joelhains

It is. Nights are getting cooler days are still warm/hot and water temps are slowly starting to drop. Bass are getting Ready to switch to their fall feeding binge. The next couple weeks should be good. The salmon are starting stage in the creek mouth too!

They've got some small orange flake. I plan on trying them out in the morning!

Its the bass tackle 718

Here are some of my coffee craws. I didn't add any colorant. Just some orange flake. I cooked the plastic with the grounds in it and it smells a little burnt. Next I'm going to try cooking the plastic first then adding the grounds. I actually really like the color. I think they turned out awesome. Hopefully the smallies agree!

Strike King Coffee tubes are my favorite smallie bait hands down. I still buy them even though I make all my other soft plastics. Today I'm going to experiment with coffee grounds in a craw bait and see if the smallies like it!.

Has anybody here found anything at you local grocery store you can safely add to plastisol as a scent? I've tried many different things like adding powerbait to cooked plastic (doesn't work since its water based). I'm thinking coffee grounds might work (haven't tried any yet) or maybe vanilla extract (probably also water based so may not work). Maybe some of my wife's essential oils would work? What have you tried that works well to add to cooking plastic?

I dont know of anything that feels like this. Exactly the same as the elaztec I've used in the past.

Stretches to 35 inches without breajing and retains its shape

Ive been very curious about Elaztec since the first pack of soft jerkbait I bought a few years ago. I could catch dozens of river smallies on a single bait without having to replace it. Ever since, I've hoped one of our plastisol producers would come out with a similar product for the home baitmaker like myself. I recently bought 10 pounds of bulk plastic tube baits. I didnt know what they were until I got them home. They are Elaztec or very similar! I decided to try melting some down to see how they would work in my molds. I started out by cutting up a handful of tubes into smaller pieces and put them in the microwave. I started out with a minute and a half like i do when i cook regular plastic. Well after that mount of time ot was barely even warm, so i put it back in. After 6 minutes in the microwave the elaztec wasnt showing any signs of melting. So i took some out and filled one of my smaller measuring cups and added a small amount of uncooked plastisol. I got that to all melt down and smooth enough after about 4 minutes. I shot a few swimbaits. They are stretchier than normal but sticky. I figured I would take the rest i had cut up and put it back in the microwave for as long as it took to get it ro melt. After 12 minutes it was ready to shoot. Just pulled them out of the mold. A 2.5 inch bait stretches 35 inches before breaking! Just need to find a source for uncooked elaztec!

Most mold companies sell a stick bait. Lots of options available that are a better value than do-it in my opinion.

Might be a good idea to add the nut after putting it the microwave?

I have some colorant that is a few years old now and I haven't used in a while. I went down to my bait room and found some of my colorant has settled pretty badly. Most of the bottles are fine but there are a few that I can't get to break loose. any tips for breaking up what has settled and how to get it to mix back in? I've tried shaking, scraping the bottom of the bottle with a small screwdriver, even adding a couple small nuts to the bottle and shaking some more. I've considered trying to put the bottle in the microwave to see if that loosens it up but I don't want to cook it and make it useless. Any advice would be great. Otherwise its time for a few new bottles of colorant. Thanks

I have an Abu Veritas rod. I really like the weight, action and sensitivity, but I HATE a white rod!lol I've been thinking about stripping it down to the blank and overhauling it...replacing the guides and painting grey or black. Any tips on the paint side of things? Should I lightly sand before painting? Which type of paint would work best and be the most durable? Thanks

I'll add softener to baits I use myself. If the baits are for somebody else I just use soft plastisol. The amount of media I use depends on how I want the bait to act in the water. 1 tbsp per 2 ounces of plastic is a good starting point.

I have some light scratching on the outside of the injection port. But the inside of the mold doesn't get scratched.

I think I got the 80 grit Bead media. I've remelted plastic with bead media before with no real issues. Yeah I've been burned before. It happens, I just don't work well with gloves on. But yes... everybody should wear gloves.

Thanks guys! Glad you like them. I did mean to add something about the glass scratching the injector. I'll have to add that to the video description. I've shot thousand of baits with bead media and so far the scratching only seems to be cosmetic. I still have the original O-rings and they are still holding just fine. But it is definitely worth noting.

I just put together a video comparing salt and glass bead media as an additive in sinking stickbaits. Check it out! Let me know what you think. I've learned so much from you all here on TU. Its time I try in my feeble way to share as well!

I'd be interested in the results of this same test without bead material or salt. How well does plastic by itself absorb scents?

I haven't started in making cranks (yet) I stick to wirebaits and soft plastics. Not sure how soft or squishy your bait turned out but my first thought while reading this was "maybe a fish would hold on longer". I would think I soft hardbait could be a very effective weapon in one's tackle box?

I've had the odyssey spider for a couple months and I'm really pleased with it. I've tied 7/0 treble hooks for musky sized bucktails and it holds very well. I also tie those using 10 lb powerpro braid and I put a lot of tension on the line to tie the bucktail very tight. Excellent bang for your buck. I've also been tying bass jigs up to 5/0 on it.