Cami Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 A Friend of mine, Joe Zaza, wrote a thread about an ingenious Biodegradable Soft Bait on our Italian Self Making Lure Site: Black Bass & Co. The Guy is a great Chef and he transferred his experience from the Restaurant Kitchen to the Bass Fishing. Instead plastic, its base is the natural Arabic Gum. Recipe for 6 worm (senko type): 2 table spoons of water; 1 ts of seed oil; 3 sheets of gelatin (isinglass); 1 1/2 coffee spoons of powder Arabic Gum; Food liquid colors. Modus Operandi: Put the sheets of gelatin inside a cup of water for 20’… … after that put them inside a metal pot; Add the 2 spoon of water; Turn on the fire at the minimum, your mousse must not reach no more than 50 °C; You have to stir the gelatin till it will be dissolved; Then add the spoon of oil; Stir quickly till the liquid change in a matt color; Now you can put a coffee spoon and half of gum; You have to stir till all powder lumps are dissolved; Finally you can add some drops of food color (for black let use black squid) and your preferred scent (water based or oil it does not mean); Pour the liquid in your mould; Put the mould inside the refrigerator for 15’; Leave worms for 30’ at room temperature; To obtain a really stiff worm head for hooking purpose and dynamic soft body, the Chef suggests to wrap the body with a nylon film, instead the head must be left free at the room temperature at least for 24 hours. This worms can stay in a Plano no more than 1 month, after that some traces of mold can appear, but you can re-melt them without any problem. Here you are his cooking video: He has already caught some Bass with these biodegradable and natural lures and not only Bass … Great Joe. Bye Cami 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Excelent post Cami. I have been looking for something like this. Now I need to find the ingredients. Thankyou for sharing. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westy661 Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Has anyone tried any preservatives to prevent molding? If so, what did you use and what were the results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Can you add salt, both for flavor and as a preservative? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroutSupport.com Posted August 22, 2018 Report Share Posted August 22, 2018 Great to see this furthered. I'd love to start working on something that could be made commercially available. It's been a dream of mine as well. Props to the guy for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westy661 Posted August 22, 2018 Report Share Posted August 22, 2018 @TroutSupport, I agree with you completely. This is fun and it would be great to keep PVC out of our waters. Last night I tried this recipe 12.0grams (4 tsp) gelatin 3.0grams (½ tsp) glycerol 60ml (¼ cup) hot water 3.0grams Morton Tender Quick I added the Tender Quick as a preservative and hoped it would increase durability. However it seems to disolve in tap water rather fast. I then took a sample lure and put it into water with some tannins disolved in it, and the lure disolved really fast. The water temp was probably 90F. Next I think I will try some agar gum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted August 23, 2018 Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 I have experimented with agar agar as it is readily available here in Indonesia, but with no success. I have been unable to defeat the 'tearing' characteristic. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find gelatin with this being an Islamic society. The arabic gum has also been elusive. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westy661 Posted August 23, 2018 Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 Vodkaman, that is interesting... Is there Amazon.com in Indonesia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 I can order on the internet, but most companies will not deal with Indonesia because of the returns. EVERYTHING is opened and examined and a charge is levied depending on the product. This charge is usually in excess of the cost of the original product. Plus it is so much hassle, I will not support these vultures. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westy661 Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 OK, I have been experimenting with various preservatives that i have for other projects like meat curing etc. The intent is to have better elongation before breaking and tear resistance. I am no chemist, so trying to understand how this works at a molecular level is over my head. I have tried Morton Tender Quick, Borax, pink salt, sugar, and a few other semi-random things. So far, the best results have been from a simple adjustment to the recipe and sugar. 24.0grams (4 tsp) gelatin 3.0grams (½ tsp) glycerol 60ml (¼ cup) hot water 12.0grams Morton Tender Quick I have some samples in a plastic food bag, and will monitor to see if it molds in the next couple of months. If not, then I will see what I can do to make this nice and smelly with out loosing any of the characteristics that I have so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteSS Posted September 1, 2018 Report Share Posted September 1, 2018 I had a buddy try similar recipes. You thought Senkos fell apart easy? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rohit Posted May 6, 2020 Report Share Posted May 6, 2020 Hi all Rohit from Bombay India. Just joined the forum now. Was searching for soft plastics recipes on google and landed on this forum. Nice recipe for biodegradable soft plastic alternative. You can actually use cotton gauze rolled up lengthwise to address the tear issue. Just an idea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...