Newbie needs help

[AustinTXAngler]

I need help with my first lurecraft order. I plan on using the microwave / Pyrex cup method for now.

I'm planning on getting the 536 plastic and just use the hardener if I need it. Would I need to buy softener for any reason? I do plan on using salt.

How about the stabilizer, do I need it?

Right now my order is at about 150 dollars before shipping, can you help me "trim the fat" so to speak? If there is something on the list I can pick up locally and save some money, I'm all for that!

So if you would be so kind, to please look at the list below and make suggestions on my selections.

Plastic

1. 1 Gallon LureCraft #536 Plastic (1X536G)

2. 1 Pint LureCraft Softener (1X101E)

3. 1 Pint LureCraft Hardener (1X102E)

4. 1 Pint LureCraft Stabilizer (1X104E)

Colors - LureCraft

1. 2oz Standard Watermelon (1X331B)

2. 2oz White Opaque (1X301B)

3. 2oz Lemon Yellow (1X311B)

4. 2oz Bright Red (1X309B)

5. 2oz Blue (1X317B)

6. 2oz Black (1X305B)

7. 2oz Green Super High Light (1X298B)

8. 2oz Pearl White (1X327B)

Glitter - LureCraft

1. 2oz Small Red Glitter (1X352B)

2. 2oz Large Red Glitter (1X372B)

3. 2oz Small Purple Glitter (1X354B)

4. 2oz Large Purple Glitter (1X374B)

5. 2oz Small Black Glitter (1X358B)

6. 2oz Large Black Glitter (1X370B)

7. 2oz Large Silver Holographic (1X383B)

Additives

1. 1 Gallon LureCraft Salt (1X600G)

2. 1oz Tournament Pro Lunker Scent (1X210A)

3. Worm Oil ? 1 Pint (1X103E)

Molds

1. 6.5? lizard mold (5x432)

2. 4? Finesse shad (5x405)

3. 6.5? Worm mold (5x784)

Thanks a bunch!

[woodsac]

First thing you gotta do is forget about the salt. The shipping alone will kill you! Since you're only ordering a gallon of plastic, you could reduce your softener, hardener and stabilizer to the 4 oz size. But if you plan on placing another order in the near future, you might as well buy the biggest quantities you can now.

Personally, I would eliminate the hardener. I don't make saltwater baits, but I have a pint of hardener I ordered over a year ago and never opened. I would also order my plastic from Del.

I hardly ever use white. If you're fishing for bass, make sure you have a couple different shades of green and blue. Also important are black, brown, red and yellow. I think you have made good choices in your coloring and flake. You should be able to get a good start with this.

[siebler_custom_baits]

never really seen too many paints w/ green highlight. i would drop that and get some othr green coloring. the white is OK but pearl is more popular. you really dont need a lot of hardner or softner but it does depend on what you buying. softner is more popular than hardner, i would rather have a soft bait than a hard even if it doesnt last as long.

[mickeyg]

I would also drop the salt (get finer popcorn salt somewhere else) and hardener. I would swap out yellow for pumpkinseed. Up here at least it is sometimes hard to beat a pumpkinseed black flake worm. Also, I would add blue flake--if you have clear water down there.

Other than that...looks good. Have fun!

Hope this helps,

Mickey

[AustinTXAngler]

Thanks for the quick replies. After looking at the prices, I do think I will get my plastic, softener, and worm oil from del-mart. It costs much less and from what I've read, it preferred by most people. I will also drop the hardener. And now I can get a couple molds from Del-mart since I?m placing an order!

As for my colors, watermelon/red is the hot color down here. I fish lots of clear water reservoirs and the zoom watermelon/red flake is killer.

I have a color-mixing question. The white made my list because I thought it would be needed to lighten up some of the colors. Can you make lighter colors by just using less of the color? (I will probably never make a plain white bait.)

I will add some blue flake to the order.

I will add some pumpkin color also, I had forgotten about that!

The lemon yellow was for two-color pours, since I often dip my tails in chartreuse spike-it, I figured I'd just make the baits that way. I didn?t want to get the fluorescent colored yellow because I had read it was hard to work with when heating.

Anything else?

Man you guys freakin rock! Thanks again!

[siebler_custom_baits]

yes dont add white to lighten colors unless you are looking for something like black turning into grey. the colors will no longer be see through if you add white.

also i was going to ask, why so much worm oil?

[woodsac]

I would go with the flourescent yellow. It's really not hard to work with, you just have to add it before you heat the plastic. Lately I've been adding all my color before heating. It's just easier and everything comes out the same every time. I like consistency.

As for the white, it's very dominant once added. Most of the colors are naturally transparent. I add black to darken them 1000 times more then I add white to lighten. But I do add white to my LC pearl white. Everyone says that the MF pearl is way better but I haven't ordered any yet. Siebler made a good point about the green hi lite. I seldom use it, but I use blue hi lite lots.

[Richoc]

Get larger amounts of glitter....you will be happier.

And their puple is not so hot...it is like a dark grape color.

Was not what I wanted.

[BigZ]

I would definitely get stabilizer, it will make your life easier. As for the plastic, one gallon is probably a good start, but you will be reordering soon. Also, be sure and mix your plastisol before you pour it as the hardener does settle and this one one of the mistakes I was making when I started pouring. Get a quart of softener per gallon if you intend on making s?nkos...Other than that the order looks good. As far as colors go, can the white and lemon yellow as the guys said earlier. I have the white and I only used it once. I stick to the pearl white, it just looks better(bellies on baby bass colored worm). Definitely get pumpkin and a brown of some sort, as well as another green so you can tint your worms to where you like them. You can get away with the little bottles too, 1 oz colors one gallon of plastic. They go a LONG way.

