Tiderunner

tried something different. everyone seems to ask me for black with blue flake. So I made a smoky black shell, and a deep blue core. Didn't come out as well as I wanted. The shell was too dark. Until I picked them up. While the core didn't really show through, the blue gave a blue cast to the black shell. It almost seemed like the blue became part of the black. Really nice effect. Will it catch fish? We'll see soon enough. Sometimes our mistake actually work out.

Actually I was more pissed that I thought I ruined a $100 mold. And when I said I was fussy, I also weigh most of my baits. My Senkos all come within .02 grams of the real thing. My deepwater ones for a place like Winn, or Quabbini for me need to weigh at least 12 grams And I also do a sink test. Not very scientific, but I drop the stickbaits in a tub of water to see how well they sink. Also need to wiggle on the way down. The bigger issue is, I think I have just wayyy to much time on my hands.

What you said. I'm not an artist so my colors aren't perfect. But I want my perch color to be as close to a perch as I can get it. A nightcrawler color I make took a lot of trial and error until I got the colors of a glistening worm. And so it goes.I use the usuals, but if I want to match the hatch, I try to at least come close. Case in point. Using my homemade swimbaits last season, the ones that looked awesome on the workbench, on a sunny day in the water, they were nearly transparent. Caught nada, zip zilch. Next batch added a tiny bit of salt of salt to cloud them up, and bingo started catching fish with them. It seemed to me the bass needed a profile they can see. Once no longer transparent, I caught fish. Just trial and error. when trying to make a bait as close to realistic as prey, then I try to match the hatch.

...A few things nobody else has. I think that's really the reason I do very well on my own color combos. Fish haven't seen it before. Especially too since I fish a lot of the same waters often. I match the usual colors to the conditions, but when chips are down I go with my custom colors. Hasn't failed me yet.

Denting I don't worry about unless it's an air pocket that might make the bait act differently. Shiny is not so much a big deal either, especially because I use a combo of salt and sandblast beads in my plastic for weight. My problem is I am fussy. I'm not selling baits. I pass them out to friends, and go through hundreds each season between my son and myself. I like that smooth look. It's just a personal preference. I fish a lot of waters like yourself being in the Northeast as well. Lots of deep crystal clear spots. I make my baits hoping the fish are impressed enough to bite them. Again I'm just fussy.

Am I the only one here that tried to "match the hatch"? That is to try to make baits as close to natural prey colors as possible? I use the usual colors, but then I'll make baits in colors that work locally on the waters I fish. Then I really get crazy trying to match the colors of prey. Crayfish, and perch and certain baitfish, are examples. I also have developed a bait color.that I call night crawler it has been deadly for me. But weirdly not in worms or stick baits. Only in a wacky worm similar to the Lunker City Spanky Go figure. a worm color that doesn't work in worms. Never caught a darn thing on worm baits. Only on the wacky worm. How about you? Matching the hatch, or made your own special "secret weapon" color?

That's exactly what I said in previous posts. However I'm just a hobbyist bait maker. During fishing season I make at best 50 baits a week, so adding the scent to the bagged baits isn't really a lot of extra work. If I put 10 baits in a bag, that's 5 bags. The OP using a Jacobs injection press might be making a few more baits than myself. Adding it the bags means no discoloration, more powerful scent, and by cutting it with worm oil baits won't stick together, and will stay fresher longer.Also by cutting it it is more cost effective. And I've yet to see a reason to use straight scent on the baits. I mainly scent them to mask my dirty hands, and any chemical scent. Do I have any scientific basis for this. No. Just a way of doing things that works for me. I will say when using the worm oil/ scent mix. On a hot day the oil gets a little more slick. At times It makes it hard to put the bait on the hook. At least for my arthritic hands.

I use the 50/50 mixture of worm oil and scent when bagging, not during the cooking process. I don't add scent to the cooking process because I figure it will only burn off. Instead I add it right to the bag and sprinkle a little salt , massage and I'm good to go. Going back and reading my reply I should have made that clearer. Scent mixture and salt added to the bagged baits, not the cooking process.

What I find interesting is, red is the first color to disappear in deeper water (approx 20ft). Yet so many baits are red, at least partially. Most of my personal best fish have all come on a bait that is a transparent red that in water turns a light pink due to salt content. To clarify it is a clear bait with red flake. Yet it has proven deadly for me in the deep waters that I fish.

Have you tried heating your plastisol without adding scent? Sort of a comparison study? I don't use a jacobs injection system, just an old fashioned hand injector, I don't add scent to my plastic figuring it will only burn off during the heating process. I do add my scent which is 50/50 scent and worm oil (plasticizer). Then lightly salting the bait. As you said, to mask the plastisol scent. I usually hang and let my baits cure for at least a few days before bagging. Using this method, I have bagged baits that are years old that have not changed their characteristics. They are still the same as the day I bagged them. Maybe try adding heat stabilizer to your reheats? The only time I get yellowing is overheating slightly, and multiple reheats. Adding heat stabilizer has cured that issue for me.

That may have been part of the problem. I was infecting stick baits, using salt, and glass beads, and I prefer my stickbaits soft and wiggly, so I may have added too much softener. Plus multiple reheats may have burned the plastics, lots of glitter which may have changed the composition of the heated plastic. All I know is I want do that again. Lacquer thinner does NOT dissolve plastic stuck to a mold. Sure it will melt all other plastics, except the one type you need melted. It did however allow the heated stuck plastic to be lifted out of the mold. Not perfectly but at least its a good start. I'll have to give that a try. I get the polish, I got the Dremel.

so I finally got around to soaking the molds in lacquer thinner. Didi an ok job. These molds were the do it Yamamoto CNC molds. Seems now the baits don't come out shiny and smooth.I'll have to experiment with spraying Pam or something on the molds.

