager working near the checkout and GS counters and he was doing a great job of keeping things working smoothly. I had seen him work with a frustrated customer with genuine care while I was in the GS line, so I knew who he was. I was able to approached him privately, give him the cash and ask him to complete the mission, allowing me to remain anonymous. He smiled, took the envelope, shook my hand and agreed. The Manager hustled over to the first register, and I took up an observation position behind a display that I could see over. That is when the fun started. I could not hear much of what was said, but the young lady cashier became very excited and the Manager could not have had a bigger smile. They were both lit up and the young lady was crying. The Manager completed the transaction there, put the the change in the envelope and moved to the next register, repeating the process over and over. One young man stepped out from his register, did an arm pump and dance step, letting out a whoop as if he had scored a touchdown. Every stop the Manager made had a visible impact on the cashier at that station and the Manager was sometimes helping several cashiers at once, helping them work the registers while always looking like the happiest man on the planet. I guess I expected to see a reaction from the customers, but I was not prepared for the impact it had on the staff. There was no noticeable visible reaction from the customers so the whole experience was upside down from my point of view. I had seen enough to know the rest of the money would be used as intended and was reminded again how incredibly fortunate I am. I picked up a small, bendable, figurine with the classic happy face on it from the discount/closeout bin in front of me and went to the first register to pay for it. I mentioned that the Manager seemed excited and she blurted out " It wasn't him; somebody donated some money and it made me cry". I said something positive about her Manager and she started wiping her eyes again saying that thinking about it was making her cry again and that it felt so much like Christmas now. I wished her a Merry Christmas and left. I tell you this long-winded story because it is clear to me where the proceeds from sales of any baits I make will go now. Alan from Pigsticker Baits, who makes jigs, including my favorite, the Snowden Jig, will probably be selling the baits soon. He has the whole process down and is a great guy. May God bless you and Merry Christmas

I, too, struggled with getting my injectors to draw plastic, as I saw done in Frank's videos. I think mine are from BT (They are the ones you can combine into "Twinjector"). I saw a Caney Creek video where Jason poured the plastic into the injector and just adopted that as my SOP. (even though he warns not to do that) Pouring the plastic into the cylinder can be dangerous, however. It is almost impossible to see the rising volume inside the cylinder while actively pouring because of the steam/smoke. Temperature is a consideration so I never wanted to dally. Most times I was able to get the level right, insert and twist on the injector tip, and adjust level with the plunger. One day I poured too much and I burned my thumb with the overflow when putting the nozzle on. I was careless and was not wearing a glove on that hand (dexterity issues). The other problem I had with hand pouring into the injector was heat sink. I had to "waste" one cylinders worth of plastic by letting it heat the aluminum from inside. It did seem to hold the heat well after that. I vowed to stop pouring into the injector and ended up buying the Shooting Star system. Someday soon, however, I will need to address the issue properly.

Tbilly & Mike, I really appreciate this type of discourse since it helps me learn from more experienced bait-makers. Thanks guys and Merry Christmas!

I ended up using a 12" worm from an open pour mold. Loaded it with microbubbles and made a (paler) Tequila Sunrise type color. The bait really stood up well and got bit well on hot days, clear water, deep structure. We had to let the bass take the whole bait, so pausing a couple beats after he first got it was the key. Smaller bass would sometimes bite the bait off. We used up all that I poured. I don't do the tournament thing, but my guide buddy did well in a tournament and said it was all he could get bit on in the afternoon.

When you add a lot of microbubbles the bait gets pretty stiff. You might want to consider a softer plastic.

There are a number of good ones out there. I believe there are some pre-owned molds available now in the classifieds. Are you looking for Injection mold, open pour or hand pour?

I have an electric skillet like the one I saw on Franks video. Has anyone tried the hotplate/stirrer system that they use in labs? http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-X-4-TALBOYS-ADVANCED-CERAMIC-HOTPLATE-STIRRER-/330244218895?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ce416e00f

I am looking for a better solution to keep small batches (less than 8 oz) of plastic hot. I tried an electric skillet but it just does not keep the plastic usable for long. It may be that my skillet is bad, but a cup heated to 320 will degrade to 250 in less than 10 minutes. I am seeing some laboratory hotplates that have elevated temperatures. Some have a magnet based stirring system that looks very cool, but I expect it would only work on liquids. Any thoughts on laboratory grade hotplates?

They could do a much better job of distinguishing the types of Lee pots and explaining why you don't want to mix them up. I remember struggling a bit to get clear information about this when I started this evil (time & money eating) hobby

Your problem may be colorant settling, as others have described. As a painting contractor, we know that intense reds and yellows generally are not as colorfast as they used to be several decades ago. Chromium was an important element in the pigments for those colors and the heavy metals have been stripped out. Even mild UV exposure degrades those colors faster than others.