Tiderunner

One eye tied behind your back? Eww! Nice visual. He lost me as a long time customer. I always liked the product quality but if its unavailable, then the quality doesn't matter anymore. Quality will always matter to me. I have bought supplies from other sellers that were pure garbage. Wasn’t worth the few pennies saved. Don’t know who I’ve talked to at MF, but the few times they called me to correct my orders. That spoke volumes. They got my business. I’m just bummed because I have to wait. Even though I don’t need anything for a couple months, I’m a man and I want my toys. This will be a lesson in patience. Good things are worth waiting for.

This works out nicely for me. With fishing season winding down here in the northeast, I won't start picking up production now until after the holidays. MF plastisol is all I have been using, and dint want to have to go for another brand. Want to try some of their newer colors as well. I've already started making a wish list for the next fishing season. Vacuum chamber and dual injector at the top of my list. I'm tired of making halves of baits. Next up after those two. More saltwater baits.

Been there done that. Just bought 3 tickets for an upcoming concert. Taxes and "convenience Fee" added up to the cost of another ticket. There was nothing convenient about this. Can't print tickets, they don't mail them. I may be old, but at least I got to see the good bands! Cheaply! I can't be sure, but if the shipper is UPS, they charge a fuel surcharge. But I thought it was around 2.50 Maybe that's this charge. Agreed! I know if I have to pay a bit more for something, I automatically add stuff to my cart to get my money's worth. If I don't know in advance And I get to checkout, I just say nope, and buy somewhere else. There's a lot of suppliers nowadays all selling the same things we use.

So far, the others we all deal with are still doing ok. The MF site being down could be due to any number of reasons. Inflation would also affect the commercial sales too. Especially with the cost of shipping these days. So still more economical for the hobby bait maker to pour their own. A pack of Senkos with tax and shipping is now over $10. After your initial investment, you could make 5 or more packs of stickbaits for $10.00

Do they still make French Fry style baits? I haven't seen those in over 25 years. I may still have some floating ones somewhere. Had holes in them to trap air and keep them floating. When they'd start to sink. You squeeze the water out of the holes and start over. As far as presentation, my borther in law can shoot holes all through that theory. Not because he's good at it, but because he actually sucks at fishing! His stick baits are wrapped around the hook all twisted up, Grubs he leaves hanging off the hook. I mean he's worse than taking a 6 year old fishing~ But somehow he catches fish. Often in ways that shouldn't catch anything. And my son does a lot of experimenting. Wacky worms everything. Grubs, craws. And he catches fish. But he's doing it on purpose.Just wants to see if different ways work. And it usually does. I know of noting n the water that is chartreuse, that swims. Nothing with a bunch of legs like a jig skirt. Craw with weird looking flippers where claws should be. But I fish whatever works for whatever reason. When trying to "match the hatch" so to speak, I concentrate on color. I see what bait is in the water, and try to duplicate the color. That's how I got started making baits. Couldn't find the colors I wanted so I made my own. I bet most of us got a start that way. As far as round grubs and worms. That's all I'll use. Full round. Whether my homemade stuff or commercial. Where I do most of my smallmouth fishing, the full round is all that entices them. Be it, Mass, New Hampshire or Maine. The fat neko style worms work better than flat. Full round 5" twin tail grubs. We have tried different types, and those full round work so much better. One different though...Drop Shot worms. The body shape doesn't seem to matter. Of course, you're using your fish finder to target the fish. When talking LMB, they don't seem to turn up their noses to flat sided baits that much. But it still begs the question. Why are some baits flat on one side. Hand pour swimbaits don't count. It's typically worms. I see one mold maker offers some baits with either flat side or full round. There is no right way or wrong way. I'm just kind of curious how the flat bottom baits got a start.

I use MF soft sinking, then add softener to the plastisol. With stick baits I prefer them the softer the better. Never had a bait tear when demolding. I get more than one fish from each bait. I can't say I use old baits for the same reasons as yours, but I will keep making them in colors that have been discontinued and have worked for me. I have all types of bait up the wazoo, but I still need to buy one or two that I haven't or can't perfectly duplicate. I agree. I have never seen a flat worm in nature, and I try to make all baits appear as natural as they can be. I like wiggle. I like softness when wacky rigging, as though its something dead or dying. I like the quiver of a stick bait as it sinks. So other than the cost of the mold, is there an advantage in a flat bottom bait over a full round? The only hand pour I still use is an old silicone paddle tail worm that I make to float high in the water. To slip over lilypads and weedtops. The fish never see the flat side. These were deadly! Especially on a cloudy day. I started making these over 30 years ago when Berkley discontinued their floating worm. It was still called a floating worm, but in really was a suspending bait. Then BassPro made something similar,floating lizards too, and there was another bait called a French fry. But none of any of these baits had a flat bottom.