I’m fairly new to swim baits. I started a few years ago with Keitech Fat Impact. I was sold immediately! I ended up getting the FGF3.8”ribbed name I can’t remember what it’s called. I love ‘em! Like AP said. Laminate. I try to “match the hatch” Arkansas shiner . Mostly natural colors with the white pearl belly . But I tint the white pearl with a pin head amount of the upper body color. Or the tiniest amount of black so I get a smoky tint. I also add salt because I noticed that on sunny days underwater, the baits are transparent and hard to see. I like to show a little bit bigger of a profile. Transparent won’t give you that.

I always place my cup in the middle of the microwave. I do only cook the plastic in short bursts. No more than a minute each time. Then as I'm getting close to desired temp I only cook in seconds, and check temps. Never had an issue . Except this past time I guess. I also don't have a powerful 1000 watt microwave. Mine is 650 watt I believe. I'm wondering if the mica had more to do with the burning rather than placing cup in the middle.

This sounds interesting. I only have a mold for core shot stickbaits, but the tail color will still be the same as the core. I have enough variations of gold pearl because I tried a number of different ones until I found one I liked. And I even have a black gold liquid colorant that is different.

Didn't seem burnt. This was a reheat. Reheated multiple times. I'm wondering if the glitter had melted and added a different component to the plastic, as I kept adding glitter with each reheat. I didn't bother trying to save the cup. I let it cool and tossed it. Plastic was hard as a rock. Never, in all the years doing this have I ever seen plastisol do this It was stronger than any adhesive I have ever used. Couldn't scrape it out of the cup. Out of the mold. Even off the knife I was stirring with. Was going to soak molds in lacquer thinner. Which should dissolve the plastic. But I didn't have any. Had denatured alcohol, so trying that. Then heading over to a big box store with orange roof and paint. To pick up some lacquer thinner. I refuse to have this mess beat me. I hope to have these molds cleaned up by the end of the day.

Update. Tried softening burnt on plastic with worm oil on one side and WD40 on the other. So far the WD-40 is winning, but far from perfect. Today is lacquer thinner day! Update on this to follow. Advice to all here. Don't burn your plastisol, and if you do, don't inject it. I makes a really big mess that takes a lot of effort and time to clean. Let my stupid mistake help you prevent this. ( I'm sure this won't be my last fudge up )

I believe you're right. And both counts. Goop is like a glue. Stuck to the measuring cup, two Yamamoto Senko molds. Even the knife I was stirring plastic with. Being it was black plastic, I never paid too much attention to it. I mean how do you discolor black? Molds are now soaking in worm oil, and another in WD40 before I go to the solvent method. If the oil or the WD40 ( that is a solvent actually ) don't work I'm going right past acetone to lacquer thinner. So far both oils are working slowly. The measuring cup is over 5 years old, and I'm afraid of leaving micro scratches in it. I may just trash it. Or maybe lacquer thinner that and just relegate it to the garage.

yeah. Got that,but for some reason, when using something in the green family the green core doesn't show up well.

This should make a good small mouth bait. Thanks. What chartreuse do you use? Interesting....I do a lot of wacky rigging. My son swears by the black blue combo. And wacky rigging. Ive done silver shell, gold core, red with a black core.baby bass green with a black core. Baby bass green with a bright pink core. Interestingly, I have shot a bunch of different combos with a green core, watermelon, baby bass, etc, and for some reason the green core doesn't show up very well.

Been shooting a bunch of stick baits these past couple of days. I'm using MF medium with added MF softener, black, with lots of .062 glitter. Using the Do It Gary Yamomoto molds,. Heated my plastic, shot 8 baits, had dents in three. Molds and injector were preheated. Next run, 8 baits. I noticed plastic was kind of "lumpy", so I heated it some more. All looked good, though plastic was smoking a little. Shot this 8, let them cool, and tried to open the molds, and they wouldn't open. I finally pried them open, and the baits had more or less turned into, for lack of better description, glue. Rubber cement to be more specific. I got most of the stuff scraped out of the molds. The rest of the seized rubber is going to need a solvent of wire brush. In 30 years of bait making, this has never happened. Has anyone here had that happen? Too much glitter maybe? Maybe too much glitter turned the plastisol into some other compound? It's not easy getting flake to show up through black. Too hot? It was smoking. I usually don't worry too much about black plastics,it's not like black can yellow, and I've used too hot plastic before. It's weird because this plastic was a reheat, and I noticed when it cooled inside the measuring cup I removed the puck, and it was difficult removing it because it had stuck to the pyrex cup. I got the puck out, and couldn't clean the cup. I was/am going to trash that one. Like I had already said, never had something like this happen before, and in all these years I've made plenty of mistakes, but this one is a first. Lastly, does anyone have a better idea to clean this besides solvent and a wire brush?

To any of you that shoot core shot stick baits, what color combos are you making? Not looking to steal secrets, just looking for some new ideas.

Make sure you report back here pros and cons. Like I said, I can see more use for the vise beyond bait making. It seems like it could be a pretty good extra pair of hands.

and re-reading your OP I use a lot more than 7-8 drops of worm oil. I soak the living snot out of them, with added salt. But even then the bags are still as soaked as the day I packed them. I also mix a lot of salt right into the plastic before heating, so if anything my baits should be absorbing a lot of the oil.

What brand of plastic are you using? I have baits bagged for years that have just as much oil in them as day one and hasn't been absorbed. Those baits come fishing with me on hot summer days, spend winters in a cold garage. I have some baits from 20 years ago that are still as soft and pliable as day one. The first place I would look is your plastic.