Bassinfool

I use a 6/0 EWG hook and make sure to bring the hook point all the way through the worm and barely skin hook it on the other side. This gives me a much better hook up ratio. If you can find them, give the Gamakatsu deep throat hooks a try, they're what I always use throwing these big worms.

Thanks for the answers everyone, I can't get the search function to work on my phone for some reason but I appreciate the quick answers.

I'm going to get a swim bait mold but I have never made swim baits or fluke style baits before so I need to know what stiffness/firmness of plastic I should use. I use soft mixed with a little medium for all my craws, worms and beaver style baits but I think that would be far too soft to give the swims the correct action.

Fans are your friend, both on you as well as on your molds. As for bugs, burn some citrenella candles or have one of those Off! things that you clip on you or place near you that are supposed to keep the bugs away. Of course, moths and other bugs are attracted to light so if you are pouring at night with the lights on you may have some moths and other insects that aren't bothered by the citronella candles or Off! thing that may still come in to your work area. Other than that, the only thing that will change is the time it takes for the baits to cure since they will be in a warmer environment almost the entire day including at night as opposed to winter and fall.

I take all of my baits and put them in a Tupperware container and then add whichever scent I want plus some worm oil then shake the ever living hell out of the container then let them sit there while coated for about 30-40 minutes and then bag them. If you feel like they need more scent or oil just add a few drops to the bag once you get your baits in there. I found this to be the easiest, most efficient way of bagging for my needs. Also, when I make a bunch of one color for myself or a friend and don't want to divide them all up into multiple bags I stick them into a gallon freezer bag with the pull zip type seal. So far, I haven't had any leaks of scent or oil.

Del would be wise to get out of taking orders himself and leave that aspect of the business to a second or third party so he can focus solely on making molds instead of filling orders.

LC watermelon is extremely green. I try to get my watermelon closer towards Zoom's watermelon so I tend to add pumpkin and green pumpkin to my initial few drops of watermelon until I'm satisfied with the color. I have tried adding a drop or two of black before and wasn't happy with the resulting color. I would rather go a little heavier with the green pumpkin or pumpkin than black, I think the resulting colors look better because Zoom's watermelon has that brownish tint to it. It's all personal preference though so as long as you're happy with it that's all that matters.

If I had to choose my biggest fish catchers with flake it would have to be watermelon red, green pumpkin variants, and junebug variants. My favorite color without flake will take some extra work because its a laminate but I seem to catch more fish throwing my key lime pie color than anything else at different points in the year.

I tore some out but I honestly have no idea what it is I'm looking at because of how small the flake is. I'm leaning toward holographic purple though

I have a friend that wants me to recreate the Black Light color by RI but I can't tell if the glitter in the bait is holographic purple or disco glitter. Was wondering if I could get some opinions from people who have a little more experience with these types of glitter as I have yet to use either of them. Thanks in advance everyone.

I like the "whutz-it craw", "widget craw" or "bass bully".

I really dig the green ones, just something about that color draws me to it. Nice to have you and welcome to th site!

Those are some nice looking tubes jig man. Where did you get that mold from if you don't mind my asking?

At the very bottom of your picture you can see those two exit holes on the inside of that circular piece. This is where the plastic will flow out of the block and into your mold. The two spots where you will put the injectors are on top and are not in the picture. The hole in the very middle of the block on the side is where a bolt goes through the block uses a little wing nut to keep the block closed. I think the 1.5" is the measure regarding the width of the block, it isn't very tall at all.

I have the 1.5" block and it works great, no plastic comes out of the sides or anything like that. As long as you have a consistent flow and pressure on each injector your baits will come out just fine. What I like to do to help that is to shoot some plastic into an empty cup to get the plastic flowing through each hole and then move to my molds that way the bottom bait isn't all one color and not the other. That is the 702 craw as well as the 4.25 kodiak craw and 6" full round finesse worm from Bear's. If you really want those old style tips and blending piece you may be able to find someone who is selling them, but if I were you I would just go ahead and buy the blending block simply because they are easier to use and clean.

