Good Fishing

Caught quite a few big pike on 9" sluggos and similar big jerk baits. Haven't had much luck with any other soft baits (unless you count when they steal grubs meant for smallmouth).

We just noticed this change, too. As far as we know, Owner hasn't released anything about an official product change, so it could just be a normal variation, or they may have changed how they're treating the hooks. We typically see this kind of color variation with other manufacturers, but less so with Owner.

Just want to point out that swivel sizes aren't always consistent b/w manufacturers. If you'll let us know which mold you're using we can check the size and make a recommendation.

I pour with the same basic setup, but with the box fan in front of me on the other side of my melting pans (pulling the fumes away vs. pushing them). I tried it with the fan behind me, but had trouble maintaining temperature with the constant airflow. It also seemed like any time I was pouring a really fine stream of plastic the breeze would catch it enough to blow it exactly where I didn't want it. I did prefer having the fan behind me since it cleared the fumes a little better. Did you have any of the same problems, or am I doing something wrong?

No problem. Thanks for the plug!

Our SKU for the size 2 is 410184. You transposed a couple of numbers.

I've been pretty up front in other posts that my brothers and I run Barlow's.

I was mostly being cheeky since we sell many of the same products as SU, but, not being a TU sponsor (yet), we're not supposed to overtly promote ourselves. We have a number of products we buy from SU, so, like many of you, we're hoping they get their inventory levels back up soon.

I'd be happy to suggest an excellent alternative resource . . . .

All the best, Bear. Heard many great things about you on these forums. Here's hoping you make a speedy recovery.

Step one is to decide who you want to be. What's your focus? What value do you bring to soft baits that no one else can bring? How are you different from your competition? Do you make the best crawfish baits in the world? Do you have the widest range of saltwater baits? Are your hand pours so beautiful they should be in the Louvre? Getting your name out there won't be worth much if your customers don't associate it with anything. You have to determine what your core benefit is, then pursue it with relentless focus. Doing so will guide nearly every decision you make, from product mix to pricing to marketing tactics. The standard marketing tools for our trade are pretty self-evident; enthusiast sites like this one, trade pubs, shows, events (tournaments, etc), social media. Nail down what makes you unique, then go from there.

We discourage customers from using bottom pour pots when using molds with wires that protrude from the top of the mold. Generally speaking, you simply won't be able to get the mold close enough to the pot to avoid losing too much heat when you pour. As mentioned above, a Hot Pot or a ladle will solve a lot of your problems.

Yuck, remelted Berkley Powerbait. I can only imagine the stink.

I was wondering about that. I like to melt a larger batch and pour a number of molds at once. This requires either maintaining or reheating the plastic periodically. Sounds like I may be better off sticking with the hot plate in my garage.

What's the benefit of heating plastic in a microwave vs. on a stove? Speed? Temp control? I'm getting back into pouring after having not done it for around 20 years, so microwaving plastic is new to me.

TinkerCAD is another open source option. We've just started using it, but so far it's been very user-friendly.

Which printing medium are you using? Wasn't sure which one would hold up best to the plastisol heat.