One last color that I would recommend highly is the silver or white metallic powder, that stuff is INSANE, and you can add it to other colors for crazy effects! One container of that should last you until 2007 at least! I started adding it to all of my smoke colored baits and my green pumpkin and the fish seem to like it.

If you're getting the holo glitter, you might want to try the string type, t is really cool looking in the water!

[KickerWormz]

When ordering molds from the lurecraft catalog a lot of the molds seem to be "the mold." I have ordered some molds, and I'm sure that some can vouch for this one, some molds look really good in the catalog, and when you get them home and fire up the microwave, pour, and they dont turn out to your expectations. Remember when ordering molds the length of the whole worm, or bait that you order might not be the true size, it also states this in the catalog. The mold size is measured from end to end. You might think you are ordering a 6" curl tail worm, but actually by the time you pour it and stretch it out it might be eight inches. If you have doubts you can call Dave at Lurecraft and he can tell you the actual size. By calling you can save yourself some dissapointment when the mold arrives. Dont purchase hardener unless you plan on pouring some bigger swimbaits or saltwater baits. Good luck

[AustinTXAngler]

Alright, big thanks to everyone. I have taken all of your advice into account and have modified my order. Before I make the call, I wanted to post it to get the final approval. So here it goes!

From LureCraft

Colors

1. 2oz Standard Watermelon (1X331B)

2. 2oz Signal Green (1X335B)

3. 2oz Fluorescent Yellow (1X321B)

4. 2oz Bright Red (1X309B)

5. 2oz Blue (1X317B)

6. 2oz Black (1X305B)

7. 2oz Caramel (1X261B)

8. 2oz Pumpkin Seed (1X333B)

9. 2oz Green Super High Light (1X298B)

10. 2oz Pearl White Powder (1X327B)

Glitter

1. 4oz Small Red Glitter (1X352C)

2. 4oz Large Red Glitter (1X372C)

3. 4oz Small Purple Glitter (1X354C)

4. 4oz Large Purple Glitter (1X374C)

5. 4oz Small Black Glitter (1X358C)

6. 4oz Large Black Glitter (1X370C)

7. 4oz Large Blue Glitter (1X373C)

8. 4oz Small Green Glitter (1X355C)

9. 4oz Large Green Glitter (1X375C)

10. 4oz String Silver Holographic (1X459C)

Additives

1. 1oz Tournament Pro Lunker Scent (1X210A)

2. 1oz Grape Pro Lunker Scent (1X201A)

3. 4oz LureCraft Stabilizer (1X104C)

From Del-Mart

1. 1 gallon CPC Plastic

2. 1 quart CPC Softener

3. 8oz CPC worm oil

4. 4 1/2" Flat worm with spade tail MOLD

5. 7" Curltail worm MOLD

From Bob's Tackle Shack

1. 5" stix Mold

Thanks again for everyones help!

[alsworms]

It's probably too late to add a couple suggestions, but maybe think about brown color too. I use lots of brown; also amber brown, motor oil, and green pumpkin.

One more thing......if you're getting the green hi lite, maybe get the blue as well.

I just sorta scanned the other posts, so if someone touched on this, I apologize.

Heck, you can knock out a bank account pretty quick doing this. Why not just get one of everything?

Chris

[woodsac]

I recommend the blue hi lite and a brown as well. Those are two colors I use a lot. I use amber brown and brown. I hardly ever use my green hi lite. I think I'm repeating myself from my other post. :oops: I would just hate for you to get your order and go 'Man I wish I had ordered THIS instead'. I've done that several times.

[dtrs5kprs]

Order all of the hi-lites and experiment with adding them to similar colors, ie: blue HL with purple/blue/grape, orange HL with pumpkin/brown (good copper color), green with w-melon/green pumpkin. Use these mixes as tail colors, laminate bellies, or vein colors.

From my experiences, I do not think you will regret buying the green hi-lite. I use it in craws, worms, chunks. Also good for making baby bass drop shot baits and fluke baits.

Unless you are dipping tubes hardener is a mess. Even then it is easier to just buy "tube" plastic.

[nova]

Dave at Lurecraft will pour you sample baits of the molds you are wondering about. Nominal charge. But at least you won't buy molds and get something you can't use or wasn't what you thought it was.

[BigZ]

I'm jealous! I need to order a bunch of cool stuff too! Looks like you will be in for a lot of fun and you have enough stuff to last you a few seasons if you're just pouring for yourself. There is nothing better than catching fish on your own baits, it is pure thrill.

A hint on the stix mold from Bob's, and I use them a LOT, pour fast at first and tilt the mold slightly.Make sure you're getting a thin stream through the hole and don't fill the "funnel" until you are near the top. You may need to wait a few seconds and add more plastic to the funnel as needed if you see the level going down. Have Fun Pouring!

[deadlystreamer]

Hi there BigZ,

I like your signature. That's cool!

[AustinTXAngler]

Thanks Fellas, looks like I'm not making any grave mistakes in my order. I plan on pouring mostly green colored baits at first because thats what really works around here. So I think my color selection is on par for my neck of the woods. I will go ahead and add the other highlight colors to play around with.

Thanks again, I'm SURE you will hear from me again once I start attempting to pour some of these! haha