Tiderunner

Ok How do y'all prefer your baits, soft with no additives? Supersoft? Or going more towards the Harder stiffer side? For me I prefer stiffer with my wacky worm stuff, and softer with my stick baits, and grubs. Been using MF soft sinking plastisol, adding salt and glass beads and more softener and even adding Clearosol to make them a bit clearer, though you don't get many reheats with that blend. . And for the stiffer I use salt and hardener.

I've pretty much settled on the Bass Tackle 731. Seems to be the closest to the Yamo Fat Baby Craw. Which we fish on a plain round head jighead. Reasonably priced as well. We fish a lot of rocky areas for small mouth, and needless to say lose a lot of jigheads and plastics. So at their price I can get a 4 cavity, make a ton of baits, and not go to the poorhouse.

Who makes the most realistic crawfish mold? Looking for a 3.75" mold similar to the Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw.

I've been using the 80 mil, and tried some 320 mil Injector is scratched but still more than functional after 3 years worth. Only had to change O ring once so far. I usually use half salt, half glass,

After trying a bunch of different brands, I went back to MF. Mainly for their soft sinking plastic. More expensive, but they were showing free shipping. After comparing the lower cost brands, once shipping was added on, the savings wasn't all that much. Shipping costs for everybody have gone through the roof! Maybe $10 more tops per gallon to get exactly what I wanted. I'm a hobby bait maker. Just make for myself and friends. I go through maybe a gallon every 6 weeks. Did just see a notice on their web page that they're way behind on shipping due to all that's going on. Don't know if all suppliers are having the same issues.

Do any of the mold manufacturers make a molds for either the mushroom weights or nail weights for neko rigging? It would be so much better to make the weights rather than buying small packs of different sizes and paying $10.00 for shipping every time.

I started using the Gamo 346 seems much more solid and able to take more abuse than the mustad hook I was using. Theyre not perfect for the molds, but with a bit of wiggling around they work just fine. Thanks for the tips everyone

I will usually start with 4oz plastic, then add by volume around 2oz of additive, and some softener. Stir, bake until ready. Pour, or inject. Give the float test. Repeat until satisfied with results. Just keep adding floatant in small amounts until satidfied. That about as close to a recipe that I use for floaters. I do both hand pours, and injected stuff. One thing to keep in mind, if you're fishing the floating lure weightless, they don't cast very far. I'm typically using a 2/0 EWG thin wire hook. You'll have to adjust for your hooks

I have made hundreds of floating baits using the floating "bubble" additive, and have never experienced the baits being too soft. If anything, they were hardened up using the additive. I use mostly soft plastisol. And yes the additive does wash out the color. One color I've made a lot of floating baits with is black. That should be the easiest color to make, but even black requires a lot of colorant to make it truly black, or you end up with grey of a washed out black. I'm using a lot of additive to make baits that will float high on the surface to float over lily pads and such. Some other bait makers just make their baits float enough to suspend. Either way plan on using a lot of colorant. And if you want your biats to float. test the first couple of baits in a bucket of water with a hook in it. Once on the water with floating baits it's too late to find out they don't float.

The weighted hook is basically the casting jig mold without the body if the hook fits one it should fit the other I’ll place an order tonight for the Gami 345 never knew the existed until now thanks for the help

Will these fit those 2 molds without modification? Sorry took so long to get back to y'all. Been tied up. Getting ready to send in an order.Really don't want those Mustad hooks again

I have the Do It casting jig mold SMJ-3-MF And the Weighted Hook moldSMB-4--MTD and using Mustad hook 32886BLN

Benn using Mustad 32886 Hooks for my swim jigs, and I have to say, the quality of the hooks leaves something to be desired. The eyes are crooked, bent, missing altogether, The beak off when removing excess paint. They're really just junk. Any suggestion on another quality hook I can use without having to modifying the mold? There has got to be something better.

I used clear paint. Didn't have to worry about the black coming off. Whatever paint I used didn't seem to bother the baits much, except for the flashing at the edges.

Some 3m 5200, or the faster curing 5400 ( 24 hrs is not fast in my world ) applied with a toothpick? I have also coated my epoxied weedguard glue spot with UV resin once epoxy cures.

I have painted my essential mold as well using hi temp engine paint as I was just too lazy and inpatient to tape it all off. It worked well for a will. After a bunch of pourings I noticed a lot of flashing around my baits. I scuffed the molds a bit with light sandpaper, but that maybe ten thousandths or less of an inch from the paint heating away was enough so that the mold didn't close right. Not even noticeable to the eye. Add to the fact that when the molds get hot they seem to bow a tiny bit, and it seems after multiple reheats of the plastic it flows better, easier. The plastic found all these little imperfections. I can see where the paint has warn away, and where some still remains. Just enough to cause the flashing If I plan to use this mold again, it will have to be soaked in a solvent and wire brush cleaned. FWIW, I'd rather spend the money on a CNC mold. Less aggravation, less time consuming, and better quality baits. That said. Other essential molds I have used were made baits that were nearly as shiny smooth as CNC cut molds. In particular, a ribbon worm mold. Baits are as shiny as can be. My experiences would advise anyone to pour a few baits first before you paint the molds. See how they come out and go from there, Painting before pouring was my mistake thanks to watching YT videos.

If you have some split shot sitting around, drop one of two in the bottle. Will act as sort of a spray paint can when you shake. The bigger the bottle the bigger the split shot you can use. If the bottle is big enough, use marbles.