LOL I freak out after getting the Coppertone on my hands. Same with bug spray. I wash and scrub. Can't have the sunscreen! And I need the Off off! I have in the past two years switched to spray on. Hands free.

If we take the idea that no scent or fragrance catches fish just as well as scented, does the same hold true for using salt vs. no salt? Some baits I use salt, some I use glass sandblast beads, some I use a 50/50 mix. And for baits I want as clear as can be I use no salt. Can I say which works best? Nope only from a weight perspective. I fish a lot of deep waters usually after smallmouth suspended at around 40ft.Some of my homemade stickbaits weigh 2-grams more than Senkos, And I'll still use a small bullet weight to help the baits get down. Does the salt make the fish hold on longer? I don't know. All I can go by is what works for me. Kind of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. All my baits, salted weighted with glass, or or no weight get bagged up in a marinade of scented worm oil and salted. No loss of flexibility, no loss of color even after one year. Different baits work in different situations. Even a number of commercial baits I use that are lubed and salted. 50 years is a starting point for me. In both sweetwater and salt. I even use artificials for catching squid. Porgies and seabass too. Senkos also work well for school stripers. Never caught carp, but have caught enough of channel cats to know that the scents I'm using must really really stink. We all have our own opinions on what works or doesn't make a difference. And there is a saying about opinions. But it doesn't apply here. None of us are wrong. Keep catching 'em guys!

For a long time I never used scents on either my baits or commercial baits. I decided to try a certain one.No confidence in it at all. It was cricket scent which has a smell that should be outlawed by the EPA. My catch rates using this stuff went up drastically. On different waters, different states. Different baits. I don't add the scents, I store my baits in them in a 50/50 blend of worm oil and scent. I have not seen this catch rate change with other scents i use. Earthworm, and I just started using shad on my swimbaits. Although those are reaction baits,so we'll see about that one. Although I only make bass baits,I fish saltwater a lot being on the coast and here they sell bunker oil (menhaden) by the gallon, and many guys use it. again maybe it helps mask human scent or the other many smells on our hands. Maybe scenting our baits acts like "chum" in the water. Who knows? Now I don't know if the fish viewed the bait differently once being able to smell it, or if as you say my "human" scents were covered, but whatever. It made a difference. Don't say I know the reason. It just did, right from the first time. And as you say in your post. "It can't hurt"

I see a whole bunch of molds I find interesting,and wouldn't mind adding to the inventory. But I'm trying to figure out why so many worm molds and in turn worms have a flat bottom. Do these flat bottom worms fish differently? Is there an advantage to them? I do have some of my original molds I bought from 30 years ago, Open pour silicone, with flat bottoms, but these I use to make floating worms. The bottom is above the waterline so flat bottom means nothing. A newer mold I bought had the option of half round or whole round. I went with whole round. I feel as though I have never seen a nightcrawler that was flat on one side. And I prefer to make baits as realistic as possible. Even some commercially available baits are half round. Is there a valid reason for this, or is it just because? Who here has the answer? Let me know because I have an inquiring mind...what's left of it that is.

Same here. But no pan of water.When I first started i dropped them in water. , mostly to check the sink rate.But eventually I got too lazy to walk the 20 feet or so to the sink for water. I do hang my baits from on overhead rack using Christmas ornament hangers through the sprue.

This is what I do as well. I think I've beaten the flashing issue by doing these things. Extra clamps. SHooting at lower temps. And not putting as much pressure on my injectors. If the plastic is too hot I've been using a new tool called patience and wait a few minutes for it to cool down. And I try not to put all of my 220lbs into injecting. Baits are coming out much better. Also after injecting for a while and molds and injector is hot to the touch, I end the session. I probably need another injector. That would help speed up production.

