Adding a hook slot to a POP mold

[longhorn]

When fishing the swim bait I designed I found that the weighted hook would tear through the side of the bait when hooking a fish...many times on the first fish. I found that cutting a hook slot with scissors helped greatly so I wanted to have some molds with hook slots built in. Here is one way to add a slot to an existing POP mold and then make production molds.

1. Decide where you want the slot by measuring where the hook would go through or you could make it most of the length of the bait and make it hollow after dipping.

2. Make a cardboard template and fit to the mold. The top of the slot should be straight while the bottom fits the bait contour.

3. Cut the blade out of metal, I used soft aluminum. Note the little point on the bottom. This will hold the blade in place for glueing.

4. Drill a small hole to position the blade...make it have a tight fit so it will stand by itself. Put the blade in position making sure it is in the middle of the bait and glue in place with Elmer's Glue All.

After drying it's ready to pour. Now you can make your overpours for making a production mold. The blades will be held in place by the POP. I've used this process before with good success.

[Spike-A-Pike]

Now that's a slick idea; it adds a lot of function to rigging your swim bait the way you want it and looks like you can get into a pretty nice production run.