Pear Powder is hard to come by! But not trying to hijack the thread. Do you find the UV stuff makes a difference? I've used glow powders, mostly for saltwater and it seems to make a difference in the briny. But no difference in fresh water. I've been wanting to try the UV, but just spent another $150 this week on more supplies and colors. And like all the other posters. go with the basics, but don't get too hung up on colors, because in time you'll have more variations of coloring than you'll ever need. There has to be some sort of hotline for this this addiction!

Agreed. I look at it as more of like paint curing, or fiberglass resin, varnish, etc. Called Offgassing. My thought is the smell of freshly baked plastisol would turn off the fish. So I let mine sit flat for at least 24 hrs, longer if I forget about them. To off-gas. Then at bagging I add more than enough 50/50 mix worm oil and scent juice. I do however use a lot of hardener in some baits. And The next day, what I thought were perfect firmness are now too stiff. Something to keep in mind when using additives, like salt or hardener. They will get a bit firmer after this so- called curing.

I'm more of a metal mold person with that syndrome. I have some that I didn't even know I had. Both fresh and saltwater. I pour both tin and lead from each for different states where I fish. Drawers full of hooks. inserts. In soft plastics, I never seem to be able to find what I want in stores, so I just go and order another mold. My bigger issue is Color Aquirement Syndrome. I got more coloring and glitter color just because. And if I can't get the color just right, I'll order another that I think will help. Same way with powder paints, and spray paints. I guess I just like flamboyant colors!

What a coincidence All the colors mixed together gave me a brick red color, not quite brown, but brick! Y'all jinxed me. I just ordered some brown coloring, and between the brick color, and all the different color glitter I'll add some brown, and maybe Ill get something close to the berkley camo. I also melted all my greens. Watermelon, baby bass, green pumpkin, etc. I got a really nice shade of green, almost emeralrd. And with all the different colored glitter in that, it almost looks like a Christmas tree. I may try to darken that just a bit, and pour some senkos, and wacky worms with it. Of course if I tried to make that color on purpose it would have never happened! I also throw away a bunch from the bottom of my pyrex cups. Most of it showing signs of too many reheats. Some colors I'll never use. And so on . The biggest experiment was morning dawn that I tried to make for someone. There's a color I'll never use. When I start to pour I share some photos.

Got bored tonight and melted down all my mistakes , and experiments from the last 2 years or so. All colors mixed together. All types of glitter. Took all my leftover black stuff, melted that into one. Black was easy...it stayed black. The multi-color stuff came out a sort of a light clay? color. Or maybe clayish going towards grays? Gave me about a quart of plastic to melt into something else. What new color or colors.would you guys make out of this color. And black doesn't count! I still have a lot of used stuff leftover. I may end up melting that down too. Mir all my greens, oranges, fluorescent, etc into each family it belongs with and use it for something else.

Use your Lee pot. Just read my post above to keep it clean. I flux my lead, even if its clean lead, every time I melt an ingot. You can make ingots of mini muffins, just make sure whichever you make fits in the pot when you're done. One final thing I do after each pouring session, and I don't recommend this for anybody of faint heart, I empty the pot as completely as I can, take a strong pipe wrench grab the base and turn the pot over, and give it a good, but not crazy wrap on my workbench surface.( mine is metal), you'd be surprised at how much crud comes out. Mostly unidentifiable stuff. To clean out the spout I use a fish hook with no barb bent to a 90* angle, or a spinnerbait wire.Heat the wire till red hot, and run it up the spout a couple of times. Every now and then, remove the plunger thing, and go all the way up the spout and hit the plunger lightly with some sandpaper.Especially the tip. Don't go crazy though!

Every now and then, you can put a round wire brush into your drill, and have at it with the inside of your Lee pot. If it's the type with the handle you lift for pouring, just remove the handle, and clean away. I've been doing this for over 30 years now, and have only gone through two pots.

I'm curious about the rust. Lead doesn't rust. Before you go crazy melting wheel weights, look on the back of the weight. It may have the symbol "Fe" stamped on there somewhere. That would mean the WW are made from a ferrous metal. Typically steel. Other WW are made from zinc nowadays as well. Zinc blows for melting and casting. If the WW are rusted more than likely they're not lead, but steel. Maybe the clips on WW are made of a metal containing iron causing the lead to look as though it has rusted? All metals oxidize. With lead it will be lead oxide. A grey powdery appearance on the lead. That will rise to the top as slag. However you'll need to flux the molten lead so all of mostly all of your impurities rise to the top where they can be skimmed off. I use regular candle wax. After the lead is heated I toss some in the pot You'll then have a great show of heavy smoke, and then some flames on the top of the molten lead. After the flame dies down you'll see the crud floating. Skim off and cast away! One more note. if your lead temps get too high you'll oxidize the lead again while it's heating. Maybe a blue sheen on top? Skim again. and lower your heat. I also take a long match, like those fireplace matches, and lower it to the bottom of the pot, scraping the bottom and side . Yes more smoke and flames, and sme sputtering too. But more crud will rise, and skim. Lastly, if the WW clips are rusted, there was once water there somewhere. Maybe in the small crevice where it attaches to the lead? Maybe still some moisture in the rust itself? Make absolutely certain you have no moisture anywhere on your metals to be cast, or you will without a doubt be paid a visit from the "glitter fairy" I heat all my metals to be melted gently with a torch to make sure they're dry before I add them to the pot.