I second this. As long as you keep the bait moving at a decent rate you can keep it on top of the water or at the least right below the surface. The micro balloons are dangerous so if you are dead set at creating a frog that floats you absolutely have to where a respirator or at the very least a dust mask to prevent breathing in the micro balloons. You don't want them going into your lungs at all and in my opinion the risk far outweighs the gains. Something else that will make your baits more buoyant is not adding salt to your plastic.

Those parts he is using in the video are what was used prior to the production of the blending block. The blending block is much easier to use and produces far more consistent baits. You can find the blending blocks on bearsbaits.com or basstackle.com. I purchased mine from bass tackle and it works great, just takes a little time to get the consistency down. Here are two different colors I have made using my blending blocks. First is my version of dirty sanchez and the second is key lime pie.

Congrats on your first fish on one of your own lures! It is definitely a feeling I never tire of, that feeling of pure satisfaction knowing you caught one of those little green fish on something you made is absolutely awesome.

Some of you guys must be using a lot of salt in your baits. I use a very small amount of salt per cup of plastic for my baits and they are still fairly buoyant to the point that they practically suspend in the water column and the claws of my craws stand up off the bottom. As for the injection problems you're having, this mold was a bit tricky for me as well when I first got it but once I got it down I shoot perfect baits nearly every time. My mold wants the plastic a bit cooler, around the 320 or 315 mark and I tend to inject slowly and then hold pressure for around 20-25 seconds before topping off and letting the bait cool in the mold for 3 minutes or so.

I actually have that mold and make some flat sided beavers for myself and only for myself. I would never sell those to anyone, especially with RI being less than 5 minutes down the road from me! Feel free to buy it if you want to make some baits for yourself but don't try and sell them to anyone because you could very well find a letter from RI's lawyer in your mailbox and that is something you certainly don't want.

To my knowledge there is no one currently making a mold that has the ringed body like on the D bomb so if that is something you really wanted you would have to ask for someone to make a custom mold for you. You could try to make a PoP mold of it but I highly doubt you would be able to get those concentric little rings to come out the way you'd want them to just because the PoP is going to push them together I stead of keeping them spread evenly apart. I wish someone would make a mold for something similar to the D bomb because that thing is a fish catching machine!

Glad to see you have recovered so well, Mark. It's pretty remarkable to see you come away with such minimal damage, especially with those 3rd degree burns as most of those do require at least a few skin grafts. I wish I could post pictures from some of the stuff I have seen come through the ER, but for one thing it is against the law for me to do so and secondly some people here probably couldn't stomach it. I know some of the things I have seen have been hard for me to handle, mostly because I absolutely hate dealing with burns. How have the nerves in your damaged areas done? I know sometimes they have a hard time re-innervating the new skin and you get a loss of feeling, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. I'm assuming the dexterity of your fingers is back as well judging by your pictures as your hands have healed remarkably well. I have had a few minor burns from a sprue that hadn't cooled entirely dripping out a few drops onto my hand when removing the bait but other than that I have been very fortunate. I have a pretty gruesome story about a guy who picked up a downed power line in his yard and the damage it causes the human body if any one is curious about that kind of stuff. I know some people have weak stomachs and wish to avoid any discussion of injuries/gore etc, but if any of you are interested I will post it for you all to read. If nothing else, please heed this warning whenever dealing with power lines: DO NOT under any circumstances touch them! I know that seems like common sense but you would be surprised at what some people will do. My grandfather was a foreman for AL power for 43 years and always told me that no matter what, even if a line is supposed to be down and not live to always let the power company come out and handle it. I know he saw more than a few people get electrocuted and lose limbs or die from the injuries they sustained from the electricity. Take care everyone, be careful and watch what you are doing as even those with all the experience such as Mike can have accidents! Once again, great to see you make such a wonderful recovery!

Red pearl

These are a few of the key lime pie baits I made for myself the other day. I know the picture isn't the best the camera on my phone is very poor and these were taken in the garage that is not very well lit. Anyways, I was pretty lucky in getting pretty good laminates the very first time I used the blending block. I guess I will have to upload some pics of my other baits to the gallery at some point.

I'll have to post some pictures of mine sometime, but the only camera I have is on my cell so they don't turn out that well. How are you doing the chart tails if you don't mind my asking? The baits looks great by the way, getting the blending block right the first time isn't easy for some people. I think you could lighten up the red like you said but what you got there will work just as well I'm sure.