Yup. All of my molds have these, except I have three of Do It Gary Yamamoto CNC senko mold. That one does need to be clamped. And has never given me flashing problems. I Have a Cut Tail worm mold where the flashing was around the tail. I tried tightening the screw that is closest to the tail, and that seemed to work. The molds that seem to give me the most trouble have screws at the ends but nothing in the middle. One mold the screws are in the way of the vice, and the other molds. I have 4 of these, and inject all 4 with the screws out. Counter sunk screws would have fixed this instead of oval head. I have been a busy bee pouring the past week. I have tried using less pressure. And injecting at around 300* I still think that when injecting large amounts, the molds are getting way too hot, and warp slightly. That may be why shooting at a cooler temp has help. Less warping, and plastic not as runny. Maybe warping isn't the right word, maybe flexing? Expanding? Maybe the manufacturers should consider a screw in the middle as well as the ends for the longer molds? That would certainly help. Molds lately are getting bigger with more cavities, and yet just still only 2 screws. It doesn't take much to overheat aluminum

All my molds are CNC molds from the usual manufacturers, and yet on some I get a lot of flashing. What are the causes of this. I use a vise and tighten the crap out of it. I use the screws that came with the molds and add clamps. I've noted where the flashing occurs and put extra torque on the area ( this seems to help). What causes this? Am I injecting too hot? Am I injecting too long causing heat to cause slight warping? Am I over tightening, causing uneveness? I clean my molds, stop injecting when things seem to hot. It's only certain molds.

Dead on is fine if you have a vacuum chamber. I've started using MF Easy Stretch sinking. A few dollars more. but well worth it. You can always soften or harden as you go. For stickbaits I use MF sinking soft. Medium for Worms grubs, and usually add softener. But little by little switching everything over to the Easy Stretch for everything. I've tried a bunch of different brands, and MF works best for me. If I were to choose a second, I'd say Bait Plastics.

I guess I could have made the photo a little smaller to get the writing in. Left is Lureworks 165. Center can be read.Right top2drops red 3 drops brown pumpkin. Bottom is 3drops red and 4 drops brown pumpkin. All MF colors. MF soft sinking plastic. No salt or other additives.

So far I’ve tried a few variations. I would say the 2 closest matches might be the Lureworks165. And 2 drops red to 3 drop brown pumpkin. I have written the blends down and placed samples side by side. It’s been a busy weekend so no time too post pics yet. And depending if I fish tomorrow or not I will have them online by the end of the day. BTW. To the OP. Thanks for reminding me about cotton candy. I forgot what a pretty good color it makes for targeting smallmouth. Lots of possibilities! im already seeing a cotton candy/silver laminate senko.

Experiment #1 is complete. Using 10 drops of LureWorks 165 Cotton Candy I made a 6 inch finesse worm, and 4inch single tail grubs.The result was pretty darn close. I was a little heavy handed with the glitter. So it makes the color off just a hair 9 drops would have been sufficient possibly. I'm not sure, are we allowed to post photos in the forums? Is so I will post them. Keep in mind the original pics of the cotton candy color were made under top conditions. My pics are on the workbench. Next up. Red and green pumpkin. Or is it brown pumpkin?

You're really hung up on the pumpkin thing. Why use two colors and not be certain of the results, when you can use the one coloring, and be done with it? Interestingly, there used to be many other suppliers of cotton candy pigment, but now it seems it's down to the one. I'm going to sacrifice some plastisol, and make the recipe, and see what I get. And I think I still have a bottle of cotton candy and make some. Will report back.

Personally I use MF. Always have been happy with their product and customer service. I have used Bait Plastics. A close second. If its reheats you're concerned about, just add some Heat Stabilizer,and reheat slowly

Absolutely!

www.ispikeit.com/product/623/cotton-candy-165

Check out Lureworks Cotton Candy 165. You won't need a cookbook. Just use that coloring. I can see no pumpkin in cotton candy.

Do you mean the green pumpkin grub? Yup Green Pumpkin, or Green Pumpkin Green. But there is no pumpkin in the cotton candy grub.

LureWorks Cotton Candy 165 Purple Flake, some green flake, and what looks like a small amount of silver flake. Maybe you can adjust the color to your liking using a tiny bit of the florescent pink as alsworms said. I have a bottle of cotton candy from MF I think from some years back. Used it once. And like the rest of us I have a bunch of colors I've only used once.